Interregulation, shared awareness and attention

depathologizing ADHD

Abstract

The prevalence of the so-called Attention Deficit/Hype-ractivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents in the world is estimated at 5%. From early classifications such as “Minimal Brain Damage” (1947) and “Minimal Brain Dysfunction” (1962) to the current nomenclature of ADHD (since 1987), nearly a century has been spent searching for the biological and genetic basis of the des-cribed condition. Despite technological advancements, the diagnosis of ADHD remains exclusively clinical. According to Vigotski, clinical diagnosis, however, may only amount to medical terminology for symptoms, without adequately addressing the real needs of the child, family, and school. From a historical-cultural perspective, the aim of this work is to critically analyze the psychopathological construct of “ADHD”, whose conception and diagnostic criteria are unilaterally based on the individual. To do so, analytical ca-tegories of interregulation and shared attention were used to evaluate affective-cognitive processes (higher psychological functions) of a student referred by the school with suspected ADHD. In line with Werner’s previous studies (1997), the analyses indicated the importance of shifting the focus of evaluation from the individual to ongoing intersubjective processes, and that signs of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention do not characterize a specific disorder or intrin-sic primary deficit. It can be concluded that the diagnosis of ADHD, increasingly present in medical reports sent to schools, while considering higher psychological functions as a product dissociated from social relations, contributes to the growing phenomenon of pathologizing child behavior, making it more challenging to address the true causes of students’ school difficulties.