Attachment theory and epistemic injustice towards mothers of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Zoric, Bozena (2024) Attachment theory and epistemic injustice towards mothers of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to re-examine attachment theory in the light of contemporary research, and to consider how far the claim that attachment difficulties can cause ADHD is warranted. Although the majority of research in the context of ADHD and attachment is clinical, I also explore cultural and sociological aspects of attachment theory and how it relates to ADHD. My hypothesis is that assuming a causal relationship between ADHD and attachment is an example of hermeneutic injustice which needs to be unpicked. Using a medical humanities approach, I interviewed parents of children with ADHD and examined their narratives through the lenses of critical theory, cultural studies, and sociology. This process gives unique opportunity to evaluate some of the crucial questions in the field of ADHD. Further, I argue that an over-emphasis on parenting and mothering is counter-productive and potentially damaging because it necessarily carries implicit blame. Despite the efforts to modernise doctor–patient, or in this context, doctor-parent relationships, paternalistic medicine is still practised. Mothers are excluded and displaced from influence over how healthcare is delivered to children with ADHD. Their voices can be silenced by the institutions of the health service and education. More credence is frequently given to the testimonies of teachers, compared to mothers and children themselves. Some healthcare workers are also too quick to blame mothers or to design diagnostic pathways which a child can only enter if his or her parents subject themselves to ineffective parent training, before any assessment for ADHD takes place. This thesis seeks to reverse such injustice. It seeks to describe how quality of ADHD care can improve by giving voice to mothers and others who are supportive to them, including other family members and voluntary organisations. Blame has no place in modern healthcare.

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