Beyond controversies in child mental health: negotiating autism and ADHD diagnosis in France and Brazil

Identifier:  imarina:9226392

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina9226392

Authors:  Beliard, Aude; Ortega, Francisco; Velpry, Livia

Abstract:
This article explores the local forms that global controversies around autism and ADHD have taken in France and Brazil. Inquiring into the social and historical features of the two contexts makes the abstract, globally circulating ideas meaningful in particular forms, and helps to transcend dichotomies (global/local, biological/relational, mental suffering/disability) through their pragmatic negotiations and integration into the everyday experience of those affected by the conditions. Our research is based on policy reports and regulations, interviews with policy makers, care and school professionals, families, and observations in mental health-care services. We first present inflamed debates in both countries: while autism wars caused the legitimacy of psychoanalysis to be challenged, debates around ADHD focused on the medicalization of social problems. Both controversies impacted policy orientations, the organization of mental health care, and professional knowledge and practices. We discuss the similarities and differences in these transformations in the two countries. We then examine how these controversies unfolded in local configurations of actors and resources. Finally, we call for reflection on how processes of globalization in mental health and local contexts mutually shape each other.