EP126 - History doesn't lie.

HISTORY DOESN'T LIE is an episode with Matthew Smith, the author of "Hyperactive: The Controversial History of ADHD". Matthew is a Professor of Health History at the University of Strathclyde's Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare in Glasgow, Scotland. Matthew has written several books and notable articles about the history of ADHD, as well as food allergy, food additives, and social psychiatry. He is a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker and co-edits the Palgrave book series "Mental Health in Historical Perspective.” Here are some links to Matthew's books and articles: "Hyperactive: The Controversial History of ADHD". This book is the most comprehensive history of ADHD, charting its origins in the Cold War and why it became seen as a neurological disorder best treated with drugs. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/H/bo14444518.html "An Alternative History of Hyperactivity: Food Additives and the Feingold Diet". This book - the relationship between food chemicals and ADHD and why the hypothesis that food additives could cause behavioral problems in children - has come in and out of fashion. https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/an-alternative-history-of-hyperactivity/9780813550169 "Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails: Boys and Behaviour in the USA”. This open access article demonstrates how, prior to the emergence of ADHD in the late 1950s, behavioral experts were concerned with shy, withdrawn, inactive boys, rather than the kids we now associate with ADHD. The article explains why this all changed, resulting in concerns with hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive children. https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/cbmh.236-112017 "Psychiatry Limited: Hyperactivity and the Evolution of American Psychiatry, 1957-1980". This open access article shows how psychiatrists debated how to understand children’s behavioral problems after WWII and explains why neurological explanations and psychopharmaceutical explanations became the norm. https://academic.oup.com/shm/article/21/3/541/1701613 "Hyperactive Around the World? The History of ADHD in Global Perspective". This open access article charts how ADHD has been adopted, adapted, or rejected in different parts of the world. https://academic.oup.com/shm/article/30/4/767/2919401 For more information on this podcast, please visit www.adhdisover.com