The Discovery of Hyperkinesis: Notes on the Medicalization of Deviant Behavior

Abstract

The increasing medicalization of deviant behavior and social control is seen in the way hyperkinesis, a medical label for certain deviant behaviors in children, has become prevalent in recent years. First, this paper presents a brief history of the diagnosis and treatment of hyperkinesis; social and clinical factors involved with this medicalization are discussed. The social control mechanism (stimulant drug treatment) was available twenty years before the medical label was described. We speculate on whether available social control leads to new medical labels. The process of medicalization, often seen as humanitarian reform, has another side. The second section of the paper will consider: (1) the problem of expert control; (2) medical social control; (3) the individualization of social problems; and (4) the depoliticization of deviant behavior. Ramifications for the study of the sociology of deviance are presented.