The Understandings and Experiences of Emerging Adults with ADHD: A New Lens
Date
2022-11-21
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Abstract
With ADHD on the rise, there is a plethora of research emerging on the lived experience of ADHD. The majority however, of this literature takes a third-person perspective or is cast from the dominant medical lens. Mayes and others offer critiques of the medicalization of ADHD and namely, of the arbitrary threshold by which abnormality is determined. Dabrowski offers a new perspective on pathology, deeming many of what is considered disordered symptomology to be signs of higher personal growth and development. This study aims to explore emerging adults’ perspective of their development and ADHD through the lens of Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration. The study involved interpretive phenomenological analysis methodology to interview and analyze the lived experiences of five emerging adults who have reportedly been formally diagnosed with ADHD. This study is the first of its kind to explore the first-person, non-pathologized lived experience of emerging adults with ADHD through Dabrowski’s TPD. It could, in turn, help uncover unique perspectives on the development and diagnosis of ADHD, and inform appropriate supports in training, practice, and policy involving parents, teachers, and psychologists alike.
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Keywords
ADHD, lived experience, Dabrowski, Theory of Positive Disintegration, advanced development
Citation
Lisitza, A. (2022). The understandings and experiences of emerging adults with ADHD: a new lens (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.