ADHD and Temporality: A Desynchronized Way of Being in the World. Issue 3 (3rd April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nielsen, Mikka
• Is Part Of: Medical anthropology. Volume 36:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 260
• Page End: 272
• Publication Date: 2017-04-03
• Subjects: ADHD -- desynchronization -- phenomenology -- rhythm -- temporality; Medical anthropology -- Periodicals; 362.1
• DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2016.1274750
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0145-9740

Abstract

ABSTRACT: ADHD is, I argue, an impairment in sense of time and a matter of difference in rhythm; it can be understood as a certain being in the world, or more specifically, as a disruption in the experience of time and a state of desynchronization and arrhythmia. Through excerpts of interviews with adults diagnosed with ADHD and observations, I illustrate how impairment in time is manifested in an embodied experience of being out of sync. I suggest that the experience of ADHD is characterized as 1) an inner restlessness and bodily arrhythmia; 2) an intersubjective desynchronization between the individual and its surroundings; and 3) a feeling of lagging behind socially due to difficulties in social skills. In closing, I argue that an increasingly accelerating society is augmenting the experience of being out of sync rather than eliminating it.