Historical, cultural and socio-political influences on Australia's response to ADHD

Abstract

By Western standards, Australia has a relatively short official history. Originally inhabited by a diverse array of more than 500 Indigenous groups, the "Australia" that is widely recognized today first came into being as a British penal colony in the late 1700s. Over the period of the next 150 years, the Anglo-Australian population grew and diversified through several waves of European immigration, but retained its deep cultural, political, and economic ties with Britain. The Second World War became a turning point in this relationship. Disquiet over the rising death toll of Australians fighting to protect British interests in Europe, Indo-China, the Middle East, and North Africa, along with fear from the threat from Japan in the Pacific, led to a change in Australia's economic and defense posture, resulting in a growing alliance with the United States (Lee 1992). From the 1950s, Australia increasingly identified with the United States-first strategically and then culturally. This shift also had material effects, particularly in the areas of medicine and health (Graham 2010). Since the 1970s, Australia has tended to follow the United States in mental health directions, especially in relation to a cultural preference for pharmacological treatment within a medical model of care.