# Timimi and Taylor, ‘ADHD Is Best Understood As A Cultural Construct’, 2004 > [!cite] > Timimi, Sami, and Eric Taylor. ‘ADHD Is Best Understood As A Cultural Construct’. *British Journal of Psychiatry*, vol. 184, no. 1 (2004), pp. 8–9. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.184.1.8. > [!abstract] > Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has received significant research attention and is a problem that is rarely out of the news – whether it is concerns about treating children with amphetamines, its over- or underdiagnosis, or the long-term outcomes. --- ‘ADHD scripts a potentially life-long story of disability and deficit, resulting in an attitude of a “pill for life’s problems”. We create unnecessary dependence on doctors, discouraging children and their families from engaging their own abilities to solve problems.’ [[Timimi and Taylor, ‘ADHD Is Best Understood As A Cultural Construct’, 2004|(Timimi 2004, pp. 8–9)]] ^749800 ‘Individual differences in hyperactivity have known physical counterparts: in brain structure and function and DNA composition.’ [[Timimi and Taylor, ‘ADHD Is Best Understood As A Cultural Construct’, 2004|(Taylor 2004, p. 9)]] ‘Social factors can probably influence the degree of hyperactivity that is seen as a problem. Children do not usually refer themselves for help (although they often try); they are dependent upon others to determine their caseness. Families, schools and cultures vary somewhat in their tolerance. For example, epidemiological research in Hong Kong used the same measures as had been used in London, England, and found a higher rate of hyperactivity in Hong Kong when ratings were used, but a lower rate when more objective measures were employed. The likely interpretation is that hyperactive behaviour had a greater impact in the Hong Kong environment, which attaches particular importance to academic success.’ [[Timimi and Taylor, ‘ADHD Is Best Understood As A Cultural Construct’, 2004|(Taylor 2004, p. 9)]] ‘This interaction between the child and the expectations of the adult world is important clinically.’ [[Timimi and Taylor, ‘ADHD Is Best Understood As A Cultural Construct’, 2004|(Taylor 2004, p. 9)]]