A Systematic Deconstruction of the "Disordered Boy" Hypothesis

Abstract

The labeling and drugging of boys has reached epidemic proportions in the United States of America. Data indicates that approximately 12-14 million American boys have been officially diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and the vast majority of these boys are prescribed daily doses of psychotropic medications (Baughman, 2006). Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric condition in boys, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), are being diagnosed at alarming rates in young males across America. Throughout recorded history, males and females have followed divergent development trajectories. Human males, across cultures and across time, have been documented to be more active, more territorial, more defiant, and more aggressive than their female cohorts. Distinctly unique male behavioral characteristics that were,since the beginning of hominid evolution, considered to be highly adaptive and essential to the survival of the human race, are now being operationally defined by the American Psychiatric Association as indicators of psychopathology. Grounded in bioevolutionary theory, this paper will challenge the validity and reliability of boyhood psychiatric diagnoses, and will explore in depth the multifarious correlates that are intrinsically related to the labeling and drugging of boys in America.