Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) policy, practice and regulatory capture in Australia 1992-2012

Abstract

Australia has demonstrated an increasingly pharmaceuticalised response to ADHD, with per capita prescription rates growing 277 percent between 1995 and 2010. However, there have been large and inconsistent intertemporal variations between state jurisdictions. This thesis analyses key national, Western Australian and New South Wales ADHD policy and regulatory processes. It demonstrates that regulatory capture has been normal but is not inevitable and has been associated with rapidly increasing per capita ADHD child prescribing rates.