Dr. Roberta Locatelli presents to the GoodAttention group. The talk will be over Zoom. Those joining in person in Oslo can meet in Georg Morgenstiernes Hus 652.
Title: Understanding ADHD and Bridging the Gap Between the Neurodiversity Model and the Disorder Model.
Abstract:
What is ADHD? The current orthodoxy, informed by the biomedical model of mental disorder, tells us that it is a dysfunction of attention and/or executive functioning system.
On the other hand, we have the neurodiversity model, which opposes the pathological model of ADHD and other conditions (most importantly autism) and claims that ADHD is a non-pathological natural variation in cognitive style.
The aim of this paper is not to adjudicate between these two options. Instead my aim is to bridge the gap between these two models. I will argue that the reason why these two models seem incompatible is because they actually share some assumptions. If we get rid of those fallacious assumptions, the two models can be reconciled. Once we get rid of these wrong assumptions, we will have space for a different view of mental disorders, which I will call the disjunctive view of mental disorder. While the view presents several advantages over competing views of mental disorders, in this talk I will only focus on how it allows us to bridge the gap between the biomedical and the neurodiversity models of ADHD, and offer an understanding of the condition that is empirically informed, supports treatment and research, and promotes justice.
About: Roberta Locatelli's research sits at the crossroads of philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychiatry, psychology and neurosciences, metaphysics and epistemology. It develops around three main topics: the metaphysics of conscious perception, the metaphysics of sensible properties, and the nature of mental disorders. In 2016 Locatelli completed her doctorate in the Philosophy of Mind and Perception at the University of Warwick and Paris 1, within a co-tutelle programme. She is now affiliated with the University of Tübingen (Germany), where she has held several positions (including an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and a DAAD PRIME Fellowship) at the Philosophy Department and at the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), in Prof. Hong Yu Wong’s Philosophy of Neuroscience research group. Outside of academia, Locatello also works as an ADHD and Executive Function Coach.
For more about Roberta Locatelli see: https://locatellirobe.wixsite.com/robertalocatelli
If you would like to attend the event virtually by Zoom, please contact Drew Johnson at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas.