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Sammanfattning

This thesis explores how the concept of ADHD is constructed and represented in Swedish print news media in 2025. Using Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Foucauldian theory, 24 articles from Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet and Expressen are analysed. The study identifies several dominant discourses, including ADHD as a market commodity, as a discourse of overdiagnosis and therefore uncertain condition, as a risk factor for criminal behaviour, as a neurodevelopmental disorder, as a source of creativity and drive, and as a metaphorical concept. The findings show that Swedish news media presents ADHD through contradictory and competing framings, where medical, economic, moral and cultural discourses intersect. These constructions shape public understanding of ADHD and have implications for the legitimacy of the diagnosis.