Abstract

We conducted a systematic analysis of conceptions of Alzheimer’s disease in the French specialized social workers press between 1990 and 2014, and compared these results to recent studies on autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the same field. Analysis of discourse about Alzheimer’s disease, and more generally on mental and psychosocial disorders in the specialized social workers press shows that social factors highly involved in these pathologies are never presented, as they are widely argued in the international literature, and can be subject to specific socio-educational policies and practices. Most ways of Alzheimer’disease presented to French social workers belong to the therapeutic sphere, and reveal a growing medicalization of social work, allowing us to question the practice, institutional and training issues.