Why are ADHD benefits in the firing line?

[FunStork]

I've been seeing this a lot recently.

Feels like the media is very much against ADHD benefits claims.

Why is that the one that seems to be getting all the focus?

Another one from BBC Verify tonight:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24ym9yd8p6o

Is this an orchestrated campaign?

The different diagnostic models have much the same definition of ADHD, though. The diagnostic threshold on either is never going to be perfect because there is no definitive test to diagnose ADHD. It is obviously a highly educated guess.

Unless you are qualified to diagnose ADHD, I don’t see how you can have an informed opinion on whether the diagnostic criteria are correct or not. The criteria have broadened over time because growing scientific evidence changed experts’ understanding of ADHD. These changes reflect the broad consensus, although as you point out, there is debate among experts about whether the criteria are too broad or in fact too narrow - some think they are still too narrow because they think they are still excluding too many women.

it is not the case that experts have decided to redefine a normal variant of human behaviour as a disorder.

Am I allowed to then? I am a psychiatrist!

I don’t currently do ADHD diagnoses but I have all the relevant background and experience MRCPsych, CCT, PhD in neuroscience and I could pay for a 2 day course and be raking it in doing assessments in private practice by next month.
And I still do not unquestioningly believe the modern narrative of NT vs ND binary or the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis.

Some diagnoses are more useful than others. It's really hard to tell "real" adhd from the ongoing effects of early trauma. As someone with adopted daughters who saw a lot of specialists, I would comment that everyone seems to diagnose within their speciality. When my younger daughter was in year 5 shexwas seen by CAHMS therapists. The psychiatrist diagnosed adhd. The psychologist diagnosed asd with pda. The visiting psychotherapist mentioned emerging personality disorder, though he couldn't formally diagnose it. The adoption therapist we saw separately suggested attachment difficulties. The genetics clinic found a genetic deletion. Speech and Language diagnosed a clinical Speech and Language disorder. OT diagnosed sensory processing disorder.

All of these have proved very useful for dla/ PIP! But honestly, it's SO down to who you see. And some diagnoses are more useful than others (attachment is no use whatsoever).

If you’ve got a hammer everything looks like a nail….

According to this report on ADHD, undiagnosed ADHD costs the UK £17 billion:

https://share.google/STyoE5m6WXon5w9Wc

It would be cheaper to fund earlier assessment and diagnosis, then give people support.

According to the Lancet, examining the diagnoses of ADHD in primary care records, 1.19% of people have been diagnosed with ADHD, which is notably low, compared to international figures on its incidence. For males under 18, 41.8% of them with ADHD are not diagnosed, and for females under 18, it’s 76.4% undiagnosed. This doesn’t fit in with pp’s claims that 10 - 20% of children in a classroom are diagnosed with ADHD at a population level.

The reason PIP is going up, is because people can’t survive on the other working age benefits, which have gone down in real terms since 2010, and the wider failures in education, the NHS and social care. Sort those out (which would lead to earlier assessment, diagnosis and treatment of many conditions) and less people would be disabled.

Well If you’re a psychiatrist you can obviously answer that question better then me. Although I would still assume that you would followthe guidance of your expert colleagues. Surely?

I think it is fine to not like/accept the binary thing.

I recentky saw a rheumatologist and my symptoms were blamed on my ADHD meds. My psychiatrist who has been diagnosing ADHD for several decades, told me he was wrong and she has constant questions from patients along these lines and she warned me I needed to prepare myself for this when I saw doctors of other specialties.

Anyway thanks for the good quality debate.