Channel 4 ADHD documentary

[crackerjackbaby]

Totally totally one sided. And very dangerous as a result of that. AIBU to think this?

Many parents aren't. They want the diagnosis. Accepting that you do have NT kids that have been harmed due to their childhood is hard and painful

Because many people who have private assessments are not wantung to hear they do not have ADHD, they want the opposite.

Both positions are true.
ADHD exists - I was diagnosed as an adult- but then again I'm female.

Unruly children with no boundaries, screentime galore and a shit diet also exist and display behavioural traits similar to ADHD. In those cases addressing environmental factors should help.

You cant cure ADHD with running around outside ... if you could, I'd have been well cured decades ago.

What are the exclusion criteria? There are definitely some.

The nice guidelines definitely include social context and that parents mental health should be assessed

It is disconcerting that a lot of ADHD kids only take their medication on school days.

Yeah...
These are the nice guildlines. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng87/chapter/recommendations#

Funny how people make accusations of it being fashionable when how it presents in women is recognised and women and girls start coming forward. Medical misogyny yet again.

ND diagnoses used to be exclusive to the upper middle classes and now they're available to everyone people are mad.

Im not because there are a lot of ablists on Mumsnet who swallop like pelicans any information that fits "ADHD/autism are made up" tagline no matter how biased or outdated. In society there is general little understanding of neurodiversity.

There is also another face of this- there are many more children from middle classes who masked well enough for their parents not to seek diagnosis despite very challenging behaviour at home, and who now know better and seek diagnosis.

I’ll tell you how people mask ADHD, they self medicate with drink and drugs, engage in risky impulsive behaviours and are far more likely to attempt suicide when it all becomes too much.50%70% of people with autism also have adhd.

Life isn’t sitting at home doing yoga and running round in the woods. Never was and isn’t now.

Indeed.

as someone who has been diagnosed with ADHD, and who's DD has also been diagnosed, I have to say I agree with some of the points that the programme made. I am sceptical about medication. I believe it is more beneficial to develop coping mechanisms and recognise traits in yourself that you need to manage; the world will not change to accommodate you but you can make choices to make life easier. I also believe that school should be more than results; it should be about socialisation and learning how to be in society. Schools should be more child centric and medication shouldn't be used to zombify kids so they fit into school's agenda. I agree with the points made about more sports, more outdoor time. I certainly can see a difference in my DD's behaviour if she is inside and on line too much; she needs to be outside, climbing trees and experiencing new things. That said, I absolutely believe that ADHD is a real thing, and I didn't think the programme was saying it wasn't.

It absolutely was saying it wasn’t a real thing. People with ADHD vary, ADHD varies. Effectiveness of coping strategies vary. Some people need medication and some people can manage without. Since when has medicine become a one size fits all?

I think there is a developing problem where it suits a certain sector of society to deny or minimise autism and ADHD. Look at Uta Frith who decided it was appropriate to publicly challenge Chris Packham's autism diagnosis in the media, when she has absolutely no knowledge of how that diagnosis was made. Incredibly unprofessional IMO.

They are real conditions, they exist and for me I feel it is a good thing that science and medical understanding is increasing which has led directly to a corresponding increase in diagnosis. I don't know what motivates people to deny it- is it because they think people 'put it on' in order to gain through DLA or PIP? Is it because they want to pat themselves on the back for having NT children and want to think it's their superior parenting? Is there a wider institutional push to deny medical reality so that the benefits bill can be cut?

I don't get it at all. I'd love it if my DC didn't have ADHD and ASD (or Tourettes, or anaphylactic allergies, or EDS, or asthma) but he does. And at times this mere fact has made life incredibly challenging for him and for us.

Also, MP the presenter concluded “you can’t diagnose people with ADHD from a brain scan - an MRI shows now discernible difference between an ADHD brain and a NT brain.

So what? That means absolutely nothing. MRIs can detect only so much. I’m sure there will be differences MRIs are not nuanced or powerful enough to detect. For instance, it’s a fact that MRI scans cannot detect dopamine or how it moves in the brain.

Saying it as though it’s this evidential silver bullet - so unintelligent. Must think the viewing public is thick as well.

I wasn’t shocked by the documentary or that C4 showed it these discussions are nothing new but I hope C4 put on another a more balanced documentary because a serious discussion around assessing and medication management needs to be had

the assessment for ADHD needs to be more thorough, a number of consultants have raised this issue and medication particularly for children needs to be more rigorously managed it’s shockingly low the threshold of medication management is

Yes and those statements were likewise very one-sided/biaised. An ADHD charity is never going to comment 'oh actually some of this might be worth exploring' are they!! Of course they are going to criticise something that challenges their raison d'etre.

The NHS ADHD taskforce wasn’t focused on a need for more thorough diagnosis but more joined up care and an easier route to NHS diagnosis.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/report-of-the-independent-adhd-taskforce-part-1/#background

ADHD uk and others have challenged it for good reasons as laid out in their open letter and statements. It was a shockingly poor,biased piece of journalism with zero input from the many professionals who feel very differently.

https://adhduk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ADHD-UK-Open-Letter-to-Channel-4.pdf

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/get-involved/join-the-movement/join-a-group-or-network/disabled-peoples-hr-network/disabled-peoples-human-rights-network-blog/i-cant-see-anything-in-this-letter-that-d/

https://www.globaladhdnetwork.com/post/the-great-adhd-myth-statement

https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/clinical-areas/neurology/rcgp-responds-after-former-president-quoted-as-saying-adhd-is-not-a-medical-condition

Absolutely this.

This is so true for so many people, me included also
40s but the thing is when I physically couldn’t concentrate or focus at school and was sent out of most classes for daydreaming, not paying attention or rocking on my chair, or never knowing what I was doing, I wasn’t stood outside the door with 10 other people just like me, I was standing there all by myself humiliated while the other kids looked on in disbelief, where were all the other ADHD kids?

I masked to the best of my ability but everyone could see a mile away I was different and there’s no way I could have pretended otherwise for 6 hours, ADHD didn’t exist so I wasn’t blaming any condition and was dealt some pretty severe punishments for my symptoms which didn’t cure them.
I was on a reduced timetable by year 8 and no longer welcome by year 9, no education, no opportunities.
I didn’t want to be the naughty kid, it was humiliating but try as I might I just physically didn’t have the ability to pay attention and learn.

This is why it’s important people don’t self diagnose because they occasionally experience a symptom or struggle with executive function because that’s not the same as a disorder which for many is so debilitating that they can barely function and are just desperately trying to get through life.

I was born in 1979 so did not have devices or even a phone and the only television was in the lounge with 4 channels and apart from the occasional cartoon it was just what my parents watched the news and weather on and we went out to play.

My parents were not pushovers, they were absolutely clear what was expected of us and very no nonsense and my siblings were well behaved but no amount of smacks, stern talking to, being sent my room, lost pocket money or being grounded would make me stop having ADHD.

I first attempted to take my life at the age of 11 when I started secondary school as I tried my best to work hard but I couldn’t cope and just felt like I was drowning and didn’t know what was wrong with me, there was no support or understanding, just the same ignorant mocking and ridicule I get today and have had suicidal ideology ever since because I still have ADHD diagnosed in my 40s life is just something I have to get through but the diagnosis is meaningless when so many people run around saying yeah I can be a bit like that to.

A good assessment for ADHD or ASD should also be accessing for the many number of MH conditions that have significant symptom overlap - to either rule out other causes or to establish comorbidity.

Unfortunately, this rarely happens, and especially it is not happening in private clinics.

A clinic that is commissed to only assess for ADHD or ASD is assessing ONLY for that. They are using the specific assessments designed to pick up only ASD or ADHD. The assessment does not look for anything else. They are cannot say if other MH conditions may better explain the symptoms, or are also present, because they are not assessing for those - they can’t. They can only tell you if you meet the criteria for ADHD or ASD. Rather alarmingly, most private clinics do not use the Coventry Grid - a well evidenced screening tool that was created some time ago specifically assist clinicians differentiate whether symptoms and presentation are better explained by ND or ACEs/trauma.

Which is a problem - because there are many other MH conditions that look so much like ADHD or ASD that it can be incredibly difficult to differentiate - only possible to do so with in depth and detailed assessment by clinicians experienced in assessing for those other conditions as well - not someone who is only assessing for ADHD/ASD.

I fear there are large numbers of people who’s MH needs are being neglected and untreated because they have been misdiagnosed as ND when actually there is something else that better explains their difficulties.

There will also be people whose ARE ND but who ALSO have significant additional MH conditions that have gone unidentified and therefore untreated - diagnostic overshadowing.

Just because you couldn’t mask doesn’t mean others can’t. They can and do with disastrous consequences. People resort to self diagnosis because they have to, NHS wait lists are insanely long. Hence the NHS ADHD task force highlighting that better access to NHS diagnosis is crucial.

The open letter from ADHD Uk is excellent.