Is nobody watching the Great ADHD Myth?

[ILikeTrains]

I was expecting to see lots of chatter about this. 1/2hr in - interesting!

I thought the programme was good and I hope it begins to make it more acceptable to question these things. ADHD is what we have named a collection of behaviours that can be observed in some people (to greater or lesser extents), I think these behaviours are likely part of natural human variation and have developed for a good reason (I.e. being this “type” of person comes with significant benefits). I think the woman who said there is a bell curve of this behaviour and it just used to be people who were on the extreme end that got diagnosed but now people who are more towards the norm are getting in on it too was spot on. I look forward to more discussions like this taking place as i don’t think this (& other human created labels) should be so untouchable in terms of conversational critique.

Max Pemberton also took it upon himself to propose diagnoses for Jason Arday. Take from that what you will...

It’s sad to see something so apparently unbalanced being produced. It will just result in fewer teaching staff being supportive of children with ADHD.

Absolutely disgusting response.

My daughter waited 4 years on the NHS waiting list for an ADHD assessment. She had the assessment in January. CAMHS couldn't decide whether to diagnose or not after this. We then had an enhanced assessment with school and CAMHS. Still inconclusive. She's been discussed at 3 MDTs. Still inconclusive.
They are now requesting information from every one of her teachers. (Rather than just the detailed report submitted by the SENCO).

Programmes like this undermine clinicians, patients and families. ADHD diagnoses aren't just handed out, not if you follow the NHS procedures. It worries me that if she is diagnosed, people will make a judgement on her and us, based on misinformation shared. It's so damaging. We don't have people saying "too many people are being diagnosed with cancer, the numbers have increased, all these people can't have it". So why are so many people so keen to do the same for neurodevelopmental disorders?

Same here! I was diagnosed as a teenager. Lived on a farm in rural New Zealand with no screens, no smartphones and outside 80% of our waking hours.

God how I would love to be able to manage my symptoms by removing screen time!

Not yet bit I will. I like Dr Max & enjoyed his 3 memoirs, especially the one about helping drug addicts (Where Does It Hurt?)

In previous decades wouldn't a lot of children who did those things been in special schools?

I shall have to look this documentary up, last term DS's school were pushing us to take him to a clinic for a diagnosis. I get the feeling that these clinics' raison-d'etre is to find something and then that's it; label applied, school happy, clinic happy, parents happy, kid pigeon-holed.
Obviously we have been reading about ADHD and DP says that his behaviour is so ADHD. But I just see a kid who has been coddled, then taken out of a local nursery and thrown into international school and is a little bewildered. They started back on Monday and has a really lovely teacher this year so I am interested to see how things go before going down the diagnosis route

When you watch it, bear in mind that both Tim Hancock (the commissioning editor) and Dr. Max Pemberton are not coming at this topic from a neutral, purely fact finding position.

Such was their concern about the biased nature of this programme, the ADHD UK charity, published an open letter, before broadcast, to Channel 4 and cc'd Tim Hancock, Commissioning Editor; the Channel 4 Board and Minnow Films.

There is always an agenda in pieces like these, what is theirs, Ch4, Hancock et al?

Your post resonated so much- professionally I am known to run everything like clockwork with meetings/ deadlines etc, but in my personal life it’s impossible. Even my own children will now deliberately give me the wrong time so that I make things on time. My friends book tables and give me an earlier time so I make it on time when I arrive “late”. I work to deadlines as that’s the only way I can get motivated to do things. It drives my partner mad and they still can’t understand why I do things the way I do as it’s not logical to them.

Yes, I have extensive knowledge, but thank you for your patronising comment.

I think anything that undermines the experience of having ADHD is a Monet grab by government. This will form part of a gradual withdrawal of support across government for people with adhd..

the Doctor is probably hoping to make a name for himself. It’s a bit like all the academics who started pushing the trans ideology or the idiot who pushed the whole MMR causes autism rubbish. Sometimes people are just controversial to make a name (and money) for themselves

I have no words for anyone not realising how awful this undermining is.

I have adhd and autism. There’s no support and very little understanding as it is..adhd is not just being a bit hyper and unable to fully control impulses, it’s a condition which affects every aspect of you life. One that makes you 5 times more likely to kill yourself, takes years off your life expectancy, enable to reach your full potential at work, exhaustion through masking.

it’s not a behavioural thing, some people with certain types may present that way, I don’t, like many girls with adhd I was quiet, well behaved and high achieving at school. I did this by acting a character I was not. Can you imagine how exhausting that is? Spending the day playing someone else, remembering the lines and choreography then spending the nights second guessing. People latching on to the fact you’re acting leaving it hard to maintain friendships and open to lifelong bullying.

The constant overwhelm of everything being louder and brighter, the hyper vigilance making the brain latch onto every sound, sight and smell simultaneously

Being criticised 20,000 more times by the time you reach 14 than non adhders for being “weird” etc

watching people not as intelligent or creative skip up the career path because their “normal” whilst you’re left behind..

There’s so many differences in the way a person with adhd experiences the world. There’s nothing wrong with an adhd brain but this world is increasingly hostile to it. Imagine being unable to conceptualise time, yet so many things rely on it. Imagine not being able to walk in a straight line, but now all the paths are straight and narrow with sheer drops either side.

I highly suspect this programme willl lead to more than a few people deciding to increase that statistic of being 5 times more likely to take your own life.

it’s like someone deciding paralysed people are just moaning and taking away all the ramps and telling them to use their arms to pull themselves and their wheel chair up stairs..

I experienced all my childhood adhd with no screens, bring out in nature riding my horse everyday. No one mentioned adhd. But you know what my childhood was still hell because of it! I still felt suicidal.

Well your patronising post about “food for thought” shows very little of your knowledge.

Have they got to the bit yet where when they put children on a whole food, no processed food diet, within a matter of days 99% do not meet the threshold for an ADHD diagnosis?

They just want us to mask and pretend everything is fine. They don’t care if we burn out and commit suicide.

Honestly, this programme is just fodder for the stupid, selfish unempathetic clueless idiots who can’t comprehend anyone being different to themselves.

Interesting! I’m vegetarian from when I was 11 ( no processed veggie food back then) and now vegan.(again proper food not processed crap) still struggled with adhd all my life.

He’s an addiction specialist who needs to stay in his lane. He is not a specialist in ADHD so he can get in the sea.

Many people with ADHD also have other diagnoses, like my adult son who is also autistic and has a learning disability.

As a 9yr old medication was a game changer for him. He went from not being able to read to reading confidently within 9 months of starting a stimulant medication I’d spent a year denying him. Within three years he’d made so much progress he was an anomaly on the school”s data which had to be explained.

So dear Ch4 and especially Max Pemberton can fuck to the far side of fuck off and keep going,

It’s right to question assessments if they are not fit for purpose but bad assessments can take place in both the NHS and private sector. It’s not right to broadcast to millions that ADHD is a myth and social construct, especially when you have no background in diagnosing and treating that condition.

They did it with one child and took him off his ADHD meds. It failed, he’s now back on his meds.

As a parent I might have been tempted to try this too, I did not want my son on stimulant medication aged 8. It was a paediatrician when he was 9 who gently told me that I was not allowing him to meet his potential which persuaded me, this was after she watched him go round her room from item to item without focusing in anything.

The medication was a game changer. It still helps him aged 23, he attends a provision where he’s working on a computer qualification. It’s a basic one but he wants the chance to go to work one day. It helps him focus.

Maybe you should also educate yourself regarding the comorbities experienced by people - especially children and adolescents whose brains and bodies are still developing - using long-term stimulant medications.

For example, apart from addiction potential...

"Long-term use of ADHD medications, particularly stimulants, can impact heart health significantly. A study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that long-term exposure to ADHD medications was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, especially hypertension and arterial diseases.

While these medications can improve focus and reduce impulsivity, they may also contribute to mood disorders over time. A longitudinal study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that adults who used ADHD medications for more than five years had a 36% higher risk of developing depression compared to those who didn’t use medication.

Long-term use of ADHD medications can lead to tolerance, where the body becomes accustomed to the drug, requiring higher doses to achieve the same effect. This can potentially impact cognitive function over time."

Hidden Dangers of Adult ADHD Medications

I don’t think I’ll watch it as it sounds so biased.

My theory is there is are several routes to people having ADHD symptoms, with a lot of potential crossover between them:
Heritable ADHD
ACE’s leading to CPTSD
Autism or a lot of autistic traits leading to being more easily traumatised, also leading to CPTSD

Add in the environmental factors now of screens, rigid schooling etc and it’s not surprising there is an increase of ADHD symptoms.

I think the poster went to a different type of primary school than I did in the seventies.

There was plenty of tantrums and disobedience going on.

It's always a good idea to question and scientifically evaluate things. I also prefer the spectrum, rather than disorder, model to describe things as my family are not disordered. But it has been hugely useful to understand how their brains are processing information, what techniques to put in place etc.

However calling a program the great myth is clearly setting out to just be inflammatory and make headlines. Now the subset of people who think it's all made up can use it as their proof because they saw it on tv. Just naughty kids that deserve a smack. The slew of media coinciding with the sen reforms consultation is just a coincidence of course.

They didn't, one of the experts actually said there were small differences but they were just written off as too small to be relevant, much in the way the small differences between the brains of men and women are written off as irrelevant.