The Great ADHD myth? has caused much upset and for many of us who already feel unsure about what’s going on, doubly hard to see/hear about this.
If you’ve watched this programme and you’re now questioning yourself, take a breath. Your experience hasn’t suddenly become invalid because someone made a documentary questioning ADHD.
It’s ok to acknowledge that ADHD diagnosis, access to treatment, overdiagnosis, medication, private assessments and the influence of modern environments deserve scrutiny — without concluding that everyone’s ADHD is imaginary or as set out – a social construct.
It is disappointing to note that the documentary focuses on kids, I think that it is very hard with kids to gauge cause and effect etc. When you see adults with significant ADHD traits it is hard to deny it as behaviours and the environment may well have changed since childhood.
For sure we need to be clear that people being medicated are being supported appropriately and that meds are only seen as one part of a holistic treatment plan underpinned by sleep hygiene, diet and exercise, getting out in nature and minimising screen time etc.
The documentary set out to prove/disprove the neurodevelopmental disorder label given to ADHD saying that the MRIs of ADHD brains are usually hardly any different if at all from that of others without ADHD.
How do they know? Because one expert said that? How many ADHD and non-ADHD brains have been imaged and studied? How many more of us have undiagnosed ADHD hence appearing to be so called neurotypicals?
This was not a rigid and well-researched piece which is really disappointing. It could have been a really helpful programme to spark both interest and discussion over something we are becoming more aware of. It focused on one child and his family and how he felt happier off the ADHD meds. In time over six weeks or so of stopping the meds he returned to finding it hard at school and concentrate waning despite all the other positive changes (rationing screen time, increasing social interactions/family time etc). This led Max Pemberton to say that the education system has to change, not Mason. But isn’t this the point? People who cannot concentrate or focus sufficiently to learn will find life hard in certain areas for something treatable. Was his behaviour of being happier off the meds the placebo effect or down to removal of distractions and better habits i.e. reducing processed foods, more exercise etc?
Anyone with ADHD getting help knows that meds are only one aid to improving how we cope with life. Just one. The other lifestyle changes will see mood improvements and everything good that was noticed in Mason. Ultimately what seemed to be proved was not that the education system is the problem (though it could be a problem) but that he finds it hard with his executive function when off meds and letting his untreated brain do what it does.
I think that the last few scenes vindicated the belief that ADHD is a real neurodevelopmental problem and posed some important questions about the other social constructs that exist around us e.g. school, jobs, markers of achievement etc.
To make that documentary useful it would have needed empirical evidence on a large scale, not a case study of a single child. It would have shown longitudinal studies of people both kids and adults around behaviours and difficulties with focus and emotional regulation. Perhaps we should go back and watch the series of check-ins with the 24 British kids filmed every seven years and spot the ADHD kids and see how they grew up!
This documentary relief on the testimony of just one family and saw improvements that were probably down to lifestyle changes that are advised for those with ADHD anyway. The focus and concentration etc suffered when off the meds, so doesn’t that prove that the brain responds to meds in a way that combats ADHD? Hinting at a neurodevelopmental issue?
For me this programme was deeply flawed. It took single ‘experts in the field’ to express their opinions again with little in terms of evidence/facts. No surveys or studies.
One expert described the number of diagnoses correlating with the growth of pharmaceutical interventions. Isn’t this normal? Isn’t that broadly what happened with COVID-19? We didn’t have loads of stockpiled vaccines for COVID-19 as it wasn’t a thing, until it was then lots of companies developed testing and treatment options. That’s what happens right?
Max also questioned how easy it was for him to get a diagnosis of ADHD from an online assessment with a private provider costing £1,200. Did the assessor check his family history or get testimony from family members/friends regards his background? I don’t remember him saying who he went to. The number of people advertising assessments is a problem for sure and there will be some out there who are doing a very basis assessment and charging through the nose for a poor service. Happens in every area of life where money can be made. Does that make ADHD not real?
I do agree that ADHD isn’t a great name for this, I prefer something like ‘Emotional Regulation Disorder (ERD)’as it sounds a bit more accurate for me and is the basis for a lot of issues.
For all those out there diagnosed or not I just urge you not to question your universe as you know it because of this.
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