Telling New Scientist:
“My interview was hours long and they cherry-picked the bits that suited their push for presenting ADHD as a myth,” Rubia told New Scientist. “Biased programs like this one that push their view of ADHD as a mythical entity are irresponsible and will have detrimental effects.”
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2585608-calling-adhd-a-myth-is-pseudoscientific-and-dangerous/
I was a journalist on the trans beat for a decade. I had a front row seat for the UK's anti trans moral panic that has cost the trans community our healthcare, our ability to piss safely outside our homes and so much more. I say this to show that I am very experienced in what is happening now.
This documentary is the starter pistol of the next moral panic. The UK operates on these. The press makes the presence of a minority a problem, public opinion turns, and policy makers profit in some way from "solving" the problem.
Gay moral panic = section 28
Trans moral panic = EHRC guidance banning trans people from toilets
Disability moral panic = work capability assessments
This is how the UK works and ADHD is the next one. It's the gift that keeps on giving, looks at the escalating number of media questioning whether ADHD is legitimate. They are starting to present the problem that ADHD people shouldn't get real support.
And when a majority of the public in national polls start to agree with them and according to a yougov poll ten years ago (the only polling I could find on this) 40% of the country already believe ADHD is bollocks...policy makers will act.
Facts, science, none of that will stop it. Truth doesn't matter. Moral panics are about profit, financial, political or otherwise. That's why this prick made a TV show instead of doing research. Facts do not matter, if there is something for those in power to benefit from, they will benefit from it at our cost.
The mistake that people who are the subject of a moral panic make is to go after those leading the charge against them. Look at trans people who tried to argue jk Rowling is a fascist to people who saw a nice writer.
Here is how we beat this before it starts
Keep hammering the public.
I already lost one of these.
I'm not going to lose another one.
Actual experts agree that ADHD is under-recognised, under-diagnosed and under-treated in the UK.
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I've always liked Channel 4. I'm sure there is some executive thrilled with their feet up with how this has gone with the attention and fact it's still top of their streaming service shows little concern. All press is good press blah blah blah they'll tell themselves.
Look at some of the shows they've produced over the years. They were the ones that were willing to give Russell T Davies six episodes for It's a Sin. Queer as Folk at the start of the century was controversial, but groundbreaking. The stuff in the 90s. The below link will be a throwback for you.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/02/channel-4s-40-best-shows-ranked
They did a documentary last year with Sam Thompson that was evidence led asking "is this ADHD?". Great stuff. Clearly researched, and Sam has been great. He must feel betrayed seeing this.
But it all feels for nothing now. If, as a channel, they're giving a platform to someone like that Psychiatrist, and allowing such outrageous claims, dragging ADHD into the culture war - that isn't the reputation I know of, or Channel 4 that has always been willing to take risks over the years, but the right risks. Controversial at times. But never this harmful. To the point it will have genuine impact on people's life. We've seen that already with comments.
So you won Channel 4, but you ruined my night completely so you could have the money, attention, & you have all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on. Well done.
In all seriousness, the long term reputational damage will not be worth it. I remember fondly Stephen Fry doing a documentary on Bipolar years ago. I don't even have it. Things like this stick.
If Channel 4 wants to be tabloid fodder, I hope advertisers take note of that, and perhaps should even be contacted by charities and communities too. I wouldn't want to be a large company and being associated with this documentary.
Guessing he didn’t quite get the response he wanted.
Female, diagnosed aged 31. It was hard enough telling my parents, but now my mum's messaging me asking me if I'm sure I have ADHD, perhaps my psychiatrist got it wrong because it's apparently so easy to get diagnosed now. Am I sure I'm not just stressed?
Beyond furious, but also so fucking sad. They've done so much damage. I'm so fucking tired of neurodivergence being the latest punching bag for the media.
I have to say I was expecting more depressing misinformation when I saw Good Morning Britain was discussing the documentary, but actually aside from a couple of devil's advocate questions from the hosts at the start this was a really good push back and discussion on how bad the show was.
Mostly from the ADHD UK guy initially but even the Dr who I was presume was the counter point seemed barely able to say much good about it, adding that medication helps lots of people, that diagnosis is up because of more awareness, saying stigmatising ADHD doesn't help and pointing out that loads of conditions like Schizophrenia, depression etc also can't be seen in brain scans so that proved nothing
By the end even Richard Madeley suggested people should make a counter documentary called ADHD: Not a Myth! Thank god Piers Morgan doesn't present this show anymore
NOTE: My account name is a throw away made a long time ago, I'm not actually a doctor.
I think it goes without saying that the vast majority of people in this community have a nuanced view of medication, diagnosis, classification and so on. I'm sure everyone here thinks that debate is warranted in relation to some of those things. For example a widespread belief I see from many people is that perhaps one day we'll do away with the name altogether in favour of several sub-sets. The point is that none of this is set in stone and openness to discussion is paramount to progress and widespread acceptance.
Importantly though, debate and discussion shouldn't just be balanced and scientific, it needs to be treated delicately and with an extreme level of care. Because the reality is that getting it wrong, can and will lead to severe real world harm.
People with ADHD are 5 times more likely to attempt to take their own lives than the general population. Now, as many people in this sub will understand, before diagnosis you can feel lost, misunderstood, depressed, anxious, experience ideation ... the list goes on. For a long time I blamed myself, I considered that I might have ADHD but equally I wondered if I'd been sucked into a 'social contagion' and made the whole thing up. Was I just lazy and looking for an excuse?!
Then I started meds and my entire life changed. My mood was suddenly generally positive, I wasn't needlessly anxious anymore, my life was suddenly heading in the right direction for the first time.
However, had I seen that 'documentary' last night before seeking assessment, I might not have gone through with it and I might not be here now. That isn't sensationalism, that's the reality of neurodivergence for millions of people in this country.
It's not hyperbole or an exaggeration to say that some people will see the marketing, title and content of that 'documentary' and in turn not seek help, will stop their meds or will be plunged back into the cycle of shame and as a result - directly or indirectly, may take their own lives.
The programme wasn't just unscientific, biased or offensive, it was potentially deadly.
Further to that, it's ammunition for political parties to further discredit ADHD and at some point potentially withdraw funding for medication on the NHS on mass. Which in turn, would definitely lead to a measurable loss of life.
I've always been a great admirer of Channel 4 but I'm disappointed beyond words. Their response in which they've defended the right to a 'debate' around ADHD, ignores the seriousness of getting it wrong and the damage it has already done. How did this get passed their legal and ethical safeguards? How did no one even think to (at the very least) put hotline numbers at the end?
I've never considered complaining to OFCOM about anything before, usually I think 'no one's forcing you to watch it!'. But in this instance, a TV programme has made my life harder, potentially less safe and could lead others towards genuine harm. It sounds extreme, but the commissioners at Channel 4 in one way or another, might just have blood on their hands.
If you haven't sent a complaint yourself yet, I implore you to consider it.
A statement from r/ADHDUK, one of the UK's largest ADHD communities with nearly 100k visitors weekly.
On Tuesday 18 August, Channel 4 broadcast 'The Great ADHD Myth?', an hour-long documentary fronted by psychiatrist Dr Max Pemberton that asked whether ADHD is a genuine neurodevelopmental condition or, a social construct. We are speaking out because of the effect it has had on the people we see on our community every day, and the growing stigma we already face.
r/ADHDUK is a community of more than 50,000 people, with close to 100,000 visits every week. For many of our members, it is the place they turn to while they wait months or years for an NHS assessment, frustrated, or finally make that post when they realise the impact medication is having after a diagnosis. This is the case for 70-80% of ADHD patients, evidence suggests.
In the hours after the programme aired, our discussion threads were viewed close to 50,000 times and drew hundreds of comments. We have read them all. A great many of our members are distressed, angry, and feel what we heard is a growing trend.
But the common theme, naturally, is anger. One member called the programme 'disgraceful, shambolic' and said it 'should never have been allowed to air.' Others described it as 'sensationalist' and as a 'hit piece, created in bad faith.' Others commented on that
Some comments are hard to read: 'Biggest takeaway for me was how much my chest hurts now', one user wrote. Channel 4 cannot say they were not warned about this, with the charity ADHD UK expressing concern.
Further, 'how deeply invalidating" another told us, and simply, "I'm so tired of just wanting to exist and be happy sometimes." A member diagnosed later in life, like so many, after years of being disbelieved, described how 'my get-up-and-go has got up and went.'
These are not people looking for an excuse. They have already spent a long time being told their struggles are their own fault, in distress, waiting, and with stigma around them - and on Tuesday they watched that message repeated on national television.
We have serious concerns about how the programme was made.
It drew heavily on a small number of commentators, several with no specialist background in ADHD, and did not feature a single diagnosed adult speaking about their own experience. As one member put it, 'you can have all the doctorates in the world, but nothing beats lived experience'. The principle the disability community has held for decades, nothing about us without us, was missing from a film about us.
It presented ADHD almost entirely through the story of one ten-year-old boy. This is not a rich case study or research. No women were represented, a major red flag. Neither, as said, were the many adults, like most of our members, who were diagnosed in their thirties, forties, fifties and beyond. One member wrote, 'they completely ignored how differently we [women] present'. One of our members knows someone who was diagnosed at seventy-nine. Where was this representation in this, supposed 'social construct?'
We were also troubled to see prescribed medication compared on national television to a Class A drug. This is licensed, trialled treatment, and framing it that way does real harm. As one member said 'masking symptoms? It's called managing symptoms'. As a community, we would hope a Psychiatrist understands this too.
It is right to ask difficult questions. Several of our members said the same thing, and they were right: there were fair questions in the programme, yet buried beneath a one-sided narrative. Are children sometimes medicated too readily? How subjective is diagnosis? Should medication always be the first step? Do our schools work for children who think differently? We would welcome an honest documentary that asked these questions.
What we cannot accept is a national broadcaster putting the existence of a WHO recognised condition up for debate under the word 'myth' and then quietly noting, at the very end, that the child at the centre of the film had returned to his medication because he needed it. What purpose did this serve?
We are worried about where this leads. Several members, independently, described ADHD becoming 'an acceptable target'; a way of testing public opinion before a wider push against disabled people and the support they rely on. A programme like this makes a worried parent more sceptical, makes a struggling adult less likely to ask for help, and simply did not follow the sheer amount of growing research on ADHD now.
It is important communities like this exist up against such a documentary, where we can collectively not feel alone or invalidated. Amid the upset, one user wrote, 'do not make defamatory or abusive statements about anyone in this show. We're smarter than that.' An occupational therapist offered to help put the facts straight, having already written a report on the lack of ADHD services for young people. That is the community we are proud to represent. Genuine, impactful, and evidence-led. i
We are asking Channel 4 to acknowledge how our members feel, and we support any of our members who wish to raise their concerns with Ofcom.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Founder, r/ADHDUK*
Honestly you are all doing an absolutely fantastic job and I can imagine that job has been near enough non stop over the last 24 hours. We are all ADHD so I suspect it's either difficult to keep up the pace or you are driven by hyperfixation. Maybe it's neither, but that doesn't matter because at the end of the day despite it being a dark day for our community you're all doing everything you can and deserve recognition for that!
Keep up the amazing work!
A shout out to all the MPs that signed this letter and showing some support.
Good morning,
So I suppose this is a vent as much as anything.
My son who has been diagnosed with Autism and ADHD (Formally by the Edwin Lobo). He is 9 and struggles with RSD alot but is also high functioning. He has however due to his condition been suspended from school several times. At the schools request we have submitted an EHCP.
The EHCP has been rejected as his needs can be met by local resources.
I just don't understand the logic.
1.) If the local needs were being met he wouldn't be getting suspended.
2.) The school is requesting the EHCP and so are saying they cannot meet his needs.
3.) He was suspended near the end of the last academic year due to an incident related to his disability, we appealed and the school said they basically did everything right and that they are proving as much support as they can.
to me there is a child stuck in the middle that's having problems and no one seems to want to help but will happily punish him.
I will appeal through the tribunal however I don't trust this process anymore and feel my child is being failed.
“Scientists comment on the Channel 4 TV show ‘The Great ADHD Myth?”
A little sanity and evidence-based commentary here to hopefully support everyone’s sense of wellbeing.
Things like sending returns! Finding appropriate packaging, can't find a bag/box the right size, realising you have no tape, packing it securely, printing a label or buying postage, actually remembering to take the thing to the place at the right time within the window of opportunity URGH it's like my worst nightmare of a task. Too many steps to complete, outside of my usual routine
I may put together something where as a community we can use strength in numbers to respond to this.
Thoughts?