The great ADHD myth is heading to Channel 4 on 18 August, and Dr Max Pemberton uses the documentary to argue that ADHD is a social construct rather than a medical condition. The programme lands as experts say more people are seeking diagnosis without pursuing treatment, especially through private assessments.
Dr Marios Adamou and private assessments
Dr Marios Adamou says some people now treat ADHD as “An identity, rather than a disorder”. He adds that many assessments are coming from poor quality private providers, and that this has led to more complaints against NHS doctors when they refuse to accept weak assessments.
He also said recent figures showed 50% of child patients did not pursue treatment after diagnosis, and that he had seen a similar pattern among adult patients in his clinic. Some patients, he said, seek low, non-therapeutic doses of medication instead.
UK Adult ADHD Network concerns
Adamou, who founded the UK Adult ADHD Network, says brain differences are well established through research and that the diagnostic criteria have undergone a lot of scientific scrutiny and validation. But he also says “the ADHD concept has been expanded so much, it’s risking becoming meaningless … it’s socially constructed now, it’s something different than what it actually is.”
He said most assessment in the UK is now provided by the private sector, while ADHD was still thought to be underdiagnosed. That leaves doctors in a narrow position: some assessments are being rejected, patients are leaving without treatment, and the pressure on the system keeps rising.
Prof Dinesh Bhugra on diagnosis
Prof Dinesh Bhugra says there has certainly been “a splurge of diagnosis, and we don’t know why that is”. He says he fears normal human responses are being medicalised, and that the label can give people a sense of privilege or cachet in society.
Dr Max Pemberton’s documentary takes the argument further, concluding “social construct”. He says schools should adapt to support a wider range of children “rather than medicating them into fitting into a restrictive norm.”
For readers facing an assessment now, the documentary points to a practical fault line: private diagnosis is expanding fast, but treatment is not always the next step people take. The unanswered problem is why so many are seeking the label while stopping short of care.
