A press release from channel 4, there seems to be very differing views by the medical profession. I have a son with ADHD, he doesn’t have this because schools cancelled corporal punishment or exposure to phones, he was different before school age and has an autistic parent.
Thanks for watching and summarising, I wasn't keen to watch it from the description. It sounds like they made it into a bit of a circus. It's hard to know money is being put into programmes like this that push the narrative that these conditions are made up. I would rather money being put into scientific research.
(I don't have ADHD either, but feel for the stigma these programmes bring).
There are a lot of different specialists with all different opinions. One argued that ADHD some scans will show some small changes but it will not in everybody's case and some children's will look like neurotypical scans. One argued that there was a bell curve and some people are on the end but increasingly those in the middle are also being diagnosed. The presenter argued that it was more of a behaviour type. He argued that behaviour can be learnt in the brain.
The government is working on their final report for autism and adhd. They may have watched this and will respond to it may be to. I doubt that I will watch it again
When watching it was like betrayal to start saying it doesn't exist when it is so closely tied to autism as well. I don't have the condition, it is a legitimate condition that genuinely has affected some people I know from childhood. They should be careful though of diagnosing traits when it is not significant in some areas if they are doing this. The presenter even ended being diagnosed with ADHD and they disputed this.
I wonder that too Roy, it seems like they do a study with a very small sample and extrapolate from that and add in another couple of very small sample size studies to back up thier case and then everybody extrapolates on extrapolation. Then it becomes the fault of parents and sufferers that they're not behaving as expected. Isolation maybe of some use to some people in some circumstances, but it will depend on if the isolated person feels this is a punishment or not, if they care, or not, and some might even prefer to be isolated so as they can concentrate.
I don't think anyone ever considers that people with ADHD or autism go through the same hormonal changes that thier peers do and that often means that hormones+ADHD makes for a wild and toxic combination for everyone including the person who has ADHD.
I've long thought that schools are more about teaching children to conform, about square bashing and control than about educations and fostering a love of learning or even help people find out what their interests are.
I don’t think these professionals have ever dealt with the fallout of ADHD children , since pre school my wife was getting called into school, Senior school was when life just went ballistic, our son was expelled at 14 with no further schooling, I think he spent more time in isolation than in a main classroom, putting someone like him in a cubicle was never going to work.
At one point we had 4 police cars outside our house at one time, court appearances at 16 and still living with us in his mid 20’s, we have to watch every word we say to him as he can be very volatile. We really wanted a new start in Cornwall but a lot of our problems have come with us. We do love him but it can be very frustrating.
I remember some boys at primary school who, now I look back must have had ADHD, they were in regular reciept of corporal punishment, being sent to the headmaster to be smacked at least once a week. All us kids knew there was something not quite right with them, obviously we didn't know what to call it other than very naughty.
I wonder what better questions Dr Pemberton hopes to ask and why isn't he asking them now? I wonder if he's ever had a child who only sleeps about 6 hours in any 24 hour period and no two of those together, who'd scream for hours and was so stubborn she had to have her rocking horse and trike taken away. If we let her have them, she'd drag them to the top of the stairs and try and ride them down, then she'd scream, not with pain but with rage and get up and do it all again. The health visitor said she'd never seen anthing like it. I think the questions he'd be asking are 'how do I get some sleep? and what do I have to do to make this child managable?.
I haven’t seen the programme but I know a bit about Dr Max Pemberton because he’s known for his dismissive views of ADHD.
Dr Max Pemberton (NHS psychiatrist) is quoted by Forbes:
“There’s no doubt that the people seeking these diagnoses are genuinely struggling; that isn’t in question,” he continued. “What the film asks is whether ADHD is really the best explanation for that struggle and my hope is that we come away with permission to ask better questions about what modern life is doing to all of us.” Apple News/Forbes, Channel 4 The Great ADHD Myth.
I am on an NHS ADHD assessment waiting list that has recently stalled. The NHS clinic agreed with me that I was correct in saying that I would be dead before I would have a chance of being seen.
I didn’t have a mobile when young. I spent most of my time outdoors and I was always in detention at school and received corporal punishment at home. I don’t think environmental factors caused my ADHD traits.
If Dr Pemberton doesn’t deny that people with ADHD have symptoms that are effectively treated by medication, I don’t see the point of denying the condition exists other than to make it more difficult for certain groups of people to access help and potentially state benefits.
I think this is largely politically driven. It goes along not so nicely with Jeremy Clarkson’s recent comment that people on state benefits should write him a long letter thanking him and showing true gratitude for the money, and listing how they have spent it. Talk about entitlement! It’s a pretty disgusting thing to say.
Phones don't casuse ADHD but rather there's a rise in ADHD diagnosis because short form content and loud catchy content feeds that diatrulttive side of ADHD where as befor phones we all watched shoes or read books or what not that fwd the norencreatuve side of ADHD
I fear that this will be a (literal) shitshow.
I had it professionally recently, where someone told a room full of colleagues, many of whom either had children with or were ADHD diagnosed themselves, that 'in fact ADHD is trauma based'.
No, ADHD exists, as does trauma, and while they may present similarly in young people, pretending that everything has to be just one thing is frightening and dishonest. Insulting too.
I've had doctors as friends and family, and they're no different from the general population in terms of their own fears and prejudices. My ex-sister-in-law was a GP who couldn't cope at all with mental health problems/neurodiversity. Many find it simpler to find reasons to deny the problem exists as then, it's not down to them to deal with it.
I was looking at the governments intermin findings for autism and ADHD and nothing untoward seems to be going with the increase in numbers.
Sorry I didn’t explain properly, this is part of the article.
“It is certainly not a medical condition as far as I’m concerned” – Dr Iona Heath, Former President of the Royal College of General Practitioners
“We’ve replaced corporal punishment with giving [children] a pill” – Dr Sami Timimi, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist and psychotherapist
Sorry Roy, I don't quite understand what you're trying to say, especially abiut your son, schools, mobile phones and corporal punishment?
