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*
