Dr Max Pemberton isn\u2019t uncompassionate or especially radical, but he assembles a team of medics whose stance on the condition is clear from the off. This is a documentary that will incense and offend many<\/p>\n
Presenter Max Pemberton, a psychiatrist in the NHS, Daily Mail columnist and author, and the experts he has assembled, waste no time in setting out their stall in The Great ADHD Myth?. This is a documentary that will incense and offend some of its viewers, and its scepticism regarding ADHD is clear from the outset. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly not a medical condition as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d says the former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Dr Iona Heath. \u201cWe\u2019re going to look back and think: did we actually put a chemical cosh on an entire developing generation of brains?\u201d says a neurophysiological psychologist. \u201cThe industry around ADHD is about making money at the cost of the misery of others,\u201d says a former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.<\/p>\n
These represent the three main questions raised by Pemberton. The first is whether ADHD is a neuro-developmental disorder \u2013 ie do those diagnosed with the condition have different brains from those without \u2013 or whether it is a way of suppressing natural tendencies (especially those of children) and inducing behaviours that society deems acceptable. The second is how doctors should approach treatment, which most often involves amphetamines. \u201cThese are controlled drugs,\u201d says consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Sami Timimi. \u201cThere\u2019s good reason why we warn the rest of the population [about them].\u201d The third question is \u2013 who benefits from the increase in diagnoses we have seen in the past decade or so? How has ADHD moved from a relatively unknown condition 10 years ago to affecting about 2.5 million people in the UK today (including a 200% increase in people being referred for diagnosis in the past five years)?<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/01c74fe8e0a7d4086010225801a075636a953a90\/858_0_1740_1393\/master\/1740.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7ad7dea63af8f3b8e9a2749d36977d2e\" "\\"The")
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