pay attention now…
Finding out that cheeky-chappie greengrocer Gregg Wallace is blaming all his self-inflicted sexist woes on a combination of autism and ADHD makes me ask the question of why does everyone suddenly seem to have ADHD? It’s somewhat bewildering. Have these people simply been undiagnosed for years? At the risk of going all Daily Mail on you, is it a fad, this year’s thing?
The condition used to be mainly diagnosed in children, but more and more of us are now getting a diagnosis in adulthood and, notwithstanding the actual condition remains up for debate, these adult patients tend to assume that they’ve had it forever. Analysis by Colchrane (the body which independently evaluates research) suggests ADHD across all age-groups is now wildly over-diagnosed, and this can be dangerous. Apparently, with the widening of symptoms (aka diagnosis creep) we’re all somewhere on the spectrum.
The very act of diagnosing an individual can have a dramatically negative effect, and is known as ‘labelling theory’. A person with a diagnosis can feel they no longer need to take responsibility for their actions, struggles or difficulties. They no longer have to make an effort to change or control themselves and use their diagnosis to defend themselves against any criticism or unwanted advice. Furthermore, it’s often easier to medicalise a child’s behaviour than to confront the parents with the idea that they might, at least in part, be to blame for how their offspring behaves.
With NHS provision being quickly overwhelmed, the increased awareness of mental health issues has been a veritable gold-mine for private doctors and psychologists as there’s an undisputed flood of people banging down the door for a diagnosis. There are even very definite, tangible incentives for parents to get an ADHD diagnosis for their child including the securing of additional time in exams, and, unsurprisingly, the highest rates of diagnosis are in within relatively affluent areas. Ofqual show 27% of pupils at a non-selective school received additional exam time compared with 42% of those attending private schools. Perhaps one is merely better at identifying that need professional help? You decide.
I have no doubts whatsoever that ADHD does genuinely exist, it is a bona-fide neurological condition, but are we largely recasting ordinary everyday human variation as pathology? IMHO the fact that the number of those suffering with many mental health conditions has burgeoned in recent years, and appears to have done so in direct correlation with the rise of devices and apps, is no fluke. It is no coincidence that the rates of attention and behavioural difficulties in all of us, but especially children, have rocketed in line with the rise and rise of technology. If our brains are constantly bombarded by addictive stimulation and instant gratification is it any wonder we can’t focus and stay on-point?
The solution for the majority however is not Ritalin or intentionally scamming the grade system, it’s more self-control and discipline, it’s better parenting with less screen time, it’s setting a better example and practicing what we preach, it’s placing less importance on the uber-destructive comparable nature of social media. If everyone has a diagnosis, then no-one does.
