ADHD: Fiction, Fashion and Failure. (Spoiler: It’s Not What You Think.)

That’s not my title. That’s the actual title of the paper.

Thirty-two experts from Cambridge, Southampton, Nottingham and beyond published a paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry this March with the full, glorious title: “ADHD (over) diagnosis: fiction, fashion, and failure.”

And their conclusion? The fiction is the overdiagnosis myth. The fashion is the media running with it. And the failure — the actual, costly, children-falling-through-the-gaps failure — is the unmet need we keep ignoring.

“Everyone’s Got ADHD These Days” - really!

If I had a pound for every time a parent told me someone had said this to them — a relative, a teacher, a GP — I’d have retired considerably earlier than I did.

The paper specifically calls out this narrative — the idea that “nowadays everyone has ADHD” — as one that’s gaining traction in public discourse and has been amplified by some leading politicians.  Politicians. Imagine having the audacity to wade into a clinical debate with no clinical evidence. Remarkable.

Here’s what the actual data says. Diagnostic records show a rise in ADHD diagnoses between 2000 and 2018 — but it remains substantially below where it should be given the true population prevalence. Around 5.4% of children and 3.3% of adults are estimated to have ADHD.  We are not diagnosing too many people. We are still missing huge numbers.

The Problem That Actually Needs Talking About

Professor Tamsin Ford, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, put it plainly: “While many more people with ADHD are being recognised and treated, we are failing to support many more. Overdiagnosis is not a problem, but misdiagnosis may be — as people are driven into the private sector by long waits — and sadly, missed diagnoses remain common.”

Driven into the private sector by long waits. Read that again. The system is so overwhelmed that families are spending thousands they don’t have just to be told what they already knew. And somehow the conversation keeps circling back to whether we’re being too helpful.

What About Reliability?

One argument often wheeled out against ADHD diagnosis is that it’s subjective. Vague. Open to interpretation. The researchers address this directly: when clinicians are properly trained, an ADHD diagnosis is among the most reliable for any mental health condition. ADHD symptoms exist on a continuum — much like blood pressure or weight — and that doesn’t make them less real. 

Your child’s struggles are not a matter of opinion. They are measurable, documented, and backed by decades of research.

If You’re a Parent Reading This

You didn’t imagine it. You didn’t push for a label because it was convenient. You pushed because you watched your child struggle and you wanted them to get the same shot at things that every other child gets.

The experts are on record. Cambridge. Southampton. Nottingham. Thirty-two of them.

The overdiagnosis narrative is fiction. The unmet need is the story that actually matters.

And you’ve been living it.

Janine | ADHD in Practice | adhdinpractice.uk

Former SENCo. Late-diagnosed. Still saying the quiet parts out loud.

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