ADHD Is Real But Not At All What You Think It Is

Over-diagnosed and overmedicated, or under-identified and under-supported?

Screen shots taken and edited by author

Unethical journalism practices further perpetuate misinformation

That is a more accurate headline for a recent article published by investigative journalist Rory Carson, as part of a BBC program called Panorama.

A recent episode focused on private ADHD clinics in the U.K., but very similar concerns have been raised here in Canada as well. Similar to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), Canada’s healthcare system is terribly backlogged, leading to unacceptably long wait times for services.

Both the NHS and Canada’s healthcare system leave many people with nowhere to turn. We are frequently shuttled from one service to the next, with no one really knowing where to send us to access proper supports.

This is particularly true for adults with ADHD.

Apparently ADHD is only a childhood problem and adults with ADHD don’t exist.

Enter private ADHD clinics.

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If you build it, they will come

Or, more accurately: See a need and fill it, then reap the profits.

Currently in Manitoba, wait times for ADHD assessments for children and youth are anywhere between 6 months and 3 years. I would say this is similar for adults, but it really depends.

For one thing, it depends on whether our doctors will even give us a referral for assessment in the first place.

I am actually one of the lucky people who has a family doctor, and a pretty good one at that, but he’s certainly not perfect.

Nearly four years ago I sat in my GP’s office and told him my son had recently been diagnosed with ADHD. As I learned more about ADHD, I started recognizing a significant number of traits or symptoms in myself as well.

I asked him if I could be assessed for ADHD.

Initially, he didn’t want to make the referral. His first response was to tell me that whether an assessment is useful is really about our “daily functioning”: whether our house is a mess, we’re constantly late for or missing appointments, we’re chronically disorganized, and so on.

I’m not sure how he could have any opinion on whether or not my house was messy or my workspace disorganized, it’s not as though he’d ever been to my home or seen my office, but okay.

Luckily, I had done my homework.