Unpacking Channel 4's Great ADHD Myth - and What to Watch Next

Since I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2021, I’ve seen a seismic shift in attitude towards it. This shift forms the basis of Channel 4's recent documentary, The Great ADHD Myth?, which asks whether the disorder is a ‘social construct.’

What started as genuine curiosity about how ADHD can affect you and the rising prevalence of #ADHDTok quickly turned into scepticism. Over the past few years, this scepticism has metastasised into a furious, unwavering narrative that ADHD is over-diagnosed, and that the real problem here is an over-pathologisation of what are fundamentally human traits. 

One of the most notable critics of the disorder is Dr Max Pemberton, a psychologist who, in his crusade against ADHD, leads the Channel 4 documentary framing ADHD as a ‘myth.’ This framing alone caused widespread concern, but when I watched the documentary myself, I tried to keep an open mind. I was left sorely disappointed.

Concerningly, the documentary, in part, seems to hinge on one child’s medication journey and Pemberton getting ‘diagnosed’ and taking a stimulant once. The programme acts as if the case for ADHD being socially constructed is a foregone conclusion, talking to ‘experts’ on just one side of the debate and perpetuating what can only be described as misinformation.

Unsurprisingly, this documentary got a fierce reaction from the ADHD community, with ADHD UK leading the charge and encouraging people to report the show to Ofcom. But the damage may have been done.

How Accurate Is Channel 4's ADHD Documentary?

Cristina Louk is a therapist and clinical supervisor specialising in ADHD. She also has a PhD in clinical psychology. On the documentary’s headline claim, she said: “It is important to distinguish between the fact that ADHD is diagnosed within social and clinical systems and the claim that ADHD is therefore “merely” a social construct. Diagnostic thresholds, access to assessment, cultural expectations, and inequalities in health care can all shape who is recognised and diagnosed. That is true of many medical and psychiatric conditions. It does not negate the substantial evidence that ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with biological and genetic foundations.”

She went on to describe it as a “heterogeneous condition” that encompasses “the cumulative contribution of many genetic variants, interacting with early developmental exposures.”

“Twin and family research consistently finds high heritability, commonly estimated at approximately 70–80%,” she adds. “Large-scale genetic studies also identify polygenic contributions, while neuropsychological and neuroimaging research finds, at the group level, differences in brain development and the neural systems involved in attention, reward processing, inhibition, and executive functioning. These findings are not a diagnostic test, but they are incompatible with reducing ADHD to a cultural invention or a failure of parenting.”

How Do People With ADHD Feel About the Documentary?

As someone with ADHD myself, I couldn’t quite comprehend how a documentary like that was even shown on TV. Its heavy bias, misinformation, and lack of diversity in both experts and people with ADHD make it difficult to take seriously. The one thing Pemberton and I can agree on is that the underlying issue here is the ‘system.’ However, the ‘system’ he thinks exists is very different from the reality: a system which, as shown by Wes Streeting's previous review, the avalanche of think pieces and this documentary, is willing to stop at nothing to discredit neurodivergence at the expense of millions who suffer.

Michele Theil, a press officer diagnosed with ADHD, came to a similar conclusion. “For Channel 4 to broadcast a hugely inflammatory and frankly offensive documentary questioning the validity of ADHD as a condition is highly irresponsible,” she said. “People with ADHD, like myself, struggle a lot with their symptoms and with being believed. It is a disability, and people are not faking the debilitating way this condition manifests. Despite what the documentary claims, it is incredibly difficult to get an ADHD diagnosis, any form of support, and access to medication. I waited years to be diagnosed and have continued to wait to receive support and medication. This documentary is simply going to perpetuate the stigma that people with neurodiversities face on a daily basis, and I am incredibly disappointed that the broadcaster chose to do this.”

Avila Diana Chidume, a project manager with ADHD, also shared her thoughts with JustWatch. "If my family watched this, it would just re-validate the beliefs that this is just something made up by the West,” she explained. Regarding her own diagnosis, she added: “Even now I sometimes question if I have [ADHD] given how the stereotypes portrayed are so strong.” As for Pemberton himself, she said: “I feel like he comes so close to getting it but keeps missing it.”

Ultimately, when it came to the documentary, she said she is “really disappointed by how they went about it. Very biased and failed to go into depth about underlying problems. Just seemed like there was an agenda to fulfil. Annoying that they didn’t even interview experts in support of ADHD or get other viewpoints which weren’t their own. In summary: can’t take it seriously.”

Mainstream Papers Praise ADHD Documentary

Amid all the rightful criticism, there are those that support the documentary. The Guardian gave it a four-star review, writing that “we live in a time when to question any prevailing orthodoxy will, in many cases, be met with an emotional outpouring. Casting any form of doubt on ADHD will absolutely not be the exception. But Pemberton answers his questions convincingly.”

Additionally, The Times, which also gave the documentary a four-star review, wrote that “if this had been designed as a dispassionate science film, it would have been flawed by a lack of balance: there was no real counter-argument offered to the idea of ADHD as a "myth”. Except this wasn’t Horizon; this was, really, a polemic.”

“So the question is: was it a valuable one?” the reviewer added. “Yes, because the issues raised do need to be discussed.”

ADHD In The Media

While the media itself has a lot to say about ADHD, its representation in entertainment is scarce. Two examples that immediately come to mind for me are Bart Simpson from The Simpsons and Jay from Big Mouth. Both of these shows leaned into the convention of ADHD being something pre-adolescent, hyperactive, and that ‘bad’ little boys have. 

In both of these cases, a big part of the storyline was ADHD medication. In The Simpsons, the medication was initially presented as a miracle drug before essentially turning Bart ‘crazy.’ It was released back in 1999, and arguably, as one of the only representations of ADHD in the media at the time, didn’t exactly improve the image of ADHD as being bad and its drugs being worse. In fact, because The Simpsons was so influential, it arguably added to this narrative. 

Surprisingly, Big Mouth was a little more nuanced than that, having been released 20 years later. The show included an interesting visual of what it was like inside an ADHD person’s brain before and after medication was used. But ultimately, this was a letdown as well, with Jay selling the drugs to the other students. This didn’t help with the stereotype of people with ADHD being delinquents, but to its credit, it did demonstrate why people who aren’t prescribed ADHD medication shouldn’t use it. Still, there’s so much more to ADHD than medication, and both these cartoons paint a too-simplistic picture. 

What Should I Watch Next For Better ADHD Representation?

In turn, I can’t really wholeheartedly recommend Big Mouth or The Simpsons if you’re looking for good ADHD representation. However, if you’re looking for a palate cleanser after the documentary, or are making the wise decision to skip it altogether, the good news is that there are some alternatives out there.

My personal favourite is an episode of Chris Packham’s documentary series, Inside Our Minds. In these hour-long episodes, through which he has also covered autism and dyslexia, Packham collaborates with neurodivergent people to help them make a short film for family and loved ones that encapsulates everything that is going on in their brains. The ADHD-focused episode of this show is unique in the sense that it captures all the complexity of what ADHD is like and how it can present beyond broad labels like ‘inattentive’ and ‘hyperactive.’

Another great documentary is the film The Disruptors. This documentary is worth a watch because, like Inside Our Minds, it doesn’t shy away from the more nuanced aspects of ADHD and how it can impact things like peer and familial relationships. It also casts a more critical eye on the school system and how it can sometimes hinder rather than help people with ADHD. As well as interviewing several celebrities with ADHD, like Howie Mandel, will.i.am, and Paris Hilton, the documentary follows young people from different backgrounds and at various ages. While medication is a part of this documentary, it isn’t presented as the be-all-end-all, and some of the people in this documentary choose to manage their ADHD in other ways, like an ADHD coach. There are also expert voices which, unlike The Great ADHD Myth, actually have critical thinking skills.

The Oscar-winning movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, can also be considered a good representation of ADHD. The chaos surrounding Evelyn as she is pulled into different multiversal directions, combined with its overstimulating filming style, has been considered by many to be a great insight into what it is like to be inside an ADHD brain. So much so that Daniel Kwan, one of the directors of the film, ended up being diagnosed with ADHD while researching the condition for the movie. “I stayed up until like, four in the morning, just reading everything I could find about it, just crying, just realising that, ‘Oh, my God, I think I have ADHD,’” he told Salon. “So this movie is the reason why I got diagnosed. I got diagnosed, I went to therapy for a year and then went to a psychiatrist. And I’m now on meds, and it’s such a beautiful, cathartic experience to realise why your life has been so hard.”

Ultimately, when it comes to ADHD, I appreciate that it might be difficult to understand if you don’t live with it. But with these recommendations, you’ll hopefully have a good place to start.