Expert Reaction to the TV Show ‘The Great ADHD Myth?

Scientists comment on the Channel 4 TV show ‘The Great ADHD Myth?’

Prof Katya Rubia, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, said:

“My own contribution to this programme has been largely misrepresented as my comments were cherry-picked, truncated and presented out of context to make them fit into the programme’s narrative that ADHD does not exist and there is no brain basis to the social construct.

The claim that ADHD is not a disorder of the brain

“It is true that with current technology (which might well change in the future) we cannot diagnose ADHD children based on a brain scan and the diagnosis is based on behavioural questionnaires and observations that are subjective. However, this does not mean that there are no neurobiological correlates to ADHD. There are differences in genetic, neurochemical, even immunological features and there is consistent evidence from three decades of neuroimaging research including my own for differences in brain structure and function as well as connectivity between children with and without ADHD. It is true that they are small at a group level, and that some children have no brain differences based on normative modelling studies. However, part of the reason the differences between ADHD and non-ADHD brains are small at group level is because there is a large heterogeneity, with some children showing large brain differences and other milder cases showing very small differences, so this will bring the average down. There is also substantial evidence for a delay in normal brain maturation in children with ADHD. Crucially, we need to take into account that the youngest and most severe cases with ADHD have never been scanned and if someone behaves very differently from the norm their brain will also function differently.