Sussex ADHD coach: Channel 4’s “The Great ADHD Myth?” puts lives at risk
I am an East Sussex business owner and ADHD UK Ambassador, and I am really disappointed with Channel 4.
Their documentary ‘The Great ADHD Myth?’ – broadcast on Tuesday warned that questioning the existence of a recognised medical condition on primetime television has real consequences for vulnerable people.
I watched the programme in full on the night of broadcast. I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and now support neurodivergent business owners and employees across Sussex and the UK.
What I saw was a small group of ‘specialists’ given a national platform to imply that ADHD, a recognised neurodevelopmental condition, might be a myth or a social construct.
“ADHD is not scientifically controversial. It is recognised by the World Health Organization, the NHS, NICE and every major medical body on earth. What it is is hugely stigmatised, and programmes like this add to that stigma rather than lifting it.”
ADHD was first described by physicians in 1798, two centuries before smartphones.
In 2021, more than 80 researchers across 27 countries published an international consensus statement setting out over 200 evidence-based conclusions about the condition, which has a heritability of around 74% among the highest of any psychiatric condition.
Research from University College London using UK health records found that adults with diagnosed ADHD die on average around seven years earlier (men) and almost nine years earlier (women) than the general population.
The harm began before transmission.
A question mark doesn’t make it harmless. The damage was done in the listings, the trailers and the comment sections.
I’ve spoken to an employee who had finally asked for workplace adjustments and is now bracing for ‘but didn’t you see that programme?’
A mum who agonised for months over medication and is now second-guessing herself at the school gate.
A woman three years into a waiting list wondering whether to bother.
There is real evidence that people with ADHD are more likely to experience suicidal ideation and to self-harm than the general population.
This isn’t an abstract debate to us. I believe Channel 4 put lives at risk, and I won’t stand by quietly.
I welcome scrutiny of ADHD services. There are urgent conversations to be had about five-year waiting lists, about a two-tier system where a private diagnosis costs more than most people have, about who gets missed – hello, every woman diagnosed in her forties.
I’d have promoted that programme. This wasn’t it. There is an enormous difference between asking ‘is this system working?’ and asking ‘is this condition real?'”
National charity ADHD UK wrote to Channel 4 before broadcast and has published a form for viewers to share their views or make a formal complaint, at Challenging Channel 4’s “The Great ADHD Myth?” – ADHD UK
My message to the ADHD community is simple: You don’t owe anyone your diagnosis paperwork. You don’t have to watch it. You are not a myth, not a trend, and not a failure of parenting.”
Nic Gray is the founder of Nic Gray & Associates, a multi-award-winning business support and ADHD coaching practice based in East Sussex, and an ADHD UK Ambassador. She is a director of the Hailsham & East Sussex ADHD Support CIC. Awards include Small Business Sunday (SBS) 2022 and ADHD Coaching Service of the Year 2026/27.
credit AdasGold for photo of Nic Gray
