The Facts
According to a report released on Monday, patients in at least three private clinics in the UK are being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and prescribed powerful drugs based on unreliable online assessments.
An undercover BBC investigative reporter, Rory Carson, was allegedly diagnosed with ADHD via video calls despite an in-person NHS evaluation showing he did not have the condition.
The Spin
Narrative A
The BBC’s undercover investigation shows how private ADHD clinics fail patients by overdiagnosing people and prescribing powerful medications without careful consideration. These institutions are not providing adequate assessments to determine if a patient has ADHD; instead they are resorting to medicating people inappropriately. ADHD is a serious condition for those who have it; it is not merely characterized by some fidgety behavior and minor lapses of concentration.
Narrative B
The BBC is demonizing vital private clinics that have helped many patients with ADHD navigate their lives. Not only does the BBC depict the condition in a stigmatized manner, but it also feeds into stereotypes about how it is diagnosed. There is a prevailing and widely false narrative that ADHD isn’t real or that it is just excess energy from childhood that adults will outgrow. This narrative must be challenged, otherwise those suffering from the condition risk going undiagnosed and untreated.