Channel 4's ADHD Myth documentary. Not sure we need to heed a psychiatrist who a) doesn't specialise in ADHD b) is a Daily Mail columnist c) Poses for photos with a stethoscope as if needing to *prove* he's a doctor (how many shrinks do you see using stethoscopes? It's a performative facade of authority)
Summary: "To make my point, I ignored the medical consensus [...] I tried a thimbleful of beer and became a scary demon, proving that alcohol is the work of Satan [...] children should strengthen their constitutions by sleeping outside in winter, praying to Jesus, & not taking sugar from foreigners"
"Just so that you know I'm a real doctor, I'll always wear a t-shirt in public emblazoned with a smiling doctor emoji. This makes me trustworthy [...] I see no conflict of interest writing for a 'deprecated, unreliable' newspaper with a proven track record for 'poor fact checking & flat-out fabrication"
Prof Katya Rubia, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London: “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."
Yet more kickback. New Scientist calls it an "ill-informed documentary"
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2585608-calling-adhd-a-myth-is-pseudoscientific-and-dangerous/
More kickback, and in The Guardian, perhaps to atone for Lucy Mangan's flimsy, muddled review.
"Pemberton displayed a warped non-scientific logic [...] It bore little relation to a genuine scientific debate; in fact, there was no evidence of a debate at all"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/20/there-is-nothing-scientific-about-the-great-adhd-myth-documentary?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
@Richard_Littler *facepalm*. OMG. 🥶
@Richard_Littler satirical mockery might be the tool of choice here :-)
Some Questions for Channel 4, about their documentary ‘The Great ADHD Myth?’
https://theneuroscienceofeverydaylife.substack.com/p/some-questions-for-channel-4-about?r=24oxwv
@Richard_Littler Without being informed of all the facts of the matter. I feel your rage. I respect your ability to forge it in words. Continue to do so. ( emoji of respect and appreciation ;)
The new "Wakefield study".
@Richard_Littler I've been trying to find the rest of her statement, but I've not been able to. Do you know where it is? I've looked at some of the Science Media Centre article, but couldn't see it there (it is very very long though, so I might have skipped past it?)?
@Richard_Littler @alexisbushnell You feel it was one of those programmes commissioned on the basis of controversy alone. I didn’t watch it - the premise alone infuriated me to the point of rage.
@Richard_Littler You might want to read this as well, if you haven't already.
@Richard_Littler The Guardian has spent the last decade if not more pissing away any sense of goodwill. That four star review is dreadful and really shows off the prejudice of the reviewer.
@Richard_Littler hi handsome how are you doing today
@Richard_Littler The incoherence of anti-neurodiversity reactionaries is wild to me. Somehow ND is both a vast tragedy caused by vaccines, while also being completely made up. Utter disrespect for our perspectives, struggles and contributions.
The UK in particular seems to have succumbed to TERF disease, where anything a privileged writer doesn't understand must be dismissed and sneered at. Apparently Lucy Mangan has form there.
@Richard_Littler
Well, a real psychiatrist knows you can actually hear the thoughts if you hold the stethoscope against the head and listen very (very!) carefully.
@Richard_Littler
I’m not arguing against your point here. But recently I’ve seen many TV documentations that made their experts do ‚interesting‘ things.
He may have worn a stethoscope because the production crew asked him to.
@Richard_Littler nb this and incoming follow-up ep https://mastodon.social/@robinince/117121911334286273
Aug 19, 2026, 11:51 AM@Richard_Littler does this mean I need to drape a soldering iron like a scarf when I do media?
@Richard_Littler in general, folks can and should ignore any Channel Four documentary.
They have a long history of trash TV (although their news program is excellent): previous subjects include 'migrants', extremely fat people, and anyone with a weird disease.
@Richard_Littler reminds me of Dr Oz always appearing in scrubs. You know everything he says is straight from the horse doctor's mouth. Good thing too, otherwise we wouldn't have found out about ivermectin.
@Richard_Littler @cstross And on stethoscopes, during my latest checkup my cardiologist said their use is mostly outdated anyway, given much better diagnostic methods are available now. As if science moves on, what bigots like Mr. Documentary Doctor fail to recognize as they just want to reinforce their false a priori hypothesis.
@Richard_Littler
A psychiatrist who doesn’t know that psychiatric meds have different effects on neurodivergent brains.
@Richard_Littler Jesus fucking christ
Aug 19, 2026, 3:57 PM@Richard_Littler Were all the subjects that they looked at children? Not only does this contribute to the idea that anyone with neurodiversity doesn't need support after age 18, but I'd have thought looking at a few adults would help control for the "naughty behaviour" thing
Aug 19, 2026, 3:59 PM@Richard_Littler they actually posed with a stethoscope but are barely a pyschiatrist?
@Richard_Littler they use it to listen to your thoughts, within the skull, duh.
@Richard_Littler I have never seen a doctor with a stethoscope around their neck. Whenever I see such pictures, I know it means they are not a real doctor - or at least not within the specialism they are being used for.