// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Charity complains about Channel 4 ADHD documentary
The documentary was presented by NHS psychiatrist Dr Max Pemberton
An ADHD charity has said it has complained to media regulator Ofcom about a Channel 4 documentary that suggested the condition is a myth.
The programme, titled The Great ADHD Myth?, was broadcast on Tuesday and its host, NHS psychiatrist Dr Max Pemberton, concluded it was "a social construct, not a disorder of the brain".
ADHD UK filed a complaint, saying: "ADHD is not a myth. It is not a social construct."
The Royal College of Psychiatrists also warned against "invalidating the condition".
Channel 4 defended the show, saying there is "considerable public debate on various aspects of ADHD" and it "is legitimate for that debate to be explored and for conventional understandings to be challenged".
The programme featured experts who are sceptical about ADHD and the way it is treated.
It also followed a 10-year-old boy who stopped his medication and made lifestyle changes to see how it affected his behaviour. The documentary ended with his mother saying he would stay off the drugs for the time being.
A caption at the end of the programme said the boy went back on his medication two months after filming and his school performance improved, but that he wanted to come off them again in the future.
ADHD UK said, external: "The programme's own end credits told you what its 60 minutes wouldn't: the boy at its centre went back on his medication, and his schoolwork improved.