ADHD - a product of Big Pharma? Peter Hitchens debates Kat Brown

There has been a surge in ADHD diagnoses in the UK, and a record number of people in England are taking medication to treat the condition. ADHD is prolific online; billions of hits on TikTok, online tests, and easy-access diagnoses. But is all of this what it seems? Mary Wakefield, commissioning editor of The Spectator, is joined by columnist and author Peter Hitchens and journalist and ADHD advocate Kat Brown. They debate ADHD, its prevalence, and what’s behind its sudden surge in popularity.
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[@nicko8118]

I am a psychotherapist and research psychologist and I definitely think adult ADHD is a construct of big pharma and big tech (iphones etc), as well as functioning by potentially allowing people to signify 'victimhood' and 'difference' without much of an actual opportunity cost to their status and ability to function in the white collar workplace. The rise in people applying this as a self diagnosis who I see in my work is beyond anything else I have experienced. The idea of it being 'developmental' and 'biological' rather than psychological and social allows for medication to be permanently posed as the answer and it being constructed as a problem which can never be solved.

[@Slarti]

Back in the 80s it was fashionable to have dyslexia, nowadays it's ADHD and trans. Look, life is not easy - some people are more sensitive and have more difficulty in ordinary life than others, let's not pathologise life. Also people in the affluent Wets become addicted to having a diagnosed mental health or general health issue - strangely enough poorer people in India and Africa don't seem to have or obsess over these issues.

[@allancrotch2953]

Yes when I was young it was just mental.

[@martyy4073]

Wasn't fashionable, used to get so much abuse for be dyslexic but I do get what your saying these days people feel sorry for themselves about everything and blame it on a disorder.

[@pistonburner6448]

I guess people like her must simply work in manual labor jobs.

[@-Gumbo]

Wow she's rude. I get the feeling she is self diagnosing and won't leave any Dr alone without some kind of meds or further tests. She's a Munchausen

[@mariea82]

💯

[@pistonburner6448]

If they say: "Requiring me to live as a manual laborer is against my human rights!" then they're obviously freeloading grifters. They are not entitled to cushy elite office jobs doing nothing productive, simply meeting each other and having fun in gatherings, while periodically taking 'wellness breaks' on other peoples' dime.

[@pistonburner6448]

The censorship on KZbin is once again astounding.

[@DaveByrdUK]

Hitchen's is right on this. She sounds like a massive victim that's hooked on drugs for a problem that doesn't exist.

[@eddierxx124]

Not that I needed it, but Kat has just perfectly summed up why ADHD is a man made construct. Thanks Kat.

[@andrewcharlton2709]

Again this women is the reason we have this crap.hitchins was totally right

[@George-ky4wf]

Kat pretty annoying 🙄 😒 Peter is AWESOME 👌 👏 👍

[@MaxCherry4170]

Peter pretty easily had this one.

[@pistonburner6448]

Well, he never wins with argumentation (if he even engages in debate in the first place...usually he doesn't and instead makes a tweet and then runs away). I guess he simply was lucky and won by default this time.

[@Nonplussed1]

Last year at a social I met a friend of a friend who makes a living from coaching adults with ADHD on how to be successful in business. I asked him a few qs and suffice to say I came away thinking he was nothing more than a charlatan. This was confirmed when I googled him and came upon a podcast he’d been invited on. The first few mins was him and the podcaster talking about how he’d been 30 mins late for the start of their chat. I mean if people with ADHD have problems with timekeeping (his assertion, not mine) the minimum requirement I’d expect from someone selling his product would be to demonstrate how he himself can turn up on time. Not have a good old joke about it. Good job it wasn’t live 🤦‍♀️

[@wmp4642]

This was just an interview of Hitchens with a live example of the problem at hand…

[@curiositycloset2359]

Childhood adhd doesn't exist either

[@raymondbristow4007]

That wasn't a debate, more of a lecture on rudeness by Kat...

[@CUMBICA1970]

So Purdue pharma was actually a good guy after all. Millions of deaths by addiction is just a minor side effect.

[@mariea82]

ADHD used to be just called bad behaviour.

[@allancrotch2953]

I am 68 and was about to write something similar, but perhaps less eloquently .So just a thumbs up to you and no KZbin strike for me .Thanks

[@mariea82]

@@allancrotch2953 thank you for your nice comment and glad I could help ! 🥰

[@allancrotch2953]

Without any doubt, she is speeding SHE CAN'T SHUT UP !!!!!

[@clarabee4232]

She appreciates his presence but won’t allow him to get a word in

[@George-ky4wf]

LET PETER SPEAK!

[@cellbiologyshorts9105]

My personal take is that whilst I'm sure there are many people kern to put a label on things, and some will happily make money from it, I feel we neglect that with things like smartphones, WiFi, on demand tv and well tailored algorithms, the modern environment can be more able to steal ones attention, and of course some will be more prone to that. Similar to Peter though, I am not sure that pathologising the individual is accurate or helpful.

[@joebobby5630]

This was reminiscent of the (in)famous Hitchens exchange with Matthew Perry. When asked for an objective diagnosis both resort to their own subjective experience

[@CuriousCyclist]

The issue is not just that children are given these drugs but that tax-payers money is spent on these drugs.

[@George-ky4wf]

Peter Hitchins is FANTASTIC, always.

[@ninianmacmillan-keith7435]

We are all able to have views on matters we are not qualified. What an impertinent comment by sh gs4

[@davidorkin3399]

Or and the rise of PTSD for almost everything.

[@hansiesma16]

The ADHD lady doesn’t well represent ADHD and Peter is his usual insufferable self. My nephew in South Africa has been diagnosed with ADHD. He is well behaved but can’t concentrate at school, and gets bored easily. It does sound like the human condition. They used to link ADHD to diet and the E ingredients-that’s gone quiet now.

[@leeboss373]

She’s nuts lol

[@DaveByrdUK]

"should we put Ritalin in the water too?".

[@frankie3041]

What I got from this: the lady likes drugs.

[@mickey2927]

It's a product of unaccountability and poor upbringing.

[@George-ky4wf]

USE THE PARTICULAR NAMES!....ffs HUGE SIDE EFFECTS. Good grief

[@ZuluComeHome]

The lady’s arguments are weak. Bottom line, you’re giving speed to kids. That is wrong

[@lemilemi5385]

Please up her dosage!

[@LettyK]

For goodness sake that's rather unkind especially as she appears a generous individual.

[@George-ky4wf]

Lol

[@SamMcDonald83]

Hmm not watched this yet, and I'm so curious to see what possible position will Peter Hitchens take on this... Hmm.. What will it be... 🤔🤔🤔

[@anibrown5374]

The best way to make your 'brain behave' is to first focus and then ultimately control your mind, for which techniques are available. A life structured around the former creates a sort of tag or catch-me-if-you-can with the latter.

[@ninianmacmillan-keith7435]

Are you Humphries daughter ?

[@kellybracher9246]

Rather than discussing this with an intellectual minnow, it would be good to see him debate this with Gabor Mate.

[@LettyK]

What the h--l! Some of the comments here about Kate are downright cruel. For making such a comment I think of you as an intellectual minnow!

[@roughblooduk]

This was a terrible debate from which I learned nothing.

[@unblessedcoffee1457]

"mumble mumble mumble" Ah, Peter Hitchens on to debate again!

[@SH-gs4ie]

Disappointed in Hitchens wading into something about which he is not remotely qualified, nor fit to comment, on any public platform. He's usually better than that.

[@alexdavis1541]

I don't know, plenty of unqualified people waded into the "safe and effective", calling it a con. They turned out to be right

[@George-ky4wf]

​@@alexdavis1541BINGO !

[@mattjones6115]

Peter has no argument, so he gets pompous, obfuscates and talks over Kat. 1998 is a long time ago in medical science.

[@DaveByrdUK]

that woman talked complete nonsense.

[@mattjones6115]

@@DaveByrdUK now you're doing the same as Peter.

[@Vacaiable]

No he doesn't.

[@eddierxx124]

Hitchin’s has lost the plot recently, but if you think he was over talking her, I’d go back and watch the whole episode again as you’re wrong.

[@mattjones6115]

@@eddierxx124@eddierxx124 I'm sorry, I watched it, and I heard it. Why the gaslighting?

[@WhateverMan35]

So according to Hitchens. Major depressive Disorder doesn't exist. Treating depression with with serotonin works but there is no complete understanding as to why it works - measurable results can be documented physically, therefore in Hitchens opinion, depression isn't real. By god the quality of this channel has gone down hill.

[@George-ky4wf]

Treating depression with serotonin DOES NOT WORK. serotonin = VERY BAD. Please look up what Georgi Dinkov on KZbin has to say on the matter ! (Also Dr Ray Peat)

[@WhateverMan35]

@@George-ky4wf QED

[@allancrotch2953]

I am not ADHD but I would praise the benefits of amphetamine. Just a shame it comes with 5 years of incarceration with vile people who say or TXT nasty things.