7NEWS Spotlight on Channel 7 and 7plus S5E21 profiles Australia’s ADHD explosion – The experts, families, schools and sceptics: inside the ADHD boom.
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder – it’s the most talked about mental health condition in the world, with #ADHD viewed more than 35 billion times on social media.
One in 20 Australians now live with ADHD, and more than half are on medication — including hundreds of thousands of school-aged children.
In a must-watch investigation for every parent and family navigating the ADHD conversation, this Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus, 7NEWS Spotlight examines the disorder that’s dominating schoolyards and workplaces, flooding social media, and redefining the way we think about mental health, parenting and everyday life.
Once seen as a “naughty boy syndrome”, adults are now increasingly being diagnosed with ADHD and young women are the fastest-growing group of patients being medicated.
7NEWS Spotlight speaks with leading experts, families, and educators to unpack the surge in diagnoses, and speaks to doctors and sceptics who are sounding the alarm over prescription rates.
Professor Jon Jureidini, a psychiatrist and outspoken critic of the ADHD diagnosis, told 7NEWS Spotlight:
“ADHD is put forward as a simple explanation for a complex set of problems.
“It’s very easy to become a diagnoser of ADHD, and it’s also very lucrative. So, we have to be a little bit sceptical about the motivations of people who set up specialist practices to diagnose ADHD.”
7NEWS Spotlight Correspondent Ashlee Mullany also takes an exclusive look inside a school unlike any other in Australia, where almost 40% of students have ADHD.
“ADHD doesn’t mean you’re a Martian or anything. You’re still a person,”
– said one student.
Professor David Coghill, a leading world expert in ADHD, told 7NEWSSpotlight:
“Most of the time the information about ADHD on social media isn’t accurate. Only around 30% of the posts were actually based on facts.”
Ashlee Mullany said:
“Among the billions of posts about ADHD on social media, we take a closer look at one psychiatrist who has become an influencer, partnering with a drug manufacturer for paid posts about ADHD.”
Also, on 7NEWS Spotlight, Michael Usher goes inside the Maclean brothers’ record-breaking row across the Pacific Ocean – with exclusive video diaries from their time on board.
For nearly 140 days, Scottish siblings Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan filmed the highs and lows of their 14,000-kilometre journey from Peru to Cairns. From giant waves to sleep deprivation and a few near disasters, cameras caught almost every thrilling moment as they set a new world record for the fastest human powered crossing of the Pacific.
Now back in Sydney, the brothers’ look back on their incredible journey, a raw and unforgettable adventure.
“It’s incredible what your body can do when you put the work in,”
– said Jamie Maclean.
7NEWS Spotlight: Australia’s ADHD explosion, plus the Maclean brothers – This Sunday at 8.40pm on Seven and 7plus
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7NEWS Spotlight on Channel 7 and 7plus S5E21 profiles Australia’s ADHD explosion
