Original subtitles

Up and down the UK,

it feels like everybody is talking about one thing.

Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder is one of

the most searched health-related hashtags,

amassing over 20 billion views.

Why do people not take ADHD seriously?

Over 200,000 people are on the waiting list for a diagnosis,

with waiting times of up to eight years.

If I hadn't been able to afford,

whatever that was, £500 at that time,

I would still have been on an NHS waiting list.

Social media is awash with ADHD-related content,

and famous faces starting to talk publicly about it.

As a kid I was a complete nightmare kid,

running around the place, couldn't, you know,

couldn't control my emotions.

I'm Dr Karan Rajan, medical myth buster and health educator.

ADHD might be easier to understand if you think about it as

a dopamine deficiency compared to a neurotypical brain.

I'm fascinated by the huge explosion

of interest surrounding the condition,

to the point of which everyone is talking about it.

The whole of my childhood is papered

with everybody telling me to calm down.

And it's not just millennials offering opinion.

The mobile phone made everyone ADHD.

It's a hugely complex topic, with a huge variety of symptoms.

And as the saying goes, "If you've met one person with ADHD,

"you've met ONE person with ADHD", which makes diagnosis a minefield.

So, we're going to help.

For those people on the waiting list,

for those of you who suspect a diagnosis might be

a good idea, we have the world-leading experts.

It's not just the worried well, if you see what I mean.

It's real, but because it's so common, it's coming to light.

The most authoritative neurodiverse voices...

We know the right things to do to help ourselves

and make ourselves feel better.

..and some world-beating commentators.

Sometimes I have to many things in my head,

that I just lose everything.

Dr Clare Bailey Mosley and I are going to take you through all of

the stages of diagnosis, from form filling to the final assessment.

What do you to relax? I don't, I suppose.

We'll explain what constitutes a diagnosis...

Everybody loses their keys sometimes, but if you've got ADHD,

it needs to be significantly more than you would expect.

..and you can join in by filling out this assessment form.

We'll explain later.

We're here to steer you through a myriad of information

to help you on your way to whatever that outcome may be.

So what do people with ADHD say it's like?

Normally my brain is almost as if there's like all of these sort

of particles, firing off in different directions

all at the same time.

It is like having a Ferrari engine but having bicycle brakes.

It feels like there's just always

a swarm of bees in my brain that are just always are going at

each other, are trying to fight each other,

trying to get to the top of my attention.

It was like 20 televisions on at once.

And you can't really tell what channel it's on and what it...

..what anything is saying.

2.6 million people in the UK have ADHD,

and there's probably a lot more without an official diagnosis.

Yes, private assessments are quicker, but on the NHS,

the waiting list can be

a matter of years, all depending on where you live.

We're going to look at what exactly constitutes a diagnosis.

You'll primarily be assessed on three criteria.

The first is for those inattentive symptoms,

defined by someone who can be easily distracted and forgetful.

Next, are traits of hyperactivity and impulsiveness,

often characterised by restlessness,

excessively talking and acting without thinking.

And the third is impairment.

To be diagnosed,

your life has to be significantly impacted by ADHD.

It's not just a case of losing your keys.

To give you a step-by-step understanding of

the diagnosis process, Dr Clare Bailey Mosely has agreed

to share her assessment journey with us.

Clare is a former GP and widow of the late, lovely, Michael Mosley.

Throughout their life together,

she believed there were indications that they both had the condition.

Michael would wait until the last moment to write his articles

and wait until the pressure was there,

which is a really classic thing

before you actually get into the zone and then power through.

Clare's own big aha moment came when her inattentiveness nearly led

to fire in a friend's kitchen.

I cooked a meal and I left my rice cooking. Went off,

came back and there was smoke billowing around

the kitchen and it was very embarrassing.

Clare may be a doctor,

but she can't simply diagnose herself. There are formal steps.

I haven't had an assessment but I've had an inkling

for some time that I do have ADHD in some form.

If you want to be diagnosed,

you have to start by looking backwards.

ADHD is a neurodivergent condition,

which most experts would say you are born with.

So a diagnosis will look at childhood behaviours.

Argh!

So whether it's your child now or what you were like as

a child then, what are the traits to spot?

Hello.

I'm here at a sensory experience to get

the expert view from the mouths of babes...

Help.

I'm Mikey, M-I-K-E-Y, Mikey, and I'm seven.

..and hang out with Professor Stephen Scott,

the number-one world-leading academic

and clinician in the research of ADHD,

to find out what behaviours an assessment will be looking for.

So if you're a parent at home,

what are some signs that you can really pick out that

to differentiate between maybe just a personality trait of that child

vs something that could be ADHD and a pathological condition?

First of all, if you're just watching in

the school playground, are they running around

more than other kids?

At the table, compared with their brother,

do they have to keep getting up and down?

Are they always forgetting things much more? Are they leaving kit,

gym kit at school and that sort of thing, this disorganisation?

The second step is to ask

the teachers what they're like in class.

If they are fine in class, it's something else, it's not ADHD.

But if the teacher says, "Yes, they're very disruptive.

"They're always chatting and talking to the other people.

"They keep wandering around. They seem to be daydreaming.

"You know, come back!", Then you're more likely to be onto

something. Because if it's both at school

and at the home, then it's more likely that you should be concerned

about it.

Carry on! This room is... It's really satisfying and nice.

But look down, Oliver.

It can give you an extremely good memory or it can give you

a memory that is almost equivalent to a goldfish.

Things just feel, maybe, a bit more hyper.

And also, I fidget a lot. I mean a lot, a lot.

Sometimes I have too many things in my head that I just lose everything,

so I can't think of what I'm saying.

Do you find concentrating tricky?

Erm, sometimes.

ADHD presents so differently in different people.

What are some of the core symptoms of ADHD?

The boys are often hyperactive and impulsive,

which means they get referred to services,

whereas the girls can just be inattentive

and it can be missed until adolescence.

So whilst it is commoner in boys when you do surveys,

two-and-a-half times more common in boys than girls,

the referral rate to our services is four-to-one, boys-to-girls.

Because they're causing more trouble in the family,

they're being more difficult.

AGH! SHE LAUGHS

What's hard about ADHD is sometimes I say things that are,

like, I never knew that were actually really rude,

so I just say it without thinking.

So we're hearing more about ADHD being on the rise.

Do you think that's a result of increased awareness

and we're getting better at diagnosing it?

Or there something environmentally?

I think the evidence is actually clear,

because when we do surveys in whole community,

epidemiological surveys, it is so common. 5%.

Now, epilepsy 1% or 2%. Autism is 1%.

This is five times more common.

So actually, we're getting much more referrals.

So I've been looking at - in the South London Maudsley Trust,

which is the biggest mental health trust in

Europe, actually - of those referred,

how many when they finally get to be assessed have got it?

94% have. Wow.

So it is not just the worried well, if you see what I mean.

It's real but because it's so common, it's coming to light.

So first, be reassured, you might have every right

to be asking, "Does my child or do I have ADHD?"

If you are an adult starting out on the journey to diagnosis,

there are ways of looking more closely at childhood behaviour.

Recollections from your school, family and friends will help,

and, of course, your own memories.

So, I've found some old books from when

I was nine or ten, which is quite interesting.

Fortunately for Clare, these jotters have teacher comments,

as well as surprisingly good handwriting for a future GP.

"Unfinished. You waste too much time. You made a good start.

"It was a pity to spoil it."

"Please finish." I think I've got quite a few of those.

Four out of ten. So it wasn't terribly motivating somehow.

Like many women across the UK,

Clare is from a generation who were simply missed by

the system of the time and are now looking for answers.

When I'm looking through these books,

I think there are significant clues, the fact that I kind

of really focussed on things that I was interested in

and barely finished the things that I wasn't.

So where might you start if you too are looking for answers?

We are using an ADHD screening form from the WHO,

easily found if you put those words into your internet search engine.

It's a symptom checklist designed by the WHO,

the World Health Organisation.

And it's not a diagnostic tool on its own, but it could give

a strong indication - if you tick four or more

of these grey boxes - that if you wish,

you may benefit from an ADHD assessment, so let's begin.

So first question -

"How often do you have difficulty wrapping up

"the final details of a project?" I have to say

I do love a good project. I can get very involved in it.

But I do kind of fade a little bit towards the end.

Number two, "How often do you have difficulty

"getting things in order when you have to do

"a task that requires organisation?"

"How often do you have problems remembering appointments

"and obligations?"

I think probably that's my most frustrating thing.

"When you have a task that requires a lot of thought,

"how often do you avoid or delay getting started?"

"How often do you fidget and squirm with your hands or feet

"when you have to sit down for a long time?"

"How often do you feel overly active

"and compelled to do things like you were driven by a motor?"

That's Part A of the form.

If you tick four or more marks in the shaded boxes,

then your symptoms are consistent with ADHD in adults.

Section B provides additional context.

But what about other things you might have heard about the condition?

ADHD arms?

Next, I'll help myth bust some of what's being said on our socials.

Do you do when you go to sleep at all?

Where you curl up like this?

You know? No. No?

In a world in which over 200,000 people

are waiting for a diagnosis,

do you have ADHD?

Lots of you have what are known as ADHD traits,

but do they add up to a diagnosis?

It's quite difficult to explain how it doesn't affect my life.

It affects my health,

it affects my sleep,

my diet, my exercise, literally everything.

If I'm losing things on a constant basis, like,

that's very expensive and very frustrating.

Yeah, and again it has that knock on effect of confidence -

of, like, why can't I just adult like everybody else?

Dr Clare is exploring a diagnosis,

having thought about it for years.

It's a journey of self-discovery.

I'm curious.

So, did you tick four or more grey boxes

on the WHO self-assessment survey?

If you look at my form,

out of the six questions,

only one of the answers are in the grey box.

One out of six wouldn't meet the threshold

for a formal ADHD assessment.

I have got my score.

I scored four,

which puts me just over the line.

And that is particularly in the areas

of being impulsive

and time blindness.

You know, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

The first step is,

if you're an adult, you need to speak to your GP

and discuss with them whether you'd be eligible

for an NHS ADHD assessment.

And if you're worried that your child has ADHD,

you can speak to their GP - as well as their school -

and also get them referred for an NHS ADHD assessment.

There's also a private route available.

There is useful information online

to help you figure out if an assessment is warranted.

But is the sheer wealth of it

actually being counterproductive?

ADHD arms?

You know, you kind of just stand like this

when you're thinking about something.

T-rex arms. Have you seen this? T-rex arms?

Do you do this when you go to sleep at all,

where you curl up like this?

You know. No. No. No.

Have you ever done that yourself?

Yeah, or seen anyone do that?

No. Probably with the duvet just to get warm... Yeah.

..and snuggly.

So this next clip is the dot test - and it's a test of someone's focus.

So, according to this clip,

if you stare at the flashing blue dot in the middle,

you should be able to make all three yellow dots

in the periphery disappear.

And if you can't make them disappear,

then this clip says that you've likely got ADHD,

or a strong chance of that.

OK, so this is a dot test,

and you should see the other circles on the outside disappear

Well, two of them are gone. OK. Now they're back.

No, not for me.

Any luck? No, they're still there. One, two, three.

So, according to this test, you could have ADHD.

Or you're just easily distracted.

That could be me, too. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Do you think you guys have ADHD?

No. No? No. No.

Have you ever been diagnosed with ADHD?

No, I have not.

And do you think this test is good enough to diagnose you?

No! Yeah? Why not?

It just seems a bit silly.

If you seriously think you have ADHD,

be mindful of internet diagnostics.

T-rex arms and dot tests are fun,

you may procrastinate,

you may interrupt or talk a lot,

you may stim or skin pick,

all of which are fine.

But an assessment will go much deeper.

And as we've said, queues for assessments can be very long,

so is a formal diagnosis even necessary for you?

Dr Val Harpin has spent no less than 30 years researching ADHD.

We have a huge backlog,

so now we're trying to diagnose lots of adults -

particularly women -

who were missed when we only thought ADHD was a narrow situation.

And now it's really key that we deal with the backlog

and help those people.

So, should everyone get diagnosed if they think they might have it?

There are upsides and downsides to having a diagnosis.

I think if you're a young child, there are no down sides,

because the sooner you get diagnosed

and you get the right help and people understand you,

the better.

But when you're older,

I think people have lots of different responses.

Sometimes I think the biggest thing is relief.

Er, "Yeah, that explains it."

Sometimes it makes them also feel resentful. Mm.

You know, "My life could've been so different if only I'd known."

So there are some downsides.

So people struggling underneath, below the surface...

Yeah. ..where life is quite difficult

and can be impaired in many ways.

One of the important things when it comes to ADHD,

because everybody can look at a checklist,

but just going "yes, yes, yes" is not diagnosing ADHD.

The bottom line is that it needs to cause you significant problems.

Everybody forgets things sometimes.

Everybody loses their keys sometimes.

And we're more likely to do that if there are other stressors

in life or whatever.

But if you've got ADHD,

it needs to be significantly more than you would expect

for that person's age,

for their cognitive ability and for their situation.

So just doing it a bit of the time is not ADHD.

You have to do it in more than one situation and consistently.

It's important to say that being "impaired"

doesn't mean there's no help or support

that you can access for your ADHD.

Not that everything about the condition is a problem.

It's just under a year since my first book came out.

A lot of you have read this one, actually.

I think around 20,000 of you, which is wild.

Ellie Middleton likes to shout about the positives

of having the condition.

She's written two empowering books

and has built up an audience online of 500,000 followers.

I think the big thing that I've learnt

and tried to, like, preach to other people,

is just don't be afraid to make things

as easy for yourself as humanly possible.

ADHD is also characterised by traits

of creativity, resilience, excellent problem-solving skills.

Entrepreneur Alex Partridge is the founder

of the social media platform LADbible.

He's now a leading voice,

with his podcast garnering over five million views.

Getting an ADHD diagnosis was incredibly validating.

You get reassured by a professional

that the suspicions that you have about your brain are valid

and you start looking back through your entire life

through this new lens that you have.

And you start adding colour to situations from your past.

Taking everything into account,

Clare has decided to proceed with a full clinical assessment -

and is booking one that can be filmed

for the purposes of this programme.

So, if you've decided to be assessed or been referred,

you should know that both the prep

and the assessment can be lengthy.

The assessment process is actually really complex.

Because you need to understand somebody's whole life history,

the environment that they grew up in,

you know, their family background,

to have the ability to understand

whether their symptoms are explained by ADHD

or whether they could be better explained by something else.

In the assessment for ADHD,

they ask you so much about your childhood.

It's very in-depth,

and it can be quite sensitive

because nothing is off-limits to talk about.

I'm slightly nervous about it, I have to say.

Because it might show things that I hadn't even recognised.

And I'm really looking forward to finding out, really.

An assessment may be done by number of ADHD specialists,

such as a psychiatrist.

Clare is with Vicki George,

a private Clinical Nurse Specialist in ADHD.

Hello, Vicki. Hi.

Really nice to meet you. Lovely to meet you.

The first criteria an assessment will look at

is inattentive behaviour.

This causes difficulties with concentration,

focus and organisation.

In our brains, there's a group of interconnected regions

called the Default Mode Network.

In a neurotypical brain,

the DMN quietens down when attention is needed.

But for someone with ADHD,

it is often dysregulated,

meaning it is excessively active and less able to switch off.

This can make it harder to store information,

resulting in memory lapses.

So the first thing I want to look at

is inattentive symptoms associated with ADHD.

Having an ADHD assessment can be really emotionally challenging -

for most people, actually.

Because you're sat in front of a professional

that you've only just met for starters,

and they're asking you to kind of disclose your whole life story.

Do you notice anything in terms of, like,

how you listen in conversations?

It shouldn't be anything less than 2.5 hours,

but actually it quite often exceeds that.

I certainly... As a child, I daydreamed.

I can remember probably more about school

staring out of the window.

We're looking for how somebody is able to concentrate,

focus in different settings.

What about your mind wandering?

I'm sure that happens,

but it's difficult for me to measure because it's wandered.

Do they overcompensate,

do they mask their difficulties from others?

Certainly, Michael was aware of my poor timekeeping.

Quite often, people can see the problems

that ADHD is causing in their lives

but can't quite figure out why that's happening.

I just think I have been living with it... Yeah.

..you know, sort of comfortably but with the odd blip.

So Clare definitely displays

a lot of the inattentive-type symptoms.

So, again, dating back to childhood.

Comments from teachers about, you know,

starting off with enthusiasm, not finishing.

And then, you know, throughout her adult life,

time management is a real issue for her.

So it's just digging a bit deeper of whether this is

a problem or not, basically.

The inattention stage of the diagnosis is over.

A trait that can be tough to manage

in a neurotypical world.

However, the flip side of the symptom, for some,

is hyperfocus.

Hyperfocus refers to an intense fixation

on an interest or activity for extended periods of time.

Now, someone who experiences hyperfocus

are often so absorbed in that activity they can block out

the entire world around them.

When I was writing both of my books,

I would literally sit for, like, five, six hours a day

and just pour out words,

and just go and go and go.

And then, once that sort of hyperfocus,

hyper-fixation had worn off, I literally, for a month,

didn't write a single word.

Your vision just goes into tunnel vision,

and everything else to you becomes invisible

and ceases to exist.

And the focus that you have for that thing

is more than the average person would relate to.

And that hyperfocus can enable you to become world-beating

at that thing, world-class at that thing.

But hyperfocus doesn't choose what you focus on.

In 2019, George King scaled the Shard,

the tallest building in the UK,

using no safety equipment.

He went to prison for two months,

and that's because it was incredibly dangerous

and illegal.

But for George, it seems this kind of intense heart-stopping activity

is how some of his ADHD traits manifest.

For me, hyperfocus really came in in the preparation process.

I'd go into the concierge.

I'd speak to the concierge. Wow.

I'd find my way up to the office levels

and look at the facade from a close-up view.

Other times, I'd dress up in sports gear,

I'd run to the Shard and I'd stretch on a pillar.

And I'd see on the pillar

that it goes from a wrist to my elbow.

And then I'd run back home and I'd measure from my wrist to my elbow,

and that would be one measurement.

And I'd do hundreds of these

different reconnaissance missions,

only getting one piece of information

at each and every given time.

I wouldn't have been able to do this

level of meticulous planning without having ADHD.

George scaled the 350-metre pointy behemoth

in 45 minutes.

When you're climbing it freehand, free solo... Yeah.

..I mean, your life's in your fingertips.

So there's no time for any other thoughts,

you're totally dialled into the moment.

Living with ADHD is very chaotic. Yeah.

The thoughts are relentless.

They never stop.

But when I have something which actually means something to me,

all those thoughts become compressed and then channelled into one thing.

The universe gets out of the way

and it's only this thing in front of me,

and it's a very fierce level of focus -

and it's unwavering.

ADHD gave me the ability to be hyperfocused,

to plan so meticulously.

So I'm blessed that I have it. Yeah.

I see it as a gift.

I do not see it as a disorder at all.

Hyperfocus is one of many traits

that do not form part of the diagnosis

but that people with ADHD will often find they have in common.

For lots of those symptoms,

it can be really comforting knowing there are other people

who feel like you or experience things the way you do.

Step three, get it all into the washing machine.

And there's a whole ADHD community out there.

I've got absolutely no idea

why or how it works,

but it does work.

ADHD seems to be the topic on everyone's lips.

But what are the experts looking for in a diagnosis

and how do you know you need one?

My understanding of myself got better.

My ability to cope got better.

I think I can credit a lot of my ideas

and, like, endless energy and passion to it.

With the rise of the internet -

and our old friend, social media -

there's been a significant shift in how the condition

is perceived and discussed.

It's nice to, like, have a community of people

who feel the same as I do, OK?

Because I felt so alone for a long time.

From Knights of the Realm who are asking

different and personal philosophical questions about the subject...

Consider not what's odd about ADHD,

but see if you can define what normality is.

..to high profile ADHDers

who are shocked by the length of the waiting list.

All this awareness is now causing a massive problem,

because everybody thinks they have ADHD

and the NHS waiting list is something in...

Is it a year or something? Eight years now.

Eight years?! Yeah.

We've already looked at the first criteria you'd be assessed on,

which is inattentiveness,

and its stablemate, hyperfocus.

The next set of probing questions would look for examples

of hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

This can cause someone to fidget,

excessively talk and acting without thinking.

In the brain, two neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine -

crucial for the body's response to stress and danger -

send signals to different regions,

affecting our behaviour and emotions.

In an ADHD brain,

they are distributed at much lower levels,

impairing someone's attention and impulse control.

I'm very impulsive.

And I think impulsivity is a great strength

once you understand it.

It's the reason so many people with ADHD

become world-class at whatever it is that we impulsively started.

So what might this part of the in-person assessment look like?

Here's Clare, now two hours into her session.

How you would describe yourself in terms of, like, hyperactivity?

I would say I'm energetic.

Sometimes you can have somebody who is very hyperactive,

and you can see that in the room.

However, for some people,

hyperactivity can be very internalised.

Any, like, habits or repetitive kind of fidgeting?

I think I just do fidget.

It's about getting to the bottom,

the root cause, of why they're more vulnerable

to these things happening in their lives.

What do you do to relax?

I don't, I suppose.

I think I just like to be... Yeah. ..active.

We will ask... So questions about substance misuse,

risky sexual behaviours.

There can be the extremes of impulsivity

and risk-taking type behaviour.

Is that something that you relate to?

They are all really relevant to the assessment process.

Hyperactivity, impulsivity and trying to control behaviour

is familiar ground for many with ADHD.

Here, Jordan Stephens from Rizzle Kicks

opens up about how it affected him.

For me, a big part of my journey was

I was doing a lot of drugs to combat the incessant, like,

chatter in my head.

So I was creating albums, like, high or drunk

to kind of get myself out of the way.

And Matt Willis has also been really honest about how it manifested

in his younger years.

Kind of young, kind of smoking weed and kind of drinking and stuff.

Sure. I was always the one who was kind of...

Going that extra mile. ..going that extra mile, you know...

Destructive. Just destructive, just wanting to kind of

change the way I felt.

I've come to meet some people who have used boxing as

a way to manage their ADHD symptoms and calm their brains.

Nice and straight. Double jab...

I was always in trouble at school.

I wasn't able to sit through all my lessons,

so I'd, you know, I'd be up and down everywhere.

I always thought I was just a naughty kid,

but I didn't want to be like that - I just was.

Jab with the right hand.

I just always thought I was just gonna be a naughty kid in school,

didn't really see a pathway for me.

And again.

So how do you find boxing has helped you?

Oh, it's been life-changing.

Boxing is the one thing that I can actually come in

and focus on.

When I'm in a session, everything else just switches off,

which is really nice cos I don't get that chance

with anything else in my life

because my brain is just always at a 101.

But when I'm here and, you know, I put my gloves on,

that's it - the world just turns off.

Before, I'd rise to anything,

like, you could call me an idiot and I'd rise to it.

So small things would really affect you?

Yeah, yeah, and then I started boxing and most of my anger,

I was getting that out in the gym hitting in the bags.

Boxing has been my lifeline. You know, it...

I would go so far as to say it's saved my life.

Right hand roll, right hand.

Right hand roll, right hand. And again.

You will find that any physical exercise is regularly recommended

for someone who has ADHD or symptoms of.

Beautiful.

And that doesn't have to mean boxing.

Even the smallest of activities can help people focus energy

or manage hyperactivity.

Good. Let's go.

Ooh, look at that.

It's like a... Oh, God, I love it!

It's a fidget toy.

I guess I just find it easier to think when I'm also, like,

occupied by something else.

And you don't need to have a diagnosis to find them useful

or soothing.

If I don't have something like this in my hand I'm always, like, sort of

having the stream of thought at the same time as trying to talk of,

like, "OK, how should I be sitting?"

Like, "Should I'd be sat still?"

The third and final part of an ADHD diagnostic assessment

delves into impairment.

Compared to someone who is neurotypical,

an ADHDer will struggle in areas like the home, education,

work and social interactions.

So you'd need to show evidence of how symptoms consistently

interfere in daily life.

The things are most people find hard

seem to, like, click in my brain quite easily,

whereas the things that most people seem to find easy

of, like, getting in the shower, like, staying organised,

cooking, cleaning, going to the gym, doing all of those things,

they're the things that feel difficult for me cos they're not

as, like, I guess exciting for my brain in the same way.

So when something's not something that is challenging

or exciting, it's, like, a real slog to try

and motivate myself to actually do it.

So the final part of the assessment is looking at how all of

the symptoms and behaviours that you've kind of identified

and we've talked about, how they impact your life.

So I do turn it back to that person and say,

"Where do you feel that all of these symptoms

"that we've identified associated with ADHD,

"where are they holding you back in life,

"where are they causing the biggest problems?"

What about relationships and, you know,

friendships, relationships with family as well,

is there any impairment?

Not particularly.

In somebody's personal life it might be that they have got themselves

into debt, or they...

Constant credit cards or, you know,

conflict with their partners over money.

What about any kind of overcompensating behaviours

that you recognise in yourself that almost like tips things too far

the other way round?

Some things. Yeah.

It can really be, you know,

what people describe as a roller-coaster of emotions.

Next, after a four-hour deep dive,

Clare ends her quest for a diagnosis.

Would you agree with that?

I would. I think that's probably a very fair reflection, actually.

And I learn what support you can access whether you've had

a diagnosis or not.

Dopamine, dopamine, dopamine.

Dr Clare has always suspected that her and her late husband,

Michael, had ADHD.

And now, having gone through the full diagnostic process, time to find out.

Clare's scored highly for inattentiveness

and hyperactivity,

and has just completed the final stage of

a gruelling four-hour assessment, impairment,

a crucial criteria which everyone needs for an ADHD diagnosis.

When we looking at the diagnostic criteria for ADHD,

we really focus on level of impairment.

And you even recognise yourself that there isn't really any impairment

in your adult life.

Without that impairment, we wouldn't diagnose ADHD.

Would you agree with that?

I would. I think that's probably a very fair reflection, actually.

It's interesting, hearing all these...

..what you would call impairments,

but I don't feel particularly impaired by them.

I know it's a weird thing to say. Yeah.

You know it's possible for anybody to have sort of traits of ADHD,

but actually it not warrant or justify a diagnosis

and need treatment because there isn't impairment there.

It was a long process, I have to say.

A really interesting and intricate process.

It turns out that I actually don't fit the criteria,

but I've found it really interesting, really interesting.

So Dr Clare has her answer.

But what about those who don't yet?

If, like Clare, you don't have a diagnosis,

you can still access lots of help and support from the ADHD Community.

Rox, who has ADHD, and her husband Rich,

who doesn't, offer up an unfiltered view

of what it's like to live with ADHD.

You think you're doing it on the chorus,

but you're actually not - you've gotta do it...

The pair have created an app that harnesses

the power of something called "body doubling".

So body doubling is a really strange phenomena in the ADHD world,

that essentially means we - people with ADHD -

can get more stuff done if we have company.

To most people, making the bed, you just make the bed.

To a lot of ADHDers, it doesn't work like that.

It's, "Where do I start? Do I take the duvet off?

"Do I take the pillows off? Do I have to change the sheets?

"Do I tidy the bedside tables as part of this?"

Your brain just spills out into this...

what should be one task, makes it 20.

"It's overwhelming. I won't do it."

Step one here is going to be get the laundry that you want to wash.

Go and grab that, and I'll meet you back here for step two.

We have these videos broken down - they're like instructional videos

for basic tasks, which nobody would normally give

because they're basic.

However, it brings some logic into a very chaotic brain,

and just helps you get stuff done.

Step three, get it all into the washing machine.

I initially thought it was a terrible idea.

I was like "What... What are you talking about?

"You wanna build an app about making the bed and doing the w...?"

Like, I couldn't see it. But you were like, "This is it."

Step five, pat yourself on the back because you've climbed

Mount Everest, also known as Starting Laundry Phase 1.

I think unless you have ADHD you wouldn't see the need for it,

you wouldn't understand it.

Hello, everyone. You have got me today.

Today they're doing a live stream to some of their 300,000 followers.

So hopefully that is OK.

I can see lots of people on.

You'll be able to see there is a blue-haired emo walking around

behind me doing the kitchen as we speak.

Say hello. Hello.

One of the main things why the app works is shame reduction.

So shame can make you freeze, can make you feel like

you can't do something.

When you meet that with other people who feel that they can't,

and you have someone being really kind telling you you can,

it's actually amazing what people can do.

Joanna, it looks like she's washing up.

Helen, it looks like she has just done the washing.

We've got Clare - I think that's a new face.

I think Clare might be... Yes, that's me, Claire.

..unloading the dishwasher. Hello. Hi, Clare.

I'm doing the dishwashing.

Yeah, she's definitely doing something in the kitchen,

so good luck.

Despite not having a diagnosis,

Clare, like many others, is finding support from the ADHD gang.

I'm packing the dishwasher.

This is a new experience, doing the dishwashing.

So it's quite nice.

It's the kind of sense that you're all doing it together.

We don't get enough community stuff somehow.

So it's quite engaging,

and if it's helping people get motivated that's fantastic.

As well as tapping into those with lived experience of ADHD,

we can also turn to experts.

Parul Singh advises companies how to be more neurodiverse-friendly

and is going to show me things that workplaces could consider

if they were to be more accommodating.

Hi, Parul. Nice to meet you. Hi, Karan. Nice to meet you.

So I've heard this is a neurodiverse-friendly work space.

On first instances, it looks no different than another

really nice workplace.

So when you walk into any other office,

what's the first thing that you usually see?

A reception desk.

Absolutely. Yeah.

And if we look here, it kind of looks like a reception desk.

Sort of, yeah. But nobody is actually usually sat here.

This was quite intentional because for a lot of

the time, in offices, you walk in,

there might be more than one receptionist. Yeah.

You don't know where to look. It can feel a bit, like,

anxiety-inducing. Sort of overwhelming, the choice.

Yeah, absolutely. And people with ADHD might need more flexible

hours than other people. Yeah.

So they might feel conscious that "Oh, I'm going for, like,

"a longer lunch. Is someone going to notice it?", or, like,

"I'm leaving early", or something.

So in this bit here we've got these little cubicles.

If I open it, this probably looks like a soundproof booth

where you would usually do meetings or you would do calls.

So this isn't actually for calls and meetings.

When somebody with ADHD is completely hyperfocused

on their work, which is a great thing to be able to get into,

actually... Yeah. ..because they might be able to do

what somebody else might need four hours... Yeah, I can't do that.

..in literally, like, maybe like an hour or two.

It happens to me very often and a lot of my friends with ADHD.

That hyperfocus is like golden time.

So this is a space which actually somebody can truly get

into that hyperfocus zone. Yeah.

Obviously, we have a spinny chair as well, which is great

to sort of fidget on.

It nurtures those traits which can be leveraged into

something positive. Yeah, absolutely.

How important is it to have workplaces like this

that can be more inclusive?

This is not about trying to hire more neurodivergent people.

They are in your workplaces already. Yeah.

So it's in your best interest when you have maybe spent money hiring

that person, onboarding them, training them,

investing in them, to do whatever you can,

whether it's the work environment or the support systems that

you actually have in place for neurodivergent people

and people with ADHD to actually help them thrive.

And for the ADHD brain looking for that dopamine hit,

there's a special space in Parul's ideal work world.

Wow. So this is the karaoke room,

and as you can see it's just beautifully furnished.

You walk into this room and you're like,

"Dopamine, dopamine, dopamine, dopamine."

And there's so many different textures, shapes, colours.

It's, you know, a bit of an eclectic mix of things in here.

Actually just coming in here,

it's such a different vibe to out there.

It's all about balance, really,

which sometimes can be a bit hard for us to get.

So, it's like, take a break in here, take...

You know, take your lunch, have a little bit of fun,

get back into the zone, get the work done.

There is a wide of support people can access without a diagnosis.

But for those that do get one, it can be incredibly empowering.

After I got diagnosed,

I felt like a weight had been lifted,

like people would actually know now.

I think that was probably the most game-changing thing about

getting a diagnosis. Like, I finally felt like

I was in control of my life rather than life just happening to me.

So, there was, like, this big wave of happiness and

sort of feeling validated and feeling understood

and starting to be able to forgive myself for all of

the stuff that had gone not so well.

Then I think there's also, like, waves of grief that come in as well,

of like, "How could life have been different if someone had

"figured this out sooner?"

I would put my arms around the younger version of me,

the little boy that was so scared of being different

and so fearful of letting someone down

or encountering a rejection,

and saying that, "The same things that are...

"The same things that are causing this fear of rejection

"and anxiety of being different are the same things that,

"when you're older, are going to be your biggest assets."

One more.

I hope we've given you some insight into

the official symptoms of ADHD.

And that hearing from others has offered you some tips

and coping strategies,

and given you an understanding of what an assessment entails.

I believe it's on all of us to be more understanding

about what ADHD is.

And for those with the condition,

we need to recognise their unique strengths,

abilities, and embrace the different ways they think.

And if you think this sounds like you, we embrace you too.

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