The Guardian reports this morning that:
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has ordered a clinical review of the diagnosis of mental health conditions, according to reports.
Streeting is understood to be concerned about a sharp rise in the number of people making sickness benefits claims because of diagnoses for mental illness, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the Times reported.
They added:
He has asked leading experts to investigate whether normal feelings have become “over-pathologised”, the newspaper said, as he seeks to grapple with the 4.4 million working-age people now claiming sickness or incapacity benefit.
Having consulted a medical expert on this issue this morning, I am advised that anxiety has no medical diagnosis, as such. A person tells a GP they are anxious. The GP then asks questions about the issues troubling them, and agrees it is likely they are anxious. That is because anxiety, like pain, is a subjective phenomenon, and as such, the doctor must accept their patient's description of reality. A doctor would never deny a patient's pain. Nor can you deny their experience of anxiety, because anxiety is a form of pain. And, it is stressed, this is not like diagnosing measles: there is no rash.
What are the likely causes of this pain? Start with this list:
- Poverty
- Insecurity
- Poor housing.
- Inability to have other medical conditions treated.
- The impossibility of meeting children's needs.
- The burden arising from caring, most especially for those for whom other help is not available.
- Alienation from a society that continually tells people their lives are inadequate and that they are failing, most especially through the medium of advertising, whose aim is to deliver this message.
I am sure you can add one or two more. The point is simple, however. This pain arises from the deliberately constructed division within society that occurs as a result of the adoption of neoliberal thinking, which has as its goal the creation of that division as a result of its desire to promote the well-being of some at cost to others. That is the explanation for what is happening.
And what of autism and ADHD? Autism and so-called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as AuDHD (where people have both such conditions), are not "normal feelings that have become over-pathologised". These are descriptions of people who do not think in the same way that most people in society do.
Autism is a different way of experiencing the world. Social rules can feel unclear, and sensory input can be intense or unpredictable. Many autistic people find comfort in routine and immerse themselves deeply in interests that matter to them. It is not a defect but a distinct way of thinking that can bring clarity, honesty, and unique insight.
ADHD is characterised by a brain driven by curiosity and energy. Attention follows interest, not instruction, which can make organisation and waiting difficult. Ideas arrive fast, sometimes too fast, but that same quick thinking creates creativity, spontaneity, and enthusiasm.
AuDHD is when autism and ADHD coexist, which is a mix of structure-seeking and restless energy. Focus can be intense yet easily disrupted, and sensory experiences can be vivid. It brings challenges, but also originality, passion, and a perspective that sees possibilities others miss.
The fact is that the "normal feelings" of people with these conditions are simply different from those of the majority of the population, but when we have an economic system that demands uniformity, conformity and subjection without ever questioning why, those with autism, ADHD and AuDHD are those who will always question and challenge the system. They, in other words, are those who will say the system is broken, corrosive and irreparable. What is more, they are also the people most likely to come up with the alternative views that will change the system.
So what is Streeting really wanting to do? His goal is to suppress those who challenge neoliberalism, whether based on the subjective experience of the oppression inherent within it, or the refusal/inability of some for entirely natural reasons to comply with its demands, as well as their inherent ability to challenge it.
This is not a mental health review in that case. This is about thought control. And this suppression of potential dissent is, of course, inherently fascist in nature. In political economy, that is the only fair description of it.
We do, of course, need a politics of care to replace this toxicity.
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When I first started doing counselling I was amazed that many colleagues seemed to ignore the social context and focus on individual pathology. I didn’t always do as I was supposed to but things changed, thankfully, as the years passed.
With people referred by employers, I often felt the organisation needed therapy more than the people. A lot of modern management seems to use shame to discipline their workforce.
We also need more psychologically informed polices from govt. in welfare, education and housing for example.
But some anxiety emerges from the modern world in a way we probably don’t wish to reverse. We have more choice about the sort of life we lead (though being reduced by neo-liberalism ) .
20years ago fewer Asian minorities presented to counsellors and the usual explanation was their society placed expectations on them which reduces dilemmas and anxiety. But they are more aware that alternatives exist for personal relationships, education, work and gender roles. A lot of anguish goes unrecognised. The issues can be addressed with empathy and care.
Bergman in the Reith lectures asked why humans conquered the globe? He said ‘The secret of our success is…the desire to work together, to protect the weak, to recognise the inherent dignity of
everyone. This connects to my earlier point about the need to expand the moral circle.’
Care is not an optional extra ‘if we can afford it’. It is basic to our existence.
Much to agree with
“many colleagues seemed to ignore the social context and focus on individual pathology”
Half a lifetime ago I did quite a lot of student counselling, and my supervisor often reminded me to look out for the “hand on door syndrome”. After listening for 40 minutes to the immediate concerns of the client, just as they leave – literally with their hand on the door knob – they would hesitate a moment and say, “Oh, and by the way, there’s this … ” and out would come the starting point for the next few sessions. Those starting points very often involved the social context, or issues that in the end were buried deep in the past but reinvoked by recent events. Mental health is neither straightforward nor transparent.
In many ways I admire Wes Streeting’s fortitude in the light of a tough start, but the same approach will most definitely not suit everyone, and facing down problems at one stage of life can stock them up for later on.
What do you admire about Streeting?
What fortitude?
I am baffled.
Thank you.
Do you know anything about Streeting, his grooming for the top job over three decades, his unsavoury associates (not his family) and sponsors and donors, his utter lack of qualification to be anywhere near the top job, his personal style, and his Bullingdon style behaviour at Cambridge?
God help us when he becomes PM. I fear he will.
Streeting and Fortitude in the same sentence? GOL.
It can be dressed up as they like it – The only reason for this is to cut social security to people who need it most.
I go back again and again to the work of late clinical psychologist David Smail. Time to re-read Illusion and Reality.
Why cant we have Politicians who are wise, practical and pragmatic?
My views about Streeting are based on what I read online. I accept that this is a limited source. But if the section “Early life ..” on the English Wikipedia page is accurate, he has done well to get to, and graduate from Cambridge and to get to be a contender as Labour leader, not to mention PM. Does this make him a ‘good’ person? Of course not: other parameters will define that.
“Fortitude” is, if I am not mistaken, a reference to strength, determination and courage. It does not imply moral or ethical rectitude. Given his background I do find aspects of his survival to be admirable. That says nothing about his views.
I like that quote Ian:
‘Bergman in the Reith lectures asked why humans conquered the globe? He said ‘The secret of our success is…the desire to work together, to protect the weak, to recognise the inherent dignity of
everyone. This connects to my earlier point about the need to expand the moral circle.’
I think Bergman is right. Part of that survival was what Harper Lee was getting at in ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ and Atticus Finch’s exhortation of “climbing into other people’s skin and walking around in it.” Putting yourself in another person’s shoes and asking how would you feel? What would you need in that situation or that, how would you react?
This is not just empathy; it is the use of imagination. But it is also the recognition of the possibility of failure or catastrophe being visited upon oneself. Early human beings seemed to know more about that than us for all our so-called advances.
For example, people wanting to cut state benefits because they cannot comprehend that they would ever need such help is a major failure of human imagination – the turkey voting for Christmas. The same with immigration and stop the boats. It also shows you what happens when people get so conformable to the point where they cannot contemplate that at all, or the effects their viewpoint has on people whose life they cannot comprehend and is exploited by cynical politicians.
This is also what happens I think when society is over run with market principles where they should not be allowed. There is a dehumanizing effect.
We need to care, in other words.
No plan Streeting is following the no steer/Rachel/genius boy mantra “we can’t afford it and must cut the out of control benefits bill”.
As you write there will be no sensible review of this or anything else by no steer etc.
Puritan ethics and it’s all your personal fault still rule.
The UK is stuck in the neoliberal doom loop.
May be Streeting is also confusing cause with effect. One of the other causes of the pain of anxiety is the actions of today’s political class……
You might need to explain that very slowly to Wes
Mental health conditions are largely invisible, and therefore easy to attack by those seeking to balance the books or those driven by ideological motives. You aren’t autistic, you are just weird. You don’t have ADHD; you are just poorly behaved. It’s easy to dismiss. Anxiety is an easy one to attack, because it is both an emotion and a condition. Being anxious about an exam is normal, but being anxious all the time, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, a condition that usually comes about due to past trauma, is not normal. I’m sure Streeting knows this, but doesn’t care.
On another note, the two-child benefit cap has driven many desperate parents to push for disability benefits for themselves or their children to make ends meet. Perhaps if people were paid properly and cared for, then the benefits bill would go down. Perhaps if the whole country weren’t an ultra-competitive, anti-social, unequal hellscape with big business, tech companies, and political ideologies invading every aspect of public life, driving us apart and breaking us down into financial units, people would be in much better mental health.
It’s another example of focusing on one particular thing (increasing benefits bill) and seeking to reduce that rather than stepping back and looking at everything that is happening (struggling to afford the necessities, job insecurity) and working to improve those for everybody.
Craig
With ADHD at least, there is a lot that’s misunderstood.
“That’s not ADHD! We all do that!”
Its not about “the thing” you’re doing that’s important.
Two things are important. 1, how often does “the thing ” occur, and 2, how much does it impact the person’s ability to manage and organise their everyday lives – or something along those lines at least. I’m a neurodivergent person, not a medical professional but that’s how I understand it at least.
TLDR; We all gotta take a p*ss too but it you’re doing it 20 times a day you should perhaps consider seeing a doctor.
If Streeting “knows” the problem is over-diagnosis, why bother setting up enquiry? Any different answer won’t be acceptable.
Agreed
He has pre-supposed the outcome.
There is a book on this topic of capitalism’s relationship to neurodivergence called “Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism” by Robert Chapman. I bought it but haven’t got round to reading it yet.
I have
It is good
That sounds like a good recommendation
John Harris’s book Maybe Im Amazed and the podcast is great on a more personal experience of severe autism and dealing with the ‘systems’ set up to support or rather not support people.
Given his obsession with technology, Im waiting for SillyBoy Streeting to announce an NHS AI bot for people with ADHD, Autism or whatever to treat themselves with.
I agree re John Harris’ work. What my medical adviser (Jacqueline) also suggetss that is that autism as John’s son has it and the autism Streeting refers to are as alike as diabatese types 1 and 2 are: they need new names to differentiate them. The current situation is very misleading in both cases.
Hi Richard
ADHD is significantly more complex than what you have written – it is a genetic disorder, that affects executive function in the brain, a neurodevelopmental disorder that needs to be picked up early to treat it is highly comorbid with other neurological disorders – like Bipolar. ADHD is self regulation disorder that affects life in many respects and is highly fluid – it presents differently in individuals. ADHD has had a lot of skeptics in the UK health professions and this has prevented ADHD diagnosis in adults for decades. Dr Russell Barkley, the preeminent expert in ADHD told me that the UK is where the USA was in 1988 for adult diagnosis.
ADHD affects health of individuals – diabetes, poor dental care, cancer etc are extremely common in people with ADHD.
I have ADHD – my children have ADHD, my sibling and parents have ADHD, grandparents, great grandparents likely had ADHD. All undiagnosed- except for my brother and myself and my children. I have witnessed how ADHD has impacted my family.
Many thanks, Craig.
And I entirely agree, ADHD and AuDHD, plus autism are all much more complicated than I wrote, of course. I know. I do not have a diagnosis, but I have my own suspicions. I know many with them, and in the case of some specialists, know what they say about me.
All these can have massive impacts, and Streeting shows not one iota of appreciation.
But I disagree on one thing. These are not disorders. They are normal and they survive for a reason. There is real value to society from having people with these conditions in it. Such people are the source of most change and much creativity in our society. They are strengths neoliberal thinkers want to crush. They hate creativity and challenge.
As someone with Type 1 Diabetes and ADHD I had to have the latter diagnoses and treated privately at one stage while for the former I control the condition well and dont need to see a doctor but I am waiting 2 years to see a diabetes specialist. When things become too expensive Wesley Streeting (Future Prime Minister at large) will continue to push people down the private route – like in the USA – your money or your life.
Thankfully the NHS then takes over with joint care agreements so the private care costs were small.
I think the NHS is on the chopping block for big private insurance companies.. watch this space!
Thanks, and you are almost certainly right.
“Social Security and Medicare also replace private insurance with cheap and efficient public administration. This is another reason these programs are the hated targets, decade after decade, of the worst predators on Wall Street.” (Which translated into UK terms means social benefits, and public health and social care. For Wall Street think ‘The City’ in London)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265071141_In_Defense_of_Deficits
It is very sad and deeply worrying that it has become normal for so many people to live with unbearable stress and anxiety, and that mental health services are stretched so thin. Streeting’s lack of empathy and understanding, his ‘reduce the numbers’ thinking, is alarming. To be dumped with inadequate care and inadequate benefits with the additional insult of blame piled on top is inhuman. ‘Normal feelings’ my foot! Wes cannot imagine standing in any shoes but his own.
Thank you Richard, Jacqueline, Ian S and others. Do I imagine it or can I feel a video coming on? Most of us will know someone who is suffering with this, but most quietly carry on.
There is a video on Streeting.
Should I do one on this issue, which I know quite a lot about?
YES! Do the video!
Or have the Boss, aka Jacqueline, do the video!
🙂
She says she ticked the box saying no publicity. But I think she would be really good at video. And she is a lot better looking than me, on which no further comment from anyone is required.
Yes please to any video on the various pressures on people, which affect health and well-being, also on the NHS having one hand tied behind its back. Jacqueline’s contributions would be very valuable whichever side of the camera suits her. Could you do a video together?
Let’s see
I don’t know how you maintain your enthusiasm Richard. Following up on Zack Polanski’s interview on the Rest is Politics, I’ve just endured Rory Stewart labelling MMT as left wing populism, that would create a closed economy which would cause the countries economic collapse (he’s spent 4 hrs reading about it – so he’s very knowledgeable now).
More of the same then; because that’s working…
There’s a technical term for people like him. I think it rhymes with banker, but I am struggling to recall it.
Is it simply better diagnostic techniques; or do we need to consider environmental factors?
I can’t help but wonder if the presence of microplastics in peoples’ brains is a factor; especially in a young, developing brain. Physiology is a long way from my strong suit; but my understanding, from other fields, is that you can’t alter the composition of something and expect it to behave exactly the same way.
Ditto forever chemicals and, perhaps, UPFs.
—
I did like your description of UPFs as “edible neoliberalism”.
I do not think this has any likely impact on autism or ADHD.
Might it on anxiety? Maybe.
This, though is my judgement alone and I could be wrong.
“put your fingers in the corner of your mouth and just say banker”
Wes Streeting might not be a ghoul. But he certainly seems to mark an art form of denying inconvenient truths and misrepresentiing reality.
Its the same character trait that attributed cholera and malaria to bad air, scurvy to indiscipline, ulcers to spicy food, IBS to being too emotional. Just wait until he hears about hypermobility and connective tissue disorders –
https://thescienceofwellbeing.uk/the-hidden-overlap-neurodiversity-and-hypermobility-what-science-finds/
Yesterday he called doctors childish, today I call him ignorant and a menace to society
There will be a video tomorrow
Thank you, both.
He has also called the BMA a cartel and the medical profession middle class, implying they defended their middle class producer interests and were snobs.
There’s a lot to be said about Streeting. The late and great Dawn Foster was spot on about him.
🙂
I won’t repeat it, but there is a lot to agree with in what she said
After finding your work on YouTube and now reading this article it seems to me that these views are probably closest home to my political viewpoints although i have to admit the precise details within MMT are still being developed! But this is not the only interesting thing
After listening to the ‘…our idea of ‘capital’…’ video it appeared to me also that something at the core of this ‘cultural war’ (discord?) is the absence of a spiritual cohesiveness, understanding, or recognition which might also represent a ‘capital’ of sorts — and is possibly foundational to other beliefs. Ie, in the same way idealists proclaim consciousness to be foundational and materialists view that it’s matter.
This view seems also to be shifting, from time spent researching and participating on the internet. A renaissance of sorts in the field of religion and spirituality, religious history, NDEs, UFO, dreaming and consciousness
The views you made about AD/Autism have also occurred to me for some time, and I think experts are increasingly unclear at to what this is really. As you put it, managing ideas about what is normal, or natural, is exactly how to deal with other difficult questions instead of seeing individuals as feedback to the system and not like the problem itself. Common i suspect until there is a political motivation which benefits the cause of influential persons. Hence corrupting the idea, such as i believe happened with climate change politics. When really, this started of as environmental concern for pollution and preserving natural habitats
this type of opportunism does not seem optimum, but there is always the hope that once enough of the cake is eaten more sense will prevail
Best of wishes, Harrow
I fere to this issue in my book ‘The Courageous State’.
I have to say today’s story comes over as another example of Labour’s performative cruelty like cutting universal credit for the disabled, again devising ways to increase the hardship experienced by disadvantaged people. But there is a genuine underlying question, there is variation in all human qualities and we shouldn’t automatically pathologise those who differ from us.
I was made very aware of this earlier this year in my work as a school governor. Governors are required to review and approve school policy documents, and before the summer GCSE exams we were presented with one which was actually a national exam board policy with school-specific elements of how responsibilities would be met. This one had a section about giving extra time to students with learning difficulties. In this national scheme, the need for extra time is assessed by students taking a standardised test with the results normalised to a value of 100 for the average person of their age and a standard deviation of 15 (the same sort of scale that is used for IQ). Extra time is given to all who score below 85.
Basically that means a child is labelled as having a “learning difficulty” when it is part of normal variation – the maths of the scoring implies what is actually called a normal distribution. And mathematically about one sixth of all children will be given that label. Now I am in favour of children being given any adjustments they need to demonstrate their capabilities when it comes to an exam result that may be important for their future opportunities, but I worry about them being given a label. And I wonder if other features of normal variation are inappropriately being used to label people.
In particular, people think in different ways. That is normal, and is why people are good at different things in life. Someone who is good at emotional and improvisatory communication as an actor might struggle with a task needing precision and order which would suit someone else. Neither should be labelled as having a disorder because they have qualities different from the average. There are genuine cognitive pathologies (often related to genetic or developmental problems) but the labels shouldn’t be used to medicalise people on a normal spectrum but towards one end.
However I fear Streeting’s review will be about the money, not the human beings.
Agreed
But let’s be clear: autism, ADHD and AuDHD are challenges in schools where uniformity is key for most delivery. So lebelling is right, but only if used to indicate need. And as I have already noted, people with these conditions are often very creative and also challenging – qualities we need, but which standard thinkers find hard to accommadate and understand.
So, a politician presiding over a failed administration, a failed department is ignoring – purposefully – the effects of his maladministration – as though he thinks that this has no effects on folk at all? That no one is worried, or feeling worse?
Is Wes Streeting the Marie Antoinette of British politics?
Streeting is another Labour politician in the Blair mould. Their most telling characteristic is an inability to distinguish left and right (and right and wrong).
Its not my intention to characterise neurodiversity as a medical disorder by the way. Maybe a better example would be to say that being gay was considered a psychiatric disorder up until the early 70s. Incalculable damage was caused as a consequence
I gree: neurodiversity is not a medical disorder, or any form of disorder. It is how somew people are. The problem is Streeting pretending otherwise, and pretending that we don’t live in a world designed to penalise nonconformity with the norm.
I have experience in fairly recent times
grown up daughter 2 decided she wanted official recognition of her autism (we were fortunately able to pay for privately rather than wait 3 years+) and it has set her free mentally and emotionally. She is a confident and successful young woman.
Daughter number 1 descibes heself as neurospicy and has classic ADHD traits but does not want to pursue “diagnosis” for fear of stigmatisation. She is also a confident and successful young woman.
🙂
The point is, knowing matters and sets people free.
Streeting wants to leave people in the dark and blame them.
Only one of those choices is ethically acceptable.
This strategy of targeting a minority whose existence challenges the established order echoes the Tories’ stitching up the Cass Review on puberty blockers for trans teens, which was demolished by more than 15 professional bodies around the world (including the BMA). The goal was the same, to problematise an established treatment to delegitimise a group of people.
Noted, but I am not going to host discussion on this issue – because after a bruising week I have not got the energy to do so.
Spot on. Is it any wonder that claims are on the up. We live in a country that active avoids reality. If Streeting was any kind of a leader (which he is demonstrably not) his first action on learning of an upward trend would be to ask the questions, why and analyse the scale of the issue. Having ascertained the results he would if he cared (which he clearly does not) apply the solutions.
Streeting presides over a department which is falling to pieces, it is absolutely shambolic. Everywhere I look I hear of appalling deficiencies; seriously ill people with multiple medical conditions waiting inordinate amounts of time for treatment. Disturbingly I am seeing evidence that the complexity of having multiple conditions is not being properly addressed. Doctors now are unable to provide care because the system is just unable to cope, doctors are now acting like conductors – passing the unfortunate poorly down a very long queue. What satisfaction can there be working in a system that is totally broken? Moreover there is no evidence that those in authority over the NHS have the will or ability to start to tackle its deficiencies. Its extremely depressing.
Much to agree with
Now I have looked after or look after all manner of stuff, either by myself or with others.
Cars, chickens, a Mamod traction engine, Children, Marine diesel and steam engines, vegetable garden, cats etc etc
By and large they all go and everything that should happen does and the things that do go wrong are mostly ‘unavoidable’ – generally stuff and people getting old
How?
Well, read the B**y instructions ‘/ guidebook / don’t do anything obviously stupid etc
So in the same way you could organise things so that as far as is possible you could avoid people getting ill AND mitigate some of the impact if they were ill/neurodivergent/whatever
The Politics of Caring!
But Mr Streeting chooses not to.
With ADHD at least, there is a lot that’s misunderstood.
“That’s not ADHD! We all do that!”
Its not about “the thing” you’re doing that’s important.
Two things are important. 1, how often does “the thing ” occur, and 2, how much does it impact the person’s ability to manage and organise their everyday lives – or something along those lines at least. I’m a neurodivergent person, not a medical professional but that’s how I understand it at least.
TLDR; We all gotta take a leak too but it you’re doing it 20 times a day you should perhaps consider seeing a doctor.
Thankyou thankyou thankyou. You have succinctly explained the reason why I have been seething since 9 am this morning when I read the latest bullcrap. And I still can’t believe it’s labours turds.
This statement
Alienation from a society that continually tells people their lives are inadequate and that they are failing,
Is exactly how I am feeling I am an alien and ilegal alien ) to quote sting lol). I am demonised and persecuted, no workforce will employ me as I challenge the system and have a brain. I have fort too long for my identity, fort for my diagnosis fort for my right to exist fort to find out why I struggle each and every day to live a life like those around me and I find this morning one twit without a day of lived experience of audhd has the gall to question what I feel. You can start with Simon Baron Cohen paving the way for modern autism diagnosis saying it’s only boys and children, it was him and his cronies that have stunted the diagnosing of females and adults like myself leaving many in desperate need trying to understand why we don’t fit into the the ‘perceived normality of society, adhd and audhd is so far behind its prehistoric. Why can’t they see we are crying out for help not for demonisation. The science is not marrying up to diagnostic tools or to support and the amount of cuts from the government has lead to any semblance of support closing. My local service run by council and NHS won’t see me any more and I have used them countless times to support me when I had to take and employer through a grievance process. ( that also says something)
Either help us or Leave us the dam well alone, stop invalidating our lives questioning our experiences taking away our money and disability support. Perhaps what would happen if we celebrated us not demonised us and told us to conform. We are the spice of life, and you don’t turn down our heat, not now now ever we deserve the peace and right to exist same as any person on this earth.
Thanks you.
And you are right: Baron Cohen has a lot to answer for. I know this condition is prevalent in women and girls as well. So much harm has resulted from denial.
Good luck with it.
Streeting needs to be coming at it from entirely the opposite way and be asking ‘what is to be done about a destructive neo-liberal economic system that is normalising mental health issues ‘.
Precisely
I have a personal interest in this subject as my son-in-law and potentially my granddaughter have ADHD.
We have a friend whose daughter is Autistic and who has written up very exhaustive research into these states of being.
Here is the link: https://zenodo.org/records/17281631
Maybe Wes Streeting should read it too.
Thank you
In my role as a special-needs teacher, I can assure this snivelling crock of something unpleasant that ADD/ADHD/AuDDreally exists and people really struggle to “fit” into how society expects everyone to act.
Not just in kids, my girlfriend was recently diagnosed with ADHD – that was such an eye-opener for us that we fine-tuned our methods of communicating – we are stronger for the knowledge and knowing how to deal with it.
So true
Said from my experience
Does becoming an MP or a member of the cabinet affect your mental health? I’m thinking that may explain the dramatic change in personality and lack of empathy that befalls people after they get elected.
The involvement of Sir Simon Wessely as Vice Chair of this sham ‘review’ is very worrying, his influence on the past diagnosis and treatment about ME/CFS for instance. Im nearly 50 and was diagnosed with ADHD in 2022 and then ASD in 2024, and I dont know what makes me more angry, that politicians do this out of ignorance or malice.
Hi Richard.
Re Diabetes analogy.
Im not sure we should go back to standalone Aspergers diagnosis, distinct from Autism, as an alternative to the unified Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnostic criteria, currently used.
The way type 2 diabetes is negatively framed as self inflicted by much of the media, politics and some in the NHS in contrast to Type 1, 1.5 etc. doesn’t give me confidence that such a change will help us. (I have had diabetes since 2012, but the NHS still cant decide which type it is, so its treated as type 1)
While he is waiting for the clinical review of the diagnoses of medical health, might Mr. Streeting review the already available information on the significant and lasting consequences of chronic childhood hunger for which his Labour Government and those of the Conservatives, with and without the Lib Dems, are so significantly responsible with their policy of Austerity/Neoliberalism wich is predatory on much the most of citizens and their children?
25.8% of housholds with children have experienced food isecurity.
Children aged 0-4 have the highest hunger rate.
Families facing food insecurity cut back on expensive but nutritious items by buying less fruit and fewer vegetables.
The primary cause of food insecurity include the rising cost of living, low-paid insecure jobs and the low level of social security
Chronic childhood hunger has significant and lasting consequences across an individual’s lifespan, impacting physical health, cognitive development, mental well-being and future economic prospects.
In more detail these include:
Stunted growth
Weakened immune systems resulting in diarrehea, measles and pneumonia
Chronic diseases in adulthood, including diet related diseases, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis
Increased childhood and adult obesity risk
Low birth weight and/or prmaturely born babies, perpetuating a cycle of malnutrition across generations
Impaired brain development, especially with a lack of micronutrients causing irreparable brain damage and lating deficits in cognitive function, memory, language and motor skills
Learning difficulties including shorter attention spans, difficulty in concentrating and lower academic performance which are cumulative in effect/consequence
Developmental delays and increased behavioural problems
Psychological distress, including worry, sadness, anger, frustration, and poverty related embarassment
Mental health disorders including anxiety, depression, P T S D and suicidal ideation, which can persist into adulthood
Behavioural issues including aggression, hyperactivity, anxiety and depression
Reduced productivity and income
increased healthcare costs
[All but first item from AI Overview]
I remember the ‘whole man’ syndrome from studying organisations a long time ago. It basically states that you cannot treat individuals as only that part of their person that is relevant to you. In other words, a teacher must be aware that his students are much more than the relatively short time the teacher spends with them. A copper is much more than a man or woman in uniform enforcing laws. They may be a spouse, sibling, grandchild, carer, diabetic, parent, athlete, DIY enthusiast. In short, every individual is unique and they all experience life and illnesses(physical or mental) in unique ways. Generalising about individuals is a waste of time, especially with autism and ADHD. An enquiry is only there to save money and cannot really help individuals to cope with these conditions. Trained specialists certainly can help; we need to train a lot more of them. We don’t need an enquiry to know that. It’s common sense.
Thank you for considering this Richard. With two children struggling with school at the moment, both neurodivergent, I don’t think this punching down can end soon enough for me. It poisons the well of society. People who would be understanding and helpful are instead judgemental and angry about things they know nothing much about, because someone who knows even less about it is creating a toxic narrative.
Wes and all the other no-nothing politicians need to be called out for their lack of expertise and knowledge.
Why are so many children being diagnosed as neurodivergent now? Perhaps the same reason 20-25% or so are persistently absent. We are hammering their mental health with a dreadful curriculum and government legislation that came out of Gove’s political preferences and was foisted on a whole country.
I was trying to see if the figures show correlation between the 2014 curriculum changes and SEND costs. Not directly, but they do correlate with mental health diagnosis figures in children, and obviously Covid made a big difference too (and 2019 ofsted changes potentially). However, mental health diagnosis has tripled in children since 2010. That’s not over-diagnosis – it’s unmet emotional needs.
We are building a country of mindless automatons – anyone who doesn’t fit in with dumb prevailing narratives is seen as either useless or dangerous. Or both.
Thank you, and a great deal to agree with. Good luck with the challenges. But what I promise you is neurodivergent children (I hate the term ‘kids’) can thrive and prosper when eventually given the chance.
As a GP / ex politician with a special interest in child development, the level of emotional dysregulation poor mental health and developmental delay I am witnessing appears to be increasing rapidly.
It is now easily possible to study the brains electrical activity in different areas and compare it with normative databases by performing QEEGs and ERPs. These along with far more expensive high Tesla functional MRI scans are able to give increasing information about what is happening in the brain moment to moment, whether you present with chronic pain, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, disorders of working memory, movement and balance, problems with attention and focus, emotional dysregulation and thought disorders.
It would appear that something about modern life and child rearing practices are resulting in a massive real increase in these areas. Like you I believe that care and concern is vital for brain health as well as a healthy happy society. The Romanian orphanages should have taught us this already…
Thank you. Appreciated.
I’ve recently read “the age of diagnosis” by suzanne O’sullivan.
It’s a very good book both sympathetic to those suffering symptoms and critical of over medicalisation .
Streeting by comparison seems to suffer from spending money.
He seems in thrall to the Treasury, willing to do any amount of harm to get into their good books.
The facts are that the UK had traditionally spent less on incapacity benefits
https://obr.uk/box/international-comparisons-of-health-related-welfare-spending-and-generosity/
There has been a recent surge in payments though, so that now the Uk pays slightly more on incapacity payments than the EU average (3.2% vs 2.8%) but is still less than the most generous in Europe.
The principal reason for the increase is the increase in older women workers as a result of the extension of the pension eligibility age threshold. And the steady reduction of other benefits. And the distress faced by the young in finding work.
All the statistics show the UK is a low payer of welfare payments compared to Europe.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Social_protection_statistics_-_social_benefits#:~:text=The%20average%20share%20of%20disability,are%20shown%20in%20Table%201.
None of which is likely to change under wes Streeting.
Thanks
I saw it reported (but I cannot find the source, it may have been on an Autistic persons YT or blog ) that it was O’Sullivan’s recent book that led Streeting to make his ‘Overdiagnosis’ claims. I certainly remember that book being and its author being heavily criticised among some of my fellow neurodivergent people at the time of its release.
Read the book and decide for yourself.
It doesnt justify WEs Streetings interpretation.
Read the book and decide for yourself.
It doesn’t justify wholesale reductions in benefits.
The international comparisons show the UK as recently better than the EU average for payments to aid incapacity but with much lower benefits for everything else (apart from housing).
Roger –
The extracts published in the Guardian were depressing enough for my AuDHD brain. Instead I’m reading Robert Chapmans ‘Empire of Normality’.
I am currently looking after someone with AuDHD. One of your readers mentioned “Executive Function” – a term coined by Thomas E Brown (now deceased). His video (less than 30 mins) explaining such illness & its causes may be useful to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZrZa5pLXk
Thanks
LINO Wes….
John Harris has written about Streetings review today.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/07/adhd-autism-overdiagnosis-wes-streeting
This is a very good article and I agree with almost every word in it.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/12/the-age-of-diagnosis-by-suzanne-osullivan-review-do-no-harm
I cannot see what Jonothon is objecting to in this.
So can I.
The idea that a diagnosus can do harm is just wrong and profoudnly patronising.
I was referring to this extract, rather than the review of the book which you linked to.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/01/the-number-of-people-with-chronic-conditions-is-soaring-are-we-less-healthy-than-we-used-to-be-or-overdiagnosing-illness
This video by an Autistic person (not me) puts across the concerns much better than I could.
https://youtu.be/ZCb4NY5HZlU?si=2aS5GJrOSGV4MyZ_
Agreed