Children at risk of overdiagnosis as ADHD and autism diagnoses rocket, major review finds

A 400-page review has found ADHD and autism diagnoses have rocketed while true rates have barely changed since 2000, prompting overdiagnosis fears, The Sun reports.

Ordered by former Health Secretary Wes Streeting and chaired by Prof Peter Fonagy of UCL, it found ADHD diagnoses surging from less than 0.5 per cent to three or four per cent; about one per cent of young people are thought to have autism, yet recorded rates exceed four per cent.

The report said: “The line between the social and the medical is beginning to blur.”

Mental distress has “increased substantially”, it said: children spend less time with others and more online, sleep, play and exercise less, schoolwork more demanding, older teenagers worrying about jobs and housing.

Prof Fonagy said: “There is a lack of hope amongst young people that their lives will be better than their parents, and that’s the first time since the Second World War.”

He urged help for what young people need rather than their diagnosis, and a “needs-led” NHS and school system with investment in youth services.

Sir Simon Wessely of King’s College London added: “Probably one of the main harms of diagnosis is that it labels you as not being able to do something that you actually might be able to do.”

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “It is clear that mental health services need to change to focus more on the early support young people need to stay in education or work to keep their lives on track.”