{"id":796870,"date":"2026-10-09T09:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/796870\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T09:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:36:10","slug":"adhd-and-autism-at-risk-of-over-diagnosis-says-report-as-author-warns-of-rise-in-mental-ill-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/796870\/","title":{"rendered":"ADHD and autism at risk of over-diagnosis, says report, as author warns of rise in mental ill health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Waiting years for a diagnosis isn&#8217;t simply waiting for a piece of paper&#8217;published at 08:55 BST<\/p>\n<p>08:55 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-qs9kpv-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f26d8118-4178-4ae5-8072-e2ee0a81649b.jpg.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Erica Witherington<br \/>Disability affairs reporter<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Erin is pictured wearing glasses, headphones, a cap and a fleece jacket, standing outdoors in front of leafless trees. Warm low sunlight illuminates the scene, with a wooden fence and blurred natural landscape in the background.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/feeb12aa-4257-45b1-ac82-8238571aab1e.jpg.webp\"  width=\"1530\" height=\"861\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image source, HandoutImage caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Erin says she wants more support to be available before the diagnosis stage<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">At school, Erin says it might have looked from the outside<br \/>\nas though she was thriving. She was ambitious, sociable and getting good<br \/>\ngrades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Inside, though, she says she was struggling to stay afloat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She developed anorexia, became a young carer while her<br \/>\nmother received palliative care, and later had to deal with her death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When overwhelmed, Erin says she sometimes went into shutdown<br \/>\nand couldn&#8217;t speak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I could know exactly what I wanted to say, but I<br \/>\nphysically couldn\u2019t get the words out,&#8221; she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Erin, now 21, was diagnosed as autistic at college. She says<br \/>\nit finally helped her to understand what sort of support she needed, and to<br \/>\nstop asking herself, &#8220;Why can&#8217;t I just cope?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But she believes getting support shouldn&#8217;t have to wait for<br \/>\nan autism diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Waiting several years isn&#8217;t simply waiting for a piece<br \/>\nof paper,&#8221; she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Those are years in which a young person is still<br \/>\ndeveloping their identity, and potentially struggling without understanding<br \/>\nwhy.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8216;Waiting years for a diagnosis isn&#8217;t simply waiting for a piece of paper&#8217;published at 08:55 BST 08:55 BST&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-796870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}