In deze mini documentaire, ontwikkeld door een team van jonge onderzoekers van de Mind research project en 4QFilms wordt in beeld gebracht hoe het dagelijks leven wordt ervaren door iemand met ADHD vanuit een persoonlijk perspectief en wetenschappelijke benadering.
Mini documentaire over hoe het is om met ADHD te leven
Short description of the video and why it was made:
“I feel like a universe, stuffed within a shoebox” – this is how Bryn Travers describes what it’s like to
have Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). On 31 October 2018 the video ‘Shine a light
– understanding ADHD’ is released: a short documentary about what ADHD is, both from a
personal and from a clinical perspective. The video was a created through collaboration between four
EU-funded, international consortia of researchers that investigate ADHD and its origins: MiND,
Aggressotype, CoCA and Eat2BeNICE.
The hope is that this video will help young people and adults diagnosed with ADHD, or who suspect
they have ADHD, as well as their family and friends, to understand the condition better.
Knowing more about ADHD and spreading awareness will help people to better understand (people with) ADHD. This will reduce stigma and (self)blame.
About the collaborators of this video
This video was a created through collaboration between four EU-funded, international consortia of
researchers that investigate ADHD and its origins. The idea came from two junior scientists, Laura
Ghirardi and dr. Nicoletta Adamo. They were supported in creating the video through the MiND
Training program and by the other junior scientists from MiND.
The video was recorded by 4QUARTER FILMS (www.4quarterfilms.com). What is this video about?
Many children, adolescents and adults suffer from ADHD. ADHD is a complex disorder that affects
people differently. Generally people experience problems in daily life, especially with respect to
controlling attention, impulses and emotions. At the same time, people with ADHD enjoy their
creativity and positive energy. Medication is effective for many people with ADHD, but not for all. A
downside of the medication is that it needs to be taken every day, and it does not cure someone
from the disorder. Other types of treatment should therefore also be offered and investigated.
Knowing more about ADHD and spreading awareness will help people to understand what causes
their behaviour. This will reduce stigma and (self)blame.
In this mini-documentary, we have asked people with ADHD and their relatives what is like to have
ADHD, what are the challenges and what are the things they like about ADHD. We have also asked
clinicians and researchers working with ADHD to explain more about the origins of the disorder, what
they have learnt from their experience working with patients, but also what are the main questions
that research is trying to answer about ADHD.
The video features four of the most well-known researchers in the field of ADHD: dr. Eric Taylor is
Emeritus Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at King’s College London, dr. Philip Asherson is
professor of Molecular Psychiatry at King’s College London, dr. Barbara Franke is professor of
Molecular Psychiatry at Radboud university medical center Nijmegen, in The Netherlands, and dr.
Corina Greven is psychologist and behavioural geneticist at Radboud university medical center
Nijmegen. Next to these scientists and psychiatrists, we see three people with ADHD (Bryn Travers,
Evie Travers and Aziz), Andrea Bilbow, president of patient organisation ‘ADHD Europe’ and mother
of two children with ADHD, and dr. Kai Syng Tan, researcher and artist at King’s College London, who
also has an ADHD diagnosis.
In the video they talk about what ADHD is and what it is like to have ADHD, about the pro’s and
con’s of ADHD medication and why other types of treatment should also be developed, about stigma
and misconceptions and why education is so important, and about the positive aspects of ADHD.