It's the Brian Laris Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now we'll take an in-depth look at a psychiatric

diagnosis that you might say has taken America by storm, attention deficit,

hyperactivity disorder, commonly known by its acronym, by its initials, ADHD.

While it used to be considered a rare childhood disorder affecting just 3% of the population,

the CDC now estimates 15 million adults are living with adult ADHD

in the United States as of last year. What's behind the boom in ADHD diagnoses and what even

is this disorder that it seems like half the people you know might have. In the latest season of the podcast

Backfired, host Leon Nafak and Ariel Pardis tackle these questions and more. Take a listen to the

trailer. I'm Leon Nafak. And I'm Ariel Pardes. This is Backfired, Attention Deficit.

In this season of Backfired, we're telling the story of how ADHD became the defining diagnosis of our time

and how the drugs used to treat it have become part of daily life for millions.

It's a story about the promise of psychiatry to fix our brains.

I wonder if this is how everyone else feels.

Do people just function without it being painful all the time? It's about the power of the

pharmaceutical industry to shape how we and our doctors think about what's wrong with us and what's

going to make us better. Doctors in general want to help people, but on this, they were so sloppy. It's also a story about what it means to be normal. And who gets to decide when someone isn't? They want to have little zombies sitting row and row in the classroom. There was always some legal case going on. I say we get rid of riddling. We don't like it. We don't want to

get rid of it. This is Backfired, a podcast about the business of unintended consequences.

Season two, attention deficit. And joining me now to discuss their findings and to take your

stories and comments and questions are Leon Nefok and Ariel Pardas

hosts of backfired season two attention deficit. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to WNYC.

Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you. Good morning. And so we heard the trailer. Let me dive right

in with a clip from the podcast itself. Arielle will hear you asking

...