UCL Leading Edge: Language and Diagnosis

Register your interest

Our Leading Edge event is free and will be held online. A full programme and joining instructions will be shared nearer the day. Please register your interest by 7th October

Language and Diagnosis

The 21st century has seen sharply increasing diagnosis rates. Findings include an eightfold increase in new diagnoses of autism from 1998 to 2018.

Estimating the prevalence rates of children’s literacy difficulties is complicated by shifting ideas about what ‘dyslexia’ actually is, but according to some estimates prevalence rates that were in the region of 2-4% of the population during the 1980s have risen this century to 10%-20%.

Increasing diagnosis rates can often be linked to drug interventions with a 50-fold increase in ADHD prescriptions in men aged 18-29 from 2000 to 2018, and it is well documented that mental heath diagnoses are also rising steeply.

What processes are behind this? Is greater awareness leading to better identification? Or are we well beyond that point, and is our collective awareness now fuelling over-diagnosis?

[Mental health] awareness efforts are leading some individuals to interpret and report milder forms of distress as mental health problems. We propose that this then leads some individuals to experience a genuine increase in symptoms, because labelling distress as a mental health problem can affect an individual’s self-concept and behaviour in a way that is ultimately self-fulfilling.”  (Lucy Foulkes and Jack Andrews, New Ideas in Psychology. 2023.)

“This seems to be a good time to cast a quizzical eye over the gift and burden that is modern diagnosis.”  (Suzanne O’Sullivan. The Age of Diagnosis. 2025.)

Our speakers include those from critical psychiatry as well as colleagues with a focus on educational psychology practice which will undoubtedly make for a stimulating and useful day.

Our speakers

Dr Sami Timimi – Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist

Sami Timimi is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author. He writes from a critical psychiatry perspective on topics relating to mental health and childhood and has published over a hundred and fifty articles in mainstream medical, educational, and sociological journals, as well as over 40 book chapters on subjects related to critical psychiatry, childhood, psychotherapy, depression, behavioural problems, and cross-cultural psychiatry. He has authored 7 books, co-edited 4 books and co-authored 2 others His most recent book, published in 2025 is Searching for Normal: A New Approach to Understanding Mental Health, Distress and Neurodiversity.

Dr Joanna Moncrieff – co-chair person the Critical Psychiatry Network

Joanna is a practising psychiatrist and a part-time academic and author. She has an interest in the history, philosophy and politics of psychiatry, and particularly in the use, misuse and misrepresentation of psychiatric drugs. Joanna will be talking about Myths about mental disorder and its treatments.

Dr Conor Davidson – Consultant Psychiatrist & Clinical Lead of Leeds Autism Diagnostic Service.

Connor is a general adult psychiatrist with a special interest in neurodevelopmental disorders. In 2021 he was appointed Royal College of Psychiatrists Autism Champion. Connor will be speaking about his changing experiences of diagnosis in his work.

Emeritus Professor Simon Gibbs – Professor of Inclusive Educational Psychology and Philosophy.

Simon has been working in education for over 50 years first, as a teacher; second as an EP; latterly as an academic. With Maggie Snowling, Charles Hulme, Peter Hatcher and colleagues from the University of York, as an EP he was involved in the design and evaluation of a large scale reading intervention in primary schools. Subsequently he has investigated the influences on teachers’ efficacy beliefs and how these beliefs may be compromised. In the context of what else might be rotten in education now*, Simon will be speaking about the effects of labelling, and essentialism on teachers’ beliefs about what is possible in relation to the development of children’s literacy.

A forthcoming book by Simon is entitled ‘(Re?) Designing Education, Ethically and Psychologically. A cause for care.’

Helen Webb – Educational Psychologist. Kent Educational Psychology Service.

Helen has been working as an Educational Psychologist in Kent for 20 years with a particular interest in effecting positive change and empowering others through consultation as well as supervision and coaching for education professionals.

Dr Claudia Stevens – Educational Psychologist. Kent Educational Psychology Service.

Claudia is an Educational Psychologist working for Kent County Council. She studied at the Tavistock and Portman, and her thesis topic was the delivery of sex education in secondary schools. Prior to becoming an Educational Psychologist Claudia was a Psychology teacher.

Helen and Claudia will talk about their experiences of Functional Neurological Disorders in the context of a number of secondary settings in Kent and the role of the educational psychologist in supporting positive change in relation to this

Our Leading Edge event is free and will be held online. A full programme and joining instructions will be shared nearer the day. Please register your interest by 7th October