Ben Fogle says no medicine 'as powerful' as Congo visit after ADHD diagnosis
When TV adventurer Ben Fogle told the world he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he admitted that – as the latest celebrity to reveal the condition – it would provoke a bout of eye-rolling in places.
On social media, he said: "I admit to my own cynicism but the reality is that I have changed neurologically.
"A recent mental health storm was the catalyst for my diagnosis. I feel different and have done for some time. Some aspects of my life had become more of a struggle but with a diagnosis comes understanding and reason. Maybe it is my age or perhaps a symptom of something more complex in wider society. I have ADHD but I am still me."
Ben Fogle (centre left), pictured in a scene from his new Channel 5 docuseries, spoke to the Mirror recently about being diagnosed with ADHD (Channel 5)Now, in an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Ben, who turned 50 last November, goes into more detail about his ADHD and says it was a trip to the Congo for a new TV show which helped him after his diagnosis.
"I had what a lot of people call burnout last year," he says. "I was pushing myself too hard, with too high expectations. That coincided with seeking a little bit of help and actually getting a clinical diagnosis of what I’ve known for a long time, that I had ADHD.
Ben Fogle claims trip to Ukraine to see old pals 'harder than climbing Everest'
"I don't think it should define you but it explains why I am often really enthusiastic about things because my emotions are extreme high and very rarely extreme low.
"Because of this little burnout I entered that low which I’d never had in my entire life and that’s why I was able to understand how my brain works.
"It was just luck I went off to the Congo in the midst of all that. No therapist, no medicine could ever be as powerful as spending time with those beautiful people.
"When I walked into the Mbendjele settlement and they all danced. I don't think I have ever experienced anything so moving. That welcome was not just for TV. There was nothing put on. It’s the most emotional series I have ever done."
For Into The Congo with Ben Fogle, he travelled to remote rainforests to meet glass-eating voodoo wrestlers and fishermen who risk their lives every day on Congo River rapids.
The adventurer suggested that his trip to the Congo, which came in the midst of the diagnosis, was a 'powerful' experience (Channel 5)Ben also had a lucky escape in an encounter with a highly venomous snake. The drama happened as the TV star was foraging in shallow waters and bent down to pick up what he thought was a fish. Women from the Mbendjele BaYaka tribe he was with averted disaster by shouting in French: "Keep away, keep away... don’t touch."
Ben quickly moved back and a small black snake scurried away.He says: "I genuinely thought it was a little fish and had I been bitten that would have been it.
"Probably the greatest risk any of us face is on roads. In the Congo it comes from every direction and the most unexpected places. I didn’t anticipate something so deadly from tiny waterholes.
"When I climb Everest or row across the Atlantic, there are breathless headlines ‘Isn’t Ben brave’ or ‘Isn’t Ben stupid’ or ‘How dangerous is that?"
Ben was left awestruck by a tribesman who climbed trees seeking honey, risking an attack by bees or a fatal fall.
'We live in a ruin with no electricity and only half a roof - it's paradise'
He says: "I have chosen or paid to do those things or I take myself to a risky place out of my comfort zone but then when you spend time with people like the Mbendjele. You realise lots of people in this world are forced to embrace risk.
"I’m reminded by my privilege that I can actually choose when to embrace that risk and when not to.
"What he did in that tree was more dangerous than me going up Everest. The risk of that bamboo breaking or being swarmed by bees and stung. There’s no way he could survive that fall, so it’s very humbling."
Ben lives with his wife Marina and children Ludovic, 14 and 12-year-old Iona in Oxfordshire.
He shot to fame after appearing on the BBC show Castaway 2000 which followed a group of people marooned on a Scottish island. He has since rowed across the Atlantic, raced over Antarctica to the South Pole and scaled Everest.
He had wanted to explore the Congo since he was a child and it didn’t disappoint. While there, he also witnessed a tribal tradition of young male circumcision.
"I tried to imagine my son there and was horrified,” says Ben. “But I’m not going to stand here and say that is wrong for them to do that. Culturally it is a way of bonding you to your community. Who are we to say that's not what they should do?”
Ben believes future generations in the west would benefit from connecting with the natural world. "So many children don’t have the chance to leave an inner urban area," he says. "I am a keen advocate of a form of conscription but not just military. Every child should be given the opportunity to spend a couple of months volunteering with the NHS, the fire brigade, charities overseas or the military.
"Wild places have been so character building, better than any exam grades. I’ve learnt far more from nature. School stripped me of my confidence – nature has built me an armour of confidence.
"Our youth need to be inspired. That could be the answer to so many ills. The pressures on their mental health through the dangers of social media."
The adventurer, who is preparing for his UK tour Wild, says he would love to take his family to live with the Mbendjele. "Is it really going to happen? Probably not," he admits. "But I love dreaming and I love the anticipation of something like that. Watch this space."
Into The Congo with Ben Fogle starts Sunday at 9pm on Channel 5 and My5.
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