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Why does it seem like ADHD is the new Autism self-diagnosis? I've met a lot of people lately who have self-diagnosed themselves with ADHD.
Because a lot of people don't have access to mental health resources, or even medical ones, and are struggling with the pressures of navigating a life setup for type A brains with a type B brain. They know "something" is off, and find symptoms match up with ADHD.
I only got diagnosed because I was at the hospital for something else, and the local specialist noticed something was off with my behaviour. (I was there for a little while, to be fair.)
As an adult, navigating anything administrative is a nightmare.
My adult appointment for testing/evaluation was nearly 2 grand. I met my annual deductible in a month because of it. I'm fortunate enough to be middle class, so I could afford it, but I can't imagine someone making a lower end of middle class income just being able to drop that kind of money like that.
There are much cheaper ways to get a diagnosis, even for people without health insurance.
My provider that tested both of my kids stopped taking insurance for tests, so they wanted me to pay 13000 dollars for spectrum testing, I found a different provider and I still have to get lined up with a test but they’ve already started my adhd symptoms right away. It has been so nice after 34ish years of just coping
Because it was wildly under diagnosed in many places until recently, and if you weren’t a white boy you were a lot less likely to be correctly diagnosed.
I thought the consensus was that it was wildly OVER diagnosed in the late 90s to make kids shut up in school
edit: Oh lmao I just realized was sublemmy I'm in
That was the pop culture take on it, that doesn’t mean that’s what the evidence shows.
How exactly would your answer be different if you'd realised where you were?
My answer wouldn't have changed, I just would've realized why I'm getting the same response over and over lol
This is probably because you are stating your subjective opinion in a rude & condescending way, instead of providing any peer-reviewed data to back up your claims.
tl;dr/succinct version - you are full of shit
I don't think anything I said was rude just because you disagree with it
Without looking it up, I believe the DSM says that diagnosis requires three out of five indicators. That would suggest that many people can get one or two indicators. Social media (specifically short form like twitter, instagram, and TikTok) has measurable negative impact on attention spans, while also propagating a narrative of colloquial symptoms.
“Whee look at me being neurodivergent!” - golly, I do that too! Maybe I’m ADHD.
For what it’s worth, I have both ADHD and mild autism. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist. I’m saying that the diagnosis is devalued by “oh i do that too, I’m also a little bit adhd”.
I self diagnosed before getting my formal diagnosis from a doctor. I was a hard yes to like 30 of the 32 signs of adult ADHD in Driven to Distraction.
At some point it's kinda a relief to realize that other people are going through the same stuff as you, and start therapy and treatment that are actually catered to your needs since you've already tried a million other things and nothing has worked.
And yeah everybody struggles with executive function and attention sometimes. But like, we all bleed when we're cut, doesn't mean haemophilia is fake.
You got that backwards.