To think most online adult ADHD diagnoses are bullshit?

I don't think it's bullshit but I think if that many people have it then surely it becomes a norm rather than some exceptional diagnosis IYSWIM?

To be fair to OP I hardly think it's an uncommon opinion

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12812475/amp/Cambridge-students-accused-gaming-actively-seeking-mental-health-diagnoses-conditions-like-ADHD-time-exams.html

So what's the alternative for those not diagnosed before the age of 6? I wonder if your GP friend is aware of the statical outcomes for people with ADHD who do not get diagnosed and treated? What exactly is his experience in this field? I ask because it's an area where General Practitioners do seem to profess specialist knowledge which, when challenged by someone who knows just a little bit, seems to dissipate.

So, what is the alternative? Do we refuse neurodivergent young people and adults NHS care for their neuro divergence? Will this apply to other conditions or just autism and ADHD? Can he quote the figures on statistical outcomes (ADHD takes 20 years off life span according to Hallowell & Ratey, ADHD 2.0) Does this not concern you GP friend? If not, why not? Does he not value the contribution neurodivergent people make to society? Does he have an empathy problem? - one has to wonder. What's his remit as a GP, is it to 'trust' diagnoses or is he over reaching? Does he have access and make use of research developments into neurodivergence or is he lazily basing his opinion on the textbook that got him through med school?

The 'problem' is only a problem IN YOUR OPINION that's the point!

I paid for an assessment. I - in my own judgement - barely scraped through. The assessor kept asking me if I was sure when I gave specific answers - he was guiding me to give the "correct" answers. It was a nonsense. I'd paid £600. Of course I got a diagnosis! ADHD, my fucking eye.

I am as autistic as the day is long though and perfectly happy with that.

Are you saying your opinion cannot possibly be harmful because other people might share it?

ADHD and autism are spectrum disorders like hypertension. Whether you are diagnosed or not just depends on where the threshold for number and severity of symptoms is placed and it appears that we as a society have lately decided to place it a bit lower than it used to be resulting in more diagnoses. It's just the same as if we lowered the hypertension cut off from 140 systolic to 130 more people would have hypertension and be offered medication for it.

Excuse me? I have a 'proper' diagnosis thank you. Through the GP and waiting two years for a diagnosis and everything! (To be clear, I dont think you need this type of formal diagnosis- or any diagnosis at all!- to have ADHD).

I am a highly organised person (who is actually an event planner for a job!) so by your initial post i wouldn't fit your narrow definition, but I have received my diagnosis through 'legitimate' means. Where does that leave me in your eyes?

Your opinion smacks of snobbery and is downright harmful. The more people who are aware of ADHD and get help for it the better, regardless of how they get diagnosed. Or if they get diagnosed at all! It took 2 years for my formal diagnosis, I have ADHD as much as I did before I was diagnosed.

I think the current number of adults diagnosed in recent years explains the number of children back in my school days who couldn't concentrate and were 'disruptive'. We generally just put those kids down to poor parenting/background. Actually we can now see that were they children nowadays they'd be put on the pathway for a diagnosis and given help.

My 34 year old brother has just had an ADHD diagnosis. It came completely out of the blue and was his GP who suggested he went for the test. In hindsight it may have explained being labelled as the 'class clown' and not finishing schoolwork in the allotted lessons. He's actually quite intelligent so I'm guessing it was not obvious that he needed support. I think my dad has much stronger traits than my brother but has never been assessed. I suffer with sensory overload and anxiety but I will never get tested because I don't think I'd be diagnosed with it.

You are being incredibly ignorant to generalise so massively.
I was diagnosed by an online company through an arrangement via my employer's medical insurer. I have struggled with so much my entire life, looking back I was textbook. Low self esteem, eating disorder, bright but inconsistent performance both at work and school. ADHD is fucking awful and having people like you dismiss my diagnosis and the struggles I and thousands of others have is so insulting.

This online company were very thorough before they gave me my diagnosis with a report setting out exactly the basis for it.
They assessed my DD last year. They found that while she does have impairments, she didn't meet the required threshold for diagnosis in children - 6 impairments in more than one setting (I think it's 6) - a whole other thread about the diagnostic criteria being based on boys 🙄. They want to see her next year when she is at secondary school when it is likely her struggles will be more visible to her teachers. So this nonsense about diagnosis being dished out to anyone who pays for it is not only false, but extremely harmful and devalues the accurate diagnoses that the majority of people have got through these companies.

Yes, there are problems with some companies, and you are right that there should be more regulation - aside from anything else, it would prevent people like you spreading this damaging narrative that all online diagnosis are bullshit. Our lives are hard enough as it is without crap like this being peddled by ill informed people basing their opinion on what they have seen on social media.

I'd probably feel your ire then

I'm being diagnosed late in life. I score off the scale on NHS scoring and 121 assessment.

It's painfully obvious - but on the surface I'm very bright, very successful and despite being textbook don't appear it. Because I mask and have hundreds of coping mechanisms.

It was actualy at work that it was repeatedly mentioned with complete surprise that I didn't know!

This is a career I'm pretty good at - turns out because it taps into the stuff I'm good at, joining dots, hyperfocus, fast thinking, multi tasking but is flexible enough that I can work in bursts. And then do not much for days.

And I'm senior enough that I don't have to worry about detail or finishing stuff. People always assumed I was ambitious. Nope just desperate to get away from being found out at being woeful at stuff other people just seem to be able to do.

The post doesn't look complete bullshit, it really is complete bullshit and will probably be taken down soon enough. Can't stand the arrogance of an OP like this one.

different MH professionals have advised me to get tested for ADHD. I saw a psychiatrist ( for something else) who suspected ADHD and I absolutely shut it down. As I am one of those people who from the outside look like I am ‘together’. Full time organised job, child, mortgage etc but I actually struggle a lot. But like you I feel like there’s a bandwagon of people desperate to be diagnosed with it and will change their behaviour to fit. But really that could (and is most likely) my own prejudice..

Your GP friend sounds very ignorant. Autism is well known to change and evolve. It’s hugely common for girls to get missed as girls and then crumble in their teens and be diagnosed.Does your go friend really not know that?😱GPs aren’t qualified to diagnose and he/she sounds as if he/she desperately needs some ND training.

The diagnosis wait can be as long as 5 years .Private is often as much as £3k. Not many people can afford it. As such 1/4 of classes diagnosed with autism is not the norm, far from it.

Can you share evidence?...without it your post looks like complete bullshit.

Congratulations on your diagnosis and the fact it has enabled you to diagnose others while demonstrating zero knowledge of the condition - that's quite a win. I wonder why you aren't telling people in real life, what with you being one of the 'real' ones (and not just someone with a scruffy home)

Thanks from someone with AuDHD, a tidy home, multiple activities organised & academically gifted - go me, big faker.

I'm not against private diagnosis.

Shared care and shared titration with the NHS are not something NHS GPs have to accept, and whether shared titration is accepted or whether its entirely funded privately there are still guidelines that have to be followed to ensure that medication is prescribed safely.

I do think both ADHD and autism are underdiagnosed. I have an NHS autism diagnosis, but I don't have anything against people who seek a private diagnosis. I don't think their struggles are any less valid than mine. To claim any sort of benefit they would have to have substantial evidence to prove each of their struggles so I don't think people who have a private diagnosis are taking from the general public either.

I also think that private diagnosis for ADHD, especially for women is very beneficial. For a very long time neurodivergence in women has been ignored, misunderstood and misrepresented. Private diagnosis often offers follow up care options that NHS diagnoses do not.

I think it's wonderful that people are more in tune with their needs and mental health and a huge benefit is recognising that they may need reasonable adjustments at workplaces or in other professional settings.

As other PPs have mentioned, ADHD and autism are not learning disabilities. They're neurodevelopmental disorders. This means it doesn't impact anybodies intelligence however the way their brain works will impact how they access resources to education or their learning styles. This means saying that they need to accept they're "a bit thick" is offensive. It's not meant in any other way. It's meant to be inflammatory, and it shows your privileged position to have received an NHS diagnosis.

It's also important to note that ADHD has many presentations, typically inattentive, hyperactive and combination. Each presentation by definition will present differently. Some people outwardly show their struggles, some people internalise their struggles and some present in both ways.

I do think that in some cases of NHS diagnosis this is actually overlooked. It's very similar to holding women to male autistic standards and you're not always fortunate enough to have an assessor who understands masking plays a huge part for women, just the same as you're not always likely to have an assessor who doesn't have a rigid idea that ADHD isn't always physically flitting from one thing to the next leaving a streak of chaos as you go, but is a huge disorganisation of the mind instead.

Struggling to study for exams isn’t going to get you a diagnosis.

Many many people don’t go on to have Speed. Managing impulsivity and emotions, the noise in our heads are focused on a lot in my NHS group therapy. Many people are diagnosed on the back of an autism diagnosis and they overlap.

You're honestly something else! Your way or no way!

My gp friend says the same, private providers, even those contracted by the nhs have 100% diagnosis rates in his experience, in fact the only person he knows he failed to be diagnosed was diagnosed with schizophrenia instead! Autism he said was the same, they are contracting out children as well here, rates are running at 25% in some schools where the parents can afford to pay.

He is not trusting of any diagnosis made after age 6.

I'm sure I have ADHD but I paid one of the places you mention and they told me I didn't hit the diagnostic criteria. They're still psychiatrists, and would prescribe meds if diagnosed, so they can't just make it up.