[quote Alysskea]@scarpa it's because I've got so many friends that have gone for help with their mental health this year and walked away with an ADHD diagnosis instead of help. 5 in total.
And as for my score, I am 100% in agreement with @ehb102 - that's why it's so high. [/quote]
Fair enough - you're right, I think there's possibly a very, very small overcorrection of the previous underdiagnosis that's now catching some people that have similar symptoms.
However, in my experience, getting a diagnosis is so bloody long-winded and there are so many hoops to jump through that I don't think it's being handed out left, right & centre.
GPs can't diagnose it, so you have to be referred to a psychiatrist. The GP won't do that unless they think there's a real chance you may have it, because it'd be a wasted referral - so yes, at this stage, maybe some trauma-related symptoms are being mistaken for ADHD and referrals getting made, but in my experience GPs are very reluctant to refer.
Then, in the UK your choices are either: go private or get referred to your area's ADHD service. Lots of areas don't have an ADHD service, or if they do the waiting list is years long (3 years where I live). You can be referred to a private clinic but funded by the NHS if your area doesn't have a service OR if you can get your GP to agree you have the right to choose who provides your MH care, but even then their waiting lists are about a year right now.
So you've got a big wait, unless paying privately and even then you can be waiting a few months. It's not like you stroll in, say "Oh sometimes I can't concentrate a bit!" and then they hand you some amphetamines and off you go.
Then during diagnosis you'll be screened for other MH issues (I was asked about stuff that could relate to OCD, PTSD, BPD etc to ensure I wasn't presenting with something else), asked for school reports and supporting evidence from family and friends to show this was something that's been present from childhood (and therefore not as a result of trauma and developed later in life etc), and I also did a qualitative eye-tracking test which helps screen for ADHD in America but is being trialled here in some cases. Unless I had an unusually thorough psychiatrist, the diagnostic process is pretty rigorous and they were keen not to just throw a diagnosis at me.
It was 2 years ago now for me, but it really wasn't as simple as 'walking away with a diagnosis'.
If your friends are being diagnosed they must have symptoms severe/long-standing enough to warrant it (which maybe are caused by trauma, and that happens - mental disorders are misdiagnosed like physical ones are sometimes!) - doctors are reluctant to diagnose because the medication prescribed to treat ADHD is controlled and frequently misused.