"TikTok trends or the pandemic? What’s behind the rise in ADHD diagnoses"

[flashbac]

"The striking overlap between ADHD symptoms and garden variety “pandemic brain” only compounds common misunderstandings of the former. Simply, ADHD symptoms can look and sound a whole lot like the struggles that define many people’s everyday workflows, which are so often fragmented by push notifications and digital dopamine hits. Who doesn’t have trouble multitasking or following through with tasks? And who isn’t fighting the urge to impulse-scroll social media during the particularly dull moments of any given afternoon? In the past two years, these difficulties have only become more pronounced."

www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/02/tiktok-trends-or-the-pandemic-whats-behind-the-rise-in-adhd-diagnoses

What do you think?

Can someone be diagnosed via a private, online only consultation?

Yeah, I was (NHS, with an NHS consultant psychiatrist) — but they wanted a lot of collateral information, which I suspect varies in what they demand depending on the person. The main source of information when diagnosing conditions like this in adults is always the person themselves. Not just what you tell them, but how you come across, other info you provide, and so on.

Nevertheless I'm not strongly wedded to my ADHD diagnosis; I think of my difficulties as inextricable from my ASD, and only went for assessment because I wanted to try some meds.

The NHS consultant psychiatrist I saw thought I fitted ADHD as well as ASD, and it's his professional reputation and career on the line if he's thought to be doling out diagnoses and stimulants without due care, so if online assessment is good enough for him, then 🤷🏼‍♂️

Sorry, should've been clearer — mine was NHS but you can pay for exactly the same service and doctors privately.

Was it just the one appointment and how long did it take?

Yes, I read the article and the change in prescribing guidelines etc all seemed to be referring to the USA, where it is much more of an industry and pharmaceutical companies can advertise prescription medication on TV. 😬

It can be one appointment, but you also have to provide a lot of background information and have other people answer questions about you and how you are and how you were as a child.

I was diagnosed privately and then had the process repeated to transfer to the NHS. I had to send the NHS psychiatrist scans of all my primary school reports. 😏 I now meet with the psychiatrist every 6 months to monitor my weight and BP and how it's going with medication.

flashbac, I'm not really your best example to ask, as I was treated by the service as a somewhat special case thanks to my comorbidities and complex psychiatric history. I'm really not the person being discussed in articles about whether we're confusing "pandemic brain" with neurodevelopmental disorders 😅

Is that a known symptom Daftasabroom? I ask only as that describes me as a child (and I now have a ds with adhd so wondering where he might have got it from, so to speak)

Mine was an hour and 40 minutes for the actual assessment, with a 40 minute pre call where he took notes. As he also works for the NHS in my area, with my permission he accessed my records and used a previous assessment for other mental health difficulties to form part of my adhd assessment.

Is this an essential part of the assessment? I'm not from the UK so people that knew me as a child don't know English, or wouldn't be supportive or both.

They'll normally ask you to answer questions and I was asked to get my husband and a parent or someone else that knew me as a child as well.

Not everyone will have a mother that kept all their reports or people who can answer questions, though.

It also involves discussing how your work, family, life is affected. Plus a lot of other questions about your mental health, presumably to rule out and/or detect other conditions which might be affecting you.

@Idontwanna..you could be me

I have noticed that a significant number of female Instagrammers that I follow have very recently been diagnosed with ADHD. I don't really know what to make of it tbh.

Is this an essential part of the assessment? I'm not from the UK so people that knew me as a child don't know English, or wouldn't be supportive or both.

A translating service could be used for your non English speaking family.

I don't think that in this country, there's a huge problem with people who don't "truly" have ADHD (whatever that means) receiving a diagnosis and medications for it.

I can’t see why “NT” adults would particularly chase after a diagnosis of ADHD? There’s all the hoops to get through to see the CMHT; providing evidence of it at school - and for what? To get meds with unpleasant side effects, no support afaik from MH services and in practice, little support at work?

@Badlifeday apologies for not replying, I lost track somewhat.

@Badlifeday and then I posted too soon. www.additudemag.com/introvert-social-anxiety-adhd-adults/

It was definitely a major feature of my childhood and I was very badly bullied at school.

If it helps anyone else: I’m finding it much more helpful to think in terms of “Executive Functioning”, and problems with that, rather than this rather fuzzy label of ADHD. It encompasses a range of skills that ADHD people struggle with, and you sometimes see the term ‘Executive Dysfunction’. There are then a number of websites that give you strategies to cope, and games and other options to build these executive functioning skills. It’s a classification that makes more sense to me, although everyone is different of course. Here’s a couple of websites I found:

psychcentral.com/adhd/adhd-executive-dysfunction#whats-next

www.thepathway2success.com/15-executive-functioning-strategies-every-teacher-can-use/

TikTok for sure - every other post seems to be about middle aged women with adhd

Thanks @Daftasabroom that was an interesting read

It makes sense that a lot of people on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram etc have ADHD, though, because people with ADHD tend to like the dopamine hit of social media AND have very intense interests that they want to share with other people AND often find online interaction easier than in-person communication AND are often more successful at risky creative things than stable sensible things.

Your sound really knowledgeable about this subject 🤨