Why is adhd not as "respected" as other ND conditions?

[elliejjtiny]

I'm wondering if it's because autism can mean anything from what used to be called Aspergers syndrome and profound autism with profound learning disabilities and people with adhd are more likely to either not have learning disabilities or have learning disabilities with a separate diagnosis.

But Nigel Farage has been in the news again saying he is going to get rid of PIP for people with mild anxiety and adhd as their primary diagnosis. I don't think anyone gets PIP for mild anxiety, I certainly don't anyway. But adhd can be extremely debilitating and require PIP.

Funny you should say that... My autistic teenager is more likely to destroy things than my ADHD child. Both are fantastic at masking but ones built like a brick house the other is in competition with the speed of light. I know which one I'd fancy my chances against and it sure isn't the one with ADHD.

In some areas, the diagnosis rate of ADHD by private or RTC providers is almost 100%. Even RTC providers have a vested interest in making a diagnosis because usually an NHS GP will refuse to prescribe medication so the patient has to come back to them for a private prescription.

In many cases the assessment process is robust but not in all. I have a friend whose son was diagnosed with ADHD through a RTC provider after a 5 minute chat with her and “assessing” her son for a few minutes via a video call.

Smartphones and social media has a lot to answer for. I’m a NT adult and my attention span is much less than what it used to be, I’m convinced it’s because of the nature of social media and everything being on tap. My children exhibit ADHD like traits after spending too much time on screens.

It will eventually be looked at and the country will catch up.

I don't think other ND conditions get respected either

I think a lot of people are borderline. The post above about struggling at work is an example, work is boring, shitty and hard. You get distracted because we're there for the bills, its a normal brain reaction to being bored.

Life is often too hard, too much juggling, too much stimulation, its a modern life symptom

Another thread running at the moment and about some poor child who has been living in the US, then UK, then US, then UK, he's now hitting his mother and cant settle and is angry and doesnt engage well at school.

Whats a few posts in? 'Get him assessed', - while setting out all the symptoms of a distressed unsettled angry child.

Completely agree. The tide is starting to turn with more schools banning smart phones and the legislation for social media accounts. But it’s very hard to undue the damage that’s been done. Smart tech has ruined our brains.

I think ADHD is associated (from when I was in school) with naughty and disruptive kids. Autism has always been associated with kids noticeably having learning difficulties. Farage has clearly never experience any ND in his perfect life so this perception has stuck with him.

Adhd and autism to an extent are just not taken seriously as diagnosis anymore mainly due to social media and influencers who list pretty much anything humanly possible and say thats a sign of adhd and autism then people think thats me or my child (its everyone) then they research it more and convince themselves they have it and even then when they go for diagnosis they have researched so much that certain traits are in the front of their mind. Im not saying people are lying to get a diagnosis I think they have genuinely morphed into that person by convincing themselves they have all these problems that without learning about it they could of carried on a realitivly normal life. Like people in their 40s/50s going for diagnosis why.

And why is songs playing in your head always given as an example? There couldn’t be a more mundane and common human experience than that

I suspect "songs playing in my head" is a significant underplaying of what is actually going on.

I do not have ADHD, but when I'm unwell I do experience intrusive and constant noise as a symptom. It's not just "earworm", which I also get when I'm perfectly well, but that's just easily ignored for the most part. The intrusive stuff is a cacophonous din, often several pieces of music at once, with dialogue over the top of it, and I can still also hear the everyday background noise over the top of this as well. It doesn't relent when I'm tired, it doesn't relent when I want to go to sleep, and it doesn't pay any attention to me trying my best to mentally calm it. The only thing which stops it even temporarily is medication, which I'm reluctant to take anyway because that is not the only thing the medication does to me.

People habitually play down the reality of their symptoms instead of telling it precisely like it is, because there is still a prevailing attitude that you don't over-egg things lest you come over all "woe is me". This isn't helpful because it also happens in front of Doctors, Psychiatrists and the like.

But as an adult you only get diagnosed if you can demonstrate you have the symptoms before the age of 12. You usually need evidence too. You also need to show that you have the symptoms in all areas or your life and they are numerous and severe enough. Although the assessment is subjective, it is not as subjective as people think.

I'm in my 40s, I got diagnosed with ADHD last year. I've always suffered with mental ill health, severely for years. My life was chaos, working full time, 2 children and a single mum. My 'anxiety' which has been unsuccessfully treated for years, disappeared overnight taking ADHD meds. I'm more productive, my house and life are calmer, I'm no longer a mentally ill patient for the NHS, I'm a better mum/daughter/friend/employee. My life was transformed by diagnosis - that's why.

Ive posted before about a child I worked with who was diagnosed privately, he was seen at home, with his parents, for one hour, never met the assessor before. She didnt speak to the social care team, there werent any traits identified from school reports. He was diagnosed after that one session

When I've written about this before Ive been called and liar and that couldnt possibly happen or that it wasnt a proper assessor. She was and the information was for the Courts.

Yes and every time I look on social media there is another post by a parent that’s gone viral with the parent complaining about the ban, going into great detail about how not having a YT channel will supposedly damage their 12 year old. Something that is being done to benefit kids and society in the long run and parents are still complaining.

Id be curious if you had been given a placebo if it would have had a similar effect

That doesn’t sound like ADHD? Isn’t that just normal life for lots of people? I have a diagnosis of both ADHD and Autism and I wish that list was what my experience was like.

Why would you be curious about that? Are you curious about any other illness treatment plans and whether a placebo would have cured that?

I've been severely mentally unwell for decades, and now I'm not. I'm calmer, I feel well, and I'm healthy - you can be curious all you like, but the results speak for themselves.

And this is exactly the problem people are made to believe this is abnormal when its really normal

I've worked with adults and children with disabilities for a long time and there are several people with ADHD/Autism in my personal life. ADHD is rarely 'debilitating' autism often is. I do see ADHD as a less disabling condition, yes some may be extreme and some people with autism may function really well. However, I'd say comparing the two is like comparing mild/moderate depression and schizophrenia. Both under the same umbrella but in the vast majority of cases schizophrenia will be more debilitating. Or like comparing dyslexia to a learning disability, one is clearly more debilitating I'm the majority of cases.

Thank you! And the others who’ve said similar.
I had a friend who insisted she had ADHD and “researched” it. Paid for a private diagnosis, then the medication. It was very dangerous for her and she had a psychotic episode. NHS psychiatrist actually later diagnosed her with depression and prescribed SSRIs.
Be very careful self reporting ADHD symptoms- the medication is dangerous for you if you don’t actually have it.

Yes working life is challenging with constant distractions and demands and feeling knackered at the end of the day.

Yes I am i take between 50 to 100 pills a day and I swear I don't actually need a good half of them or more. Its a conversation I've had with drs before about the placebo effect and they said they are not allowed to do it as it not legally or ethically correct. But I would absolutely love my drs to switch all my meds to placebos to see what happens

Nobody can "be" ADHD.

However many, many, late diagnosed adults (like me) were a shit show long before mobile devices were a thing or even home internet access. 🙄

My school reports are kind of sad to read and I also suffered with constant anxiety, which has been helped a bit by medication. Unfortunately ADHD medication is only designed to get you through the work/school day.

Almost as if no one thought of the level of functioning required over you get home. Kids find it so hard to do revision and homework without that support in place. :(

So much clueless stuff on here, like what I heard all my life - "you just need to try harder" . We are trying as hard as we can.

I’d be interested in this too

The issue is that you can essentially buy an adhd diagnosis - fill in a form that ticks the right boxes and private providers for a fee will tell you that you have adhd - my gp friend despairs of it (they then try to get drugs out of him and get annoyed that shared care has set protocols, and these clinics aren’t compliant of them). I could get a diagnosis if i wanted to, I tick the boxes but I know it’s disingenuous to those who genuinely struggle

Meh 🤷🏻‍♀️ be adhd, have adhd, be autistic, have autism. Yeah it doesn’t make sense to say “be attention deficit hyperactive disorder”… but, who really cares?

"Mild symptoms" of anything don't entitled people to PIP!
There is a high barrier to claim PIP and people who get it supply evidence of their disability and how it limits their daily lives.