To wonder about the huge rise in people being diagnosed with ADHD?

[Starryskiesinthesky]

I am genuinely curious to understand why so many people are now being diagnosed, or self identifying with, having ADHD.

Is it just being recognised now with an awareness in neurodiversity or is everything labelled these days?

My son has dyslexia / a specific spelling difficulty and I suspect he has ADD/ADHD but wouldn't be severe enough to warrant medication. At what stage do we move from differences / traits to diagnosis? It does feel a bit like many aspects of our behaviour become medicalised.

I guess my AIBU is to wonder if too many people think they have ADHD/are neurodiverse these days?

The thing is a lot of teenagers are lazy without having adhd !. I honestly have no way of knowing whether his alleged inability to focus on schoolwork or get a part time job whilst at Uni whilst I work 40 hours a week to pay for his accomodation, is laziness or adhd do I? He says he struggles to focus and puts things off but so do many teenagers without adhd. It could take years to get a diagnosis especially the way MH services are at present.

This whole 'it's over diagnosed' and 'it's just an excuse for bad parenting' thing meant I delayed both my son and daughter's diagnoses. This led to them suffering mental health challenges and gaps in their education which could have been avoided, or at least minimised, with earlier intervention. And they're not even badly behaved! But even after I knew it was genetic, I was STILL worried about what people would think and that everyone would think I was lying!

So, can we stop this bullshit please? It's so damaging. These things are more diagnosed now because 1. We know they exist and 2. They are better recognised.

You're right in that maybe he is just a typical teenager, especially if he didn't show any traits as a child, but use my experience as a cautionary tale, not all children are easily identified as having ADHD. An assessment will give you and him some answers.

Not ADHD but I have an ASD, I was diagnosed aged 7 more than 20 years ago. They said at the time that it was probably genetic which my mother always strongly denied, as an adult I can see that my mother has the exact same condition but when she was a child in the 70's it wasn't picked up on and diagnosed. I don't think it's that there's more people with these conditions now, it's that people are able to get a diagnosis easier and there's less stigma attached to being "different" and disabled than there was 50 years ago.

@ZenNudist
I could not agree more. Everything you have written could be my words, except instead of a sister it is a son.

Yep, spot on!

Honestly, I put it down to TikTok. I'm a pretty bog standard woman but the TikTok algorithm seems to hit me with a lot of posts which suggest inane personality traits are actually symptoms of Autism or ADHD.
Literal examples I have seen on that platform are:
If you lie in bed and like to raise your arm up, you're possibly autistic
If you fall asleep with your hand mashed under your face, probably autistic.
If youre awkward socially (introverted) possibly autistic.
If you get overwhelmed by busy schedules, possibly ADHD
If you have an untidy home, have you considered you might have ADHD?
If you have a big project and struggle to find a starting point - ADHD?

Like, yes, maybe they are symptoms of a condition but they are also perfectly average personality traits. But these days, people are being brainwashed to assume that anything a little out of the "norm" is neurodiversity and diagnosable. Exhausting. I have since deleted TikTok as its a blackhole of misinformation.

Do people have to declare these conditions on car insurance?

Totally agree with this. I feel sorry for today's teenagers and what they are exposed to. Every teenager I know seems to be either anxious, self- harming, transitioning, depressed, refusing to go to school. It's exhausting and we need a massive input of MH care to address this. Then again it's the same with adults. i work in an office of eight people and approximately 5 out of eight are on anti-depressants, constantly off with anxiety, depression, not being able to cope, overwhelmed with life etc.

Why is it okay to question the validity of people who are diagnosed with or identify as being ND? I remember years ago the same questions being asked about depression. "He's just skiving, doesn't want to work" about anxiety "everyone has stress!", about panic attacks "It's not like they went to war".

Ignorance and invalidation about "invisible" conditions has always been around, and always will be. It doesn't make it okay though. I couldn't imagine being a big enough arsehole to ask a question like this - designed to corral NT people to put the world to rights by minimising a condition that is already difficult to live with.

Nobody should let it stop them pursuing a diagnosis, but bullshit like this leaves a very nasty taste, so I can understand how frustrating it must be to read.

Agreeing with an inane Tik Tok video isn't going to get you a diagnosis though.

Yes, the self-identifiers are annoying as hell and in very bad taste - I can't stand the tourettes/tic pretenders for example, DD started with motor tics when she was 10 and was diagnosed with chronic motor tic disorder (borderline for Tourettes but fortunately she gets months of respite before something, usually stress, triggers them again). It is a common comorbidity with ADHD.

She HATES the condition with a passion - absolutely hates it. I've spent nights when it is particularly bad bear hugging her to calm her body down and allow her to sleep properly.

I think a lot of people like a label to place on behaviours, I don't think there are huge swathes of the population being diagnosed.

I watched a Tiktok yesterday where a woman was telling a mildly amusing story of how she went to put her lasagne in the oven and put it in the fridge instead - her comments were littered with 'classic ADHD' type comments. I'm no expert, maybe it is - but I don't think every instance of being distracted or doing the wrong thing or not wanting to get on with work can be attributed to ADHD.

My apologies if anyone has said similar, I'm at work so haven't read all the comments yet.

Hugs for @Feelingitnow.

Your post was beautifully articulated and really resonated with me, especially the bits about lying to loved ones to avoid judgment and the irrational dread of incoming phone calls and post. The fear that I’m doing/have done something “wrong” and don’t realise it has plagued me literally all my life.

Like many others, I had the epiphany when DS was diagnosed with ASD and ADHD at the age of 7. I doubt I’ll ever pursue a proper diagnosis, but it helps me a little to understand why I’m how I am.

PS: Neither DS or I have ever been on Tik Tok…

I'm another that strongly suspects I have it - especially after reading How NOT to Murder Your ADHD Kid: Instead Learn how to be Your Child's Own ADHD Coach^^ - but don't really see the point in a diagnosis for myself now as I don't want to take medication and at 44 I don't think I have the time to pursue the dreams I once had (after many false starts) anyway.

Agree that example is annoying, because it’s definitely not just being ditzy and distracted. Not without the chronic anxiety and low self-esteem, which in girls/women - in my understanding and experience - can actually lead to strong compensatory coping/masking mechanisms because of the fear of being judged or “found out”. It’s exhausting and miserable though.

This

I do think modern lifestyle expectations don't accommodate neurodiversity the way it might have in the past.

E.g

• far too much stimulation - lights, noises, phones, huge screens
• not enough outdoor exercise (i read that this can help with symptoms of adhd in particular)
• rigid behavioural expectations & requirements for children in educational settings
• too many people together. Bigger schools, busier workplaces, emphasis on collaborative work
• too much choice - massively varied food & clothing
• constant exposure to unfamiliar people

Think about the past

• perfectly normal to wear the same, well worn until soft clothing most days because you probably didn't own any other.
• very normal to eat a very plain, limited, repetitive diet with a high proportion of plain carbs
• common to work outdoors, often largely alone. Most work very repetitive/routine
• no electronic lights or sounds
• a much quieter, less busy way of life
• living In smaller communities with mainly familiar people, family networks

I'm neurotypical but even i struggle with phone addiction etc and get overwhelmed by the pace and stress of modern life.

I keep getting ads for ADHD apps, it's weird

The way ADHD manifests in girls/women is a fairly new find. I believe loads of people have ADHD (probably you know some intelligent people who flunked school, possibly they have it). We’ve only just started to understand ADHD especially in women and girls so we’ll have a lot more diagnoses than we’re used to. Not too many but an adjustment that we as a society must get used to.

To those who say we label everything these days - would you rather we didn’t and just called these kids ‘odd’ or ‘eccentric’? Would you rather a system where intelligent people are left to fail because they think differently?

As a late diagnosed autistic woman, I find these threads exhausting. The point where you move from personality traits to diagnosis is the point where it’s clear that certain atypical traits are consistently, predictably and negatively impacting your daily life in ways that cannot be easily explained by some other condition.

It’s not just one or two quirks - it’s a consistent pattern of behaviours that cluster in clinically recognised ways causing constant difficulties and distress in “normal” functioning.

In the past, only the most extreme examples were recognised (often because they were accompanied by separate learning or physical difficulties), but as societal interactions/expectations and distraction/information overload from technology have become more complex and constant, the hurdles that people fall at have become more common.

The rise in diagnosis is down to a number of reasons

• the information about various conditions is more widely available thanks to the internet, so recognition is increasing.

• Female and atypical presentations of both ADD/ADHD and autism can differ a lot from the traditional male profile - this has only recently been recognised and there are entire generations of women/men who have struggled through life on hard mode without ever having been identified or supported. It’s not new, and we’ve always been out there (think of all those eccentric, awkward grandparents and social recluses of the past…). I’m pretty sure my dad and grandad are/were also autistic, but undiagnosed because they muddled through.

• Adults who have gone through life under the radar tend to mask like champs, with the accompanying anxiety and depression that brings - until very recently, the resulting mental health issues have been detected and treated, but not the underlying causes.

Thankfully, that’s all changing. Given it’s a naturally-occurring variation in brain wiring (similar to left-handedness), I’m sure the eventual prevalence will be higher than we anticipate.

Some individuals will always be easier to identify than others because the effects/impairments due to autism or ADHD vary hugely within the neurodiverse population, just as skills and impairments vary in the population at large.

Some people will cope/hide better than others, and for those people it might be better described as a difference rather than an impairment. They’re still wired differently though, and deal with constant challenges that neurotypical people might be unaware of, diagnosed or not!

Thank you. My post contains my usual amount of typos though. Increased awareness of ADHD has certainly helped me feel less alone in the world. Hugs to you too.

This is definitely a factor-
although wary of romanticising the past, as of course at the other end of the spectrum far more diagnosis led to institutionalisation - so very dependent on the characteristics show by the individual, etc

It was massively due to the pandemic. Especially mid 30s women like myself. The highest rise was in women my age. The lockdowns took away all we probably used without realising to help ourselves, our routines etc. That's when I realised. Oh and another colleague during this time who has adhd, was sharing things about herself. It clicked. Felt like I'd opened Pandora's box and I couldn't shut it again. Like someone had been spying on me, written about my whole life and put it on the Internet. It's a huge relief to know I'm not stupid or lazy.