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?

But step back a moment from the personal tone of many posts and think about the underlying questions- they are valid and often crop up as research questions in the lit on nd behaviours- as a way to research, adapt, support, learn, etc.
for example- ‘to what degree to modern phenomena such as technology impact typical adhd symptoms’ ‘what can we learn from this in the classroom’ etc..
Just bc they are insensitively phrased, doesn’t mean the topic should be closed..

There is no doubt that ADHD can be congenital very much like depression.

However, I can't help but wonder why the increase in cases is due to social behaviour and parental choices.

I am shocked to see how massively over stimulated babies, toddlers and children are nowadays. They are constantly exposed to stimuli, from all those noisy baby toys, to loud TV, music constantly on, constant conversations, taken to loud places, that aim at raising adrenaline. It is really no surprise that kids feel over stimulated, struggling to concentrate and hyperactive.

Boredom is deemed a sin, and so creative play is slowly dying. Entertainment doesn't come from inside but systematically from outside.

Toddlers are not encouraged to take time to be calm and to listen. Instead they are encourage to express themselves and that the louder they are, the more they'll be given attention.

I myself often find these situations totally overwhelming, so can't help to think that kids react hyperactivity to cope against it.

Whether some people have tendencies that are then aggregated by their up bringing, I don't know but I certainly can't help to think that the overstimulating environment they grow up in is helping in any way.

Yep.

I'm fucking sick of these types of threads me. People always end u

Up showing their true colours.

You suspect your son has a condition but you don't want to pursue a diagnosis... can you tell us a bit more about that? Because I don't really get it. What benefits does not having a diagnosis give you SORRY I mean him?

I was diagnosed with ADHD this year (the list of traits and symptoms are as long as your arm, but they aren't the stereotypical ones you hear about from the NHS/Patriarchy).

I'm now grieving the loss of 30 years where I didn't know what was wrong with me. And FWIW whilst I have been diagnosed as "mild/moderate" I was prescribed medication. I cannot tell you how much the diagnosis itself and the medication have changed my life.

YABVVVVVVVVVVVVU and cruel to your son, if your suspicions about ADHD are correct. I'd like to point out that the life expectancy of neurodiverse people averages at around 55 due to high suicide rates. I'd think about that carefully before you decide to write him off.

The ableism in this thread is shocking.

Sending you love

ADHD has always been underdiagnosed especially in women and I think alot of woman are exploring a diagnosis once their children are diagnosed. Also more awareness of the symptoms was an interesting article about this in stylist magazine last week.

I agree. I was diagnosed 2 years ago at the age of 58. The diagnosis hasn't helped much since I can't take the commonly prescribed medication, and the unhelpful trend expressed in the OP to question the condition.

My life has been and remains an uphill battle against a world (especially in work) that is entirely wired up for neurotypical people with no idea what this condition actually feels like to live with.

The way I see it, is that there's a spectrum and we're all on it somewhere

No one is "normal" and we're all just a bunch of weirdos

We should embrace our differences and foibles and whatever and just get on with things

I could probably diagnose about 5 family members after my kids got diagnosed.....

ffs

Absolute rubbish. "Just get on with things." Would you tell someone with impaired vision to just open their eyes a bit wider? Someone who can't walk to just get moving? We are NOT all on a spectrum. The spectrum is NOT linear, it does NOT go from one extreme to the other. Give me fucking strength.

There’s also a spectrum of not having a fucking clue what you are talking about and you are so far at one end of it you may as well be hanging on by your fingernails 🙄

PP do realise that that the assessment process involves rather more than telling the assessor what you saw on a TikTok the other day?

A huge part of ableism is - ironically when directed at neurodiversity - a massive lack of imagination and empathy on the part of armchair epidemiologists. Please understand that not everyone experiences life in the same way as you do. The human experience is vast and mutable.

Foibles? Please go away.

Just to chip in again with a couple more thoughts: firstly the idea that everyone is on a spectrum, and maybe everyone is a "little bit ADHD" isn't very helpful. One of the main criteria for ADHD diagnosis is whether the symptoms significantly impair your ability to function in life. So unless you're really struggling, you don't have ADHD.

Secondly, another reason for the increase in diagnoses is that ADHD is primarily a genetic condition, and when one member of the family is diagnosed, there is often a cascade of "lightbulb moments" for other relatives. The diagnosis of two of my kids has led to my mum (at 72!) and niece being diagnosed.

And for that matter, my mum's diagnosis included an assessment of her old school reports. The reports were heartbreaking to me. Her ADHD could not have been more obvious (through today's lens), but she was bombarded with messages about how naughty/lazy she was. School reports didn't hold back in those days! She has lived her whole life feeling shit about how "thick" and bad she is, and has been on antidepressants and had many years of therapy. I have no doubt that a diagnosis when young, and some reasonable accommodations would have made a huge difference to her.

For me, it turned out I actually had no idea what adhd was. When I properly found out what it was it was a bit mind blowing. I've done nothing at all about it 😂.

(also I thought sudafed just made everyone think better)

There is evidence that exposure to endocrine disruptors in utero or during early childhood may cause AHDH, as well as ASD, and also diabetes, obesity, early puberty... And when you look at the identified endocrine disruptors, it's clear they are everywhere and we are more exposed to them than 30 years ago.
That doesn't rule out other explanations like genetics (after all, environmental exposure does change our genetic code), better awareness or increased use of digital technology.

It's very limited, somewhat controversial 'evidence' that can't be treated as conclusive one way or the other at this time. Will be interesting to see how this particular field of research develops, though. I wonder what things we take for granted as benign now, will later be recognised as hazardous (e.g. the history of smoking etc)?

Would you like my "foibles" for a day? There really is some astounding ignorance on this thread. Am I a superhero for having ASD too?

I was a 1990's child. Very badly behaved but very capable when I wanted to be. I was labelled naughty and pretty much shut in a cupboard on my own through high school as they couldn't deal with me, constantly excluded and as soon as I turned 16 I was asked to leave. I'm a female and I didn't mask at school. I feel sad I didn't get supported at school but they just didnt understand me, I've struggled in jobs but managed to do ok with my career but it's been exhausting. I'd never even heard of adhd until about 8 years ago a lady the same age as me who was From SA and diagnosis as a teen as they understood it before the Uk told me she thought I had adhd. So I started reading about it and my life made sense, why I failed at school, why I struggled with friends and relationships, why I was so explosive and emotional. Why do many people through my life struggles with me.

I then had a child who is now 8 , at around 3/4 I believed he had adhd but no one supported or believed me, and I read if a parent is undiagnosed the child doesn't fair as well so I went to my gp and got referred for a assessment with nhs. Of course it came back yes I had ADHD, I didn't want medication as too many risks involved. As my son got older the school started to realise and so did my husband so aged 7 he also go a official diagnosis, again we don't medicate as to me the risks outweighs the benefits in my view for him , but what has changed is he supported at school, we get him behavioural therapy and a tutor and he is doing ok, he is learning to understand his adhd and how to deal with his feelings and manage himself.

I was diagnosed at school with dyslexia though and my son also has it.

The biggest change in my life with a diagnosis is my relationship with my husband, he know understand why I am the way I am and is much more sympathetic. I think if I hadn't got a diagnosis and he realised I had adhd our marriage wouldn't of survived. He know understands me and my son so much better and sees my behaviours in my sons, he knows what triggers us and what to do if we are struggling.

So for me that's what I got out of a diagnosis.

@shortpeopleproblems you don't need to tell anybody though , if you get a diagnosis. It can be for your own peace of mind.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/23/adhd-bad-behaviour-children-test-symptoms/

ADHD: differences in brain structure.

I think mobile phones / content we consume online can cause inattention, and affect our brains in ways that look a bit like ADHD.

There are also millions of people who have some traits but would never get a diagnosis. I'm one of them.

People in these above groups MAY self-diagnose erroneously, I guess.

To get a diagnosis you need to be affected lifelong, and significantly. An estimated 1 in 10 has ADHD. I know a lot of people diagnosed with ADHD. It's not that easy to get a diagnosis.

I was born in the 60s, so I was primary in the 70s and senior school until the mid-80s.
When I think back, there were definitely kids in the class who were neurodiverse. Constantly in trouble, couldn't sit still, chewing clothes, running away from school, disruptive, etc. Without the pressure of education like it is now a lot of kids muddled through. There were kids who were 'odd' for the want of a better expression. Obsessive over hobbies, mono conversation. It was just accepted that 'Gary' was in the queue outside the heads office on a regular basis.

It has been suggested that I may be ND myself, I am unsure, but looking back, I definitely had, and still have differences. I have sensory issues, clothing, and food. I'm diagnosed with auditory processing disorder. I got and get overwhelmed by noise. I struggled with friendship and social rules. I struggle with organisational skills, planning, etc. I'm still like it now, and it has affected my working life. I was very energetic, always out running around, cycling. I still need to exercise, or I feel frustrated.

I think some of the previous posters are right in that more diagnosed caes now with more awareness. I also believe modern education doesn't meet the needs. Forcing young DC who aren't developmentally ready for formal teaching to sit in classes. Older kids are forced to remain in classes when they would be better off working (proper apprenticeships)
Poor attention spans are compounded by the use of screens if what they are watching doesn't require concentration. Reading is not the main quiet time activity for large numbers of children. I'm very guilty of being on my phone constantly on mn on social media. I don't read much these days. As a child, I was a bookworm.
The lack of exercise, overprotective parenting, and lack of independence for children removing outlets and stifling children from developmental opportunities.

My generation was out playing, cycling, etc, without parents overseeing everything. Children had outlets for developing skills and getting rid of excessive energy. Some will, therefore, have masked sufficiently to go under the radar .
Modern life is a struggle for those who need to have a less sensory stimulating environment.