Has ADHD become trendy?

[RedRobyn2021]

Please don't burn me at the stake

But I've noticed for a little while now that loads of influencers on Instagram are suddenly saying they have ADHD or suspected ADHD

Also on parenting pages, almost every other post and they'll be a comment on there suggesting the persons child has ADHD

Is it just me?

Sorry if this is really insensitive, it's something I've wondered for a while

25% of all people is surely still divergent from the norm? @MaryMaryVeryContrary

It's absolutely right that it's better known and more people are accessing support. It's not becoming more common; more existing cases are becoming dealt with.

However, you're not wrong to say it's 'becoming trendy' and it's not the attitudes of people who think so that are ignorant. Plenty of ignorant people who don't understand the challenges it poses do want to jump on the bandwagon, whether for attention or some imagined benefit provided. The people who say they're 'a little bit ADHD' because they put something off of zoned out of a conversation once obviously do think it's something good to be associated with and have no clue what it's really like.

No, it’s a range of normal. It’s a minority in a numerical sense but 25% of people having blonde hair still means blonde is a normal hair colour.

I kind of get what you mean OP. It's not people struggling with ADHD who find it "trendy", it's the twats who want a current label and something to make them "special" who are wrongly diagnosing themselves as ND because they want to be seen as a bit quirky.

And it's a massive insult to anyone who actually struggles with ND, as it mitigates their difficulties. It perpetuates the stereotypes of Sheldon Cooper Autism, with none of the downsides that people with ND and their parents suffer through daily. Or the "fun" and "oh, look at me! I'm late and cool/messy" ADHD stereotype that completely ignores the frustration, the MH struggles and self-loathing that is actual ADHD.

If anyone is actually suffering from ADHD can I recommend this podcast,

Very interesting talk.

Not thread, threads. Plural.

Many, many threads.

Many, many threads all making the same ignorant, ill-informed points dressed up with the same faux innocent curiosity or concern which barely conceals their ableism and/or goadiness.

But yes, next time my 10 year old DD is so dysregulated she's repeatedly banging her head against the wall or trashing her room I will console myself with the knowledge that she is bang on trend. So cheers for that.

A very interesting article that appeared in the BMJ in February was shared with me by a friend.

Some extracts here:

Rising rates of diagnosis without changes in behavioural symptom profiles sugges an epidemic of diagnosis, not an epidemic of ADHD'.

Diagnosing ADHD in children is assumed to result in better long term outcome for them, but this is not well supported by evidence ...whereas potential harms are generally overlooked'.

'Children with borderline symptoms might be at the greatest risk of experiencing net harm'.

In Switzerland where one of my sons works, it has been found that 25% of children are unable to read longer and more complex sentences by age 15, and some teachers have stopped making 6th former read full books, as they don't seem to be able to concentrate sufficiently. The early use of screens, and increasing use by teenagehoods is seen as a strong contributory factor.

Absolutely brilliant post.
This with bells on

@Hobnobswantshernameback so sorry. My then 12 year old attempted suicide too, I understand.

I think over the last 20-25 years or so since Google and internet forums have become more available, people in general have become more assertive with professionals. When I was a child if your teacher said you didn't have dyslexia then parents would say that was fine and never mention it again. These children are now adults in their 30's and 40's finally getting a diagnosis. Dh didn't get a diagnosis until his 20's because my in-laws didn't want the shame of having a child diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome.

Then there is the fact that because of mumsnet and Instagram we "know" more people. In the 90's you might vaguely be aware of some people with disabilities but not like now when everything is much more public.

Also there are a few people who Google something like adhd, realise they have 1 symptom and announce on Instagram that they have it. These people are very much in the minority, although they tend to be very vocal about it so it appears that lots of people are doing it.

ADHD as it presents in school children is not the same as being inattentive. Poor parenting by insufficient policing of screen time and no monitoring of activities is very problematic in schools, but I can always tell ADHD from those cases. They present very differently.

I think some of these comments are hugely overreactive.

Being honest, I know what OP means.

I do believe many people have actual ADHD and they deserve to receive the support they deserve of course but I do think there are many people jumping on the bandwagon and using it as a blame for certain behaviours that they don't want to take responsibility for.

Yes I don't think the issue is fake at all, I like all of the people I follow on instagram or I wouldn't follow them. I think your explanation makes a lot of sense.

I remember when dyslexia was talked about a lot more, so I can see what you're saying

I'd give up my trendy label for a normal fucking life in a shot. (Diagnosed, medicated and still fucked over every single day by it)

Great article

When someone is diagnosed with lets say, ADHD - I'm sure like everything else some will find it a lot more severe and some less so. Therefore, when some one is diagnosed, does the specialist advise if the medical condition is mild/moderate/severe or whatever terminology they use, please?

@neverbeenskiing

I did look on Google, I only have the app for mumsnet on my phone and I don't find the search function very good. There were posts about ADHD but more asking for advice, not the same kind of question.

I think my post was ignorant and I also wish I'd used a better word than trendy, that was insensitive

But I do think it's good to talk about because you can only do better when you know better, there's been some interesting comments.

If I had seen another post like mine I definitely wouldn't have posted, I'd rather hear what people have to say without it being directed at me.

This is interesting too thank you

Well according to my mum when ds was diagnosed it was down to it being the fashionable thing to have

but no there is just more awareness my poor ds struggled for years he isn’t hyperactive so it often goes undetected

I agree with this. People always take threads like this personally.
I don’t doubt that there are a great number of people with actual ADHD who are struggling and need support but surely, that should make you more inclined to be pissed off at people trying to present as though they have ADHD when they don’t?

I have seen so many social media posts along the lines of “have these traits? You may have ADHD” and they were ridiculous things such as having a junk drawer or walking in to a room and forgetting what you went in for.

I think many people are struggling to focus and I think that’s a symptom of overuse of our phones. It’s not ADHD. I notice my focus is awful unless I massively reduce my own screen time and do something like reading instead. There is also overlap between anxiety and ADHD.

I think what irks me is the overuse of the label when people first interact with others. I see it on here all the time, posts started with “I have suspected ADHD so I don’t know if I am being unreasonable or not but….” And then go on to talk about something that has fuck all to do with being ND. Why would you start an interaction that way? And why so desperate for a label unless an official diagnosis and support is what you desperately need?

Yay on a post a few days ago I was described as magic (due to my autism) and now I'm trendy too. Give it a few more days and I'll be part of the popular crowd.

No ADHD is not trendy, what it is happening, along with autism, ii it's now being recognised that girls and women present differently to males. This means more girls are being diagnosed at school age and more women are realising that they aren't actually total fuck ups, but there's a reason why they're like they are. Plus these neural differences are often genetic in nature, so autistic and ADHD adults are having children that are also neurodiverse. Yes there may come a time when we out-number those that don't have our particular types of brain and then we can only help that the world starts working a way that makes our lives at least a little bit less difficult.

For what it's worth, I'm diagnosed autistic, but also have a lot of ADHD traits. I just can't be bothered to go through another extremely stressful assessment, it's not like the world became any more accommodating when I got my autism diagnosis. I just understood why I found life so difficult a bit better.

Just to add to everything, neurodiverse women are 3 times more likely to suffer domestic violence and thats probably even more prevalent if the ND isnt recognised. In part because we simply don't understand the red flags that a neuro-typical would pick up. But hey we're trendy so that really doesn't matter does it

Yeah, my 13 year old son thinks it is trendy to struggle with everyday tasks, sit for more than 3 mins and to struggle to get to sleep every night. He also loves getting into trouble everyday in school because he has forgotten the teachers instructions as soon as they have said it!

Hey , how do you get diagnosed as an adult , do you go to your gp?

Make sure you're in touch with the school, they can put a tab against his name for teachers to be aware, even if he doesn't have a diagnosis yet.

I went to my GP after realising that I fit the criteria while filling my son's form in. He referred me to the mental health team and it went from there. The actual assessment was extremely stressful and mentally taxing, I was in shutdown for a couple of days after.

First off YABU to follow attention seeking influencers in the first place who will jump on whatever bandwagon gets them more interest, adhd, non binary, gluten intolerance or whatever it may be.

As for MN, it is thrown out as the solution to all problems but remember why people come on with problems in the first place. Parents of NT well adjusted kids see their kid just like everyone else at school drop offs and don't come online looking for support until they have a specific issue. A parent tearing their hair out with frustration will trawl through the Internet for more info and that explains to me why neurodiversity is so prevalent on MN.

I think the adult diagnosis which is so common now brings peace to a lot of people. They understand and accept themselves finally. It does seem like everyone is talking about it now but I think in a few months they will be talking about something else and in a few years (hopefully) being ND will be just a thing people accept as minority but normal, like being left handed.