To think that the ADHD label is masking other things in society?

[comoatoupeira]

Disclaimer this is NOT about being skeptical ADHD is a thing, my brother is diagnosed with ADHD by a doctor as well as a close friend of mine.

Through my job I have been doing a lot of research about the impacts of tech and social media and so on on young people, and also on the elderly who are becoming the first generation of elderly people who are high technology users.

It has all been making me see so many parallels between behaviors associated with ADHD and behaviors that are becoming more and more difficult to control because of the attention-stealing environment we are in, and other aspects of society today like consumerism always available in your pocket, long working hours and both parents working, the difficulty of taking those restorative breaks that are what helps us focus and take a step back.

I'm just feeling like we are looking at some milder cases of ADHD too much as an isolated medical thing rather than a wider societal ill.

I feel like the same thing has happened with depression, framing it as some sort of imbalance that can be fixed by drugs, when it's so much about the societies we live in.

I feel uncomfortable about all of these labels being used especially by young people with mild cases of things, it seems to imprison them in a fixed identity or frame them as having something wrong with them, when none of us a perfect and we all have strengths and weaknesses, and life is about living with them and being open to change.

What do you think?

I’m with you on all of this.

ADHD is not a label. It's a medical condition, which is often genetic. It's not something that just develops because of society. It's something that has always been around, but never been understood in the way in the way it is now. We have better diagnosis and a bigger population so its going to seem more prevalent.

Totally agree and I'm autistic (diagnosed long way before it was the "in" thing)!

And depression is also a medical issue, that is caused by a chemical imbalance. Again, not a label, and us something that needs medication in many cases.

The people I know with ADHD all have some commonality and display certain behaviours that people without the diagnosis do not. I'm sceptical that there is anything environmental in play, because they still exist in the same environment as people who don't display those behaviours and do not have a diagnosis.

However...

A couple of things about your point on Depression -

It is not the case at all that all instances of Depression are considered a chemical imbalance and resolvable through medication alone. Environmental factors often are the trigger for Depressive episodes, and some people have illnesses where Depression itself is a symptom rather than distinct illness in itself.

In short, I think environmental factors absolutely are a cause of depressed moods and depressive episodes, but they are not in ADHD. ADHD is a form of neurodivergence, not a mental illness.

What I mean by 'label' is that it's a way of describing a set of symptoms. Label is a misleading choice, sorry.

In the sense that 'influenza' is not a label but an identifier for a specific virus or bacteria depending on which type it us (scientists please correct me!)

Not saying this makes it less real than influenza.

It’s not a label and it’s wrongly named. With actual ADHD, concentration is only one part of the condition. And it will be more obvious to see in a society that encourages ‘lack of attention span’, everything moved quickly these days without lack of routine. It doesn’t mean adhd is more prevalent, it means (like with ASD) society has taken away many of the safety nets that allowed for better executive functioning. I’m not saying all these changes are bad for development (and certainly for women), but what used to be the baseline of expectations has and keeps changing.

The chemical imbalance theory is far from proven. There is no solid evidence to support it and it’s largely regarded as a myth.

YANBU OP, and I have an ADHD diagnosis.

It’s worth nothing that people with ND statistically are far more likely to become depressed and suffer from depression.

It’s hard living in a NT world.

The chemical imbalance theory of depression is a myth that has been debunked. Psychiatrists have acknowledged this for years but the mainstream has only caught on recently.

amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/03/the-chemical-imbalance-theory-of-depression-is-dead-but-that-doesnt-mean-antidepressants-dont-work

I would also agree with this. My ADHD friend and I always joke that we would have made excellent hunter gatherers.

Depression can 100% be a chemical imbalance.. my cousin has that. But what is sometimes also classed as depression can be someone just going through a shit time.

I agree to an extent. I think ADHD and Autism are often made much harder to deal with due to modern society. For example for many ND people the ideal classroom is a very routine bound, low stimulation, predictable place. But that's not how school classrooms are. Something as simple as classroom displays can add unnecessary sensory input.

It’s not been debunked at all. They still don’t know what causes clinical depression. There are doubts about a chemical imbalance but the truth is right now, they just don’t know.

I am a psychologist who supports children in schools. Often once we address sleep problems we see the ADHD symptoms decrease.

I always start with sleep issues, which are often related to using tech at bedtime, at the start of a new case.

@onthecoastalpath would you have any tips?

Struggling with teen DD doing 4 A levels and in bed every night at midnight.

listening to music before going to bed to ‘zone out’

starting homework at 9pm because can’t get motivation to start earlier. Needs to walk around and around inside house with headphones on for an hour after dinner, pacing up and down. It used to be tennis against the wall with a soft sponge ball.

im going crazy. It affects my sleep too

So interesting.
Personally, I find it doubly more difficult to concentrate after a too short night.

YABU to suggest that ADHD is fixed by “taking a restorative break”.

I agree that there are wider aspects of society/behaviour that are concerning and should be addressed. However I think you are minimising ADHD by conflating the two. It’s also not a “label” - it’s a clearly defined neurodevelopmental condition with multiple associated co-morbidities.

I think ADHD exists and has always manifested as it does - way before the distractions of screens. And I also think you are absolutely right that we as a society should look at the impact of screen time on behavioural development and concentration span.

But I'm cautious of seeing screens and internet as a hindrance to ADHD sufferers. I have ADHD, my mother had it (undiagnosed) very badly, my son has it. He and I benefit from screens. We are less likely to forget things now we can set reminders and check info whenever we want. We are more likely to do things we might otherwise put off, if doing them is as easy as a click of a button, not a three or more stage process of phoning or writing or visiting a bank or office in person etc.

I think this is absolutely right.

I think that on social media and messaging between teens, self-describing practices etc., it has also become a label.

Interesting. My ADHD son had appalling sleep problems - he simply couldn't get to sleep, and then when he did, woke every 45 mins for at least 20 mins from the day he was born until he hit puberty. It had nothing to do with screens.I wonder if ADHD children (and their parents) rely on screens as a way of at least getting them to stay in one place and unwind, rather than bounce off the walls from 7pm to 11pm every single night (which is what DS did - he had no screens until secondary when - ironically - his sleep improved a little.)

Modern life has exacerbated my Autism and ADHD, I have to actively choose to live simply to even start thinking about coping, I really hate having a phone and the amount of instant contact people have, I'm trapped to a certain extent because a lot of that contact is in context for my children.
The world is not set up for Neurodivergent people, that's why " mild " ADHD can derail people lives quite easily.

The world needs to be more accommodating for non Neurotypical people but apparently that's too much bother and another thing the public on a whole feel is unnecessary....

I think the question of how useful or not screens are to help people with ADHD is another topic and not the topic brought up in this thread.

What I especially wanted people's views on is this idea of 'masking', of how ADHD discussions are so prevalent, but that we should actually be discussing the environments we have built that affect us all in similar ways to ADHD.

You do know ADHD is a type of ASD and you are born with it.
You don't just develop it.
It's not a label either.
Nor is depression/ anxiety a la el it's an illness.. sometimes that is a chemical occurring illness.. sometimes it's can appear through trauma etc.
Bi polar you are born with same as some other mental illnesses.
Thank goodness we have progressed and it's all now recognised and help is available.
I was talking to my psychotherapist on Monday.. when my Dad had a nervous breakdown in the 70s all he was offered was ECT.. it was like something out of One flew over the cookhoos nest.
My Aunty was put in a psychiatric hospital for PMT.
It's called progression.
We have progression for physical health.. better health care/ operations etc.
Same with any mental health.
Now l know loads about ASD and neurodivergent.. when l look back at my school days in the 60s and 70s.. l now realise how many of my peers had ASD.. but wasn't recognised.
My own daughter at age 32 has just been diagnosed with ASD.. l never knew when she was growing up.. because l knew nothing about it.. it's only scince 3 of my own Grandsons have it and got diagnosed because of how we are now more aware.

A few points:

1. very generally some genetic traits are increasingly being understood as a propensity towards something that can be activated by environmental triggers, (epigenetics) so the effects of nature/genetics and nurture/society are not easy to untangle so yes I’m with you on there likely being an environmental angle to this eg ‘Previous studies involving the adoptees have shown they had marked cognitive difficulties as children – although these improved considerably into adulthood – while they also had high rates of conditions including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and, as adults, high levels of anxiety and depression.’ From https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/06/severe-childhood-deprivation-reduces-brain-size-study-finds so there can be something ‘real’ /physiological but the environment has helped create the brains we have, it’s not all hard-wired at birth
2. also , and related to this, disability theory and the disabled activists and academics who developed it, have long recognised the role of society in creating and defining disability (eg steps create, ramps remove, and stigma creates disability for people with facial impairments say, and being dyslexic might not matter much in a society with little call for literacy (caveat I know dyslexia has other aspects) or if you’re schooled in Spain rather than the UK (Spanish spelling being more regular than English). So environment plays a part in how big an issue an impairment (eg finding it harder than the average person to concentrate ) is, if you have few distractions it’s going to be easier
3. you might be interested in Angela Southall’s ‘The other side of ADHD’.