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?

But this happens with physical illnesses too.

lve had loads of conflicting diagnoses from consultants in the same departments.

I think generally in last decade parental expectations on behavior have lowered while other expectations like academic ones have risen.

@SmileyHappyPeopleInTheSun yes this is so spot on and it should be the other way around

I think generally in last decade parental expectations on behavior have lowered while other expectations like academic ones have risen.

Except in schools. Where discipline is draconian now.

Fair.

yes.
But parental expectations are everything, aren't they. More than those of schools.

Yup, and remember there isn't a "definitive test" for very many things. Getting an A* in A level biology isn't a definitive test that you're really good at biology, it's merely a very strong indicator.

This is absolutely heartbreaking, and criminal in my book.

There is a massive amount of research that shows that the ‘diagnoses’ don’t have reliability or validity. They are literally just labels that describe various patterns of psychological distress.

One study compared the diagnoses of different psychiatrists of the same case studies and even for something seemingly ‘bread and butter’ like major mood disorders, there wasn’t reliability.

Formulation using a BioPsychoSocial model is much better. You assess the person from a physical/biological, psychological and social lens and working in collaboration with the person experiencing distress to find the most useful way forward is much better. If you feel medication is going to help it’s more likely to. If you think therapy will help it’s more likely to.

It’s much more complicated than that of course. But the medicalisation of psychological distress has some significant downsides. It’s hard to really get it across here as I’m talking from a place of 30 years experience and learning. Hard to condense into a short post. The history of the medical lens coming to dominate over more psychological lenses is interesting and complex too.

Lucy Johnston is a Clinical Psychologist who has written a lot about this stuff.

But the medicalisation of psychological distress has some significant downsides

Except it saved my life. What are the downsides when someone cannot function? What is the necessary evil here. I think medicalisation is a good thing if the symptoms are distressing.

Its like the obsession about the ‘medicalisation’ of childbirth. Fine if that’s what someone wants. Not fine if someone is in distress. Breathing through just won’t cut it.

Partly the problem is the splitting of mind and body. Actually our emotional and psychological worlds are linked in multiple ways to our physical health and vice versa.

Thats just one example of the evidence that mental health diagnoses aren’t reliable and don’t have validity. I’d have to write an essay to properly explain it properly.

So they don’t exist?

I’m not saying the distress isn’t real. I’m not saying the medicalisation of distress doesn’t have benefits. I’m talking academically, but clinically you can provide safe, effective interventions for people in acute distress without the need for a mental health diagnosis. We could do away with them, if we wanted to (but like you say, we might not want the alternative).

I am really glad it was helpful for you and sorry you had such a tough time.

The difficujt human experiences exist. Of course. How we understand those experiences has gone down a medical route for many social, economic and historical reasons. There are benefits and costs of that. The diagnoses don’t measure up to scientific standards of reliability or validity.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/08/ted-talk-eleanor-longden-schizophrenia

This is someone who has experience of being diagnosed with a mental health disorder and challenges the idea that it’s black/white. It’s shades of grey.

OP you should read the book Stolen Focus.

it delves into this a bit more.

It’s pretty depressing to see what we are doing to our kids letting them have access to all these devices. I say that as a parent that struggles so much with limiting screen time. It’s such a battle.

This. Smartphones etc certainly make my ADHD 'worse'...or enables it, but it was always there. And I only got a smartphone at 30.

I think ADHD is a form of autism, (I'm diagnosed with severe ADHD) I have met many, many people with ADHD and aside from the usual symptoms all of them have sensory issues (much ADHD behaviour is sensory seeking - hyperactivity, impulsivity), social struggles and intense hyperfocus when interested in a topic, which literally is the diagnostic criteria for autism.

Another hypothesis explaining why the genes for ADHD have persisted in the human population over ?centuries - is the usefulness of ADHD traits in times of war and conflict

Impulsive hyperactive young males = brave warriors hurling themselves into battle with great energy but without too much thought for the consequences

Many died in this sort of hand-to-hand combat - removing the most heroic/impulsive gene bearers and generally reducing/moderating the numbers in the population

Modern warfare being a more sedentary affair does not find these young men so useful

That was one school of thought not that long ago as there are many similarities and overlaps, as well as ADHD and ASD being the most common co-morbid conditions with each other but ADHD is not on the autism spectrum.

ADHD or Autism? (neurodivergentinsights.com)

It’s a topic that must be treated very carefully, as it could descend into “ADHD and autism don’t really exist!” (and I do think they do), but I do think we need the conversation on how some of the traits in some people can also be environmental. It seems like today, people are very quick to see a few behavourial traits in other people, and then claim it must be related to a lifelong, permanent brain difference.

I’ve been diagnosed myself, diagnosis wasn’t nearly a positive experience for me as most people describe, and I would love a more critical, nuanced view.

Still not getting it are you.

You don’t get a diagnosis from a few environmental traits.

You don’t even have a diagnosis so I really don’t get get how you think you criticise the diagnosis of others.

Care to share which people and which traits?

Many people have both - audhd. Our NHS diagnosticians who diagnosed our autism then referred us for adhd diagnosis.

I'm talking about armchair diagnosis, today people will armchair diagnose ADHD and ASD based on a few traits, like being restless or not being into small talk. Of course ADHD and ASD as a whole would be much more than those few traits, but my point is that traits like these, on their own, could be environmental. It's visible in a lot of threads here.

I've literally said I've been profesionally diagnosed (and didn't have a good experience), so it's quite confusing to have this reply directed at me.

What about impulsive hyperactive females?