Page 10 | social media is convincing all our kids they are nd?

AuntMarch · 2025-08-09T13:38:07+00:00

I've just been sat on the bus and the tiktok videos I'm hearing almost have me seeking a diagnosis. "*ADHD TEST*" Put a finger down if you've ever focused on something so much you've lost track of time/ sometimes think you talk too much or not enough.." it's basically covered every possible behaviour and it's video after video. it's no wonder every kid thinks they have something.

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:20

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:14

exactly like everybody to some extent.... If you are NOT distracted by background noise that is called "hyperfocus" and is a sign of being ND.........

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Not at all like everybody , educate yourself better.

dizzydizzydizzy · 10/08/2025 08:23

Delphinium20 · 10/08/2025 02:19

I have adult friends with successful careers who suddenly discovered at 45! they were ND or ADHD or some combo. Just an easy and legal way to get speed.

frankly, I think it’d be quite easy to convince a psychiatrist I too have ADHD symptoms, but I’m afraid of amphetamine addiction.

ADHD stimulants bring dopamine up to more ‘normal’ levels. They do give you a high unless you actually don’t have ADHD.

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:24

x2boys · 10/08/2025 08:03

I think it's probably the opposite my son was diagnosed at three becsuse it was very clear he wss autistic we slso have had lots of services involved becsuse of his complex needs and now ,get a package of respite care ( although it's taken years) which just wouldn't be available unfortunately to those with less complex needs.

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Exactly. I have autism and so do all my children. Their care needs are very different and all have something different. None would qualify for respite care but 2 have significantly high support that differs hugely.

All care and support is based on need not diagnosis.

Dancingsquirrels · 10/08/2025 08:26

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Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

That's interesting, thanks for posting

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:26

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 07:57

You need to educate yourself better. ND is hugely over represented in prison for women and men with over half suspected to have a ND as opposed to 15% of the population. ADHD numbers alone are 25% in prison which is well over the 3% in schools. IF you are teaching in prisons you should know that.

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Totally untrue.

Have you seen the definition of ND being used here, it includes "learning difficulties" for a start. ie, lowest IQ 10% of the population - ADHD - estimated at 7-10% in the general population, add that on. People with head injuries, people with trauma, people with behaviour problems - well that is sort of 100% of the prison population by definition, isn't it!

Your numbers are meaningless, the ignorance about the prison population on MN is shocking

Get yourself into a prison, Find a volunteer position there - that is how to combat this ignorance- come on in and meet these people.

overwhelmingly the biggest factors in ending up in prison are depravation and neglect- of course these cause behaviour problems, and of course these problems can be classed as being "ND" - anything in the world can be classed as being ND!

Elsewhere on SM and on MN it is classed as being "feral"

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:29

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:20

Not at all like everybody , educate yourself better.

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Exactly like everybody.... I'm dyslexic. My brain prioritises information coming in through my ears as it is more reliable than information coming in through my eyes - exactly the same as normal brain would. My friend is partially sighted, ditto. Neither of us can read if there is any background noise at all.

Your brain chooses what information source to prioritise, some will be one, some will be another, some will vary according to situation

That is all this means - it is a made up nonsense.

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:29

dizzydizzydizzy · 10/08/2025 08:23

ADHD stimulants bring dopamine up to more ‘normal’ levels. They do give you a high unless you actually don’t have ADHD.

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This and less than half choose not to have medication. I chose not to opting for therapy instead which works on using other methods and actually I was told older women like me often choose not to. I’m not in education and my career has been well and truly destroyed by adhd. I earn well under what I should but meds aren’t for the faint hearted for all sorts of reasons.

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:33

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:29

Exactly like everybody.... I'm dyslexic. My brain prioritises information coming in through my ears as it is more reliable than information coming in through my eyes - exactly the same as normal brain would. My friend is partially sighted, ditto. Neither of us can read if there is any background noise at all.

Your brain chooses what information source to prioritise, some will be one, some will be another, some will vary according to situation

That is all this means - it is a made up nonsense.

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So the NHS and Great Ormond street are making it up

https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/medical-information-0/auditory-processing-disorder/

Auditory processing disorder

https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/medical-information-0/auditory-processing-disorder

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:33

I think some people on this thread would be interested in the story of Irlen syndrome

A company in the USA invented this syndrome which was a form of "neurodiversity" that meant you had different perceptions of colours.

Before being exposed as a fraud, literally millions of people worldwide were diagnosed - using tests bought from the company, specialists trained by the company and needing coloured filters and glasses sold for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ by the company.

10 years after it was entirely debunked, I still come across the occasional late teenage students diagnosed in infant school and still under the delusion that it exists and they have it

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:36

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:33

I think some people on this thread would be interested in the story of Irlen syndrome

A company in the USA invented this syndrome which was a form of "neurodiversity" that meant you had different perceptions of colours.

Before being exposed as a fraud, literally millions of people worldwide were diagnosed - using tests bought from the company, specialists trained by the company and needing coloured filters and glasses sold for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ by the company.

10 years after it was entirely debunked, I still come across the occasional late teenage students diagnosed in infant school and still under the delusion that it exists and they have it

What has that got to do with autism or adhd?

x2boys · 10/08/2025 08:37

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:33

I think some people on this thread would be interested in the story of Irlen syndrome

A company in the USA invented this syndrome which was a form of "neurodiversity" that meant you had different perceptions of colours.

Before being exposed as a fraud, literally millions of people worldwide were diagnosed - using tests bought from the company, specialists trained by the company and needing coloured filters and glasses sold for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ by the company.

10 years after it was entirely debunked, I still come across the occasional late teenage students diagnosed in infant school and still under the delusion that it exists and they have it

That's interesting i think mu nephew was diagnosed with it as a young child he's 23 now.

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:39

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:36

What has that got to do with autism or adhd?

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This thread is about "ND" diagnosis, and how easy it is to persuade people they have one

HappyShaker · 10/08/2025 08:42

tumblingdowntherabbithole · 10/08/2025 08:04

I’m autistic and was diagnosed earlier this year at 36.

One of the reasons I was “missed” for so long is because autism runs in my family so nobody realised it was autism because they all behaved the same way as me and thought it was normal…

It took multiple GP visits, burnouts, and medications before I got “lucky” and my current GP realised I wasn’t actually depressed and was just suffering with repeated autistic burnout.

Nobody who is mentally healthy would ever want to be autistic. It impacts my life every single day and is hugely, hugely limiting.

Just sharing some love as this was is similar to my experience diagnosed at 38.

Renamedyetagain · 10/08/2025 08:43

Well, as a recently diagnosed middle aged woman with ADHD it is pretty telling what many of you think of me.

I tick all the boxes of success: nice house, good career, 3 healthy kids, money.

I am also married to an insightful, supportive and empathetic man who looked at my behaviour and encouraged me to seek help.

My Dr said that I am at the most severe end, but am very acadamic and as a result have over compensated my whole life.

To give you a snapshot, growing up:

*Daydreamed constantly, couldn't focus in school
*Lost coursework, timetables. Missed meetings and appts
*struggled in relationships, no healthy boundaries
*went badly off rails at uni, drinking/drug taking, promiscuous/thrill seeking, party girl. Still made a 2:1 by cramming and staying up til early hours the week before
*neglected health e.g. eating/exercising to fit what was the nearest high...shopping, drinking, random guy

co ercive relationship that went on far too long, very susceptible to being flattered etc. *missed interviews for important job. Zoned out in jobs in first few days as they were too boring. Got fired from numerous jobs. *can never find anything ever, despite constantly having tidying sprees and putting systems in place to stop this

I could go on, and on, and on. It has impacted everything.

I am also creative, highly intuitive, very intelligent and empathetic. So all I can do is work on the rest at length.

The meds are already life changing.

I dont see people wanting to improve their lives and seek diagnoses/learn about themselves is a bad thing. If anything, the more people know about conditions like these, the more generally understood it will be.

The judgmental tone worries me though. And a reason I've kept the diagnosis to myself other than close family.

ChompandaGrazia · 10/08/2025 08:43

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:03

Oh come on you knew exactly what you were doing were doing. And you apparantly were sitting close enough next to a young person that you could hear in detail every video on their phone. On a crowded bus that would be impossible without earphones which young people all wear.

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Have you been on a bus recently? All you can hear is other people’s phones.

dizzydizzydizzy · 10/08/2025 08:47

Delphinium20 · 10/08/2025 02:19

I have adult friends with successful careers who suddenly discovered at 45! they were ND or ADHD or some combo. Just an easy and legal way to get speed.

frankly, I think it’d be quite easy to convince a psychiatrist I too have ADHD symptoms, but I’m afraid of amphetamine addiction.

And I forgot to say, yes you can have a very successful career with undiagnosed and unmedicated ADHD. I did. But you have to work much harder to achieve the same.

Anyone who doesn’t know they have ADHD is at risk of all sorts of other health problems later in life due to the stress of working harder and masking. I’m late 50s, recently diagnosed. I also have ME (aka chronic fatigue syndrome) and I am now too unwell to work. My doctor’s theory is the added stress of being ND is one of the contributing factors to my having ME. I am also a domestic abuse victim. ND people are more likely to have this happen to them - and indeed my psychiatrist has written an article explaining why. If you want, I can look for it and put a link here.

InOverMyHead84 · 10/08/2025 08:47

It all stems from a lack of understanding that we, as a species, are varied.

So, there will be ND in, essentially, everyone! If you look hard enough, you will find something.

Bellsbeachwaves · 10/08/2025 08:48

I agree lots of videos online suggest ADHD for normal human idiosyncrasies which is in some ways completely unhelpful so in that sense yanbu.

The issue of diagnosis is an interesting one. Diagnosis can mean different things to different people. Some people love to be diagnosed - it provides support, care, adjustments, justification in some cases, a reason not to have to change anything as change can be difficult, an explanation for their anxiety. Some people hate being diagnosed - they feel boxed in, defined, misunderstood, and some diagnoses are actually a terrible burden - borderline or EU personality disorder (that's a whole other story) for example - and rarely actually attract the support or care that is needed.

And I think that's a thing. Like, what now? What after the diagnosis? Ok so someone has ADHD, what now? i think it's worth asking what's the point of it. And I think 20/30 years of medication use needs acknowledging before a diagnosis is fought for, particularly with children. Because 20/30 years of taking ADHD meds will not come without consequences. And that's often, in psychiatry anyway, what the result is. Psychiatry is basically assessment, diagnosis and medication, certainly currently, so I would certainly ask, again particularly regarding children, is there a better way?

As an aside, diagnosis itself, much as people like to assume it is, is really not an exact science, particularly in the areas of mental health and personality. 'Cracked' by James somebody is an interesting read on this issue.

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:53

dizzydizzydizzy · 10/08/2025 08:47

And I forgot to say, yes you can have a very successful career with undiagnosed and unmedicated ADHD. I did. But you have to work much harder to achieve the same.

Anyone who doesn’t know they have ADHD is at risk of all sorts of other health problems later in life due to the stress of working harder and masking. I’m late 50s, recently diagnosed. I also have ME (aka chronic fatigue syndrome) and I am now too unwell to work. My doctor’s theory is the added stress of being ND is one of the contributing factors to my having ME. I am also a domestic abuse victim. ND people are more likely to have this happen to them - and indeed my psychiatrist has written an article explaining why. If you want, I can look for it and put a link here.

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Some can. ADHD can vary hugely in its make up and severity .

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 08:57

InOverMyHead84 · 10/08/2025 08:47

It all stems from a lack of understanding that we, as a species, are varied.

So, there will be ND in, essentially, everyone! If you look hard enough, you will find something.

No disability isn’t just being varied

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:58

How can it be possible to "mask" ( ie deliberately concentrate on pretending you don't have) a condition that makes it impossible to concentrate and work on something consistently?

how can it be possible to "mask" ( ie pretend you don't have) hyperactivity? A condition that makes it impossible for you to stop being active?

"masked ADHD" is surely a total oxymoron

SteakBakesAndHotTakes · 10/08/2025 09:01

GeniuneWorkOfFart · 09/08/2025 15:00

I'm inclined to agree tbh, despite having a child and partner who are genuinely diagnosed with ASD/ADHD.

The difference between my 45 yr old brother (whose life has been severely impacted by ADHD but was only formally diagnosed last year after waiting 4 years for an NHS assessment), and the 40 odd yr old women I know who are getting private diagnoses and ADHD meds within months because they're scatty and get bored easily in a job...well it's indescribable.

These women have married, raised children, learned to drive, had jobs, bought houses, got friends, do their taxes - basically they run their lives competently. Whereas DB's life has been completely ruined by his inability to focus and concentrate. He's been in prison because of it. He can't drive because of it. He is completely unemployable because of it. He can't maintain relationships because of it. He can't handle his own life admin, he can't keep hold of a phone, he can't maintain a tenancy, you name it he struggles with it. He is truly and genuinely impaired in pretty much every area of his life, but he is still unmedicated because the waiting list for medication titration (even post diagnosis) in his area runs to years.

It's not the same thing at all. Thank fuck times have moved on enough that my ASD/ADHD child was diagnosed as an actual child and, alongside his special school, have been able to invest a lot of time and resources into teaching him coping strategies so that the impact on his adult life will hopefully be lessened. His presentation and needs are pretty much the same as DB was as a child but the difference is I know what I'm dealing with and are putting all the support in now to give him a much better chance at a happy and successful life. So I'm not against diagnosis at all, I just get irritated by people who don't really appear to be impaired by the traits they feel they have trying to make out they're in the same boat as people like DB and DS!!

This is the typical 'everyone's faking except my friend' problem.

Your DB might present one way, or you are more intimately involved in his struggles, but it doesn't mean everyone else is faking or doesn't have it.

I have severe ADHD, as do many family members - unable while unmedicated to drive, work steadily, manage a house, etc. I wasn't diagnosed until late in life because I put 100% of my effort into masking, and people who did see the problems just thought it was laziness/immaturity/dysfunction. Diagnosis and medication have changed my life.

I also have a high-functioning family member with AuDHD. If you didn't know her well maybe you would feel there was 'nothing wrong,' but you're not there to see the high level of support she needs, the masking and the breakdowns.

Renamedyetagain · 10/08/2025 09:06

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:58

How can it be possible to "mask" ( ie deliberately concentrate on pretending you don't have) a condition that makes it impossible to concentrate and work on something consistently?

how can it be possible to "mask" ( ie pretend you don't have) hyperactivity? A condition that makes it impossible for you to stop being active?

"masked ADHD" is surely a total oxymoron

No offence, but it is this ignorance that is why so many people struggle.

All your energy goes into pretending everything is normal/fine.. "yes, I made that appt", "yes, I wrote that report" whilst thinking, what fucking appt. What fucking report. Then backtracking, checking, doing it hurriedly, missing details. Covering tracks.

Just one example.

If you're that interested, do some reading and research. Otherwise, keep judging.

CiffHang3r · 10/08/2025 09:07

1diamondearing · 10/08/2025 08:58

How can it be possible to "mask" ( ie deliberately concentrate on pretending you don't have) a condition that makes it impossible to concentrate and work on something consistently?

how can it be possible to "mask" ( ie pretend you don't have) hyperactivity? A condition that makes it impossible for you to stop being active?

"masked ADHD" is surely a total oxymoron

It is very much possible as any ND professional will tell you and masking is part and parcel of ND particularly for women but it comes with a high turnover of burnout, mental illness and under achievement as a result. ND people live with difficulty all day, everyday and are often hugely resilient .

KitTea3 · 10/08/2025 09:11

Delphinium20 · 10/08/2025 02:19

I have adult friends with successful careers who suddenly discovered at 45! they were ND or ADHD or some combo. Just an easy and legal way to get speed.

frankly, I think it’d be quite easy to convince a psychiatrist I too have ADHD symptoms, but I’m afraid of amphetamine addiction.

Amphetamine addiction?!

I've never known anyone with an addiction forget to take said addiction 🤔

Surely if you were addicted part of that would be craving it to the point of not being able to not think about it this highly unlikely to forget to take it?

But then that's probably the case for most people who do have ADHD that take it.