social media is convincing all our kids they are nd?

[AuntMarch]

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.

What's DM?

I wonder who the author of that research is.

I can believe there's a market, especially in America, for some types of stimulant medication.

Again, speed is not entirely what it is. I've taken speed and I doubt that is quite the same experience as methylphenidate ( the ADHD medication I believe you're thinking of).

Are you aware of the reality regards accessing an assessment and prescribed meds? It would be easier to buy something off the dark web or go score speed on the street. It would cost less in this climate.

You aren't truly informed regarding the reality so it's important to correct these assumptions and misinformation.

This thread is in very bad taste and ableist. ADHD is a disability I can’t imagine someone coming on here and making these comments about any other disability other than ADHD or ASD. People seeking diagnoses for ADHD are on waitlists for years on end, it’s not just something someone decides to do on a whim. The reason why so many women and minorities are now realising they are ND is because until very recently all research was done on white male middle class boys and it was actually thought that women could not have ADHD or autism.

Social media bringing awareness to symptoms can be a lifeline to many who have been struggling with one of these conditions for their entire lives.

A lot of people can relate to a few symptoms but for people with these disabilities it is completely all encompassing and can leave their lives an utter shit show. But as until very recently not of this information has been mainstream many people have not realised the reason behind so many of their troubles.

This kind of thread is constantly popping up and it is so damaging, belittling and ableist.

The Daily Mail

A lot of people can relate to a few symptoms but for people with these disabilities it is completely all encompassing and can leave their lives an utter shit show.

Yes, this is key. I suspect that every person on this planet can relate to some symptoms of autism and ADHD, but to meet the criteria, it has to have a severe impact on your day to day life to the point of it being disabling somehow.

this is such dangerous, poor minded bullshit, and i pity the kids in any school that take this view.

I have an ADHD diagnosis, but its because i was finally correctly diagnosed after a life time of being told i have obsessive personality disorders, clinical stress, Generalised anxiety disorder... and whatever other WRONG shit the Dr's wanted to tell me i had going on.

My kids both have AuDHD, the oldest is severely impacted by it, i had NO CHOICE but to get him a diagnosis because he needed the legal protection of being formally diagnosed with a disability to get into the only special school in the area that he would be able to handle.

I had the 'time and money' because he was so impacted i had to give up my job, and ended up claiming DLA/Carers allowance... and money? what money, doesn't cost anything to get a diagnosis on the NHS when they're genuinely disabled by ADHD and Autism.

Adderall is speed or amphetamine...it's combined w/ dextroamphetamine.

methylphenidate is in Ritlin

But it's far safer to get a prescription than go off the dark web, yes?

Sorry to disappoint you, I don't read it.

Adderall is illegal in the UK.

There's a rational discussion to be had about overdiagnosis, and about pathologising difference. If you are interested in that, great. Your posts on this thread, however, suggest you are more interested in stigmatising ADHD, spreading misinformation, and high handedly dismissing the experiences of people whose experiences don't fit tired stereotypes of what it means to have ADHD. Maybe you need to genuinely reflect on why you present as being so angry about women getting help for something that they have struggled with? Internalized misogyny is powerful and pervasive, we are all at risk of succumbing to it.

Yo uare 40 and yet... you dont seem to know much more than you did 15 years ago.
Being ND does not mean "you dont have to do anything challenging"- this is just your extremely limited view of what YOU think happens when kids or adults are neurodiverse.

wow, I hope you never teach either of my children. I am so unbelievably shocked by your attitude.

You are so completely out of touch from real peoples experiences it is embarrassing and completely offensive.

The issue with girls is that they are high maskers so what you see in a school setting is no way a reflection of how they behave out of this setting and the pressure and stress they are under to keep up with demands and fit in to societal norms can have devastating effects. This is why adjustments need to happen.

It’s so upsetting to hear that is your view. You clearly have absolutely no understanding and have done zero research on the conditions.

@1diamondearing

@Delphinium20 ok so your hypothesis is that there are people who will fake ADHD to access prescription medication? And these people will do this in order to access meds for the buzz?

For what reason? Can you clarify?

You believe such people who drug seek only, will pursue ADHD assessment and diagnosis and medication via prescription rather than illegally because it's safer? And it's all fakery in order to access these drugs such as methylphenidate only?

I need you to clarify this is what you believe to be happening?

Can you tell me on what scale you feel this is happening?

The fact you have typed this tells me you are incredibly unaware of what's going on in this sphere atm.

Tbh I enjoy the DM myself occasionally for some LOLs.

excuse me? i assume you meant to tag the person i was replying to.

The lead author of the research was Nora Voklow, an internationally renowned Psychiatrist. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Volkow

@Kreeptureyes, sorry edited.

I cant believe you are a teacher (I believe you said it somewhere, but maybe I got a wrong person) and say such nonsense.
You absolutely CAN mask ADHD. Please go and do some more CPD on it in your school, or if this is what you are being taught, your school needs to change CPD provider.

I'm worried, like the OP, that social media is telling young people there's something wrong with them and they have a disease when it's highly unlikely they do. I'm suspect of resources being diverted away from people with serious disabilities to people with privilege to seek out and pay for a diagnosis.

As a feminist, I want evidence-based research into helping women, not simply waving away symptoms and hooking them on highly addictive substances with potentially dangerous side effects. Taking a critical approach on collective narratives in society and on social media is not internalized misogyny ffs.

If I want to be highhanded, it's with men. I'd rather take the side of a feminist interpretation that women mid-age who get some fucking help around the house may find their ADHD symptoms disappear.

well i live with my parent, we share the housework, i have plenty of help..

My ADHD is still very much there!

But then i didn't suddenly decide i have it due to social media.. it was actually a therapist 5 years ago that asked if i'd ever considered it when i was in counselling for some very long term Anxiety Disorder/PTSD issues that Covid suddenly made miles worse... and i have a lifelong history of MH problems that i could never understand why i couldn't resolve...

Knowing it's ADHD and Autism doesn't fix it, but it has given me the tools to at least stop blaming myself for some of the thought patterns, forgetfulness, addictive/obsessive behaviours.. and learning more has helped my son, and myself find ways to keep the mind calmer, instead of feeling like i have so much noise and chaos in there i can't think straight.

@1diamondearing are you still teaching?

I sense from your last post that you're sick of the wokery world we now live in. Well I am too in some ways.

This situation regarding the significant ND population is however not wokery bullshit. It is reality. There truly are many many ND people and the main system, school, really is not fit for purpose. We are experiencing the fall out from that significantly in society atm. Most people aren't aware of this doesn't impact them.

So your job is increasingly harder, less rewarding and that's not right or fair on teachers imo. It's not the kids' fault. Alot of the little shites in school are ND. And school will bring out what looks like the little shite. I couldn't cope with it myself with no resources so I won't undermine reality. My own son is ND and often the behaviour looks in the 'horrible little shit' category. So I get it.

Everyone is NOT a little Autistic.

Which NT trainer came out with that? I'm NT and I apologise for being patronising as I often am tbh. Yet, how utterly patronising and very embarrassingly misinformed for NT people to go train others professionally on how it is to be Autistic. 🤯😭

@Delphinium20ASD and ADHD are not diseases.

Please go and see all the available research that has been done in the last ten years on women with neurodiverse brains.

what you are saying is so completely out of touch and offensive. You have clearly not read or investigated anything on neurodiversity as it doesn’t affect you.

any ND person with a diagnosis will be an expert on the conditions, they have struggled with it their entire lives and finally having an answer to so many questions.

I had a diagnosis at 37 and have been taking medication for a year. The improvement to my life is immeasurable. I was diagnosed with anxiety disorders, eating disorders, depression, and the only medication that has actually made a difference is ADHD medication.

Since being medicated the difference in my levels of happiness, ability to focus and prioritise, be present with my children without having constant racing thoughts, manage my finances, consistently work without burning out the list is endless.

You really have absolutely no understanding and no information on the condition.

Some may fake it, but more worriedly, I feel that social media algorithms lead people down a path to believing they have something and in good faith, they may find ways to push for a diagnosis, not that they don't have symptoms or difficulties, but because it's easier, as noted by journalist above, to fake an ADHD diagnosis than to fake diabetes. So, if one believes they have ADHD, it's can be a self-fulfilling cascade of medical intervention to try to prove it. With the US, money behind the marketing of prescription medication mixed w/ unethical doctors is a bad cocktail.

I don't have an answer as to all the reasons why, except social contagion has cause young girls to display symptoms of Tourette's syndrome*, for example.

There is a rise in black market ADHD medication in young people around exam time (2/3rds got it illegally from peers)*

Pringsheim, Tamara, and Martino, Davide (2021). "Rapid onset of functional tic-like behaviours in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic." European Journal of Neurology 2021;00:1–4. https://doi. org/10.1111/ene.15034.
'
“12 girls at NY high school develop involuntary tics; doc says it’s ‘mass psychogenic illness.’” The Washington Post, 20 Jan 2012.

https://psych.wisc.edu/news/easy-access-pressure-on-students-contributes-to-increase-in-non-prescribed-adderall-use/

Okay, so I just found that the Daily Mail has a US version, and you're right, it's fun (love me some Jason Momoa)

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14962643/Jason-Momoa-Chief-War-sharks-Hawaiians.html

@Delphinium20 your claims of concern would seem more credible if you hadn't spent this thread attacking women.
Of course we should be concerned about diagnosis by social media. The link to middle aged women undergoing rigorous assessment by psychiatrists is sketchy, though.
I'm assuming you know little about reputable ADHD assessment. You don't get a diagnosis because you are busy or have a lazy husband.
ADHD meds are not "highly addictive substances" and people taking prescriptions are not "hooked".
You are entitled, of course, to your opinions, no matter how ill informed. Please refrain, however, from untruths that only further stigmatise.

Agreed. It used to be that many went undiagnosed but now it appears to have gone too far the other way and every other person has ADHD/autism/is ND in some way. Normal variations in personality, energy levels, interests etc are now symptoms.

It does a disservice to people who are genuinely ND and who's lives are genuinely impacted by it.