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.

where did I attack women?!?!?

I think where it becomes difficult for us to debate is where we can't quantify.

With Autism, the NICE guidance and the appropriate ADOS assessment as per the guidance is absolutely thorough, detailed and in no way is anyone blagging this. I was involved in the whole process. My son is autistic but masks in many environments and many people wouldn't believe it. I saw a different person at this assessment. They are professionals. It is supposed to be multi faceted with more than one professional involved.

So the answer to that is to ensure assessments are only as above. I have been told that services wouldn't take note of the diagnosis unless it was the above. So this provides the safeguard.

What's happening is the NHS are gaslighting and being bastards to genuine people so they can't even access the above because the NHS is offloading. Scotland had one city shut down Autism assessments a few months ago and simply said bye to those on the wait list. Bye, that's it. And then gaslighting by encouraging the public to think people ' over diagnose'. Resource problem then solved.

The NHS told me, a single mum low income to go away. We had to borrow in order to access the appropriate NICE ADOS 2. My son is Autistic, ADHD and has tourettes.

THE ADHD assessment was too incredibly thorough and multi faceted with more than one person involved. I do see potential for risk there in terms of maybe slipping through the net. I need to read that article. Yet my question would always be - who on earth wants to take an ADHD diagnosis. You will not get prescribed medication easily or free for this. It's nonsense. And no, you wouldn't get benefits either.

My son also has tourettes. Sometimes it looks fake. It isn't fake. It's difficult to prove this with no blood test or scan. The likelihood is however that it will come along with another ND presentation, so that in itself is proof. If you're a professional or live with this, it's so apparent. People can't get away pretending for long.

The ultimate conclusion however is this - what exactly do all these people who ' fake' it get? They get nothing. They won't get these prescriptions you talk of, they won't get benefits. They get nothing. People can't access assessments because the NHS are systematically offloading. It's not because of any Tiktokers.

People are drastically out of pocket. They lose money, they lose lose lose. They don't get anything, including prescription. ND people and their family only lose. I know you are unfamiliar with this reality by your posts and thus misinformed.

If you accept this truth, what really bothers you about all this? It's not what you're saying it is.

If ADHD meds are not highly addictive substances, as claimed above, then why are they controlled substances and have warning labels that they can be habit-forming? If the UK bans some of these meds because of that, that's wonderful news. Where I live in the US, Adderall and Ritlin and others like Vyvanse are not banned, so I may not be informed on one specific country's policies, but I am well informed on mine. Since we share a language, and since English is a lingua franca in much of the world, narratives of neurodiversity (not a medical term) are spread rapid speed around the world, which worries me.

Your whole narrative of middle class women who can't cope with life lying to psychiatrists to get "highly addictive" drugs.

The ultimate conclusion however is this - what exactly do all these people who ' fake' it get? They get nothing. They won't get these prescriptions you talk of, they won't get benefits. They get nothing. People can't access assessments because the NHS are systematically offloading. It's not because of any Tiktokers.

I think your conclusion makes sense if you live where you do. It's not true in my country.

And I'm very sorry about the struggles w/ your son. I wish you the absolute best in finding him treatment, help and resources.

If there's a social conditioning that life's difficulties can be fixed with a dubious diagnosis and risky medication, I find that's harmful to women. It's not an attack. And yes, I know women personally who seek out diagnoses of many kinds and I am suspicious that their money influences psychiatrists to give them prescriptions for conditions they don't have.

ADHD meds are CNS stimulants that can be abused. That is why they are controlled. If I ground up 10 tablets day and snorted them it would be dangerous and potentially habit forming.
This doesn't mean prescription medication is addictive.
Why not look into this stuff before confidently proclaiming nonsense?

Maybe the company you keep isn't random?

Most people aren't surrounded by people who lie to doctors to get powerful medication.

Yes, those things are symptoms and have always been symptoms.

But to get a diagnosis, your life has to be severely impacted by those symptoms. It’s not about disliking loud noises or hating small talk (for example) - it’s about loud noises being so painful and overwhelming that being in that environment causes you actual overwhelm to the point that you avoid basic daily tasks like supermarket shopping or going to a restaurant. It’s about small talk being so difficult that you go mute instead, or hyper focus on your special interest, or finding it so difficult that you need to come home and shut yourself in a dark room for two hours to recover.

@Delphinium20 are you in America? I would hope they'd follow the same thorough process for Autism.

I wonder what regulations there are for assessing ADHD. I can believe some might abuse this if easy to access and get assessed in a country such as the USA. I still feel statistically that would be reaching compared to genuine declarations from people feeling they are ND ( accurately so).

I don't feel that the possible scenarios in the USA applies here though with how things are.

Thank you. Life is considerably better and ok with diagnosis and understanding. The Government is perpetuating falsehoods regards over diagnosis in order to make it harder for people with no money to access an assessment. That is truly criminal behaviour. I've been more fortunate than many in that regard.

You mean this nonsense from the NYTimes, April 13, 2025:

"Amphetamines can be powerfully addictive, and last year, a study in The American Journal of Psychiatry found that even a medium-strength daily dose of Adderall more than tripled a patient’s likelihood of developing psychosis or mania."

Nope it’s still very much under diagnosed and no every other persons most certainly does not have autism or adhd.

More info most definitely does not do a dis service to those impacted by it and I speak as somebody diagnosed with both who has children whose lives are massively impacted by both.

The two families I know, not know of, I know quite well - their pursuit of a diagnosis and their decisions over how they use brain drugs in their children is, well difficult to understand

The adults who have been diagnosed have turned into selfish arseholes whose children are suffering the most and their spouses are living lives full of obligation, it’s not fun, so perhaps yes early diagnosis might help everyone make choices where they don’t end up with obligations and no support or even enjoyment.

You blame my teens for being teens? They are allowed to have friends and fun like teens always have. They do include others but when you have a group hanging out and it becomes dictated because one can’t watch this, or go here, or eat this or be around others eating this or basically dictating the whole group to this sterile environment, then yes I don’t blame my teens for saying, yeah this isn’t for us. I have watched them trying and trying and adapting and still being called out. So no I don’t blame them, you can, it’s irrelevant they live, learn and make their own choices.

Social media has a lot to answer for, people think you don’t them because they are ND but that’s not the case you just don’t like them because you can’t even be 10% you around them it’s all their way or no way. And then no matter how hard you try to accommodate you get called ableist - which kind of proves that no matter what you do it will never be enough.

But yes if some find answers then great, but to say social media doesn’t cause many problems in all aspects of life is just uninformed.

Adderall is not available in the UK, for good reason.

the amount of times i've forgotten to take my meds, trust me, they're not addictive.

They may have that effect on people who don't have ADHD, i couldn't say, i don't know anyone stupid enough to abuse stimulants... but no-one i know who takes them on prescription finds them addictive in any way.

ADHD meds help us function normally, the replace something the brain/body doesn't provide.

People who DONT need them, wouldn't be missing that thing.

In addition, the study you link to doesn't show causation.
I'm not saying there wasn't causation, just that you can't conclude it from from this study. For example, subjects with a higher medication burden might have been more highly medicated due to a crossover of hypomania and executive dysfunction. In addition, all the subjects were psychiatric inpatients. Not readily applicable to the general population.

What are you talking about? He has no signs of ADHD. He is naughty at school but that not an ADHD sign. However loads of parents are incorrectly saying bad behaviour must mean ADHD.

It’s so sad. I assess adhd. Because of social media everyone has adhd. When in reality people who post on social media should be putting the information into the correct context. Neurotypical people who experience anxiety, low mood, vitamin d deficiency, poor sleep, stress; they will have adhd traits for a short period of time. Everyone can relate to adhd traits at some point in their life. People with adhd have these symptoms consistently and the symptoms affect all domains of life, are a barrier to them reaching their potential, etc. it’s horrendous how this has happened as adhd is a neurodevelopmental disorder, yet this everyone has adhd is unfair and is causing collateral damage for people who actually have ADHD.

Yes this makes sense. I have lots of traits that look like ADHD. I know it isn't ADHD. I have a rather traumatic past and I do believe the theory that this could manifest with some ADHD looking traits in passing for some. But it doesn't compare, I agree.

My son has significant executive functioning difficulty and is always in trouble and annoying people especially in school. That has a profound impact on his life. You can't compare it to my somewhat ADHD passing looking traits. I'm certainly NT and in long term therapy. ND is prevalent on child father's side.

Again I need to quantity this. Are these SM people actually getting fake diagnosed? I find that hard to believe.

I know we have plenty a charlatan and incompetent medical professionals a plenty. Yet, if I'm running a private practice, I'd be conscious of my reputation in dishing out unfounded diagnoses.

Again I'm not too oo clear on the problem with people saying I feel I have ADHD. I believe them. I never met one person saying this where I disagreed in my personal life. It was a aha moment tbh. There are 4 adults I know of.

Does it discredit the true struggles if people are using silly examples on SM? Yes. I could see how it could. Again, how do we know how tough life is for someone who seems ok on the outside. We can't judge how hard life is by looking because there's often alot bubbling under the surface and then one day these people will crash. If there are Airheads on SM saying I'm forgetful so I have ADHD - yes that's really grating. I'm not on it to see this luckily. SM is generally a cesspit to me.

I'm not sold basically on the suggestion we have a significant number of people blagging it. And those that are - will receive zero rewards, perks, benefits or anything positive. Again, there's no gain despite suggestions made by some here. I see nothing but difficulty and expense for those impacted.

@Whatthefuck3456 how many people are you assessing think they have ADHD because of social media and don't have it? And how many come to you because of social media and do get assessed as having ADHD.

No, I didn't - thank you so much! Will call the local test centre and ask about this. I should have considered it, given his exam arrangements in other ways, but it's been a tad full on with my (apparently completely fine, according to many on this thread!) kids both in appeal this year.

ADHD is the new cool isn't it? Or just making a label (or excuse) for goddam human traits!! Yes ADHD exists but everyone thinks they have it now - YOU DONT BTW. My SIL has been diagnosed ADHD (She definitely does NOT have it) drugs made her lose weight. Then all of a sudden my sister has it!! (She really really doesn't have it!!) Its ridiculous people! Grow up and stop ruining it for actual SEN humans.

How do you know she doesn't have it?
Why do you think you know better than the professional, s that diagnosed her?

Because I just know. Well she has it about as much as I do (i also tick all the boxes) i also tick all the autism trait boxes but its not enough to determine a SEN diagnosis is my opinion its just being a human. There is limited resources for SEN people I would like it if it was saved for the deserved and much needed.

So why would she get a diagnosis if she doesn't have ADHD are you saying those that assessed her are incompetent ?and what does she gain from it?