To find the growing narrative of over diagnosis (autism, adhd and mental health) upsetting and draining

[Frazzlesforever]

There seems to be a drip drip of press headlines and change in the conversation that too many people are getting diagnosed. And that some parents are being too pushy to get extra help or trying to get be benefits etc.

As the parent of a high masking autistic girl I had to push for diagnosis although the school just saw a highly compliant, quiet anxious child. My daughter is now extremely mentally unwell through not coping in school, has had to drop out of school missing her gcses, emergency CAMHs involvement - devastating for her and us.

She is exactly the type of child who would fall under the radar. Just an anxious child with over anxious parents. Apparently seeming to cope until she just couldn't. Surely if anything we need better understanding and support for these types of children not less. Otherwise we also risk kicking the problem down the road To severe problems in adulthood. - poor mental health/outcomes etc.

This ^

I'm an older audhd, diagnosed late because I was struggling more and more then eventually I burned out.

The world is harder than it ever was for nd people and it's leaving us behind. Sure, societal progress can be nice, but the system needs to understand that some people will struggle and drop out. How else are they meant to eat and where are they supposed to live? Do they deserve to be out on the streets or in an institution perhaps?

The world is more complex, faster paced, ever changing, prioritises sociability and communication skills in employees, has unnecessary soul destroying bureaucracy, is more worldly and cynical, more unspoken rules about how to fit into a workplace, only values extroversion, is loud ('muzac played everywhere), full of artificial smells, food etc. Loud, bolshy, rude, occasionally violent people rule the roost. Bullying and sharp elbows are de rigeur. Thick people are valued, whereas a good intellect is scorned.

C'mon, how are we supposed to manage? Some nt people can't even deal with these environments. Why do we think the rates of mental illness are up in virtually all groups (apart from the thick and vicious)?

You've got the world you wanted 🤷🏼‍♀️

I don’t know if you meant to be so offensive but you don’t know what you are talking about.

For late diagnosed adults there IS no support. But a diagnosis can be life changing. I struggled for 50 years at school and at work. I masked so nobody knew.

Now, rather than spending 3 days and nights throwing up before certain things, i am given an alternative. I don’t ’get out’ of doing things but we find a way that works for me. Instead of a risking burnout because of masking so hard all the time, I am understood by the outside world (well except for people who think I did it to ‘better understand my weirdness’).

I am also on medication for my ADHD.

A diagnosis has meant I don’t have to mask quite as hard - it has also meant I have lost out on jobs and been treated like a freak by some people.

You make it sound like it’s a vanity exercise. It isn’t. You are being incredibly ignorant.

In a recent survey the UK came 70th out of 71 developed countries for mental health. Apparently 35% of people considered they were at the “distressed” end of the scale.

I’m sorry but that’s just absurd. If you promote something so heavily, don’t be surprised when people take you up on it.

So self harming through my teens and struggling through life whilst looking like I was fine is just jumping on the bandwagon?

Misread

And all the people thinking we get support. We don't! There is no support apart from care for high needs nd people if they're lucky. Contrary to popular opinion, we're not draining the coffers with pip, mental health treatment, support, counselling, free housing etc. Me and my kids get nothing, never have, had to pay for private assessment, pay for online schooling, provide support, food, clothing out of our own pockets. We're lucky we have the resources, but most people don't. We survive on antidepressants from an overworked GP, talk ds2 out of suicide attempts in the middle of the night, provide constant coaching to keep him going. The list is endless.

I don't think that seems out of the realms of possibility when you consider the side range of mental health issues causes or exacerbated by our under-resourced healthcare system. If you look at maternal health alone and rising rates of PTSD and anxiety, to people living in poverty and debt, to neurodivergence that is unsupported and undiagnosed, to child mental health in the context of the school system, online life, living through covid - the UK is a pretty grim place to be unsupported.

As I stated earlier, there are of course many genuine cases however there are colossal numbers that aren’t. Highlighting a clearly genuine case doesn’t in anyway validate all other cases.

The only way that can’t be true is if literally every other country in the world is under diagnosing conditions, in many cases by a factor of 100 or more.

She must be one of the lucky ones who had a decision maker who correctly applied regulation 4 (2a), ie that unless you can do something "safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable timescale", for the purposes of PIP, you can't do it.

I've won appeals on the grounds that, if someone isn't able to communicate verbally in an emergency, they cannot the meet the "safely" test for that activity, but I've never succeeded in getting 12 points for it at the application or mandatory reconsideration stage.

For me there is no over diagnosing.

We are just catching up on the misdiagnosing that has been going on for the last 70/80+ years.

If GPs had diagnosed ADHD instead of depression or
ADHD instead of disciplining a child more or ADHD instead of a whole range of other illnesses or mental health issues we wouldn’t have so many people suddenly finding out via TikTok/Facebook/YouTube that their symptoms are ADHD instead of what ever their GP diagnosed them with years ago and they have spent their lives struggling against it

Of course you are going to want a diagnosis and help.

Or is the general consensus that at 60 you are too old for a diagnosis and you have struggled all your life and should be used to it. Why spend precious resources on you. You will be dead soon and we can just forget you and gloss over the fact we didn’t think you were worth helping

Because that is what is coming across

no, I got worse.

So there is research into labels and stigma which has often found that a diagnosis can lead to harm/prevent people from developing tools etc to get better. Having a "label" is a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy for a lot of people - "oh I can't learn better social skills or to cope better because I'm autistic" etc - actually that's false, the brain is plastic and although behaviour change will be HARDER for you, it will be possible if you're high functioning. Personally I'd never seek to give my child a label unless their impairment was so extreme they couldn't function in daily life.

If you think the UK is one of the most grim places to live then I can only imagine you haven’t travelled much.

People are buying into a warped narrative that allows them to escape personal responsibility while at the same time making it harder for those who genuinely need help to access the required resources.

It's not a label. It's a diagnosis

I think if you need to cut parts off of sentences in posts you quote then you shouldn't bother quoting in the first place.

The highest growth in PIP applications was from older children/teenagers I believe. For anxiety and mental health issues.
There is a whole generation who will be in long term unemployment. That is bad for them and bad for us all.
To have so many is alarming.

This ^

It is grim. There is no healthcare. People talk endlessly about "Oh, get therapy" ffs, it's around £75 an hour! Seriously?!

All you get is antidepressants and they stop working after a few months. For adhd you get nothing. A few lucky people are on meds. They're like unicorn tears in my shitty part of the country. Ds1 manages to obtain them in London.

Given the waiting lists for people with mental health /ND issues being in the years timeframe then yes I can see that being where we are on the list

I’m not following the thread but I am listening to the second episode of this which I think is REALLY good.

discussed the aspect of diagnosing wrt adhd.

It is a diagnosis when someone says it is. Clinically, if the clinician thinks medication would help, it might help (I know of an adult diagnosed for whom it really didn’t and was quite horrid.) but often it doesn’t. It can help with self esteem through the identity aspect. But also, that’s not necessarily what everyone needs.

extremely important listen for any teachers out there.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0mylrrz?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I'm beginning to feel like a broken record. I'm autistic - diagnosed by a psychiatry team within the NHS.

In 2014, the DSM (V) changed their diagnostic criteria for autism - massively. It became a lot more 'all encompassing' so naturally more people got diagnosed with it, many many more who didn't fit the 'old' criteria.

In the same year, i.e. 2014, The Childrens and Families Act dramatically changed the approach to SEN in schools - accompanied by the SEN Code of Practice.

Essentially, when you take both these things together, you end up with a picture of more diagnoses and less support.

They came for the immigrants and now they are coming for the disabled too. A steady drip drip of a narrative portraying vulnerable people and carers as skivers, fraudsters, unwilling to work, claiming "your" money and bleeding everyone else dry, allowances made for them but not for you etc. It's horrible, depressing and divisive and will only get worse with the rise of the right. They own the media and control the narrative. They have started on low earners too, who's next?

Label is the wrong word. But diagnosis does seem to become an unhelpful identity for many people - especially those diagnosed after their mid-teens. One which they look to build their whole existence around.

Oft heard in classrooms 'you can't make me do that because I am autistic/have adhd'.

Or even worse "if you phone home my mum will say I can't do it because I have autism/adhd". Self fulfilling prophecy.

Some parents are over pushy though. I know a mother at school who persuaded school to refer her son for ASD diagnosis. Got him on high rate Dla as soon as the referral was accepted. The paediatrician saw her son, said they couldn’t see ASD. Rather than report this change of circumstances to the DWP she is now paying for someone to see him privately. This time round school wrote that they don’t have any concerns on the information forms. She’s decided to push for an ADHD diagnosis too. Her two year old started preschool and within 2 weeks she had asked them to put her on the pathway. Another DLA application has gone in and she has now used this to write to the council and ask for a bigger home as she claims her children need their own bedrooms.

I get sick of seeing all the "parents are getting their kid diagnosed to get benefits" comments. Always written by someone who has no experience about how the benefits system works in regards to disabilities.