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.

Do you not see that’s a self fulfilling prophecy?

If only genuine cases were on the list I can guarantee there wouldn’t be much of an issue.

While our health system is far from perfect I can only imagine you have no idea what it’s like in many other countries. I think you’d be shocked.

Somebody had better do something about it then. Provide help, guidance and manageable jobs for these people. I've made it clear to mine that they have to find a way of supporting themselves as I won't be around forever and state money isn't reliable and is stressful to apply for. I've been able to provide help and guidance though, as well as backup with resources. Not everyone has access to this or knows what to do.

It's no use people whining though. Like I said, you've got the shitty world you wanted. Not everyone's the same though.

Bull shit ,you need evidence for DLA paticularly for high rate
As for a bigger council house ,my council house is to small for my family every professional in my severely autistic sons life agrees alm are willing to support us in getting a bigger house ,its still likely to take over two years.

Great article, thanks.

She must have lied on her DLA form because DLA is based on needs not diagnoses (and you have to provide evidence from clinicians)

"Got him on high rate Dla as soon as the referral was accepted. "

He wouldn't have got high rate DLA without professional evidence.

Wow. Ableist much? What do you call significant difficulties? You don’t get referred unless there are significant difficulties.

Something to perhaps consider - my parents wouldn’t know what difficulties I had because I was spectacularly good at masking, even from very young. I didn’t even know I was masking.

I spent 50 years trying to get on with and power through. If it had continued it’s possible I would have gone ahead with the suicidal thoughts I had had constantly since I was 15.

It’s fine though, we get it. We are just attention seeking and wanting the millions of pounds of benefits (I have never had a penny of benefits) and the amazing treatment that ND adults have access to.

And that by daring to ‘seek’ a diagnosis (I didn’t seek it btw. I was lucky that a locum doctor picked up that there was something going on and put me on the path to an assessment (two year wait, multiple in person appointments etc etc)), we are looking for an excuse not to change things.

No it’s the undiagnosed adults that have the audacity to take up space on the lists.

Unlike many of you, it was not recognised at all when I was at school so you have several generations of totally fucked up (mainly) women who had to struggle through.

Now some of them will have struggled so hard that they would have become suicidal and in fact may have gone through with it. But as long as we don’t take up spaces on the list, amirite?

Ffs nd disabilities are usually hidden. Carefully concealed from the outside world, which we often don't even participate in anyway.

The world is less inclusive now. What are you going to do about it?

Some of the problem is that the professional evidence is whatever the parents report happens. Some parents exaggerate and some parents will send school wording of what they need as evidence. I have an email from a parent doing just that. It starts with "We need you to describe Xs difficulties for our DLA claim". X didn't appear to have any difficulties over and above most other children in the classroom. When I said that, I got a formal complaint made about me (not upheld).

Most nd children will mask at school and then let it all out at home. This is what I experienced with ds1 (adhd, pda). We were denied help again and again. He's been left with an anxiety and eating disorder because of it. Don't worry though, he's working, paying taxes and not claiming benefits so he's being a good boy and isn't one of the pesky ones. He's probably got 30 years shaved off his lifespan due to the eating disorder. You can't pay taxes once you're dead, so he'll be letting the country down eventually I suppose.

That's ok, because children aren't given a label (diagnosis) unless their impairment is extreme enough to prevent them functioning in daily life. Parents aren't just sitting around on 5 year waiting lists and filling in multiple forms and questionnaires just for shits and giggles.

There are nt people who seek to excuse their actions and never seek self improvement. I have no doubt that some nd people do the same by the laws of probability. But the vast majority are simply trying to get by in a world that still carries a huge number of misconceptions about their condition. We never describe something like epilepsy as a 'label' do we?

I have reported this thread because the level of ableism on this thread is disgusting. It may not be deleted but just know, we see all of your ableism.

I don't believe there is over diagnosing. I am one of those people of which you speak, I am 62 and waiting for an assessment. It's not my fault that the NHS is so underfunded. Autism has affected my entire life, including classic underachieving and crippling social anxiety. I need that diagnosis so that I can forgive myself for not being the person I really wanted to be. I need it to explain to people why I don't enjoy family gatherings or parties, and prefer my own company. That finally, after all these years, I can live my life without the expectations of others. It has already been freeing to acknowledge to myself that I have an explanation as to why I am different. The majority of my life has been one long struggle.

Masking at school is fine, but expecting teachers to lie about their child's behavior isn't OK. We can't describe what we can't see
I won't lie on a DLA referral when it is clear that the referral wasn't being done in good faith. It's sad because the piss takers are the reason so many people are annoyed by the situation.

Your sons difficulties sound awful and he needed support. The chancers taking up resources have denied him support.

ADHD isn't a bloody trend, it's blighted our lives and I hate the growing narrative, yes. Drug and alcohol addiction, stealing, anxiety, just being 'too much' for social situations, constantly losing jobs or getting run out of them, despite being good at the task itself but bad at the social stuff: a small list in the much longer list of issues that it's caused me and my siblings and we only just realised what the underlying issue was due to the growing awareness.

A lifetime of issues explained now we're older, and now we can start to get better. And so will society around us, as we cause a huge amount of problems - don't underestimate how problematic this is.

There's a set of diagnostic criteria that you need to fulfil for a diagnosis: that's not overdiagnosis that's misdiagnosis - if they are being applied incorrectly to those without ADHD and Autism. It's not overdiagnosis in a country that historically is poor at diagnosing and treating absolutely anything health-related for women and girls: it's just catching up.

As to why there's a prevalence of them on MN - ask yourself why parents of NT children aren't on a forum asking for help - is it because, possibly, they're not having as many issues, so don't need advice??? Sampling bias is a thing, right?

Schizophrenia isn't a label either. Psychotic people can't mask due to the nature of the illness.

Nd people (unless cognitively unable to) mask and hide their problems. If I hadn't been masking all these years, I'd have been in a lot of trouble.

If every nd person completely unmasked and lived accordingly to their neurotype, there'd be utter chaos.

And no, it's not the same as nt masking ( smiling for the boss) at all.

Very unhelpful virtue signalling there. Ignoring our right to reply and need for a discussion so that you can relax in your purity spiral. Leave the thread up.

I've worded my post badly I think.

My best friend sounds very much like you, she got a diagnosis late in life, now has meds for ADHD, and it's been life changing for her. Work have been very understanding, and she's not been on the edge of burnout in years as a result. (The "better understand my weirdness" was a paraphrase of her by the way).

However, I also have an acquaintance who was diagnosed in his early 20s, has never really struggled, and in his own words "when I want to skive for a week, I just do fuck all and when work pick up on it, I blame the autism.". He also used it to get queue skipping passes at Disney. Now, maybe he struggles more than he's letting on, but from the way he talks, he just uses his diagnosis as a bit of a get out of jail free card. I think people who abuse it like that make life harder for people who really do need extra help and support. They make employers less likely to employ another person with autism, they make parks like Alton Towers rethink their policies.

So disgusting

What nonsense.

This thread can be crystallised into 2 posts. The first states that the clamour for over diagnosis is ridiculous and the second post is from a genuine sufferer claiming the first poster doesn’t believe them.

The first post is accurate. The second post is misinterpreting the first post.

There are always arseholes and they find the reality is anything but

Parent reports are not seen as good evidence by the DLA.

Well I’m AuDHD - what’s your excuse for your comments?