Does anyone think they DONT have ADHD?

[Frenchtoastie]

I keep seeing posts on instagram with various reasons why someone has ADHD and then hundreds of comments below reporting these people also have all of these symptoms.
Just wondering if anyone reads these and doesn’t relate to them? To me they are just part of being human, but maybe I am completely wrong and I have ADHD🤣

the posts generally include statement along these lines…

• I find it hard to get going or impossible to stop
• I can put off a tiny task for weeks but worry about it for hours but when I finally complete it it takes 5 minutes
• I can distracted and start cleaning after the shower and suddenly I’ve cleaned the whole house whilst wearing my towel
• Having a chair covered in clothes
• having multiple drinks on the go in the house
• needing a calender because if not I would forget appointments

Totally agree. I think the amount of
people who think they are takes it away from the people who really suffer and do not function at all.

Surely there must be a whole lot more to it than that checklist?

One of the most sensible comments on the whole thread, thank you!

Yes of course there is. The statistics for early death from risk taking activities, suicide and the percentage of the male prison population with it would tell anyone with half a brain that there's a lot more going on.

A lot of it is bound up with the lack of dopamine "reward" in the brain for carrying out tasks or completing them, the lack of reward for simply being alive. Many people with ADHD seek thrills and novelty just to feel "alive" for a while. A very high percentage will engage in risky sports like climbing and base jumping and/or extreme sports. My chosen sport kills people every year. I used to describe it to my husband that unless I risked death I didn't feel fully alive.

There are other physical effects. People with ADHD are more likely to sprain their ankles through hypermobility, have incontinence, not sleep well, get dementia (unless they are medicated when the risk disappears), break bones through lack of attention, get into fights or other trouble through uncontrollable anger, be diagnosed with depression (especially women, and it's not actually depression it's that old dopamine reward circuit I mentioned above).

And growing old with all that lot is another dimension altogether!

Thank you again for your enquiring mind.

No the Fonagy review states that it cannot conclude that over diagnosis is occurring but it warns that there is a rising risk of overdiagnosis and misdiagnosis( which can go both ways) if current trends continue. He actually reported that rates are stable, historically it has been underdiagnosed as highlighted in the NHS Taskforce review. The report notes that the core underlying proportion of people born with autism or ADHD in the population has remained largely consistent, rather than the biological prevalence itself multiplying and severity has not lessened.The dramatic spike in recorded diagnoses and waiting lists (over 560,000 waiting for ADHD and over 254,000 waiting for autism assessments) is driven by a genuine, substantial increase in young people's mental distress and greater awareness.The review emphasises that the current NHS model treats a diagnosis as the primary "gateway" to getting any help, which forces people to wait years and increases pressure on assessment services, leading to the risk of misdiagnosis or over-reliance on private sector assessments.

The report recommends moving away from a purely diagnosis-dependent system toward a "needs-led plus diagnosis" approach where support starts the moment a problem is perceived.

It very much depends on how you interpret what he says and what he doesn’t say. There have been a wide range of interpretations.

I will leave people with this:

”I am the only ADHDer who thinks he’s bloody brilliant”

Paul Whitehouse’s wife.

“im adhd no you’re not” podcast

This week Mine and Paul are joined by Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, Sami Timimi.
Sami has over three decades of clinical experience and a prolific body of work, including books like Insane Medicine and Searching for Normal, Sami challenges conventional psychiatric thinking and offers fresh perspectives on neurodiversity, childhood, and the medicalisation of distress.
This conversation is a deep dive into the cultural, political, and philosophical forces shaping mental health today.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/im-adhd-no-youre-not/id1768305930?i=1000717616026

The opening discussion is “we literally don’t know what we are talking about when it comes to adhd.”

Also this from the BMJ

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/395/bmj-2026-101196.full.pdf

There really hasn’t. The right wing media have misquoted and been pulled up for it but it’s very clear. People with autism amd adhd have been massively let down and there needs to be better access to NHS diagnosis, support and treatment with a needs and diagnosis led approach.

Yeah no thinks, I’ll stick to the NHS professionals treating my kids and independent reviews such as the taskforce and Fonagy.

Struggling people are massively let down by the NHS diagnoses waits and precious little support or treatment which is gate kept from people who are then driven to the private sector which o only accounts for 50% of already quite small numbers. It looks as if the shit people with autism and adhd have to contend with has finally been recognised and changes will be happening.

I think overuse of phones, scrolling etc has exacerbated problems with focus and organisation. It does piss me off. DD truly has ADHD and it is not an easy thing to manage.

Is the BMJ right wing?

https://www.bmj.com/content/395/bmj-2026-101104

Thank you. His books are very interesting on adhd.

you’ll notice that the key recommendations are moving away from diagnosis to meeting needs

as it should be

He himself was on BBC breakfast when the report was released, and he stated it was pretty much exactly as @C0untry says. There is no way to misinterpret what the author himself stated during a televised interview.

He also says they’ve not got up to date data. He says distress is very much on the increase. And there’s warning signs of mis diagnosis.

The trouble is that meeting needs doesn't tend to happen in schools adequately until you have a diagnosis. This is why so many are still seeking diagnoses for their children and it explains why the number of EHCPs has increased so drastically. Until the Education system itself is fit for all, little will change.

Paul’s wife is an NHS gp who’s been diagnosed with adhd.

It’s refreshing she is a fan of Timini

Bingo.

whole system is fucked.

Will I take away the diagnosis of my younger relative? Nope.

Have I referred kids for adhd dx in the last year? Yes. (3)

Do I think we’ve a good understanding of what “it” is?

Nope.

Again though, risk taking and impulsivity for a dopamine reward does not only go with ADHD. At first glance it is just a symptom … of something going on for the person displaying those characteristics.

Jesus wept will people please stop picking off one thing at a time and saying "but that can be symptomatic of something else “.

Yes ADHD is a package. If anyone was to describe it all we'd be here all bloody night!

Which can go both ways. He explicitly stated that the risk of misdiagnosis includes autistic people being misdiagnosed with something else, or having missing/incomplete diagnoses. EUPD anyone?

The symptoms can be for something awful but not adhd. It matters to make that clear too in order to find serious help either way ( or both).

No they are not.

The "Fonagy" review concludes that diagnosis remains absolutely essential though it should no longer act as the sole gatekeeper to receiving help.
It says accurate high-quality, and timely assessments are vital for clinical clarity, providing individuals with a meaningful understanding of their needs, and guiding effective post-diagnostic support. It remains a critical matter of informed clinical judgment.The review strongly argues that support should not be dependent on a diagnosis. People—especially young people—should be able to access early community help, educational adjustments, and mental health support based on their immediate functional needs rather than having to endure years on a waiting list first. By moving to a framework that combines immediate needs-led care with robust diagnostic paths, the report aims to ease pressure on the system, improve assessment standards, and reduce the risks associated with misdiagnosis or long, distressing waits.

The opening summary states we need a “needs-led plus diagnosis" model. It’s pretty clear.

knowing what meeting those needs should achieve, whilst there’s a wait for diagnosis, should mean no need for diagnosis but for those most affected (who will have learning difficulties. This is the evidence gathered so far for brain scans etc.)

Of course in the current society that holy grail is pretty impossible.

on Bio Markers:

Expert opinion: Despite the large number of studies and variety of techniques used, no promising biomarkers have been identified so far. Clinical and biological heterogeneity as well as methodological limitations, including small sample size, lack of standardization, confounding factors, and poor replicability, have hampered progress in the field. Going forward, increased international collaborative efforts are warranted to support larger and more robustly designed studies, develop multimodal datasets to combine biomarkers and improve diagnostic accuracy, and ensure reproducibility and meaningful clinical translation.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38506617/

Yes after many years of working in the area I'm now very aware that a minority of children we knew who were diagnosed with autism were later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Which is treatable but early help is essential.

It's a neurodevelopmental disorder of self-regulation,regulation of focus, emotions, sleep