ADHD misinformation on TikTok is shaping young adults’ perceptions. An analysis of the 100 most-viewed TikTok videos related to ADHD revealed that fewer than half the claims about symptoms actually align with clinical guidelines for diagnosing ADHD.

[u/mvea]

https://news.ubc.ca/2025/03/adhd-misinformation-on-tiktok/

[u/False_Ad3429]

The DSM is behind and is still biased towards men, and evaluation and diagnosis can be very expensive and not covered by insurance.

Women were not included in research until the 90s and it can present very differently in them. 

I was diagnosed by an expert who specializes in women and high masking people, using the Brown EF/A scales and the D-REF Adult. Those are more up to date than the DSM. 

Edit: typo

[u/spoons431 → u/False_Ad3429]

Another super basic one is that DSM IV doesn't regonise that emotional disregulation can be a symptom of ADHD whilst where I am the NHS does

To back your point up further also because I'm AFAB and was late diagnosed, it's still pretty much the non-existent the research into women with ADHD eg it's known that dopamine plays a key role in ADHD, also known is that oestrogen affects the amount of dopamine that your body creates. What there has been pretty much no research into is how oestrogen fluctuations affect ADHD in women, who have a massive variation of this hormone across both their lifetime and monthly for decades!

I will however admit that there are masses of tiktok videos with incorrect info my bugbear on these is the ppl who say object permanence is a symptom - it's not it's out of sight, out of mind (which i have major issues with as a symptom) - which is issued with memory (which is an adhd symptom), i do still understand that things exist because I can't see them!

[u/Fussel2107 → u/spoons431]

But do you REMEMBER they exist.

[u/spoons431 → u/Fussel2107]

Yes i do remember that things exist eg I know my passport exists as a tangible thing, even though i can't see it (which is object permanence), however do I remember where in my room i put it? No - i put it somewhere safe, but where that safe place is your guess is as good as mine (issues with memory)

[u/Fussel2107 → u/spoons431]

Ah. good for you.

I tend to literally forget stuff exists when I put it away, unless it's stuff I really regularly need. I am always surprised when I open a cupboard or box. When someone reminds me of the thing I know what it is of course, most of the time. I usually know it exist, when reminded, but sometimes context, literally, is missing, like when I used it last. Or in which context I got it, or why I own it.

And do t get me started on the surprising amount of books I own. I sometimes re-discover that I own my favorite books and remember that they're my favorites and get all happy about it. That's quite nice.

[u/spoons431 → u/Fussel2107]

Oh yeah I still have issues with things like that all the time eg I've 3 things of milk in my fridge as I'd forgotten (twice!) that i had in fact bought some. Or I found the Christmas money my gran gave me and 2 gift cards in my travel backpack that I hadn't used in a while, and if forgotten about them (the gift cards would have been nice to remember as ive just bought stuff from the shop they were for, and i don't think I'll be buying something from there for a while). Its still all various memory issues - while it may seem like the things dont exist and disappear sometimes i do still know that doesn't happen to physical things my memory is just awful!

[u/False_Ad3429 → u/Fussel2107]

That is different from object permanence 

[u/spoons431 → u/False_Ad3429]

Yeah for me it out of sight, out of mind or putting things places that I forget where they're at - which indicate issues with memory which is a known ADHD symptom. But I still know things exist whether or not it's remember where they are

[u/pewqokrsf → u/False_Ad3429]

In this scenarios the bias goes further.  ADHD has two primary representations, hyperactive and inattentive, and diagnoses are definitely skewed toward hyperactivity.

Hyperactivity also tends to be more recognizable in men.

[u/Thadrea → u/pewqokrsf]

ADHD has two primary representations, hyperactive and inattentive, and diagnoses are definitely skewed toward hyperactivity.

This is not correct at all. The majority of ADHD diagnoses are of a "combined" presentation, with primarily inattentive presentations second. ADHD-H diagnoses, while not uncommon, are the least frequent.

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_TIE_POSE → u/False_Ad3429]

Exactly. So, I don't get what the actual dynamic is then. Are TikTokers actually getting it wrong? Or are they just deviating from the outdated and, very likely, inaccurate DSM?

[u/karosea → u/PM_ME_YOUR_TIE_POSE]

I haven't had a chance to sit and read it all but judging by skimming the information posted, the study seems to adhere strictly to assessing ADHD within the guidelines of the DSM which is trash in my opinion. I'm not sure what the TikTok people are saying, I am neurodivergent myself with ADHD and I know I can't start with TikTok it's not good for my mental health in general, doom scrolling reddit is bad enough.

[u/HuggyMonster69 → u/PM_ME_YOUR_TIE_POSE]

TikTok is often presenting a very simplified version of the symptoms, to the point where anyone could meet the criteria.

Hyper focus can be a symptom of ADHD, but TikTok will make out that anyone who gets into their hobby and stays up late because of it is diagnosable.

Or difficulty paying attention, yes it’s a symptom, but also, humans have a limited attention span normally.

There probably are TikToks where it’s a case of them using something more up to date than the DSM, or just plain inventing stuff. But most of what I’ve seen has just been symptoms generalised into uselessness

[u/materialdesigner → u/PM_ME_YOUR_TIE_POSE]

Because there were many more claims concerning ADHD symptoms relative to treatment (see Results), and because these claims were complex, each symptom claim was scored by the fifth and sixth authors, two licensed clinical psychologists, each of whom has 20 + years of expertise in diagnosing and treating ADHD. The two raters independently assessed if the claim accurately captured a core symptom of adult or adolescent ADHD as characterized in the DSM-5 (Yes/No). If it did, the raters noted which ADHD symptom was depicted, and if the severity and impairment illustrated in the video was a realistic representation of what occurs in ADHD. If the claim did not accurately capture a symptom of ADHD according to the DSM-5, the raters assessed whether the claim described a phenomenon strongly linked to ADHD more so than to other disorders (e.g., working memory deficits). They also scored whether the claim better reflected a different specific disorder (e.g., binge eating disorder), a symptom transdiagnostic across various disorders (e.g., emotional dysregulation), or the normal human experience (i.e., suggesting it could reasonably occur among many without significant psychopathology). The two psychologist raters also independently coded whether or not there was nuance, defined as if there was any acknowledgement that the symptom depicted in the video may not apply to everyone with ADHD, or may also apply to someone without ADHD. Finally, the raters gave a global score for each video, assessing whether they would recommend it to others as an example of psychoeducation to help them understand ADHD

[u/QaraKha → u/False_Ad3429]

Even more fun, the dominant endocrine environment can make ADHD change presentation. So trans people once they start taking hormone replacement therapy find their ADHD presentations changing, sometimes to things they have no frame of reference to mask or counteract.

Almost certainly, it's ADHD people talking about the knock-on effects of ADHD, things that aren't found in the 10 checkbox clinical diagnosis criteria, but are absolutely things that happen with ADHD.

[u/ashteatime → u/False_Ad3429]

While the dsm 5 lists criteria for an adhd diagnosis, clinicians will not make a diagnosis based on the dsm criteria alone. Clinicians will refer clients out to get testing. One of the tests is the Brown EF/A which is an assessment tool that assesses dsm criteria. Also adhd diagnosis favor boys to girls 3:1 in childhood but in adulthood the rate is 1:1 in men and women. There are a lot of reasons for this discrepancy but it is not due to the DSM.

[u/DynamiteDove89 → u/ashteatime]

To me, it sounds like extreme under-diagnosis in girls, many of whom have to wait until adulthood to be diagnosed, especially if they are inattentive type or combined.

[u/ashteatime → u/DynamiteDove89]

For sure! There was an interesting study done in Melbourne where teachers and parents were given vignettes describing a child with adhd symptoms. Half of the teachers/parents were told the child was a girl and the other half were told the child was a boy. The study found that the teachers and parents were more likely to recommend that the child needed services if the child had a boy name than if the child has a girl name. Gender bias is just one factor. There are lots of other factors too! Maladaptive daydreaming is also a very interesting factor as well. Sorry for the rambling. Adhd in women is one of my passions.

[u/PM_ME_UR_ROUND_ASS → u/False_Ad3429]

Absolutely right about the historical bias. There's actually a 16:1 ratio of male to female subjects in early ADHD research studies, which is why the "hyperactive boy" became the stereotype. Women tend to present with more inattentive symptoms, emotional dysregulation, and internalizing behaviors that don't fit the classic DSM checklist. Thats why so many women get misdiagnosed with anxiety/depression first, or go undiagnosed until adulthood.

[u/materialdesigner → u/False_Ad3429]

Good thing the study used licensed clinical psychologists who perform ADHD assessments as the scorers for the level of accuracy of each video

Because there were many more claims concerning ADHD symptoms relative to treatment (see Results), and because these claims were complex, each symptom claim was scored by the fifth and sixth authors, two licensed clinical psychologists, each of whom has 20 + years of expertise in diagnosing and treating ADHD. The two raters independently assessed if the claim accurately captured a core symptom of adult or adolescent ADHD as characterized in the DSM-5 (Yes/No). If it did, the raters noted which ADHD symptom was depicted, and if the severity and impairment illustrated in the video was a realistic representation of what occurs in ADHD. If the claim did not accurately capture a symptom of ADHD according to the DSM-5, the raters assessed whether the claim described a phenomenon strongly linked to ADHD more so than to other disorders (e.g., working memory deficits). They also scored whether the claim better reflected a different specific disorder (e.g., binge eating disorder), a symptom transdiagnostic across various disorders (e.g., emotional dysregulation), or the normal human experience (i.e., suggesting it could reasonably occur among many without significant psychopathology). The two psychologist raters also independently coded whether or not there was nuance, defined as if there was any acknowledgement that the symptom depicted in the video may not apply to everyone with ADHD, or may also apply to someone without ADHD. Finally, the raters gave a global score for each video, assessing whether they would recommend it to others as an example of psychoeducation to help them understand ADHD

[u/False_Ad3429 → u/materialdesigner]

Unfortunately clinical psychologists are often not experts in adhd specifically. I actually was just talking to a licensed clinical psychologist friend of mine this weekend, who had diagnosed adhd around 10 years ago, and he was unaware of many of the questions asked on the brown ef/a test, and unaware of many aspects of adhd in general, such as how in women symptoms can wax and wane with menstrual cycles due to estrogen's effect on dopamine. 

Another commenter noted the dsm doesn't even include emotional dysregulation or poor working memory as potential parts of adhd, even though they are recognized symptoms.

[u/materialdesigner → u/False_Ad3429]

Did you read the quote.