r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 16d ago

Neuroscience 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.

https://news.ubc.ca/2025/03/adhd-misinformation-on-tiktok/
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u/keiiith47 16d ago

Even if you disagree with the study itself which is fair, the study happened because there is so much misinformation. I had a friend who liked a few of these videos and their recommended became crazy relatable to everyone vs. actual adhd stuff. I am barely exaggerating when I say there are videos of people saying "you know you have adhd when you inhale and then exhale". Stuff that is relatable to everyone. There is a lot of bad info on tiktok and the "educational" parts of the platform have failed relative to other video platforms.

Mental health, finance, health and pet care are topics that trend on tiktok and lead to many creators making content about things that sound interesting rather than interesting facts.

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u/pure_bitter_grace 16d ago

My favorite is "if you sleep in this position, it means you have..."

And the position it showed was, when I did some digging, one of the most common sleeping positions.

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u/Field_Sweeper 16d ago edited 16d ago

It's click bait. The more they relate to, with whatever they post, the more money they get from engagement.

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u/HenryDorsettCase47 16d ago

It’s also idiocy. Some people literally believe everything they see online except for the actual educational stuff because it causes cognitive dissonance with all of the dumb stuff they believe.

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u/imBobertRobert 15d ago

A few comments up someone's talking about a tik tok that's "if you inhale/exhale you might have..." like, if people can't tell that's a joke then there's a serious lack of critical thinking skills.

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u/SirPiffingsthwaite 16d ago

A lot of it is "engagement bait" too. Some tailor their content with completely made up stuff to appeal to the less cerebral, but also to enrage a fair chunk of people into commenting corrections.

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u/Ooji 16d ago

Eldermillennial is the biggest example of engagement bait, so many people make "correction" videos or reference him directly, which just drives his own engagement and gets him paid, so even negative criticism of his content is a positive feedback loop. It's a losing battle because the best method to stop it is to ignore it completely, but at the same time impressionable minds would see the lack of opposition to his ramblings as evidence that there's nothing to rebuke.

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u/SeekerOfSerenity 16d ago

I wonder how much of it is marketing for services that can connect you with doctors that can diagnose ADHD or for people offering "alternative" treatments (or even pharmaceutical manufacturers). 

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u/LazyLucretia 16d ago

It's internet in 2025, everything is bait.

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u/JackYaos 15d ago

Also it's idiotic on purpose, people correcting it in the comments is engagement

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u/DavidAdamsAuthor 16d ago

Do you find yourself falling unconscious in your bed for approximately eight hours a day? Do you experience strong cravings for various foods if you haven't eaten for a day or so? Do you often find yourself drinking regularly throughout the day? If so, you might have...

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u/timesuck6775 16d ago

a desire to live?

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u/DavidAdamsAuthor 16d ago

Can't relate

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u/Izwe 16d ago

awww dude, internet hug

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u/Nvenom8 16d ago

Yeah, right!

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u/adamdoesmusic 16d ago

I do not in fact find myself falling asleep for anywhere near that. I constantly forget to eat, sometimes for a whole day or more. Same with drinking water. I’ve been formally diagnosed with a few things and medically suspected to be a few others tho.

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u/QuttiDeBachi 16d ago

…a fat blunt you smoked, then slept, then drank cuz you ran outta dope.

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u/Alty__McAltaccount 16d ago

What was the position?

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u/AreGophers 16d ago

Trex arms is what I keep seeing.

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u/Bay1Bri 16d ago

I saw a video that said sleeping with your wrist by your chin and your hand bent at the wrist towards your neck, you have autism. Which is ludicrous.

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u/AnRealDinosaur 16d ago

I do that and I do not have autism. What I have is carpal tunnel :(

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u/Bay1Bri 15d ago

What I have is carpal tunnel

Is that cause or effect?

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u/bananosaurusrex 15d ago

Sleeping with bent wrist can cause carpal tunnel syndrome in some people. Sleeping with a wrist splint for a few weeks helps alot of patients, no injections or operation needed.

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u/pannenkoek0923 16d ago

I am autistic and I do sleep like that, but I am not autistic because I sleep like that

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u/chauceresque 16d ago

I sleep like that to keep my handkerchief close as I’m a chronic night sneezer

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u/raptorclvb 16d ago

The trex arms to autism pipeline was wild and so many influencers also continue to spread this misinformation by making meme videos of it.

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u/Brad_Brace 16d ago

Oh, it's T-Rex arms! I was reading this comments wondering what trex arms were!

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u/Pksnc 15d ago

Thank you, I was seconds away from shouting across the house to ask my wife if she had ever heard of trex arms.

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u/Bells4Hazel 16d ago

Was a massage therapist- all desk workers deal with t- Rex arms, in general we all do due to regular screen use and being desk workers.

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u/FunGuy8618 16d ago

Isn't that very obviously an attempt to avoid accountability, though? Look at Kanye and Elon.

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u/Alty__McAltaccount 16d ago

Maybe if you are a deck.

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u/DucksEatFreeInSubway 16d ago

This'll fly under the radar but I appreciated the joke.

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u/nobleland_mermaid 16d ago

It's usually half side-lying with one knee pulled up and one/both of your wrists tucked under your chin. I think it's actually called a half-stomach sleep position and they just kinda specify the wrist thing.

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u/KovolKenai 16d ago

Inverse Cowgirl

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u/Dick_of_Doom 16d ago

Read this as "insane cowgirl"

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u/adaranyx 16d ago

The actual sleeping position x potential symptom point that has merit is the "t-rex arms" in conjunction with your shoulders/knees/hips kind of collapsing in without a lot of support (think hugging a body pillow, pillow between the knees, etc) and causing pain. That could be a sign of hypermobility, which is pretty highly comorbid with autism, and worth looking into if it causes you problems and you meet other criteria.

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u/Cow_Launcher 16d ago

I do wonder whether that - and all the other "relatable" videos - are just for engagement/clicks and the financial benefit of the creator... or whether there might be something more sinister going on.

Not invoking any political bogeymen here. It's just that it feels like someone is puppeteering, and we're not resisting it as strongly as we should be.

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u/jimkelly 16d ago

It's definitely just for money. And depending on your philosophical POV there is nothing more evil.

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u/jackofslayers 16d ago

Elaborate on this thought because I don’t even get what you mean

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u/forams__galorams 15d ago

And the position it showed was, when I did some digging, one of the most common sleeping positions.

Lying down? Yea that actually means you have any one of twelve clinical conditions, probably multiple. Seek help immediately.

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u/Frosty-Age-6643 16d ago

We still have so much to learn through sleep position science.

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u/TonalParsnips 16d ago

... okay but the bisexual sitting position thing is real.

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u/Smash_4dams 15d ago

It's old school buzzfeed all over again

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u/VaguelyArtistic 15d ago

My favorite is "if you sleep in this position, it means you have..."

I had to leave all my ADHD subs because so much of it was, "I sleep in this position, do I have ADHD?" or, "Sleep position? That is so us!"

I understand the frustration of knowing something is "wrong" but not having a Dx, and also the exciting part of finally getting an answer. But it's clear that many posts come from the TikTok pipeline.

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u/zer0xol 15d ago

Typical psudeoscience

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u/The_Corvair 16d ago

there is so much misinformation.

As an autistic dude who used to be active in autistic communities: It's not just the sheer deluge of false information - it's also how fervent it is held onto. And in the same breath, many of these communities hold self-"diagnosing" such disorders as perfectly valid.

Honestly, I don't really know what to do as a singular person; I mostly have disengaged with these communities because I felt it taking a toll on my mental well-being to see so many instances of people so confidently wrong, and giving misleading, useless, or even detrimental advice and information.

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u/cskelly2 16d ago

As a therapist with severe adhd it’s obnoxious. I spend about 50% of my time repairing TikTok misinformation. Especially for neurodivergence, ptsd and DID.

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u/jackofslayers 16d ago

DiD is a really bad one when it comes to misinfo online

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u/VioletyCrazy 16d ago edited 16d ago

One of my favorite musicians has DID, and some of the fandom has some weird brainrot regarding it. Some watch his every move and speculate if he is switching or dipping in a clip and who is in control since he publicly named one of his alters. It’s like they’re dissecting an adored lab rat. Though TBF the additional infantilation of him, I’m not sure if it’s due to his condition or because Oppar status, but it’s a bit weird.

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u/WingsofRain 16d ago

Agreed, there are so many people (especially kids) claiming to have DiD these days when in reality it’s an incredibly rare disorder…like around 1% of the world’s population?

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u/dpdxguy 16d ago

around 1% of the world’s population?

That high?

My ex-wife had childhood trauma induced DID. But I've never met another person who credibly claimed to have it. And I wouldn't have believed she did except for the overwhelming symptoms she exhibited before I took her to see a psychologist upon the advice of her neurologist.

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u/WingsofRain 16d ago

That’s what this%20is,assessments%20for%20an%20accurate%20diagnosis) article from 2023 says. Like it says in the article, it wouldn’t surprise me if people were either misdiagnosed or going undiagnosed because even though there’s been a lot of progress over the years, there’s still a lot of stigma around mental illnesses…kinda on topic for this post if you think about it.

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u/Veil-of-Fire 16d ago

It took me a while, but I tracked down the study that number comes from (the linked study just quoted it, they didn't derive it). It was a deep rabbit hole. That study linked to a 2022 study, which took the number from a 2011 study, which took the number from a 2007 study, which finally led back to the study the number comes from, conducted in 2004 and published in 2006.

This one: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022395605000385?via%3Dihub

The number was 1.5% in their study, which only included families from upstate New York.

The present findings are based on data from a representative sample of 658 individuals from upstate New York who completed comprehensive psychosocial and psychiatric interviews in 2001–2004 (mean age 33.1; SD = 2.9), and in a series of previous interviews conducted with themselves and their mothers during adolescence and early adulthood.

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u/WingsofRain 16d ago

I’ve been on an airplane on and off almost all day today so I appreciate you doing the digging!

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u/cskelly2 14d ago

My fav part about this is it’s reflective of a specific psychiatric population and not gen pop but gets cited as gen pop. The real number is probably something around .04%

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u/CyanideKitty 16d ago

I briefly dated a guy with trauma induced DID. He had already been diagnosed when we got together but it seemed some of the symptoms were managed by some of the medications for some of his other mental health issues. I can only imagine that knowing you were getting involved with someone with DID is vastly different than your experience, it being completely unknown. Like you, he's the only actual credible/diagnosed person I've met with it. It will be incredibly difficult for me to ever believe anyone who is self diagnosing, as the self-diagnosed that I've met were all very different from him.

Even knowing that it's just for attention and to be "quirky", I have a hard time understanding why someone would want to pretend to have something like DID. For the very rare few that have it, it can be a terrifying nightmare to deal with, even with diagnosis and treatment. Thank you for getting your ex-wife the help and I hope she's managing it as well as she can be.

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u/Veil-of-Fire 16d ago edited 16d ago

Not even that.

If it were 1% globally, there would be 5x more DID sufferers in the world than there are Jews.

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u/EllipticPeach 16d ago

I work with kids and so many of them claim to have DID when to my knowledge it’s not something you can have until you’re into adulthood??

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u/batmessiah 16d ago

I actively combat it on TikTok.  I have severe ADHD, and Adderall literally changed my life 16 years ago.  I went from being in the deepest, darkest depression, filled with despair and no self esteem or drive to now being a Associate R&D Scientist with multiple patents and awards, yet I only have a high school diploma.  I would not be where I am today without it.  I am so sick of all the stupid supplement videos I get claiming they have a cure that’s “better than adderall”.  If these supplements “work”, you never had ADHD in the first place.

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u/CactiDye 16d ago

The first time I tried Ritalin, I got up and did the dishes one day without even thinking about it. Straight from, "I should do the dishes," to doing the dishes.

I cried when I realized what had happened. I used to torture myself about doing chores. I didn't understand why I couldn't make myself do what I wanted to, so to just stand up and start was incredible.

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u/AnRealDinosaur 16d ago

I had the same experience. Part of the problem is that it's so not relatable. How do you explain to someone who doesn't experience it why you are physically unable to do a simple task that you deeply want to do? Before medication, I used to have to make insane checklists that included things like "1) open the drawer. 2) take socks out. 3)..." and I had to check off each stupid tiny step and sometimes that didn't even work. I have been paralyzed on the couch because I had to put a dish in the sink. It sounds insane. I will die before I go back.

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u/CactiDye 16d ago

I worked with a therapist for a while who was great, but once we moved beyond the big grief/trauma/mom stuff that I initially started seeing her for... not so great. She didn't understand the ADHD stuff at all.

I remember her telling me to "start with one dish". No, man, once I start I am usually pretty good for a while. The hyper focus takes over and I can get the dishes done. Starting was the problem.

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u/batmessiah 16d ago

"Why don't you just do it?"
BECAUSE IT'S NOT THAT EASY.

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u/Billwillbob 16d ago

A therapist who doesn’t understand or treat adhd can make the ptsd from it worse in my experience. Spent hours talking to a therapist about how I felt guilty because I lived in filth but couldn’t clean, that I would spend months “stuck” at work, had all these random failures in my life, the emotional regulation issues leading to toddler meltdowns at the worst times, etc.. The fix was to think more how I should fix these issues. Dude, I’m here because I’m thinking about these issues.

If these researchers don’t want the info getting out in this uncontrolled and often unscientific way, the fix isn’t for social media to stop people taking about their possible adhd. Mental health professionals need to learn more so maybe they all know as much about adhd as depression (mine didn’t). Also, the mental health community needs to really fix the whole general perception that adhd is just hyper kids that get no discipline and rules from mom and dad. Cause as a kid, I got plenty of discipline and adhd impacted me in way more negative ways than hyperactivity.

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u/redditorisa 16d ago

Mine was when I went to the mall for the first time after taking Vyvanse and could do my shopping without the extreme overwhelm of sensory overload. I could just go in, remember what I wanted, get exactly that, and weave through all the people without feeling super irritated or confused. I wanted to cry from anger realizing that most people just went about their days like this without a problem, but also from relief that I was finally able to.

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u/CROMAGZ 15d ago

This hits especially hard because I both remember that feeling and do not recognise it now. I seem to build up a tolerance very quickly to stimulants and after accelerating through the different doses of both types, and trying non-stimulants, they seem to have just given up on me finding a lasting medication

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u/slimethecold 16d ago

For me, the "oh my god" experience was being able to walk through the hallway and noticing that someone had put their shoes somewhere i would trip on them with me bumping them with my feet first. I never thought that my clumsiness was able to be medicated.

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u/FVCarterPrivateEye 16d ago

Similarly I actively combat it on Reddit, mainly for autism misinformation since that's what I mainly know about

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u/Kir-chan 16d ago

As an adult woman in a country that doesn't recognise adult ADHD and barely recognises it in girls, Adderall is not an option, and as bad self-diagnosis is the symptoms all line up (and I did have a psychiatrist agree that it's likely ADHD, but he sent me to therapy because he can't prescribe ADHD medication to adult women and that was uh almost two years ago).

The closest thing to something that worked was coffee and nicotine, I need to combo nicotine and low-dose melatonin to fall asleep most nights otherwise I'll just get distracted until 5AM. I figured this combo out after half a year of increasingly bad insomnia; insomnia has always been an issue, but recently it escalated to several days a week.

About supplements, very recently I started taking specific supplements as a test because my body has been growing too acclimated to nicotine. They seem to actually be working so I wouldn't just write them off; at the very least they took the edge off the anxiety and depression, and that's two less things to get overwhelmed by.

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u/batmessiah 15d ago

I don’t doubt that vitamins might make a difference in some people, and I’m sad that you can’t get adderall.  If Coffee and Nicotine worked (trust me, I abused the hell out of caffeine when I was younger) I wish you could experience Adderall.  It’s like putting on glasses for the first time after being nearly blind.  It’s not a subtle feeling that could be chalked up to placebo.  It’s like someone lights a fire in your heart for the first time.

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u/Proof-Technician-202 16d ago

Thank you for the work you do, though. After all the years I struggled with undiagnosed ADHD, I have a genuine appreciation for those who help treat it.

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u/sadi89 16d ago

It is definitely frustrating, particularly because there are so many other disorders, life events, and lifestyle factors that cause issues with executive function.

In a non-clinical setting the example I like to use is “Have you ever lost a sandwich…..while eating it? Not forgetting where your sandwich is when it’s in your hand, actually lost a sandwich half way through. Follow up, does loosing a sandwich while eating it sound absolutely unimaginably absurd to you?”

(That isn’t to say that loosing your food while you are eating it is diagnostic criteria-it is not at all-just a personal example I have used that I’ve noticed helps people grasp the “disorder” part of adhd)

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u/Cantareus 13d ago

Haha, I do this with food too. Either lost without realizing it or finished eating it without realizing it. I prefer the former, it's frustrating feeling the anticipation of eating something delicious then in the next concious moment realizing that it was eaten on autopilot. Better to rediscover uneaten food later in the day.

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u/sadi89 13d ago

Then there is the best one. Thinking you have finished your food only to look down at your plate and realize there is more!!!

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

It’s alot easier to mad at self-diagnosed people when you have a diagnosis. I didn’t self-diagnose but I wish I had because I was misdiagnosed my entire life and it would have been nice to know why I was so dysfunctional sooner and what I could do about it. Rather than “oh you’re destined to be a criminal”.

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u/sad_pawn 15d ago

Can I ask how/where do you do it? Online, individual practice/clients, other places like schools, etc? I'm curious where you encounter it.

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u/Chained_Wanderlust 16d ago edited 16d ago

I did the same with both ADHD subs. As a woman who was diagnosed with ADHD in elementary school, I felt like I was being gaslit because I did show symptoms early, struggled in school, and never hyper-focused my way to straight A’s. They don’t ever want to here that the people they claim don’t exist do, and get incredibly defensive because they see you as opposition. I’m all for more people getting diagnosed, I could do without the antagonism they have towards the early childhood diagnosed.

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u/Miro_the_Dragon 16d ago

That's so stupid, shouldn't people be happy for you that you got diagnosed early?

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u/Chained_Wanderlust 16d ago

From what I can’t tell, they think we had it easier because it was caught early. Its just a different type of struggle where your perpetually underestimated or excluded, but you know why. Medications and school accommodations are not the magic bullet people think they were.

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u/fornostalone 16d ago edited 16d ago

One of the defining criteria for diagnosing adult ADHD in the UK is a childhood diagnosis of ADHD. Without being able to determine ADHD presence in formative years, it /generally/ won't be diagnosed as such in adulthood.

Obviously most people didn't go the full doctor route as kids, but even a preliminary school report will do. One of the big problems with the private ADHD clinics is they'll ask very leading questions when building a childhood history, so basically anyone that comes to them will "pass" that part.

As far as I am aware (and this is only personal experience/explanations from my doctors) if you have ADHD as an adult but were perfectly fine and normal as a kid - you have something else going on.

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u/Miro_the_Dragon 16d ago

There is a significant group of people who were struggling with typical ADHD symptoms from early childhood but were never diagnosed by anyone because the adults in their life overlooked their struggles. Are you saying all those people stand no chance of ever getting diagnosed in the UK?

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u/fornostalone 16d ago edited 15d ago

No, I'm saying the literal definition of ADHD is as a developmental disorder so if you have it as an adult, you had it as a kid. If you had no symptoms of ADHD as a child, it's exceedingly unlikely to have it as an adult.

Not having an official diagnosis as a kid is fine, when you go in for a diagnostic session you'll be asked about any known symptoms of childhood ADHD. If you have a preliminary or official diagnosis then neat, if not you'll go through your childhood with the diagnostician piece by piece to figure out if you showed symptoms early on in life and go from there.

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u/Miro_the_Dragon 15d ago

Ah okay, then that's way better than what I initially thought based on your first comment. That's basically what my therapist did with me, then.

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u/fornostalone 15d ago

My phrasing was poor, my apologies :>

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u/Miro_the_Dragon 15d ago

All good, happens :)

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u/theHoopty 16d ago edited 16d ago

As you saying this as your opinion?

That if you weren’t diagnosed as a child but you are as an adult that it’s something else? Or that this is just how it seems to be in the UK.

My cousins and I are all extremely close in age.

All the boys were diagnosed with ADHD in elementary school.

The girls got diagnosed with anxiety and depression in our late teens and early twenties.

Once my children started getting tested, I asked for a test myself.

ADHD and Autistic.

I’m all for combatting misinformation because it’s rampant online. But if that is your opinion, you’re simply furthering the same misinformation you’re decrying.

ETA: autocorrect were to weren’t*

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u/ArtificialTalent 16d ago

I dont believe that’s what they are saying. they seem to be saying that for an adult to be diagnosed with adhd there should be evidence that the behavior was always there and didn’t just suddenly manifest as an adult. Judging by their second paragraph where they mention a school report, an official diagnosis is not the only criteria looked for.

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u/theHoopty 16d ago

Hopefully. That’s why I’m was asking for clarification.

I’m in the states and can only speak to that experience. There is no record of behavioral issues from my childhood that a doctor could even access, save for my own reporting. It has been the same for friends and family who pursued diagnosis in adulthood.

I’m fully willing to admit that the political climate has got me incredibly on edge and maybe I’m being far less charitable and reading things with a much more negative spin. Thanks for the gentle correction.

u/fortnostalone My apologies if I am coming off bitchy, honestly.

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u/fornostalone 16d ago

The NHS website (which I checked before making the comment) and my own doctors when I was being diagnosed with ADHD stated that childhood ADHD is required for an adult diagnosis as it's a developmental disorder. I just added the caveat as I'm not a developmental psychiatrist myself so I don't know all the ins and outs.

When you're being diagnosed you would have had to describe your childhood yes? How were you in school, could you sit still on chairs, how often did you lose things - that sort of deal. The difference I was poorly attempting to explain with NHS vs private is that NHS you're kinda just asked to describe a typical day as a kid in a relatively neutral tone, then expanded on from there. Whereas the (for profit) private clinics some of my friends have gone through lterally just chuck leading questions at you to say yes to like mine a little bit up.

It's a bit of a bugger at the moment because am I happy way more people are being diagnosed and treated? Absolutely! Do I think (and this is 100% my opinion) some people are being diagnosed incorrectly as adults due to sloppy private practices? Also yes. Maybe it's just the universe overcorrecting for a chronically undertreated problem in previous years.

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u/theserthefables 16d ago

this seems like an easy way for women to miss out on a diagnosis as women/girls display different symptoms to boys/men. women are also more likely to be either the inattentive type of ADHD or the combined inattentive & hyperactive type which has different symptoms to the hyperactive only type.

I’m relieved I’m not in the UK as I possibly wouldn’t have received what’s been for me a life changing diagnosis. I was mostly good at school, though I always struggled with getting assignments done at home on time, because I’m a fast reader, have a good memory & enjoyed learning. still have ADHD, just my first major breakdowns came in university instead of school.

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u/Hyronious 16d ago

This is one of the things that worried me when I got diagnosed (not UK but private clinic) - while I definitely had some examples of most of the symptoms affecting my quality of life in my childhood...I wasn't sure how much I was lead into it. The questions I was asked clearly lined up with the diagnostic criteria and I answered as honestly as I could but if someone told me I was exaggerating then I wouldn't be able to say that I definitely wasn't.

Still, I got the diagnosis and started meds (as well as a variety of lifestyle changes now I understood what was likely causing a lot of the difficulties I was having) and now I'm doing a lot better so at this point I'm just going with it.

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u/smugbox 15d ago

I was trying to explain this to a friend of mine the other day. I wasn’t diagnosed until “adulthood” (I was 20, I’m 38 now) but even I no longer feel welcome in ADHD spaces that used to be so helpful to me. There are no longer helpful strategies and there is no longer helpful advice. It’s all about RSD and “unmasking” and finding their true identity now. If I mention I failed out of college or I can’t drive I’m treated like a low-IQ idiot who doesn’t belong.

“But women present differently! The DSM-V was written for hyperactive little boys!” No, not really.

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u/pl233 16d ago

Doing well in school doesn't always turn into doing well after school, and those kids want to feel special again. Being able to claim a disorder makes them feel special, so it messes with their sense of self importance when somebody else's experience doesn't reinforce theirs. I think that's most of what drives this TikTok fake mental health garbage.

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u/wobble_bot 16d ago

I think it also thoroughly depends on what the individual does with that self-diagnosis. A few friends who’ve been formally diagnosed with ADHD have all one time or another reached out to me to approach going for a formal diagnosis. I’ve not done so yet, but having those people say that to me has given me a new perception of some things I genuinely struggle with which I always assumed was perfectly normal and I was just bad at them.

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u/The_Corvair 16d ago

I think it also thoroughly depends on what the individual does with that self-diagnosis.

Absolutely! Which is why my position is that we should call it self-assessment when someone goes "Hold on. I have difficulties in my life, these symptoms match, maybe I have [condition]. Let's go to someone qualified to get me checked out".

People who self-diagnose too often marry themselves to that diagnosis without consulting any expert (or really understanding the condition). "Oh, I have these symptoms, that TikTok says it's ADHD/autism/DiD. So I have that, I will tell everyone I have that, and I will give therapeutic advice to other people with these diagnoses." There's also a worse level when they start telling actually, professionally, diagnosed people they can't have a condition because [reasons].

The latter are an issue, the former are not.

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u/cobigguy 16d ago

I fully agree. I'm clinically diagnosed ADHD - attention type. Before autism, ADHD was the "popular" mental illness to have. Before that it was OCD. It's ridiculous and insane.

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u/AriaOfValor 16d ago

On the flip side, it can make it harder for people who actually have the condition to get diagnosed because of fears they might just be "trend chasing" or the like.

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u/dweebletart 16d ago

100% true; it took me years to reach out and get support for my ADHD even after suspecting that I had it for almost a decade. I've never had a TikTok account, but it was presumed I had just seen it online and was taking part in that trend. I was constantly told that self-diagnosis was inherently bad, attention-seeking, unfair to "real" sufferers, etc., and the fact that I was aware of my deficits was proof I didn't have it.

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u/Mockturtle22 16d ago

That's really sad because it's a pretty well-known fact within the medical community regarding neurodivergences that self-diagnosis is one of the most important First Steps because it is what makes people actually seek out a diagnosis at some point and most of them end up being correct or close to correct

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u/dweebletart 16d ago

It makes perfect sense when you put it like that. I think people -- probably the general public more than MHPs, or at least I hope so -- are overcorrecting a lot in how they respond to discussions of ND experiences.

You're encouraged to go to the doctor if you feel sick physically, but there's a supposition about mental health problems that one should only seek or receive treatment if it's extreme enough for other people to notice. Seeking help before that point makes you look like a "faker," because everyone's already suspicious due to the perception of trend chasing. At least, that's my experience.

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u/Mockturtle22 16d ago

There's also this idea that doctors are know all be all for every single issue. That you can't self diagnose even a little bit or wonder about it because only a doctor can tell you. I don't believe that's true.

I understand that for things that would require a blood test or other type of exam or x-ray but.. these are widely assessments. And then a decision concluded by somebody who may or may not actually even understand something like autism regarding studies that have come out in the last 20 years. There are a lot of doctors who refuse to learn new things about something that they were taught was one way.

Plus I live in my head and in my body and I am the one that is consistently struggling with XYZ on a very regular basis to the point of debilitation at times. The things that nobody sees the things that nobody realizes are such a struggle. The doctors don't.

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u/LitLitten 16d ago

Gosh, it was so hard to find information online as a teen (31 now). Most of the online discourse really focused on one specific form of ADHD during that “trend”; I felt like an imposter for being the inattentive type. 

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u/freakingspiderm0nkey 16d ago

Absolutely agree with this. I learned about the ADHD symptoms in women when I was late 20’s but feared that maybe I was wrong about thinking I had it. Saw a psychologist who believes ADHD is over diagnosed (which was initially a red flag for me and made me more nervous) and… she diagnosed me with moderate to severe ADHD. Waiting until after I’ve finished breastfeeding before I try any stimulant medication but hoping like mad I get the life changing impact that so many talk about!

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u/Kholzie 16d ago

I still think I’m fighting the assertion I have some form of PTSD from a serious medical diagnosis/event. I recoil at the thought of appropriating victimhood when I know people with acute PTSD.

Like, whatever I can think of as me responding to a trigger (a certain type of pain or a relapse into a symptom I previously struggled with), I quickly resort to dismissing or minimizing.

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u/ctrldwrdns 16d ago

I'm one of the people who saw a lot of ADHD content on tiktok and thought huh I might have ADHD. That wasn't all of it though, I also was having trouble focusing at work, and my dad has ADHD too and I did a lot of the things he did. I got diagnosed last year.

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u/CTeam19 16d ago

On the flip side, it can make it harder for people who actually have the condition to get diagnosed because of fears they might just be "trend chasing" or the like.

Already hard enough with people trying chase getting pills.

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u/Jwave1992 16d ago

I see many videos on TikTok where people are smiling and really excited to have been diagnosed or in the process of being diagnosed. Like they’re applying for a membership to a club. It’s just a really odd thing to watch.

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u/TogepiOnToast 16d ago

As someone who was late diagnosed (39, just this year) I can understand that relief and excitement of finally understanding that I literally can't just try harder at life.

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u/adaranyx 16d ago

It's not the diagnosis, it's the validation of lifelong struggles. In the case of ADHD, there's the extra bonus of finally having access to a medication that might make you feel like a functioning human. I agree that some people are super weird about it, and there's plenty of misinformation, but it IS lifechanging for a lot of people, and it was often years of therapy and struggling to get there.

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u/Hector_Tueux 16d ago

Maybe because they finally know that the harder life they had was not their fault?

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u/Throwaway47321 16d ago

Honestly people treat being neurodivergent as some sort of cool kids club for some reason. I honestly feel like it’s some online type of “I’m special and you’re not” thing

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u/Hector_Tueux 16d ago

What makes you feel this way?

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u/ctrldwrdns 16d ago

Um yeah it's pretty exciting when you finally figure out there's a reason why things are difficult for you.

Coming from someone who is diagnosed

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u/ERSTF 16d ago

Youbare jealous because you didn't get a card like the one I'm holding right now

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u/theshadowiscast 16d ago edited 16d ago

Self-diagnosis, which should really be called self-realization, is considered valid because trying to get diagnosed as an adult is incredibly difficult in different parts of the world (but that doesn't mean a self-diagnosed person gets financial benefits, protections under the law, or accommodations in the workplace or at school).

It is only really considered valid as to allow self-realized autistic people to participate in autistic communities and accept themselves.

For example: My state doesn't allow clinical psychologists or psychiatrists to formally assess adults for autism (only informally and it doesn't mean one gets financial benefits, protections under the law, or accommodations in the workplace or at school). Only neuropsychiatrists can formally assess adults for autism, and most insurances will not cover it and most people cannot afford the $4000 - $6000 for an assessment.

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u/Special-Garlic1203 16d ago

A big danger is that yeah, executive dysfunction IS normal. Getting a head cold can cause your brain to be sluggish for a bit. ADHD is primarily defined by severity, breadth (symptoms are not exclusive to certain contexts, like school or work), and onset (it has to have been present in early childhood. didn't need to be recognized for what it was at the time, but has to have always been there)

Everyone is "a little ADHD sometime". It becomes ADHD at the point where it's a LOT of ADHD, all the time. 

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u/salaciousCrumble 16d ago

Everyone experiences attentions deficits from time to time, not everyone has those deficits to the point of it being a disorder. Same with OCD.

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u/freakingspiderm0nkey 16d ago

A way I saw it explained that makes sense to everyone I share it with, was that everyone poops but not everyone has diarrhoea.

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u/getittogethersirius 16d ago edited 16d ago

Yes thank you for saying that the breadth of the disorder is also a problem. I read experiences from people who have "selective" symptoms where they can do things they like but struggle with things they don't but I can't relate to that.

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u/Riot87 16d ago

Before I was diagnosed and prescribed, it was hard to do the things I liked and almost impossible to do the things I didn't like. Now, it's fairly easy to do what I like (mostly, at least) and somewhat hard, but very possible, to do the things I don't like.

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u/DirtyPoul 16d ago

This has been similar to my experience. I haven't had much luck with medication though, but staying around other people helps me to build a structure. The way I have understood ADHD is that the brain is missing dopamine. One way to release dopamine is being around other people. I don't know if this is true, but it would certainly explain my situation. Everything is so much harder when I'm alone.

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u/ForensicPathology 16d ago

This is not just TikTok.  I've seen countless similar posts from r/adhd reach all.  The sort of posts that say anything humans do is a sign you have ADHD.

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u/DTFH_ 16d ago

when I say there are videos of people saying "you know you have adhd when you inhale and then exhale". Stuff that is relatable to everyone.

While true I want to clarify that the common mental health disorders to not give you unique experiences or unique behaviors that exist as diagnostic criteria, often it is about the intensity, duration and situational appropriateness of a behaviors or actions that impacts your health, livelihood and relationships.

For example inattentiveness is a normal human experience, having to use the restroom and holding it a little too long for whatever laundry list of valid reasons (traffic, no stalls, middle of talking to someone, etc) is normal but if it occurs often enough for such duration that you routinely experienced physical distress symptoms then its something to look at and is distinct from the happenstance inattentiveness of ignoring a bodily signal.

Peeing in a bottle because you're too drunk after a fun night out to walk to the bathroom and the next day you're found with a bottle of piss in your room, in the realm of normality, hoarding bottles of piss in your room that you are unwilling to throw out, is a different story, but they are the same actions and behaviors which is why a professional uses their discernment developed by their years of training to diagnosis clinical significance.

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u/Tangata_Tunguska 16d ago

100%. And it gets even more complex in that modern life can really push the limits of what is "normal". I've had a few people come in to clinic wanting a referral for an ADHD assessment, and their main difficulty is they can't concentrate on their extremely monotonous computer based work for 8 hours a day.

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u/FuckYeaSeatbelts 16d ago

you know you have adhd [blank] when you inhale and then exhale

every meme or _irl subreddit is also like this.

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u/moubliepas 16d ago

I think a large part of the problem isn't so much tiktok itself, it's what we're seeing on this thread. 

Studies and evidence say Thing, but if people don't like Thing, it's immediately discounted in favour of vibes, hearsay, social media. 

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria? Not only is it not evidenced, there is a lot of evidence to say it's heavily linked to various factors like personality, social circle, confidence, even occupation, gender, ethnicity... But that doesn't seem to matter. If you feel it and you've got ADHD, it must be a symptom of ADHD and no amount of studies or auto-mod posts or anything will change people's minds. 

I don't know why it is, but it's a  pretty common opinion that if someone seems to be thinking in an illogical way, you should ask them what it would take for them to change their minds. If they say 'I'd change my mind if there were x amount of studies from reliable sources' or 'strong evidence of other things that would explain it' or 'if I saw it with my own eyes', fine, you can probably reason with them.  If they say 'I'd change my mind if [specific person] said otherwise' or 'if everyone agreed' or 'if someone explained it in a way I fully understood', then they don't know how evidence works so there's no point trying to show them evidence.  And if they say 'nothing would make me change my mind', there is absolutely no point discussing it.

I feel like we're seeing the third type here, or possibly the second. 

At best, it could be people are wildly misinterpreting 'neurodiverse' to mean 'thinks and feels differently to most other people', in which case yes, about half the population would count. The options aren't 'neurodiverse' and 'neuroaverage', though, or even 'neuro-what-you've-seen-in-the-media'. Everybody is different, everybody has struggles and weaknesses, everybody's brain and emotions have weird janky bits that get in the way of real life.

But I feel like there's some major cultural or generational thing that I just don't get, that means so many people actively want a specific diagnosis, for no reason that I can tell. 

That's not really my business, people can think what they like and if I don't get it, that's a me thing.  But I do wonder what's going to happen to science in 10 or 20 years 

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u/RepentantCactus 16d ago

I personally believe a lot of it boils down to lack of treatment. CPTSD and neuro diversity present similarly throughout people's lifetimes and without several dozen therapy sessions a year it's nearly impossible to make any progress towards figuring out which one it is, and when you DO there's a 50% chance your clinician was wrong and you'll be rediagnosed at a later time. As for the cultural shift - I see it like astrology in an abstract way. If your star sign says you're a stubborn person you can lean on it and excuse your behaviour, but it's also an opportunity to become more open minded and accepting. Without my mental health diagnosis I couldn't tell what was imagined and needed to be ignored from the stuff that was serious and ruining my life.

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u/PaulTheMerc 16d ago

Or, it could be a feeling(right or wrong) that you're not measuring up. Perhaps there's a reason. Identifying it is the first part of adressing it.

Me: ADHD. Apperently diagnosed as a child. Parents went meh. Didn't tell me, no strategies or meds. Fought for years to get assessed to figure out what's wrong. 2 years later(in my 30's) I finally got an ADHD diagnosis, and meds. Night n day difference. Mentioned it to my parent: "Oh yeah..."

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u/Alaisx 16d ago

That's tragic. I hope you're doing better now!

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u/PaulTheMerc 16d ago

I was for a while. Need to get back to my doctor and get the subscription again.

Whoever though it would be a great idea to make people with ADHD jump through hoops, wait, jump through more hoops, etc. was a good idea is an ass.

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u/-roachboy 16d ago

pretty much exactly what happened to me except I got diagnosed fully (w a nice little tinge of bipolar) when I was ~25. I finally went to get checked after I bummed an Adderall from my roommate and got the best night of sleep Id had in years. When I told my mom she literally said "oh yeah I forgot about that"

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u/TogepiOnToast 16d ago

Diagnosed with BPD and bipolar at 19, no treatment worked except DBT. Rediagnosed with ADHD and CPTSD at 39, and the difference in effectiveness of treatment is incredible.

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u/fawn-soul 16d ago

I'd love to hear more about your experience. I was also diagnosed with BPD at 19. Even at the time I questioned if the diagnosis was accurate (Yes I had the self-harm, intense emotions, and fear of abandonment, but the identity issues, impulsivity, tumultuous relationships not so much). At 29 my symptoms are less intense than they were 10 years ago but I still have some not really covered by my other diagnoses (Anxiety/Body dysmorphic disorder) and C-PTSD has resonated a lot with me the more I learn about it. Just curious what that process of getting rediagnosed was like for you, what the difference in treatment has been and how it's helped you.

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u/TogepiOnToast 16d ago

My BPD diagnosis was based purely on the self harm and abandonment issues. When I started seeing a psychologist who specialises in trauma we did a whole batch of assessments, some I'd never had before, like the CPTSD one. Learning how the enmeshment, emotional incest but also emotional neglect I experienced my whole life was actually a form of trauma absolutely changed my perspective on it all.

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u/fawn-soul 16d ago edited 16d ago

Thank you for your answer! I'm glad you found more effective help for what you were dealing with. I'm in the US and unfortunately since CPTSD isn't in the DSM I'm not even sure if it's possible to get a diagnosis here, at least not in any official capacity...there's also the part of me that feels what I've experienced isn't "bad enough" to warrant such a diagnosis, but I know the symptoms I've dealt with all my life mean something is going on, so it'd be nice to have clarity.

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u/TogepiOnToast 16d ago

Pete Walker wrote a book that has absolutely changed my world called CPTSD: surviving to thriving and also has a website/blog with amazing resources. The thing with CPTSD is that it's years of repetitive small traumas and the coping behaviours we learn to survive. Unlike PTSD, which is memory based, CPTSD is learned and can technically be unlearned.

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u/fawn-soul 16d ago

I really appreciate the recommendation! I will look into his stuff right now!

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u/smugbox 15d ago

Thank you for bringing up RSD. You can experience RSD just from having been ugly or weird as a child, or having helicopter parents, or any number of things. It comes as a result of lived experiences.

It also responds pretty well to therapy, because it’s a thought-pattern issue. Many people in ADHD groups treat it as not only a symptom (and it’s not), but some sort of immutable quality of themselves that must be respected and catered to and accommodated for. It is not.

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u/Unhappy-Reveal1910 11d ago

Bit late to this but I agree. I did some volunteering last year in an alternative school, and there were two girls there who used to talk over everyone constantly, and they would say it was because of their ADHD. Any teacher who tried to pull them on it, they'd just say "well I need to do this because of my ADHD" I.e. all the teachers should just let them talk whenever they wanted regardless of disruption to others, and they'd laugh about it. I remember thinking that it sounded like an excuse for rudeness and also wondered how the hell these girls were going to cope in general life if that's what they thought ADHD meant. I didn't doubt they have ADHD but felt they were misinterpreting it as justification for "I have to say whatever is on my mind and can't hold it in because ADHD".

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u/gmishaolem 16d ago

There's been an overdiagnosis culture for so long. How many people are convinced they have OCD because of a few quirks? Or the worst of them: Phobias. Just like the gluten-free fad made it so people with actual Celiac are treated like they're idiots, nobody takes actual phobias seriously because they think it just means you're really scared of some particular thing. Same with allergies: People act like pet allergies are nothing more than a Benadryl issue instead of for some people literally life-threatening.

People overdiagnose themselves and each other, and then because they're not actually suffering from whatever it is, they treat that disease or condition as no big deal and make life worse for actual sufferers. It's a dire situation.

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u/Star-Lord- 16d ago

There’s been an overdiagnosis culture for so long . . . Same with allergies . . . People overdoagnose themselves and each other, and then because they’re not actually suffering from whatever it is, they . . . Make life worse for actual sufferers

Literally what? In a thread where folks are (rightfully) railing against misinformation, you come in and say this?? Just because somebody has a mild to moderate reaction to something rather than anaphylaxis doesn’t mean they were self-, over- or misdiagnosed with an allergy. Allergies literally have a grading scale! And yes, mild reactions are on it! Person A shouldn’t be held to blame for Person B not treating allergies seriously just because A’s reaction isn’t that severe. Person B is solely in the wrong, and Person A is right to be mindful of their allergies.

Allergies are so dangerous because they can literally increase in grade at ANY random exposure, meaning that—ironically—your take is harmful in exactly the same manner that you’re taking issue with.

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u/Syssareth 16d ago edited 16d ago

But I feel like there's some major cultural or generational thing that I just don't get, that means so many people actively want a specific diagnosis, for no reason that I can tell.

If they've got a diagnosis, they can blame their personal failures on that diagnosis. Like, "I'm struggling with school/work/relationships because I've got ADHD/autism/whatever," rather than, "I'm struggling because I'm not applying myself."

Basically, life is hard and people don't want to feel like they're just failing to meet the challenge, they want to feel like they're playing on a higher difficulty and that's why they can't "win."

Source: Am guilty of feeling that way myself.

(Edit: Because apparently it wasn't clear, I'm talking about people doing things like watching TikTok videos and going, "Hey, I have trouble concentrating sometimes! That means I've got ADHD!" People who want their completely normal problems to be caused by a condition so that they can point to it whenever they screw up. I am not talking about people who actually have a condition.)

Also:

The options aren't 'neurodiverse' and 'neuroaverage', though, or even 'neuro-what-you've-seen-in-the-media'. Everybody is different, everybody has struggles and weaknesses, everybody's brain and emotions have weird janky bits that get in the way of real life.

I really wish more people understood that. I've seen people talking about neurodivergent/neurotypical people like they were two disparate classes (like welfare recipients and billionaires), and that is most definitely not how that works. If anything, it's more like the LGBT spectrum.

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u/fumbledthebaguette 16d ago

Every time I see a post lead with “Neurotypicals think/say/do x…” I cringe. I have ADHD and while it is frustrating being consistently misunderstood, there’s this pervasive victim complex in online support forums that is borderline self sabotaging.

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u/jackofslayers 16d ago

I think we are well past the border into self-sabotage

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u/WalrusTheWhite 16d ago

Yeah I checked out years ago. Online mental health discourse is legitimately bad for your mental health. Like, studies are still data, and some articles are decent, but the general chat is just garbage. The only way to win is not to play.

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u/triforce_of_wisdom 16d ago

Not every neurodiverse person wants a diagnosis so that they can explain away their failures. I think certainly true for some people, but a lot of people seek diagnosis so that they can have a heading by which to set their health journey. ADHD like ASD, like dyslexia, like all of them, is a health condition just like anything else. My sister was diagnosed autistic as an adult last year and it's provided her with a framework for understanding herself and why she has the behavior patterns she does. It also allows her to build tools and habits that support her better. I mean, if you had a normal physical atypicality like brittle bone syndrome and it meant you had to live a low-impact life so you didn't break your bones all the time wouldn't you want to know?

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u/Special-Garlic1203 16d ago

I have diagnosed autism,my last 2  counselors gelt if I did pursue autism I'd almost certainly get it. 

I also have this super weird digestive/appetite thing that wouldn't be covered by either. Brought it up to my mom and she knew what I meant, but almost nobody else I've talked to does. I would kill for a diagnosis because I otherwise sound like a genuinely insane person if I bring it up. So it sucks to recognize a pattern in yourself but know unless you have a label, you're gonna be belittled and told to get over yourself. 

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u/Syssareth 16d ago

I am specifically talking about people trying to self-diagnose without any intent to follow up with treatment. The kinds of people who see a list of symptoms and go, "Hey, that's what I've got!"

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u/whitetooth86 16d ago

"If they've got a diagnosis, they can blame their personal failures on that diagnosis. Like, "I'm struggling with school/work/relationships because I've got ADHD/autism/whatever," rather than, "I'm struggling because I'm not applying myself."

Basically, life is hard and people don't want to feel like they're just failing to meet the challenge, they want to feel like they're playing on a higher difficulty and that's why they can't "win."

Source: Am guilty of feeling that way myself."

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Care to elaborate?

As it stands, this reads as personal bias and anecdotal experience rather than an evidence-based understanding of ADHD, autism, or neurodivergence. You present a false dichotomy, psychologically project, and over simplify.

It misrepresents the reality of these conditions, conflating legitimate struggles with excuse-making. While it's true that some individuals might externalize blame unproductively, that is not exclusive to neurodivergent people—everyone does it to some degree. The core issue here for you seems to be internalized ableism and misunderstanding of cognitive science, not whether people are being "lazy."

You did exactly what this thread and tiktok video misinformation is about.

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u/WingsofRain 16d ago

Yeah that was bothering me too with their wording. I was formally diagnosed with ADHD - inattentive type a little over 10 years ago by my psychiatrist, and the entire point of getting diagnosed is to know what tools you need to better succeed in life. ADHD is still a disability that very much impedes cognitive function to one degree or another (dependent on the person) and it’s not an excuse by any means, but rather a reason as to why it’s much more difficult for people with ADHD to function at the same level as someone deemed neurotypical. ADHD is a legitimate disability, it’s life-altering, and can easily be life-destroying if you don’t have the support and/or resources to learn how to work around it.

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u/whitetooth86 16d ago

Thank you, I even have trouble with the comment above it as well. I actually think they might be the ones who don't understand the terms neurodivergent and neurotypical and the real life implications of diagnoses. Having a real hard time parsing out "At best, it could be people are wildly misinterpreting 'neurodiverse' to mean 'thinks and feels differently to most other people', in which case yes, about half the population would count. The options aren't 'neurodiverse' and 'neuroaverage', though, or even 'neuro-what-you've-seen-in-the-media'. Everybody is different, everybody has struggles and weaknesses, everybody's brain and emotions have weird janky bits that get in the way of real life.

But I feel like there's some major cultural or generational thing that I just don't get, that means so many people actively want a specific diagnosis, for no reason that I can tell. "

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u/rogers_tumor 16d ago

If they've got a diagnosis, they can blame their personal failures on that diagnosis.

sigh.

once you have a diagnosis, you have a starting point by which to untangle your shortcomings, how they happened, and how you can do better going forward.

I know I have ADHD. I know I need to do some things differently from other people to be my most healthy, stable, and productive self. I also know that things that work for other people with ADHD, might not work just as well for me!

but without the diagnosis, I was just floundering through life wondering why I couldn't keep up with everyone else without being super burnt out and depressed all the time.

with the diagnosis I can look into adopting effective, evidence-based methods for keeping my life together. even then, some things work for me some things don't, it's trial and error, just like for neurotypical folks.

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u/Syssareth 16d ago edited 16d ago

No, I mean that's the logic behind people trying to self-diagnose (edit: without intent to seek treatment for it), not that that's the way it works for people genuinely trying to get help.

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u/whitetooth86 16d ago

I am really trying to wrap my head around this - "At best, it could be people are wildly misinterpreting 'neurodiverse' to mean 'thinks and feels differently to most other people', in which case yes, about half the population would count. The options aren't 'neurodiverse' and 'neuroaverage', though, or even 'neuro-what-you've-seen-in-the-media'. Everybody is different, everybody has struggles and weaknesses, everybody's brain and emotions have weird janky bits that get in the way of real life.

But I feel like there's some major cultural or generational thing that I just don't get, that means so many people actively want a specific diagnosis, for no reason that I can tell. "

Could you explain further? No offense, but it's incredibly convoluted and to be honest, I'm not sure if you actually understand the terms neurotypical and neurodiverse and the significance of diagnoses. But again, I might just not be understanding your train of thought.

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u/whimsical_trash 16d ago

I have ADHD but I can't handle the subreddits or social videos about it, people get a diagnosis and want to attribute every detail of their personality and life to it, it's just nuts. So much of it is just regular human stuff we all experience. I see this a lot in autistic posts too, I'm always like well I do that... (and no I am not autistic)

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u/josluivivgar 16d ago

I think there's a few reasons for it, most people with adhd are probably not really that different from other people, only the ones that are on the very edge of the spectrum are very noticeable.

a lot of ADHD "symptoms" could happen to anyone, just not so often and not together with the other symptoms.

then we tend to relate a lot of our misgivings to ADHD, which means we tend to group symptoms (idk if symptoms is the right word but I'm using it regardless) that are part of adhd with stuff that's just common, or that are a consequence of other ADHD symptoms, but any person could get it in different circumstances.

and lastly I feel like once you do like 10+ videos of adhd you kinda run out of things to do videos about lol, so either you start studying and researching, or you just keep doing the same thing with random shit.

also in general tiktok has a lot of weirdly serious looking videos that are just lies or a joke of some kind

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u/ResultIntelligent856 16d ago

I only use instagram, but I haven't really had the same experience. on the contrary for the most part.

I get reels of people like russell barkley, an actual adhd doctor, or more easily digested content related to typical traits like burnout, routine vs. too much routine, masking, insomnia, neuroticism, object retention, hyperfocus on new interests, and when the dopamine of that new interest subsequently burn off and now you're bored of something you sunk 1000$ into.

I actually have ADHD-I btw.

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u/Ok-Seaworthiness2235 16d ago

Idk how that all works but ultimately, there's a reason you still need a doctor to diagnose and treat mental illnesses. Misinformation regarding health conditions has been around for a long time thanks to poor media representation and access to simplified medical databases such as WebMD so it begs the question why or if this is different. Long before social media, conditions like bipolar and autism were massively misunderstood and commonly misapplied by non-medical professionals. ADHD just seems to be the latest "cool" disease people looking for attention or an excuse for behavior claim to have. Not long ago, it was PTSD. 

I'd be more interested in knowing if rises in self-diagnoses from these sources correlates to socioeconomic conditions such as increases in healthcare costs or lack of access to quality care. Perhaps there are other, broader societal implications at play that aren't even healhcare based. 

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u/Stunning_Mast2001 16d ago

The other thing is that everyone will have adhd symptoms at some point in their life

ADHD though is chronic and lifelong, one of the diagnostic criteria is you showed symptoms as a child 

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u/Special_Loan8725 16d ago

All over Instagram too, half my feed is about adhd, part of that is probably cookies, but it seems like it’s been all over lately, that and autism.

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u/Special_Loan8725 16d ago

All over Instagram too, half my feed is about adhd, part of that is probably cookies, but it seems like it’s been all over lately, that and autism.

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u/FlingFlamBlam 16d ago

YouTube is devolving into this as well. Maybe not as bad (yet), but you can't watch a single video about a new topic without the recommendations flooding you with similar videos. If all you're watching is, like, videogame playthroughs it doesn't matter. But when you're trying to actually learn correct information about a popular topic, a lot of the recommendations are BS.

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u/cilantroprince 16d ago

The amount of normal human things (specifically all of the things that make us unique and interesting individuals) I’ve seen be turned into “adhd” things online is aggravating. And when you point it out, they just say “no it’s not a normal experience, you must have adhd”.

It makes me wonder just how bland and cookie cutter they think non adhd people are

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u/i8noodles 16d ago

anyone who knows someone with adhd, or actually has adhd knew most of the stuff on tiktok about adhd is bs anyways.

if u claim to be a clean freak, but can leave it messy because u have a plans or a bus to catch most likely doesnt have adhd. the person with adhd will miss the bus or plans to clean. thats the difference. when u want to do something else but cant because this has to be done first, regardless of how baddly it will screw other things up

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u/Koreus_C 16d ago

Most/vast majority of the information on social media is a net negative. But people love to feel like they are learning something while mindlessly scrolling, so the bad content continues to be made.

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u/MaelstromSeawing 15d ago

Now, relating to vast amounts of misinformation on social media, there should be a study done on the percentage of tiktoks that have misinformation about DID, BPD, and ASD. I am willing to bet it is a similar percentage to misinformation about ADHD.

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u/DakotaBashir 15d ago

Feels like disinformation more than missinformation right? i wonder if the joooouuups...

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u/Uberzwerg 15d ago

"you know you have adhd when you inhale and then exhale".

Puh!
I always exhale and then inhale.
Thanks, i'm cured!

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u/duckhunt420 15d ago

I see it on here too. 

Posts attributing "a strong desire for truth" to ADHD. Ridiculous. 

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u/archfapper 15d ago

liked a few of these videos and their recommended became crazy relatable

Even lighthearted "what's up with people who do ____?" reels will have TONS of people going "but ADD! Learn empathy!" Not everything is ADD, ffs.

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u/skillmau5 15d ago

People need to understand that there are actual negative effects to having all social media be engagement based. There is no incentive for truth, there is only incentive for saying things that are relatable.

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u/fitnerd21 15d ago

My younger family members have all fallen for this scam hook, line, and sinker. But I can’t say anything to them or I’m not supporting them and their disability. It’s not a diagnosis, it’s an excuse for certain behavior.

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u/TheProfessaur 14d ago

Even if you disagree with the study itself which is fair

Why is it fair for people to disagree with a study in a field they have no knowledge of? It's irrational.

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u/saints21 14d ago

People seem to forget that mental health disorders often aren't completely unique experiences to that disorder. They're usually something almost everyone experiences but they just experience it to a different degree and it doesn't cause significant disruption in their lives.

I had impulse control issues that impacted my life. They are tied to my ADHD diagnosis. Everyone else has experienced impulsivity as well. It's not a unique thing to ADHD. It's just not a funny quirk for me because it had a real tangible negative impact on my relationships, my productivity, and my general life.

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