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/TheBeckofKevin]

Its really interesting that its essentially results based diagnosing. If you have managed to some how cope with it, you don't have it, but if your life is falling apart (for any number of reasons) you probably do have it.

Lots of doctors struggle with nuance. I think doctors who have personal or close experience with adhd have a better time understanding the colossal impact it can have on lives and are more willing to take in a totality of your experience when considering a patient's diagnosis.

[u/Tiny_TimeMachine → u/TheBeckofKevin]

But this is how mental illnesses are diagnosed.

The majority of phenomena found in people with mental illness are also phenomena found in healthy people. The key is that the phenomenon is so severe that it impacts your ability to live a happy life in society. Meaning it is clinically significant and could be a symptom of an underlying mental illness.

If there is no evidence that your neurological makeup impacts your relationships, work, physical health, etc, then what are we diagnosing?

[u/TheBeckofKevin → u/Tiny_TimeMachine]

I agree, which is why I was saying that; because its entirely results based. There is no actual test to 'display' a properly hidden mental illness.

I find its generally easier to explain it with depression. Depression takes many forms and people tend to see it as someone who is very sunken and morose who sulks around not able to do anything. But we have studied depression extensively and many depressed people simply put on a strong, happy outward appearance because it makes their lives easier for whatever reasons.

Then if a person were to, lets say, take dramatic action, there are a bunch of people expressing disbelief and trying to understand why since in their eyes, they were such a happy and content person with so much going for them. This person/patient fails to demonstrate their mental health problems externally. They would not be diagnosed as depressed despite being depressed.

Its similar with other mental issues, adhd and what not. If you do a good enough job hiding it, you will not be eligible for diagnosis because you're doing too good of a job hiding it. You state it as though the results are the experience, but I'm saying the external results fail to display the actual lived experience of people suffering from mental disorders. This makes it very challenging for doctors because they have to make judgement calls based on the patients ability to either check the boxes they have on their list, or to sufficiently describe an internal state such that it convinces them a diagnosis is reasonable.

[u/UnPotat → u/TheBeckofKevin]

It was once explained to me like this.

Everyone has varying levels of it, and various ways of coping or not.

For it to be diagnosed it has to be a disorder. Disorder being the key word. It has to have had a significant impact on someone's life to be classified or diagnosed.

Hence why it is far easier, and also makes sense that those whose lives are in complete disarray, often resulting in short lives, end up getting treated more often say than someone who is doing a degree. The difference with medication being a difference between a 2.2 and a 1st. Compared to someone with whom the medication is the difference between ending up dying in a dumpster overdosing on Ket because they were homeless, starving and couldn't hold down any job at all.

Everyone deserves the help, but it's obviously going to be easier and probably more impactful to treat some compared to others.

This is also why such a high percentage of those in Prison are reported to have ADHD.

[u/TheBeckofKevin → u/[deleted]]

I absolutely agree with you in a general sense. I was more specifically talking about the woman's experience in the comment. A woman, especially someone who is coping well enough to survive or thrive, will have a really hard time showing enough symptoms to "convince" a doctor.

That's what I meant by results based. If you can demonstrate poor results it's easier for a doctor to check the boxes to make the diagnosis when in reality it's actually a pretty tricky thing to put into boxes. The usual "does it affect your daily life" element of mental health disorders are easy to get around by living a very different life. 

Does it affect your work? No, I've always found jobs that allow me to be late without consequence rather than work somewhere that I have to be on time. Does it affect your family? No if I have family obligations I just skip every other aspect of life for the day.

So the output of the person's experience appears like a diagnosis would be unnecessary, but the reality is that life is warped to cope with disordered thinking in a way that avoids alarm in the doctors office. 

But yes, I can absolutely believe people are self diagnosing at an elevated rate. 

[u/AriaOfValor → u/[deleted]]

ADHD has been underdiagnosed in women and adults for basically as long as the definition was created. Additionally fears of overdiagnosing have been a common issue across healthcare in general as understanding and awareness of conditions improve, when in reality it's usually just that people who had it just weren't aware of it in the past or it was something considered socially shameful in the past (such as left handedness).

Are there idiots who.see some crappy tik tok and think they have XYZ condition? Sure, but those are rarely the people going in for an actual diagnosis. The people who actually go in to try and get a diagnosis are generally the ones who have something significantly impacting their daily life, not the people who say they have OCD because they straightened a crooked picture once or whatever.