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/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/Syssareth 16d ago

I'm talking about people trying to self-diagnose, like, watching TikTok videos and going, "Hey, I've got that!"

I'm not talking about people genuinely trying to get help.

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u/ifyoulovesatan 16d ago

Regardless of who you're talking about, you're still basically talking out of your ass and generalizing your experience to a ton of people whom you have no real insight about.

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u/Syssareth 16d ago edited 16d ago

You're reading way too much into a pithy aside. My "source" was meant to be an admission that I'm guilty of the same thing I was talking about and therefore wasn't speaking from a high horse, not that I live in a vacuum and have never used my eyes.

But fine, if you want the details: I'm speaking not only from my own singular experience, but from reading way too many posts/comments/notes* in various places on the internet over the years. I have been on the internet since before Myspace was a thing; you start noticing patterns after a while, and like especially recognizes like. (And thank heavens I grew out of that phase.)

(*Edit: Not one-offs like on Reddit; I read a lot of stories, and sometimes the authors leave notes with each chapter, so you can get a pretty good sense of who they are over the course of the story.)

There are absolutely people--often teenagers, not always--who collect self-diagnoses like stamps, and it's not a minuscule number (a minuscule percentage, I'm sure, but not in raw numbers). Critical thinking allows you to separate this person who apologizes for being late posting a chapter of a story, and who sometimes speaks about their struggles with ___ and trying to get on an even keel, and that person with a dozen disorders listed on their profile page who only ever mentions them in a defensive context (e.g., "It's not my fault, you can't get mad at me, I've got ___!") Yes, a single occurrence means nothing, but it's a pattern I've seen again and again and again.

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u/ifyoulovesatan 16d ago

You realize you're in the science subreddit, which has specific a rule against anecdotal evidence in comments, right?

Edit: the rest of your comment is just you justifying why your anecdotal evidence is somehow special / more rigorous than other people's. Which is just really dumb, I dunno what else to call it.

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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/mouthypotato 16d ago edited 16d ago

I mean, some people in the spectrum are actually officially disabled. That is the exact definition of what would be like playing in a "higher difficulty" mode than the rest of the humans.

Wdym

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u/Syssareth 16d ago edited 16d ago

I literally edited my comment eight hours before you replied to it to specify that I was not talking about people on the spectrum:

(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.)

Once again, I am talking about people who do not have whatever they diagnose themselves with, or at the very least, who do not care to seek treatment/help with dealing with it. I am talking about people who just want something to blame when things go wrong.

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u/mouthypotato 16d ago

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

How is watching a youtube/tiktok video and feeling like you relate to the video a diagnosis, please explain.

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u/Syssareth 16d ago

That is my point. It's an if statement, meaning they don't actually have the diagnosis. They are self-diagnosing because they want to be able to blame their problems on whatever they "diagnosed" themselves with.

The entire topic of this thread, as the person I originally replied to said, is people who actively want a diagnosis. That does not mean they go on to actually get one from a reputable doctor. All it means is that they want one. And I explained that--for at least some of them--that's because they want to have something that they can say is the source of their problems.

For hopefully the last time, I am not talking about people who actually have medical diagnoses or conditions. I am specifically talking about people self-diagnosing based off shoddy lists of symptoms. And, again, not all of those either. Specifically the ones who don't then go on to seek help.

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u/mouthypotato 16d ago

Ok, ok, but you can't deny that
1) you could've worded that much better
2) those who don't seek help could maybe not be seeking help for a myriad of reasons

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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/RedArremer 15d ago

I also had a hard time following that comment. A clear thesis statement would help. I think that user is saying that the self-diagnosis trend chasers are hard to reason with because they're starting with a conclusion, and a desired one at that, and thus are resistant to evidence that contradicts the conclusion.

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u/TheBobDole1991 16d ago

To your point about rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD),you I would call that a subset of the broader symptom of emotional dysregulation (ED). To say that there is not evidence of a link between ED and ADHD would be flat out wrong, but maybe you are making a more specific point about RSD.

Below is a good article if anyone is interested. The link between ED and ADHD does has evidence and is a widely held position in the medical community. I think it makes intuitive sense that a disorder that impacts executive function and impulse control would also impact the ability to properly regulate emotions.

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2024/04/adhd-managing-emotion-dysregulation