r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 17d 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/Ok-Seaworthiness2235 17d 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/Hector_Tueux 16d ago

ADHD is not a mental illness or a disease, that's a fundamental misunderstanding of what adhd is.

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u/lafayette0508 PhD | Sociolinguistics 16d ago

I agree in theory, but it is in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and is treated as a disorder right now in terms of the process you have to go through to get diagnosed with it

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u/Ok-Seaworthiness2235 16d ago

They have quite a few studies out now about ADHD brain chemistry and it is 100% a disease. Dopamine dysregulation is a problem that can lead to a host of negative symptoms. As someone who has it I'm super tired of having people push this idea that it's totally normal and great

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u/lafayette0508 PhD | Sociolinguistics 16d ago

You'll notice that I also never said I considered it totally normal and great. There is room for variation, neurodivergence, to be considered alternative rather than broken. I don't claim to know the answer to this 100%, there is nowhere near enough research done yet on the actual brain functions, which is why the diagnostic criteria are all behavioral still.

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u/Ok-Seaworthiness2235 16d ago

I have it. It's a disease and a miserable one. Literally listed in the DSM as an illness and treatable. Respectfully, I'm really tired of the neurodivergent crowd trying to twist it into something else. It's caused by dopamine dysregulation and there is quite a bit of emerging evidence to back that up.