A new survey reveals that 25% of adults in the U.S. suspect they may have undiagnosed ADHD, though only 13% have consulted a doctor.
A new survey reveals that 25% of adults in the U.S. suspect they may have undiagnosed ADHD, though only 13% have consulted a doctor.
Agree mostly, but will recommend one consideration that was not obvious to me at first.
I agree that some cultures in some societies are today routinely testing human biological limits as you describe, down to the availability of neurotransmitters, what is required to sustain them at sufficient levels where they’re needed, and that it’s difficult to tell the difference between this and “actual” ADHD.
Consider however that the clinical guidelines for diagnosis depend largely on questions about how many and/or how often certain symptoms occur and, more importantly, whether they’ve become a problem for the patient (in school, at work, etc), and answers to these questions are greatly affected by whether the patient belongs to the cultures described above.
That is, the clinical boundaries are not so globally absolute, even though it’s a spectra we now recognize and can help with. Often a more flexible program or job would be the preferable prescription, but it’s an option available to few.
So these days the common complaint is that ADHD is overdiagnossd. While abuse exists, such as the online script mill in the news recently, the criticism is usually less helpful — since it implies misjudgment on the part of clinicians and parents attempting to help a child keep up, stigmatizes the ones who succeed, delays diagnosis for many others — but also is not precisely the intent. Instead they mean to question (rightly, as you did) society’s increasingly narrow definition of when someone’s best efforts are considered “enough.”
But also, you have to realise this misdiagnosing does exist.
I had excellent school success as a kid. I taught myself how to read before school. I was always the top of the class, made friends easily, had no issues. My mom is a social worker. There was never any behavioural trouble from me, nor any learning problem.
But now some 30 years later, when I’ve looked for help and been anxious at the doctors, 9/10 of them would be “perhaps you have ADHD?”, despite they core characteristic of ADHD being it’s neurodevelopmental, and I had literally zero issues in that. No matter how much I kept reassuring them and pointing out as a kid I would not have met any of the diagnostic criteria, they wanted to “test” me. The test was essentially just someone asking every clear questions about the same things I just talked about. Had I had even tje slightest inclination to answer a single question “yes”, I would’ve got a permanent prescription for pharmaceutical stimulants. Without needing one.
But as I actually wanted to figure out my issues, I didn’t take that chance, becsuse I don’t want to be misdiagnosed.
However, this is in Finland, and I can not exaggerate how common pushing this idea was, but only AFTER like 2010 or something. Before that no-one ever even considered it, despite me having gone to the doctors with the exact same symptoms.
So yeah it’s a complex issue, but I’m of the mind that doctors are clearly being affected enough to influence their objectivity on the matter.