25% of Adults Suspect Undiagnosed ADHD (neurosciencenews.com) 146
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Neuroscience News: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder -- also known as ADHD -- is typically thought of as a childhood condition. But more adults are realizing that their struggles with attention, focus and restlessness could in fact be undiagnosed ADHD, thanks in large part to trending social media videos racking up millions of views. A new national survey of 1,000 American adults commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine finds that 25% of adults now suspect they may have undiagnosed ADHD. But what worries mental health experts is that only 13% of survey respondents have shared their suspicions with their doctor. That's raising concerns about the consequences of self-diagnosis leading to incorrect treatment.
"Anxiety, depression and ADHD -- all these things can look a lot alike, but the wrong treatment can make things worse instead of helping that person feel better and improving their functioning," said psychologist Justin Barterian, PhD, clinical assistant professor in Ohio State's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. An estimated 4.4% of people ages 18 to 44 have ADHD, and some people aren't diagnosed until they're older, Barterian said. "There's definitely more awareness of how it can continue to affect folks into adulthood and a lot of people who are realizing, once their kids have been diagnosed, that they fit these symptoms as well, given that it's a genetic disorder," Barterian said. The survey found that younger adults are more likely to believe they have undiagnosed ADHD than older generations, and they're also more likely to do something about it. Barterian said that should include seeing a medical professional, usually their primary care provider, to receive a referral to a mental health expert to be thoroughly evaluated, accurately diagnosed and effectively treated.
"Anxiety, depression and ADHD -- all these things can look a lot alike, but the wrong treatment can make things worse instead of helping that person feel better and improving their functioning," said psychologist Justin Barterian, PhD, clinical assistant professor in Ohio State's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. An estimated 4.4% of people ages 18 to 44 have ADHD, and some people aren't diagnosed until they're older, Barterian said. "There's definitely more awareness of how it can continue to affect folks into adulthood and a lot of people who are realizing, once their kids have been diagnosed, that they fit these symptoms as well, given that it's a genetic disorder," Barterian said. The survey found that younger adults are more likely to believe they have undiagnosed ADHD than older generations, and they're also more likely to do something about it. Barterian said that should include seeing a medical professional, usually their primary care provider, to receive a referral to a mental health expert to be thoroughly evaluated, accurately diagnosed and effectively treated.
TikTok, Youtube Shorts and Twitter are giving ADHD (Score:4, Interesting)
All these platforms are focusing on 30s bursts of very brief information.
No wonder people can't focus for over 1h at a time anymore.
Re: TikTok, Youtube Shorts and Twitter are giving (Score:3)
Says a dude who's made his point in four short lines of text. As displayed on a phone screen.
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Wow, you certainly aren't improving.
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He confirmed my post, I can't complain. ;-)
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Well of course I have ADHD, everybody has it to different levels. Trying to categorize everybody into different buckets doesn't work, period.
Nevertheless, I still prefer reading or listening to long detailed articles/videos on topics so I guess I am doing fine overall.
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Trying to categorize everybody into [two] different buckets doesn't work, period.
You need 10 buckets. Those that understand binary and those that don't. [Apologies for my "addition" to your quote. Needed it to make the "joke" work.]
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Says a dude who's made his point in four short lines of text. As displayed on a phone screen.
..crafted purposefully out of necessity. It’s called know your audience.
Hope that was brief enough for you.
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Japanese poems
Are purposefully shorter
ADHD Zen
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Haiku is more than counting.
Try again, harder.
I won't culturally appropriate (Score:2)
If the poem's ain't got any rhymin'
Then I do not have the bleedin' time in
To which to waste my eye balls on reading
Nor should I join in with the troll feeding
Re: TikTok, Youtube Shorts and Twitter are giving (Score:2)
It's called being focused and to the point, concise.
Re:TikTok, Youtube Shorts and Twitter are giving A (Score:4, Insightful)
All these platforms are focusing on 30s bursts of very brief information.
No wonder people can't focus for over 1h at a time anymore.
I wish I could block YouTube shorts, gets in the way of the videos I actually want to watch.
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What do you mean? Are you subscribed to some kind of mailing list or something?
I sometimes watch shorts but they are quite easy to avoid in my use case against YouTube since they clearly come up on a specific row by themselves so it's very hard to inadvertently click on a short if you don't want to.
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But, they show up mixed in with all my subscriptions on that page....and it a PITA to scroll through and only watch the full length ones I wanna watch...
They should put a filter there for you to filter out the "shorts"....
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Oh, I don't have any subscription, the least they know, the better. Here is what you can do; go to the channel you subscribed to home page, you'll get all shorts and regular videos on a different page, in chronological order so it's easy to catch up and you won't see any shorts unless you click on the shorts link which has its own dedicated page only for shorts. The "video" link doesn't have any shorts in it.
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There's a Firefox extension named Unhook that allows you to hide Shorts, hide the sidebar list of videos, hide videos you've already seen etc.
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Apparently, from tfa, 25% of people are susceptible to those advertisements.
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People have been getting advertisments telling them to worry about adult ADHD [youtube.com]. The symptoms listed are really generic. Apparently, from tfa, 25% of people are susceptible to those advertisements.
99% of consumers are susceptible to believing clickbait. I wonder what addictive mind-warping shit I could sell to some politicians to legalize and shove in a pill bottle, and pretend it’s an improvement.
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I wonder what addictive mind-warping shit I could sell to some politicians to legalize and shove in a pill bottle, and pretend it’s an improvement.
Amphetamines? When you think of it, you have to wonder what the drug companies did wrong to get slapped down for opiates. Who did they accidentally offend?
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I have my doubts that video sites have anything directly to do with it, but rather are just a symptom of a more systemic problem: we are all overloaded with things to do and too little time in which to do them. As such, we rush through everything.
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Cue all the oldies (Score:2, Informative)
Cue all the older people who dismiss this completely, aka "back in my day, my mom fixed that with a couple of slaps" or something.
Well, I was on the receiving end of plenty slaps, kicks, belts and worse. Guess what, that didn't fix shit.
Re:Cue all the oldies (Score:5, Insightful)
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Half the time its their kids script.
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Your conspiracy theory is that parents are getting their kids ADHD scripts so that they can take the leftover drugs themselves?
Seems like it'd be a lot easier to find one of those shady telehealth providers that'll write you a script for whatever you want if you pay the consultation fee and know what symptoms to describe.
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Perhaps a problem is that you think this is different for you than it was for "older people".
"...because work has changed to become less suitable to the nature of people, especially men."
Because it has not. You know, older people still work, their jobs aren't different from yours.
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Because it has not. You know, older people still work, their jobs aren't different from yours.
Good lord... Think back a little further than that.. Instead of thinking back 50 years, try 100 or 200... There's probably some truth to the suspicion that we can't adapt as fast as the world is changing.. Even going back just 50 years.. Most people had ONE television and maybe 10 total channels to choose from (yes, I'm aware that cable TV existed 50 years ago, but it wasn't ubiquitous). Nobody carried a phone with them.. Laptops didn't exist. We were able to disconnect for hours and hours at a stretch
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I grew up in Los Angeles in the '50s and '60s and until UHF came along we had seven TV channels available. And, the first UHF channel was in Spanish, which was a great thing for the Hispanic community but not much use to those of us who only knew English.
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Muc
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Perhaps another reason the older people didn't see so much ADHD is because work has changed to become less suitable to the nature of people, especially men. Drugging ourselves up to stay focused while chained to a desk at school until we're old enough to spend the rest of our lives chained to a desk in the workplace seems kinda sad, although I'm not sure what alternative there is.
When I was young, I used to dream of having a nice desk, good equipment, an environment free of external distractions (not websites and phones but family members) and getting lost in my work.
I detested repetitive physical work that left room for nothing else.
Now we long for physical work and see a desk as chained.
Re: Cue all the oldies (Score:2)
Idunno. You've got your shit together enough to be posting on slashdot. Could've always been worse.
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A couple strokes of luck helped me still be alive today.
So, yeah, it could have been worse, if "dead" is what you meant.
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Re:Cue all the oldies (Score:5, Insightful)
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I guess CVDs are not a disease, either, since 32% of all global deaths in 2019 were caused by them.
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Remember, 98% of people are abnormal in some way...
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It didn't fix it enough, that's for sure. But are you claiming you had ADHD as a child, and the presciption was physical abuse? I doubt it.
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There were no prescriptions. There was no ADHD diagnosis. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure ADHD was unheard of in that time and place.
The "treatment" was along the lines of "the beatings will continue until the symptoms disappear".
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I do relate, 100%.
Re:Cue all the oldies (Score:5, Insightful)
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There's a difference between saying "ADHD is not real" (which is false) and saying, "maybe amphetamines aren't the best answer to ADHD." The latter is almost certainly true.
Really?
ADHD does not exist
https://time.com/25370/doctor-... [time.com]
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An opinion piece in Time magazine authored by a single doctor is your evidence? A single doctor's opinion does not make reality https://www.bbc.com/news/world... [bbc.com] nor is Time magazine the authoritative source of scientific information you seem to be making it out to be.
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https://www.snopes.com/fact-ch... [snopes.com]
"Dr. Leon Eisenberg, the ‘father’ of ADHD, said just before his death that ADHD ‘is a prime example of a fictitious disease.’ " - mostly true
https://www.naturalnews.com/04... [naturalnews.com]
"Before his death, father of ADHD admitted it was a fictitious disease"
Do you need more?
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Do you need more?
How about something refuting all of the fMRI studies showing a physiological basis for ADHD?
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You start by providing sources for you claims.
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Do you need more?
Yes, enough to exceed the general medical consensus that exists for ADHD existing amongst psychological professionals.
I can find a few individuals saying just about anything. All you're doing here is what the Covid deniers did, finding the small handful of doctors that are pushing the narrative they want to exist, never mind the vast majority who are very much of a different opinion.
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There is an important difference here - this is the doctor that "discovered" or defined ADHD to start with. It is not some random guy in Springfield.
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The facts are in the book. Duh!
But ok:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-ch... [snopes.com] - mostly true
"Dr. Leon Eisenberg, the ‘father’ of ADHD, said just before his death that ADHD ‘is a prime example of a fictitious disease.’ "
https://www.naturalnews.com/04... [naturalnews.com]
"Before his death, father of ADHD admitted it was a fictitious disease"
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The latter is almost certainly true.
Ha, a LOT of people with some pretty heavy degrees clearly disagree with you.
I'm not saying there are zero issues with these treatments but I've always found it ridiculous to see random internet users who likely have zero expertise on the subject they are discussing say such things with such levels of assurance. "Almost certainly true". Might as well tell me vaccines are evil.
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It's probably the most effective tool they have but it's a clumsy tool. If anyone gave a fuck they'd probably have something better by now.
Personally exercise works more than my medication for me and I suspect maybe it even works for most people with ADHD.
But just lol if you think a doctor is going to have any success when a guy with ADHD walks into an office and a doctor tells him he needs to start training in something like a competition athlete. You can't even get non adhd people to do 20 minutes of
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If they can get 800 people to all eat the EXACT same food for a full week, both in terms of type and in quantity, as they do in this somewhat significant study https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac... [weizmann.ac.il] on the relative GI levels between individuals what you describe is certainly possible. Finding the funding to do it is the tricky part.
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I dunno getting untrained people with a program is tricky. You'd almost need a boot camp, which we have a lot of.
Problem is ADHD is pretty much a DQ from boot camp at least officially.
Like I work out a lot but even me, if one of my friends tried to get me to train for a triathlon or bodybuilding competition out of the blue, I can't say if I'd still be about it 6 months later. To get clear as day benefits from exercise I need to push myself until I'm dizzy and maybe feeling a little queasy, after a real go
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Ha, a LOT of people with some pretty heavy degrees clearly disagree with you.
That's why I added the 'almost.' Odds are that it's real; heavy odds.
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Nah, too scared to wield axes.
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Well, I'm thick skinned enough (I guess I should "thank" my old folks for that) to not give a flying rat's arse about them closed-minded fucks.
Speaking about coping mechanisms: I actually was able to somehow turn the problems into advantages.
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Well...."bitches be crazy"....
You mean millions of potential happy pill buyers (Score:3, Insightful)
There, I fixed it for you.
It continues to occur to me that if I'd were a small child in America in the 90s or later, as opposed to the Soviet Union in the 80s, they'd've diagnosed me with all sorts of crap for the pathology of running around and not staying still when I was a little boy.
And instead of being gainfully employed, married, 2.whatever kids and a house in the suburbs, Hypothetical Medicated RightwingNutjob might very well be strung out on tranq and counting his remaining fingers, living on the streets and blaming The Man for his troubles.
A quarter of adults do not have an undiagnosed psychological condition.
Re: You mean millions of potential happy pill buye (Score:2)
I think we're looking at the nascent next wave of legalization here: Legalized Amphetamines.
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This. Not just is it like opiates, but like, if you ask most people with depression, anxiety, ADHD, etc, something like this:
"If you had to go back in time say thirty years, or thirty years before that, or thirty years before that, how do you think psychology would help you?"
I've actually had this conversation a bunch, it's not a scientific study, but I find if you pull the tread even a little, most people don't just think that previous psychology would have been less good, it would have been actively harmf
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"...my prediction is we'll say 2024's psychology was too capitalist."
My prediction is that in 2054, young people will be ageist toward old people, only those old people are the young people of today.
I was one of them (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I was one of them (Score:4, Informative)
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No therapist would belt it out like that.
Really?
"I know a guy..."? (Score:2)
I'm always surprised how often a single anecdote is held up as strong evidence of something by users of a tech and science website like this one. Basically, if your claim begins with "I know a guy", it probably doesnt mean anything.
Your friend supposedly having such a horrible therapist who acts contrary to any training and education they would have received in becoming a therapist isnt at all evidence that therapy couldnt have been good for them any more than one bad car mechanic means that all car mechani
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I'm always surprised how often a single anecdote is held up as strong evidence of something by users of a tech and science website like this one.
Let's test your reading comprehension. What claim was being made?
I call bullshit (Score:2)
1/4? Really? Do these numbers change this fast over a couple of decades? Sometimes when I read stuff li.... OOOOOHHH! Look at that pretty butterfly!
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What type of rose colored glasses nonsense is this? This is right up there with "in my day kids..." did everything better.
Very low tolerance of people who are less attentiv (Score:5, Insightful)
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ADHD does not exist
https://time.com/25370/doctor-... [time.com]
Re: Very low tolerance of people who are less atte (Score:3)
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Concentration is like everything else, it can be practised, and you better start as a child. E.g., by a parents reading a book for the child, during a long session.
Re: Very low tolerance of people who are less atte (Score:2)
There's one quick way to tell (Score:3)
I hate the self-proclaimed ADHD videos.... (Score:2)
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Many of them could very well be from my background where everyone around me is scared of therapist and psychiatrist.
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Well... your meds obviously don't make you as chill as mine do for me, lol. That's a pretty big assumption you've made about me - I made no claims of "working hard" for a diagnosis, nor do I take issue with people who seek diagnosis - in fact I encourage it within my circles and share as much information as I can about the process.
What I do take issue with is people who are undiagnosed, spreading misinformation.
If you do not have ADHD (Score:5, Funny)
25% so, more of a normal variance? (Score:3)
25% of ADHD is not a sickness necessarely. E.g. consider there is ~20% of people of color in the USA...and ~50% of opposite sex (rounding up the average). So it could be a normally occuring variance, maybe even evolutionary adaptation producing more flexible human population?
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I subscribe to normal human variance "neurodiverse" views of adhd and autism.
Honestly if it wasn't dealing with society I'd be pretty happy. I'm useful too, I don't notice when I'm hot, cold, tired, or hurt as well as other people do. I devote time to thinking about things other people don't. Maybe i read an interesting article here, or an interesting nerd project I might daydream about it for weeks putting way more mental energy into the idea than most people would.
But also people notice that I'm off,
Map of the great masses of self-diagnosed. (Score:2)
Depression: "I think I'm depressed...but I don't care."
OCD: "I think I have OCD...but that statement has seven syllables, so I can't end a sentence on it."
Narcissism: "I think I have narcissism...the best, most flattering kind."
Paranoia: "I think I'm paranoid...but maybe that's what THEY want me to think."
Social anxiety: "I think I have social anxiety...what do you guys think?"
Psychopathy:
Sigh (Score:2)
If a quarter of people have it, and that's growing, it soon won't matter.
Because once more than 50% of people have it, it's then by definition "normal". And like a bunch of conditions that "most people" have, we'll possibly mostly stop treating it.
But as the summary says: "An estimated 4.4% of people ages 18 to 44 have ADHD, and some people aren't diagnosed until they're older."
In reality then, probably 4/5 people who think they have it, don't.
Those 4/5 people are really doing a disservice to those that do
ADHD isn't a fad, but it _is_ a mixed bag. (Score:2)
Disclaimer: ADHD candidate here.
Having the diagnosis after decades of struggling did help get a handle on my problems.
However, there are varying professional opinions on what ADHD actually is and if it even is a disorder or only a special set of cognitive inclinations. And I tend to agree with most of them, depending on details and perspective.
Jordan Peterson - who isn't an exert on this particular issue - claims it's simply high trait openness, high trait creativity mixed in with medium neuroticism and med
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The truth is: Anyone who has come to terms with his "ADHD" most certainly does _not_ live a "regular" life. I, for example, have embraced minimalism and have only scratched the surface of my adventurous streak. I'm 54 and live in a single room apartment and plan to downshift even further to make room for extended adventures, perhaps a travel-enduro, paraglyding, kitesurfing and a few other things.
The simple life is such a good coping strategy. Just don't have anything, don't sign up for shit.
You won't waste your time taking care of the things you own, lots of money in the bank to do literally anything you want any time. Shit is not compatible with girlfriends though.
But it goes to show the lengths that adhd people will go to in order to cope. Nobody lives like a monk wondering why the rest of the world acts differently unless they're wired differently. ADHD is definitely a thing.
Easy (Score:3)
> That's raising concerns about the consequences of self-diagnosis leading to incorrect treatment.
In 2024 you can literally go online, be consulted by a "doctor" in their bedroom via Zoom, get an official diagnosis of ADHD as well as other conditions and then within the space of a short video call inteval be prescribed, all officially, ritalin and other drugs.
Everyone needs their label (Score:2)
There are legitimately people with ADHD (and PTSD, and autism, etc., etc.). But everyone's being told that there's a hierarchy of privilege, and we're being told where we are on that hierarchy, and in some extreme cases being told that if we're too high on that hierarchy we need to step aside and let other people have the job we're applying for. So if you can't see how that creates a bizarre incentive to reclassify yourself with some kind of special group or condition, then you're wilfully ignorant.
I read
Re:overperscription of medication, misuse of the D (Score:5, Interesting)
It's worth remembering that about 20% of people are susceptible to being convinced they're sick or better (placebo and nocebo effect). That's the approximate number of people who report feeling better while ill by simply going to a clinic and seeing someone in white doctor's garb, and then going home. That's also the amount of people who will develop asthma-like symptoms when you advertise to them that the building they work or live in has mold issues with air quality.
And the most fucked up part is that while the disease is imaginary, effects are real. People can die from a nocebo asthma attack.
This is why advertising mental illnesses should be criminalized and punished harshly. Regardless of reasons for doing it. Because you're effectively infecting about 20% of the population with a mind virus that has real physiological symptoms.
Oh and the way to cure people with nocebo asthma? Doesn't work to tell them they have a mind virus, rather than a real illness. They will dismiss this. The only way found to be even remotely effective is to convince enough of them of something they can believe that like "yes it's real, but it's being worked on and your symptoms should slowly ease over time". And anyone advertising that "oh this guy in the left building told us it's getting worse" has a very good chance of making symptoms worse, even if said people never visited that building.
And DSM being as advertised as it is, is basically Grandpa Nurgle of mind viruses. Infecting a massive amount of people with symptoms of problems they don't actually have. With activists insisting on "awareness" being basically Chaos Demons of Nurgle, spreading magical plagues and poxes that cannot be cured by normal means.
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Hahaahaa (Score:2)
Ha ha! and you know what a normal person would feel in your situation?
Nothing!
Oh my mod points! Oh oh my public square!
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The thing is... if you DON'T have ADHD, that methylphenidate will make your behavior noticeably hyper and maybe manic to everyone around you.
On the other hand, if you DO have it, it'll calm your brain down and make you more normal.
Given the low risk of a single low dose, maybe doctors should be pretty casual about handing out a pill to any patients who want to see if they have it.
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Sure would save filling out checklists and surveys.
Adults who have self-taught themselves to cope with the issues they've faced their whole like are less likely to answer in a way that results in a positive diagnosis.
Adults who have researched the topic, or maybe their child has gone through the process, and want some of that sweet, sweet Ritalin, are easily able to fool the process.
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Doctors have been very skeptical about my ADHD in the past.
But you graduated college.
But you went through the military.
But you did whatever else.
But they give me tests, I think I'm giving the answers that anyone would give. It shows I have ADHD.
They could probably also look at my desk or any other space not organized by my wife.
Or i could describe the insane rituals i use to prepare to mentally focus.
But if you look at me in just the right way, the way I cling to todo lists and planners, the fact i appear