Study discredits suggestion that rates of ADHD are rising due to social media trends.
Why this matters
This isn’t a new article per se, but as someone who struggled my whole life with claims that my neurodivergence was fabricated or imposed on me by my parents or the internet, I needed to read this. It also should be a good remidner for any of us who may fall victim to fascist rhetoric that is using trans existence as a beachhead for further repression.
I think it is also good to remember that your own belief in your neurodivergence is incredibly valid even without a slip of paper that confirms “who you are”. You may not be able to receive “official support” and medications without those papers, but you can still receive respect and make your own adaptations in life to survive a neurotypical neoliberal world. So much of how I manage ADHD hasn’t changed with meds; I spent the last like few years really believing in my brain and learning how to work with it than denying its nature.
Believing in your self (note the space) is as important as whether the world believes it too.
Yeah I’ve known this to be the case for a while. I think the adult cases have been going up too. I’m sure schools are more vigilant about finding behavioral issues earlier too. There is just a clearer picture as to what ADHD is and what it isn’t now.
Science Vs. Had a good episode on this recently. I’ll find the link later and update this comment
Edit: actually it was about the rise in autism: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autism-the-real-reason-its-going-up/id1051557000?i=1000713545566
I think much of this is still true for ADHD as well.
EDIT I should’ve thanked you for the podcast recommendation. So, Thank you! Now enjoy my ramblings
In my experience, I was going through my first suggestions of ND traits over a decade ago. I was told by a counsellor that:
-
I wasn’t autistic because I could feel the temperature of the air when I inhaled through my nose.
-
Even though he conceded later that I might be autistic (moreso “Asperger’s Symdrome”) that I shouldn’t seek a diagnosis because the “label” would be more harm than it’s worth.
And I’m a cis white guy! Of I were a girl (and logically speaking, any other gender/sexual identity), things wouldve been worse! I would’ve been even less likely to have the confidence to seek a diagnosis, let alone how teachers/parents would’ve had absolutely zero information on how to spot traits of ASD/ADHD.
Extra stats
this paper from 2020 suggests referral rates can be anywhere between 3:1 to 16:1 (!!), and the charity ADHD UK’s CEO suggests the suicide rate is 2.5x higher in women with ADHD versus men (I assume diagnosed), likely due to later intervention and support, and poorer understanding of comorbidities such as Pre-menstrual Dysphoric Disorder.
TLDR Absolutely no surprise that adults are now flooding the system after realising they could’ve been getting support and acceptance for their whole lives.
Of course it’s just like how being left-handed skyrocketed up until it plateaued following the end of its repression, but it still infuriates me how much effort people go to declare any acceptance for anything “a trend”.
Of course it’s just like how being left-handed skyrocketed up until it plateaued following the end of its repression, but it still infuriates me how much effort people go to declare any acceptance for anything “a trend”.
Oh, I agree. I subscribe to the idea (how based in reality it is, idk) that ND prevalence in the population will also plateau at some point and that these “disorders” are simply a consequence of the way society is structured. That they are a birthmark of a type of societal structure we as a species have developed out of. I mean, the DSM gives the game away with its definition of “mental disorder”:
- A behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual
- Reflects an underlying psychobiological dysfunction
- The consequences of which are clinically significant distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning)
- Must not be merely an expected response to common stressors and losses (ex. the loss of a loved one) or a culturally sanctioned response to a particular event (ex. trance states in religious rituals)
- Primarily a result of social deviance or conflicts with society
A good example of this is the existence of “Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorders” which the DMS-5 describes as “a persistent or recurrent pattern of sleep disruption that is primarily due to an alteration of the circadian system or to a misalignment between the endogenous circadian rhythm and the sleep-wake schedule required by an individual’s physical environment or social or professional schedule.” One could imagine a person who naturally sleeps from 3AM to 10AM would have a positive role and function in a primitive communal setting that leads to better outcomes for the community.Rooted in all this discussion coming from people like RFK and those people he embodies as an avatar of opinion is this strict, rigid adherence to the capitalist mode of production, adherence to “bourgeois law,” as Marx would call it. Our disorder is that our natural state of being conflicts with society. This idea only hardens my position as a communist. As neurodivergent people, our goal is the abolition of “bourgeois law,” the abolition of “an equal amount of products for an equal amount of labor,” and building towards the maxim “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
With an equal performance of labor, and hence an equal share in the social consumption fund, one will in fact receive more than another, one will be richer than another, and so on. To avoid all these defects, the right instead of being equal would have to be unequal.
A program can be built, and a socialist state can provide this “unequal” distribution to accommodate these “conflicts with society.” A society built on equity as opposed to strict equality.
-
There is just a clearer picture as to what ADHD is and what it isn’t now.
My experience is more like “Ask 5 different psychiatrists and you’ll get 5 different answers”
When you meet a neurodivergent person, you’ve met one neurodivergent person!
I was talking to someone at work the other day about how there’s almost a generational line between someone being mildly neurodivergent and just a bit idiosyncratic. Once you’re aware of neurodivergent behaviours it quickly becomes clear that those idiosyncrasies are classic signs of autism and ADHD, but neurodivergence only really entered the public consciousness in the last couple of decades, so is still spreading.
Oh, for sure. My siblings all have ADHD, I have a few cousins with ADHD (all adult diagnoses), I’m pretty sure it has a strong prevalence in my family. None of my aunts and uncles or my parents have been diagnosed with ADHD however. All you have to do is just observe them long enough to get the sense that they all fall somewhere on the ND spectrum.
100%. All my siblings are neurodiverse, but only the youngest 3 got diagnosed as children (4 if I wasn’t pushed away from it!).
My 2 older siblings are near their 40s now (What’s that in generational lingo, Millenial???) and both have almost identical traits or struggles but only recently even considered it!
My parents both have come to accept their own traits (OCD, autism, ADHD esp. in dad) but they’ve resigned themselves to never getting diagnosed because theyre in their 50s/60s now :/ So much shit they went through without anyone understanding at all.
Yeah, I have a similar experience - I have AuDHD, my sister has ADHD or AuDHD, one cousin has ADHD, her brother has bipolar disorder, another cousin has autism, oh, and look at that, my parents and aunts and uncles all display behaviours consistent with ADHD or autism, and so did their parents, and…
Turns out that the “black sheep” of the cousins is so because he’s the only one who isn’t neurodivergent.
