I saw a video the other day that was the biggest pile of bullshit I've seen this month. Go watch it. If, like me, you've got people in your social circle who are self-diagnosing as having ADHD or being on the autistic spectrum (or a whole host of other developmental or mental health issues) despite them having graduated from university, had a successful career and successful friendships and relationships, you might have noticed the rising bile aimed at so-called 'normal' people coming from them (like in that video above). And unless you have chosen to reveal every single personal issue, mental health diagnosis or trauma you have ever faced in your life- however serious - then you will also know that they think
Different issue but a relative works in an NHS psychiatry unit that diagnoses ADHD. There is now a three year waiting list simply because the system is clogged up with people who have been diagnosed by non NHS therapists, who are not using the official diagnostic guidelines. Hence people with genuine ADHD symptoms can’t get NHS appointments so go to dodgy therapists. A vicious circle that is very profitable for some.
I have relative who’s been diagnosed with ADHD. He’s 13 and a great kid. He had struggled at school for years. Had fallen so far behind his peers and the last thing his parents (my niece) wanted was to put him on meds but it has changed his life. He’s doing so much better. ADHD diagnosis is so misunderstood. He had 18 months to 2 years of tests before he was diagnosed. It makes me so bloody angry.
My eldest son is 21 and struggles and meets the criteria for adhd and/or autism and did from a very young age but as parents we didn’t want to put a label on him and he’s bright and is currently coping with University. Hes been a computer nerd since he was three. All this talk of fixations…he’s studying computer science now. It’s been his thing forever. :)
I haven't come across this but I can well believe it. It reminds me of tattoos: you don't suddenly acquire experience or insight with them either. I may be autistic or OCD but I am not bothered to have it diagnosed or even to mention it normally; why do these people think they have become interesting or normal people dull?
Loved this post - I had to work with a woman last year for about 6 months who decided part way through that she was "neurospicy" and therefore every mistake she made in the new skills we were both learning we not in any way to be learned from and changed (kind of like evolution) but instead were shiny badges to be polished and cherished. Unsurprisingly, the skills she was learning stopped improving at about the same time as she decided her bugs were in fact features.
Fortunately, my optic nerves stopped my eyes from rolling completely around in their sockets, or they would still be spinning now.
She's not the only one - neurotypical just means "not diagnosed with any kind of disorder" but has been read as "boring or bland" and often "boring and bland white, straight, middle-aged and male".
You have expressed my frustrations with this whole issue way more eloquently than I could have, so thank you!
This is all so true! I have seen these people and they are very annoying. My feeling is that this is the new vegan.
It’s also incredibly annoying for people who do actually have these conditions, as now they get tarred with the same brush as these pretenders and are faced with eye rolling about any legit issues they may have.
This leads to a lot of ignorance about what certain conditions are actually like. Kind of like how everyone started saying they were gluten intolerant when they just actually wanted to avoid carbs but not get judged for it. And then people started to think coeliacs were just trying to be fashionable.
My fav is people self diagnosing as autistic because they ‘feel awkward around other people’. Welcome to being a human, we all feel like this!
Most of this is great - thank you - but I do rather think that your footnote should have been in the main text. Speaking as someone who's spent a lot of her adult life coping pretty effectively with a lot of tough stuff (and yes, doing so with the help of the privilege of a comfortable middle-class childhood that gave me a lot of the tools I needed to do so): the last two years have visited a lot of deeply traumatic experiences on me which I really did have no choice about feeling miserable about, not least because literally none of my usual coping strategies were available to me. Even when things are beginning to get better, I find myself in a place where I can intellectually see and acknowledge the improvements, but the *feelings* are lagging waaaaaaaaay behind, and they're powerful, and that's difficult. I do think that this pendulum-swing against pathologising normal responses to the difficulties of everyday life - which is necessary and reasonable - does sometime risk swinging too far. Please let's not make the genuinely-struggling feel that they 'should' be doing better as we try to point out a different route to those who could be fine.
Someone else posted a link to this Twitter thread. It seems that psychologists are interested in this whole area, too: "Are mental health awareness efforts contributing to the increase in reported mental health problems?" https://twitter.com/lfoulkesy/status/1625069021350486018
I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 54. I was genuinely excited to have a way forward, and told people so. That stopped pretty quick when I realised I was sounding like One Of Those People. I now absolutely stfu about diagnoses and just do my lifestyle and meds.
I started with my GP ‘I know how this probably sounds but I've been online…’ but she did refer me to a psychiatrist. Best outcome is distinguishing those things that are ADHD manageable from the rest of life's mess that I just have to get onto like everyone else.
Would I have wanted a teenage diagnosis? No, it's taken the maturity of knowing who I am to see symptoms, and be carefully mucking around with a developing brain. Diagnosed 10 years earlier would’ve been handy tho.
This post speaks to me in so many ways. I have been so frustrated at being told that supposedly neurodivergent, but actually incredibly functioning people suffer from things that I consider to be the Human Condition.
Different issue but a relative works in an NHS psychiatry unit that diagnoses ADHD. There is now a three year waiting list simply because the system is clogged up with people who have been diagnosed by non NHS therapists, who are not using the official diagnostic guidelines. Hence people with genuine ADHD symptoms can’t get NHS appointments so go to dodgy therapists. A vicious circle that is very profitable for some.
I have relative who’s been diagnosed with ADHD. He’s 13 and a great kid. He had struggled at school for years. Had fallen so far behind his peers and the last thing his parents (my niece) wanted was to put him on meds but it has changed his life. He’s doing so much better. ADHD diagnosis is so misunderstood. He had 18 months to 2 years of tests before he was diagnosed. It makes me so bloody angry.
My eldest son is 21 and struggles and meets the criteria for adhd and/or autism and did from a very young age but as parents we didn’t want to put a label on him and he’s bright and is currently coping with University. Hes been a computer nerd since he was three. All this talk of fixations…he’s studying computer science now. It’s been his thing forever. :)
I haven't come across this but I can well believe it. It reminds me of tattoos: you don't suddenly acquire experience or insight with them either. I may be autistic or OCD but I am not bothered to have it diagnosed or even to mention it normally; why do these people think they have become interesting or normal people dull?
Loved this post - I had to work with a woman last year for about 6 months who decided part way through that she was "neurospicy" and therefore every mistake she made in the new skills we were both learning we not in any way to be learned from and changed (kind of like evolution) but instead were shiny badges to be polished and cherished. Unsurprisingly, the skills she was learning stopped improving at about the same time as she decided her bugs were in fact features.
Fortunately, my optic nerves stopped my eyes from rolling completely around in their sockets, or they would still be spinning now.
She's not the only one - neurotypical just means "not diagnosed with any kind of disorder" but has been read as "boring or bland" and often "boring and bland white, straight, middle-aged and male".
You have expressed my frustrations with this whole issue way more eloquently than I could have, so thank you!
This is all so true! I have seen these people and they are very annoying. My feeling is that this is the new vegan.
It’s also incredibly annoying for people who do actually have these conditions, as now they get tarred with the same brush as these pretenders and are faced with eye rolling about any legit issues they may have.
This leads to a lot of ignorance about what certain conditions are actually like. Kind of like how everyone started saying they were gluten intolerant when they just actually wanted to avoid carbs but not get judged for it. And then people started to think coeliacs were just trying to be fashionable.
My fav is people self diagnosing as autistic because they ‘feel awkward around other people’. Welcome to being a human, we all feel like this!
🙏🙏🙏
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
is possible cause of some people’s problems .
I think in the case of the balloon
It is not the ballon that is the cause of happiness it is the mind of love which is a peaceful mind.
When we grasp at the ballon we forget
the mind of love .
If we just stay moment by moment with
mind of love .
Then we are happy regardless of what the balloon does.
Why is it that I scan the soothing blue/green chart and feel that every adult heterosexual male in meetings in the tech industry had late onset ADHD.
Most of this is great - thank you - but I do rather think that your footnote should have been in the main text. Speaking as someone who's spent a lot of her adult life coping pretty effectively with a lot of tough stuff (and yes, doing so with the help of the privilege of a comfortable middle-class childhood that gave me a lot of the tools I needed to do so): the last two years have visited a lot of deeply traumatic experiences on me which I really did have no choice about feeling miserable about, not least because literally none of my usual coping strategies were available to me. Even when things are beginning to get better, I find myself in a place where I can intellectually see and acknowledge the improvements, but the *feelings* are lagging waaaaaaaaay behind, and they're powerful, and that's difficult. I do think that this pendulum-swing against pathologising normal responses to the difficulties of everyday life - which is necessary and reasonable - does sometime risk swinging too far. Please let's not make the genuinely-struggling feel that they 'should' be doing better as we try to point out a different route to those who could be fine.
Genuinely had an ‘Oh I seeee!’ moment when reading about the balloon and Buddhism - thanks!
A couple other similar posts that have popped up in my circles:
Sarah Ditum (https://sarahditum.substack.com/p/37-mixed-realities) posted this article by Freddie DeBoer: "Mental illness doesn’t make you special: Why do neurodiversity activists claim suffering is beautiful?" https://unherd.com/2022/04/mental-illness-doesnt-make-you-special/
This article popped up in a private group: "Is Internet Spoonie Culture Keeping People Sick? While the FDA keeps experimental treatments out of reach, the spoonie world makes a diagnosis into an identity." https://reason.com/2023/03/15/is-online-illness-culture-keeping-people-sick/
Someone else posted a link to this Twitter thread. It seems that psychologists are interested in this whole area, too: "Are mental health awareness efforts contributing to the increase in reported mental health problems?" https://twitter.com/lfoulkesy/status/1625069021350486018
I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 54. I was genuinely excited to have a way forward, and told people so. That stopped pretty quick when I realised I was sounding like One Of Those People. I now absolutely stfu about diagnoses and just do my lifestyle and meds.
I started with my GP ‘I know how this probably sounds but I've been online…’ but she did refer me to a psychiatrist. Best outcome is distinguishing those things that are ADHD manageable from the rest of life's mess that I just have to get onto like everyone else.
Would I have wanted a teenage diagnosis? No, it's taken the maturity of knowing who I am to see symptoms, and be carefully mucking around with a developing brain. Diagnosed 10 years earlier would’ve been handy tho.
This post speaks to me in so many ways. I have been so frustrated at being told that supposedly neurodivergent, but actually incredibly functioning people suffer from things that I consider to be the Human Condition.