An ADHD Rant Space

Brief overview of This video  by Vox : There's this debate on whether ADHD is being over diagnosed , and this video explores two expert opinions on that. On one end: how the diagnosis rate of ADHD went from 3% of the population to 15% after more medicines for the diagnosis hit the market. How studies done in many countries have found the youngest child in the classroom has consistently been diagnosed more with ADHD. But on the other, studies have also shown that women and girls are statistically under-diagnosed by about half, not because men and boys have the diagnosis more but because the diagnosis was codified by studying boys, and thus this demographic tends to have the more "obvious" aspects of the criteria of the diagnosis. Also because many people don't get diagnosed until adulthood/ Generally this is attributed to the DSM-5 specifically elaborating that symptoms are to have to first begin under the age of 12, so that is the age group most combed through and use...

  When I was 18, I had to take the ACT. Which is sort of like the SAT for those of you who are unfamiliar. It's one of the regulated exams here in the United States, and most high schoolers are encouraged to take either the SAT or ACT their senior year. My state just happens to use the ACT for college entrance applications. My mother was very adamant that I try as hard as possible to study for this exam, she signed me up for study courses online. She bought me ACT prep books, and I took several practice exams. She also scheduled me with a local psychologist, one who was an expert on diagnosing ADHD; she did this because in order to get proper accommodations for ADHD, I had to have proof I had the diagnosis. Here's the thing: I already had the diagnosis. But the ACT required my paperwork to be more up to date, within the last few years. In short, I have a very detailed analysis from when I was both 8, and 18, of what qualified me for an ADHD diagnosis. I also remember most of my...

I had lied to myself for many years. I believed myself to be a lazy and terrible person, because I just couldn't do what I needed to. The laundry would pile up, and I would sit on my bed, staring at the overflowing basket. Trying to scavenged whatever motivation I could to force my body to move. I could envision the act of throwing the pile in the washer, but I sank deeper into my seat as I realized how only half the basket would fit in. Hoping, praying I wouldn't have to rewash another load after forgetting about it again. My mind would freeze at how massive the task looked, even though I had every physical capacity to do the task, something invisible blockaded me from properly functioning. And then I would find posts like this one by Dani Donovan at adhddd.com and they would move me to tears, to know that I didn't choose this fate but it was part of my diagnosis. Part of how my brain worked. To know that someone else shared this anxiety was a huge step in my own self lov...