That's why the waitlist for people to get diagnosed is so damn long. A lot of people who don't actually have it are trying to get validated so they can feel special
I think you’re dead right- but I also have to blame a bit of… half a&sed awareness and harmful “representation” and such?
So, before most people knew what something like autism was, a lot of people were never diagnosed or were just out in some general and often offensive or non helpful I for al or formal grouping like “enfeebled” or “touched.”
Not great. But the “web MD” syndrome comes in and everyone and their mother knows and even might have drilled into them the symptoms of ADHD. In the USA and certain other countries big pharm comes in and there is money to be had- so things that are pretty common or common to other modern conditions like poor self care etc- “do you always feel tired..” “always feel stressed?” “Do racing thoughts keep you awake at night” “do you sweat when people speak to you” “is eye contact uncomfortable..” suddenly these Miata of symptoms- people are like- “hey… that’s me…”
Then we have a condition known in English as… being a young adult. Symptoms include all sorts of Social anxieties and feelings of stress as well as intense feelings of emotion over things people with non exploding hormones and life experience don’t often literally think is the end of their social life or will haunt them for all time.
And so understand I’m not calling young adults weak or frivolous or anything- there are ages and states of development where your emotional responses to many things are just very intense to you. At 17 I’d swear that you could want to be with someone so badly you might die or that breaking up was the worst feeling and possibly fatal- as you get older unrequited love can hurt but generally you hardly think you won’t survive or will never love again.
So you don’t adults often feel intensely and often are experiencing feelings that are new or they aren’t quite accustomed to and are often compounded by hormonal changes.
So when they see or hear about symptoms like anxiety and compulsiveness, hopelessness, inability to connect socially or pick up cues or whatever- they are inclined to see the check list of something that might need diagnoses. Then we tell people, either in well meaning public service or through comercial interests to “talk to your doctor if…” so the kid that feels like an outsider and can’t connect might have some underlying condition or they might just be a kid and awkward and finding themselves and their place, or they may objectively be popular and fit in but have normal insecurities and social anxiety. If you know enough about entail health you can often sort of do quick assessments that can more or less rule out specific medical conditions, though therapy of some sort might still be of benefit.
Most average folks have some checklist or cobbled together checklist from “awareness” and “inclusivity” type messaging and maybe some pharmacom or other industry marketing or campaigns to try to sell you books or pills or apps etc. or from Tv and such- where they might form some or all of their knowledge off an obsessive compulsive lawyer who wins cases and makes people love and laugh with their quirky but precise manner while occasionally encountering difficulties, the autistic detective who is a super genius but acts like a dork and possibly has some OCD traits like collecting specific coins or something but solves cases and is innocently naive. Perhaps the doctor with anxiety who juggles romances and needs a quirky cast of friends and lovers to try and “pasen them up” or whatever. So those images can glorify conditions and make proper want to have them- want to be seen as them- especially those who are prone to mimic “cool” behavior or want attention and to be “special” like
fictional characters- but is it any more “dumb” or unbelievable that for some people, especially those who’s only main or only knowledge or exposure to certain types of people is through media- that their perception of a condition would be based off that characterization? That they might think that any person who seemed abnormally observant or detail oriented might have OCD- including themselves? Or that any person who is socially awkward and smart and has niche interests (when in history have those things tended to go together- sarcasm-) that they might have autism or what not?
And then they keep hearing about these conditions on the news and in commercials and in media and they think… “maybe I have that..?”
Because it isn’t just a “desire to be special,” that can drive a person to think something is wrong with them. How many people have you seen online- on this meme site where humor is often based in insecurities and lack of belonging and socially awkward behavior- that “don’t quite fit in” or “feel like they don’t fit in?”
So there are two legs to that. One leg is the one where people want a reason WHY, they can’t get dates or get ahead or their life is a mess or they feel unhappy or unsatisfied because… oh. They have.. <spins wheel.> I’m not undermining people who ACTUALLY have these issues but… trouble concentrating? Poor grades? Perhaps poor academic or general knowledge? Trouble finishing things? Trouble listening and letting others speak? Do they have difficulties with proper close to them because they are flakey or unreliable, inconsistent, annoying, can’t meet basic expectations? What is easier- to say you lack discipline and focus, that you have behavioral issues and need…
.. to work hard at stepping up… or that you must have ADHD? “That’s why i can’t keep a partner. That’s why I do poorly in class. That’s why I don’t have a better job. Damn this (self diagnosed) ADHD!” But you may not have ADHD, and even if it is diagnosed it may not be a good diagnosis. Psychology is not an exact science and some folks are better or more thorough than others. But…
I want to be clear I am not saying adhd isn’t real or that people with ash’s need to just knuckle up or can will power through it. I am saying that the symptoms of ADHD can bear uncanny similarities at casual glance to the symptoms of being a general dead beat. A deadbeat Can do the work and stop being a flakey dead beat if they really want to. Someone with severe adhd lacks the ability to just “learn to focus” in the same way.
So, before most people knew what something like autism was, a lot of people were never diagnosed or were just out in some general and often offensive or non helpful I for al or formal grouping like “enfeebled” or “touched.”
Not great. But the “web MD” syndrome comes in and everyone and their mother knows and even might have drilled into them the symptoms of ADHD. In the USA and certain other countries big pharm comes in and there is money to be had- so things that are pretty common or common to other modern conditions like poor self care etc- “do you always feel tired..” “always feel stressed?” “Do racing thoughts keep you awake at night” “do you sweat when people speak to you” “is eye contact uncomfortable..” suddenly these Miata of symptoms- people are like- “hey… that’s me…”
And so understand I’m not calling young adults weak or frivolous or anything- there are ages and states of development where your emotional responses to many things are just very intense to you. At 17 I’d swear that you could want to be with someone so badly you might die or that breaking up was the worst feeling and possibly fatal- as you get older unrequited love can hurt but generally you hardly think you won’t survive or will never love again.
So when they see or hear about symptoms like anxiety and compulsiveness, hopelessness, inability to connect socially or pick up cues or whatever- they are inclined to see the check list of something that might need diagnoses. Then we tell people, either in well meaning public service or through comercial interests to “talk to your doctor if…” so the kid that feels like an outsider and can’t connect might have some underlying condition or they might just be a kid and awkward and finding themselves and their place, or they may objectively be popular and fit in but have normal insecurities and social anxiety. If you know enough about entail health you can often sort of do quick assessments that can more or less rule out specific medical conditions, though therapy of some sort might still be of benefit.
And then they keep hearing about these conditions on the news and in commercials and in media and they think… “maybe I have that..?”
So there are two legs to that. One leg is the one where people want a reason WHY, they can’t get dates or get ahead or their life is a mess or they feel unhappy or unsatisfied because… oh. They have.. <spins wheel.> I’m not undermining people who ACTUALLY have these issues but… trouble concentrating? Poor grades? Perhaps poor academic or general knowledge? Trouble finishing things? Trouble listening and letting others speak? Do they have difficulties with proper close to them because they are flakey or unreliable, inconsistent, annoying, can’t meet basic expectations? What is easier- to say you lack discipline and focus, that you have behavioral issues and need…
I want to be clear I am not saying adhd isn’t real or that people with ash’s need to just knuckle up or can will power through it. I am saying that the symptoms of ADHD can bear uncanny similarities at casual glance to the symptoms of being a general dead beat. A deadbeat Can do the work and stop being a flakey dead beat if they really want to. Someone with severe adhd lacks the ability to just “learn to focus” in the same way.