How do you respond to “why is everyone diagnosed with ASD and ADHD nowadays”?

[GrownupGirl]

It sure does seem that easy on the surface. I believe that there are loads of adults on the spectrum living unsuccessful lives in poverty and living on the streets. We won't ever hear about the unsuccessful people that will never get diagnosed or helped.

Not me, my whole life was heading down the proverbial toilet and everyone thought I was a psychopath that was a danger to myself and others as my meltdowns and rages got more and more severe. The only thing I'm successful at doing is living in my own apartment for over two decades now, but only because of the support I get from my mother and my landlord not tripling my rent like everyone else in Canada. I really don't deserve any of it.

 

[Swansong]

1) These aren't objective diagnosis, there are no physical test that can come up positive or negative and you 100% will know, that I know of at least. As diagnosis standards and practices change and evolve, it makes sense that he rates of any given mental illness will also change.

2) There's generally speaking a trend towards greater awareness around the world regarding mental illness and I would honestly not be surprised if there's over diagnosis going on, doctors are just human beings and are every bit as vulnerable to any number of cognitive biases that may lead them to diagnose more and more as these illnesses become more prevalent in the collective culture, simply because they're more personally aware of them.

3) Perhaps the threshold of where mental illness begins simply moves as society does. I personally believe that if the definition of mental illness was to be applied as objectively and dispassionately as possible, that a lot of seriously religious people should be classified within it because it displays a fundamental disconnect between their minds and observable reality, but given that such a disconnect is an extremely common and popular one it's socially and culturally unacceptable to recognize it for what I consider it to be.

Perhaps one day that will change, probably not, the point is that maybe what twenty years ago would be seen as within the ranges of acceptable non pathology, just a quirk or slightly unusual behavior that can just be changed or ignored, now the cultural perception has changed to recognize it as something pathological, which may also contribute to a greater diagnosis rate.

 

[Rogue Princess]

the stereotype of a small boy wearing a helmet while staring off into space and drooling on himself needs to die

It's funny... My ex bought me a helmet and was trying to get me to wear it around the house It was because I had had a head injury and I had concussion and kept banging my head against the cupboard doors

 

[BewilderedPerson]

My response to that is it’s out of my control. I’ve been diagnosed twice, neither a self-diagnosis. I’m not the professional, I just am what I’ve been diagnosed as.

 

[Crossbreed]

How do you respond to “why is everyone diagnosed with ASD and ADHD nowadays”?

I am skeptical that such are even willing to be persuaded otherwise.

"Do not answer a fool according to his folly,

Lest you also be like him.​

Answer a fool according to his folly,

Lest he be wise in his own eyes." Proverbs 26:4-5 NKJV​

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Just watched Oppenheimer a second time with my son basically a movie of successful Apies, low functioning have issues, undiagnosed high functioning did or are doing OK. I'm high functioning, got married had a family, reasonably successful career. Now having a comfortable retirement. This lack of distinction is really muddying the waters.

 

[Sasha22]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has ever encountered this question? I tried my best to explain that they have improved their diagnosis in recent years, especially for women and girls, but people seem to be sceptical of it. not sure if they have encountered someone who’s trying to use these as an excuse but it sort of hurts the major population of those who genuinely have problems going through life with these diagnosis.

Also some people will remain skeptical and look for confirmation of their "opinion" rather than for an actual explanation, no matter how documented and professional the explanation is.

 

[annO]

Not me, my whole life was heading down the proverbial toilet and everyone thought I was a psychopath that was a danger to myself and others as my meltdowns and rages got more and more severe. The only thing I'm successful at doing is living in my own apartment for over two decades now, but only because of the support I get from my mother and my landlord not tripling my rent like everyone else in Canada. I really don't deserve any of it.

Just watched Oppenheimer a second time with my son basically a movie of successful Apies, low functioning have issues, undiagnosed high functioning did or are doing OK. I'm high functioning, got married had a family, reasonably successful career. Now having a comfortable retirement. This lack of distinction is really muddying the waters.

I think it comes down to support. Most people who are undiagnosed "high functioning" or diagnosed in adulthood, have had family and friends throughout life. Imagine there is a whole population of undiagnosed people who are alone and unsuccessful, being misguided and abused because we didn't have parental guidance from a young age and we learned the wrong things and trusted the wrong people, and we don't have a family to fall back on for emotional or financial support as we stumbled through life. Nobody saw us and nobody fought for us, and (if we're lucky) we just ended up accidentally alienating ourselves after repeatedly failing to grasp social and workplace intersections and nuances and we get stuck in emotionally manipulative and sexually abusive relationships, or worse. How many misguided people are incarcerated and nobody knows they are potentially ASD or that they have been misdiagnosed? Misdiagnosis is another one. Bipolar is often diagnosed in females that are actually ASD. I believe poverty and access to quality health care are contributing factors as well.

 

[MNAus]

I think there is absolutely overdiagnosis, alongside misdiagnosis and missed diagnoses. There's just not enough rigour around the whole psychology industry here in Australia. The therapies industry is also the wild west.

So yeah, I think if you're prepared to throw money at it, you can get diagnosed here. And there are quite a few people who want to have themselves or their kids diagnosed with scant evidence and do so. My family has ASD all over the place, we're super familiar with it. And you can see some of the kids just aren't autistic but parents insist they are. That's especially sad when you can see it's behavioural issues stemming from parenting. Eg. Slow reading is because you never read to her, ever. Tantrums because you leave a 7 year old playing a first person shooter all evening until they fall asleep in front of the screen.

It also means those without money can remain undiagnosed.

It's proved a real challenge for getting our kids funding too. The hoops you need to jump through are crazy. We were successful because, well, the kids are autistic. The school were apologetic but basically told us that they are overwhelmed by dubious requests for support, so needed real medical evidence.

 

[JuIie]

It's not without it's faults but it seems to work fairly well. I believe Canada's parliamentary system is very similar too, based on the English Westminster system.

The difference is the Q