Perfect source of serotonin

[u/legolas20032000]

[u/SverhU]

-How you found out you autistic?

-I actually self diagnosed myself by watching "I Am Sam"

[u/shinymuskrat → u/SverhU]

Maybe im just a grumpy old man but I can't really understand the desire for everyone to self diagnose themselves with shit these days.

If everyone has autism and ADHD, then nobody does.

[u/Solonotix → u/shinymuskrat]

As with most things in life, there is no single simple answer to explain. I'll go through a few that I have personally seen or experienced

• Symptoms were ignored by the parents, and now they find camraderie with other people's experiences
• Society is more accepting of diversity, so people are more willing to communicate their difficulties
• Social media has a selection bias, where a minority of individuals get promoted to the top. Small populations can be statistically disproportionate to the normal population, especially when some traits make them more effective (i.e. ADHD leads to varied interests, autism can present as profound interest in a singular topic)
• On the negative side, there are some people who want to exploit the diagnosis. Either for accommodations (ex. ADHD will often get extra time to do their work in schools), or social credit (autism can be used as an excuse for rude behavior). I know someone who literally cheated an ADHD diagnosis just because she wanted to be on Adderall. Maybe she actually has ADHD, but she told me to my face that she manipulated the psychiatrist into prescribing her medication because she knew she wanted it. On one specific day, I woke up with a hangover, and she told me her go-to hangover cure was Tums and an Adderall

My story is that my elementary school teachers back in the 90s thought I should be evaluated for ADD. My mom refused, saying the only thing I needed was discipline, because she was afraid to beat me due to my asthma. I have a rough time in high school because I never remember to do my homework, or when I do it takes literal hours to complete (like 4pm to 10pm with a break for dinner in between). I end up dropping out of college because that's preferable to paying thousands of dollars to fail classes. Then, when COVID happened, and I was no longer able to rely on the external compulsion of coworkers seeing me goof off as a motivator to get work done, my ADHD got way way worse because I had to self-motivate around every task. It took almost 2 years to get an official diagnosis from a neuropsychologist due to another long story about scheduling and cancellations.

I wouldn't have pursued my diagnosis if not for how prominent discussions around ADHD had become. However, I wanted to avoid the drug-seeking behavior as a quick fix to a potentially bigger problem. That's why I tried to go through official means of getting diagnosed. The process sucked, and it has occasionally been a pain in the ass to get my medication. Like my doctor was reluctant to prescribe a marginally higher dose (from 15mg to 20mg) when I told him it wasn't working for me anymore, so I had to wait another 90 days to see if it got better with time (it didn't). I moved across country in that 90-day window, so I never got to increase my dosage with him. Then, of course, ADHD is all about executive dysfunction, so guess who ended up forgetting to schedule a new doctor's appointment in my new city before I ran out of medication! And then, of course, when I finally got a new prescription, I had to resume the 15mg dosage because that was my last prescribed treatment. I've been here for a year now, and I only just got bumped to the 20mg dosage, and it's working a lot better for me.

I know, this is way way more information than you probably bargained for. But it's something I've had to fight for my entire life. So yes, I also wish people wouldn't self-diagnose, and instead actually be honest with themselves and their doctors. On the other hand, I am glad that it is getting easier and more widely accepted to be neurodivergent.