Women are diagnosing themselves with neurodivergent conditions like ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) after watching trending TikTok videos.
Doctors explained to Women’s Health that women are statistically more likely to ignore symptoms and go undiagnosed, but cautioned that diagnoses should be given to licensed professionals — not armchair “experts” on social media.
TikTok videos explaining various ADHD symptoms have been growing in popularity in recent years as certain corners of social media have become a safe haven for addressing mental health and spreading information and awareness.
A surprising number of different viral hashtags have been seen on the platform. Some of the most popular beyond #ADHD, which has 14 billion, include #ADHDTikTok with 4 billion views, #ADHDCheck with 1.2 billion watches, #ADHDTok with 619 million hits, #ADHDDiagnosis with 46.1 million and #ADHDadvice with 8.9 million .
#ADHDinWomen is another highly-followed hashtag with 1.7 billion views – a staggering number given that multiple studies have found that girls, women, and gender-nonconforming people are generally not diagnosed , their traits are brushed off as character traits or displayed differently than boys. Men, since most medical studies are mainly done on men.
Claire Bowman describes herself as an ADHD advocate for her 160,300 TikTok followers. One of her videos listing questions to help diagnose ADHD in women was viewed 204,900 times and hundreds of women shared their emotional reactions.
“Uh, I started crying by the end,” said one onlooker.
“Recently diagnosed at age 25, I spent my whole life thinking I was a lazy pathetic POS [piece of s–t] One who wants to get everything without taking anything. My life has changed,” shared another user.
“Thanks for explaining my whole life,” commented another.
The CDC states that many neurodivergent conditions are diagnosed at a very young age, but some women told Women’s Health that they feel validated for their “quirks” or “laziness” after being given a proper diagnosis in adulthood.
Caitlin Manor, 38, was one person who believed she had the disease, especially since her TikTok feed was flooded with #ADHD videos during the pandemic.
As relating to what she saw on social media, she also revealed how she always struggled to keep things in order, remember appointments, and complete tasks. However, the mother-in-law made it up to being a busy mom in a military family.
Manor told the magazine that she had always wondered whether her symptoms had been ignored throughout her life, especially since she was surrounded by people with neurodivergent conditions—what is thought to be typical in mental or neurological function—of hers. whole life; Her mother, father, twin sister, younger brother, and one of her three sons have been diagnosed with ADHD and her eldest and youngest sons are on the autism spectrum.
But things boiled over when Manor missed an important appointment to continue speech therapy for her eldest child and couldn’t get rescheduled for three months.
“It was really frustrating because I knew how important it was and still couldn’t keep track of it,” Manor told Women’s Health.
Therefore, she made an appointment with a licensed clinical psychologist in April 2021 to discuss her family history and symptoms and was eventually diagnosed with ADHD.
“It gave me a name for it, which meant I could start my life all over again,” she said.
While social media is a great tool to spread information, experts are weary about people turning to the Internet for medical advice because they warn that symptoms can vary from person to person and for different conditions. may indicate a separate or concurrent diagnosis for
“It’s important not to get too bogged down in a diagnosis without talking to or confirming a mental health professional because it takes a trained brain to synthesize all those data points in conjunction with your medical, psychological and psychological presentations to arrive at it. Correct diagnosis,” Dr Sasha Hamdani, a board-certified psychiatrist @ThepsychDoctorMD on TikTok told Women’s Health.
Experts also warn that startups are using clever TikTok ads and loose drug regulations to push prescription drugs for ADHD such as Adderall and Vyvanse — both classified as Schedule II controlled substances by the FDA. Is – raising ethical and legal questions from doctors.
According to University of Colorado psychiatrist Dr. C. Neal Epperson, the proliferation of drug ads on TikTok, along with social media posts and sketchy Google search results, may be convincing children to diagnose themselves with conditions that are not really the case. I don’t have them.
“I hear parents say, you know, my child comes up to me and says, ‘I think I have ADHD, PTSD, bipolar disorder, etc.,'” Epperson told The Post. . “They’re like, ‘Where is my child getting this? Where are these diagnoses coming from when I haven’t taken my child to a mental healthcare provider? We haven’t even talked to their pediatrician. Is.'”
Sammy Burke, a 28-year-old EMT, writer and editor, told Women’s Health she thought she had ADHD after her TikTok feed recommended her #ADHD videos for her. She made an appointment with a psychiatrist and prescribed medication, noting that she exhibited some symptoms, but the “textbook” case was not.
As the bills piled up without her condition improving, she decided to quit medication when she realized that her environment—loud neighbors, a heavy workload and spending hours on end at a screen—might need her attention. played a major role in the reduction.
“I still don’t know if I definitely have ADHD,” she said. “I wasn’t looking for a label as a way to get through my workday.”
(This story has not been edited by seemayo staff and is published from a rss feed)