TikTok is awash with 'misleading' information on ADHD. There's also a gender bias among doctors. It has left women in Asia fighting for a diagnosis and help.
Are you clumsy? Do you think your friends secretly hate you? Well, then you must have ADHD or at least you may think you do if all the viral social media videos on Instagram and TikTok are to be believed. But don’t fret. A study in 2022 found that 52% of content about ADHD on TikTok is misleading. Some videos were found to include fake symptoms, such as clumsiness and 'rejection sensitivity dysphoria'. The latter isn’t even a medical term. It certainly isn’t recognized by doctors as a condition, and it doesn't appear on 'official' lists used by psychiatrists and psychologists and medical professionals in the diagnosis of ADHD.
ADHD, or Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, is a mental health condition. Blind spots and gender bias have long persisted in ADHD diagnosis but here’s the thing with ADHD, for a long time, even the officially recognized symptoms include significant blind spots — most of which affect girls and women. Their symptoms have often been overlooked or simply dismissed. The reason for that lies in a historical understanding that ADHD presents as hyperactivity, making screaming wild little boys, struggling at school, the textbook example for people with ADHD. Meanwhile, quiet, daydreaming girls were often overlooked — no one ever considered that they may be living with ADHD. But daydreaming is a very real symptom of ADHD. Other symptoms include forgetfulness, misplacing things, squirming, fidgeting, talking too much, making careless mistakes, taking unnecessary risks or having a hard time resisting temptation.
Jnanee, Alisha and Sonal had to wait until they were adults before they were diagnosed with ADHD. And all those years while they waited, they experienced significant struggles in their personal, educational and professional lives. Among those struggles were problems with maintaining attention and staying focused.
Many people relate to such feelings but that may not necessarily mean that you have ADHD. In this video you'll see why an ADHD diagnosis is quite complex and how these three women from Southeast Asia had to fight their way to a diagnosis.
However, an ADHD diagnosis doesn't necessarily mean all's lost. With the right treatment, it can help people harness some pretty amazing strengths.
