Most People Mistake These for ADHD | MedCircle

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I thought for 37 years that I had major depression and anxiety but finally got diagnosed with adhd and the medication has lifted all the anxiety and depression. It has literally saved my life

Just realized how trash schools are with figuring out whether a child has ADHD (inattentive type). I was once separated from my classroom for a week because I wouldn't complete my work, never socialized with anyone, and yet I wasn't disruptive. They took me to this room and entertained me with a ton of puzzled... because I was able to complete these puzzles with ease they saw no issues with me... Homework and Classwork vs. Fun "hyperfocus inducing" puzzles... yeah...

its important to note that to people with ADHD that have never considered the fact they might have ADHD, they have no idea their attention span & the constant blur of 100 channels of thought aren't normal. i thought i was dumb for YEARS, up until late highschool age when it was too late to take back a decade and a half of shame, guilt, ostracism, self hatred and confusion as to why i was failing so spectacularly at the same challenges i thought everyone was facing. the first time i took 10 mg of ritalin i was suddenly aware that i had dozens and dozens of constant blurry thoughts all the time, and i only realized this wasnt normal when they all melded into one steady stream of conciousness. like a broken dam vs a running faucet of focus. one hundred quiet, static filled distant tv channels vs a single clear channel of which you have suddenly been given the remote. suddenly i could CHOOSE to listen, to tune into different things, i was so shocked that i could actually hold onto the sentences my math teacher was saying and realized that i had literally never had complete control of my attention, it had control over me. i almost cried with joy at the realization that all this time, when i had already learned it was easier to bully myself before everyone else did it so at least i made people laugh with my 'stupidity' (dyscalculia, distractibility), i wasn't stupid at all. the entire system just failed to meet my needs and with RSD i was severely emotionally damaged by not only neglect at home that no one recognized but by every negative comment i had ever recieved. hearing 'i wish you would just apply yourself' or 'i know you can do better' when you are working so goddamn hard to even function at the bare minimum level is soul crushing because that IS your best, unmedicated and untreated, and all people want from you is productivity no matter how much it costs you. its very very typical for it to present as depression and anxiety because those can be BYPRODUCTS of the disorder, often because these children have been shamed, criticized, bullied and chided by parents and peers alike for things they have NEVER been able to control. when you have no idea that everyone else can do things they don't want to do, and you don't know how to express 'i just can't make myself do this, i keep trying' so it is always responded to as if the child is being lazy, all you can see from a clinical standpoint is the byproduct of that adhd and maybe squirming and forgetfulness, easily attributed to the anxiety that they likely ALSO have. because of awful comments. i quit beloved hobbies because i was chided repeatedly for being unable to practice, stopped applying myself academically because eventually i just didn't care. the entire world thought i was stupid anyway so it didn't matter. then i got diagnosed. i didn't know my memory was exceptionally bad, or that i had focus problems at all... but i WAS losing hours of my day to seemingly nothing, and that's when my doctor noticed a discrepancy in my symptoms. sometimes you can't hone in on concerns about focus because the person with adhd has ZERO comparison (unless they find a medication that works and have somehow already taken the medication) into how everybody else's brain works. instead of targeting the individual, i wish it was more often taken from a different perspective. 'would people say you're forgetful?' vs 'are you forgetful?' people with adhd have had their symptoms minimized and looked down on their entire life with no comparison as to what is the 'ideal' level of function, so of course they might not think they're forgetful. but other people might SAY they are. i hope that maybe the critisism adhd people face can be used to help scope out the disorder in those that have it, it is a genuine condition and should not be slapped onto whatever child is causing problems. ADHD is a serious difference in not only cognitive function but also the levels of certain chemicals in the brain, stuffing a neurotypical or even just non-ADHD kid with stimulants is doing far more harm than good when maybe they need their home life looked into instead. for anyone suspecting they have adhd, try to record yourself. watch how you talk, see how often you jump from topic to topic or wiggle and fidget, maybe just space out, recording yourself going about your day gives you insight into not only how everyone else sees you but also how you behave. i recently recorded myself & i cannot BELIEVE i went under the radar. without medication i can barely hold a coherent conversation

ADHD is not a "mental health" condition - it's a neurological condition. Please take care in your descriptions.

A study showed an “estimated” 20% of children were misdiagnosed with ADHD. If true, don’t forget that means 4 out of 5 diagnoses are accurate.

Respectfully, I find these comments offensive. I am not suggesting every ADHD diagnosis has to be right. Even the best doctors can misdiagnose a serious illness as a common cold. But it is very dangerous to dismiss associations between untreated ADHD, anxiety and depression. Try living a life with untreated ADHD, constantly being told since childhood you’re dumb, lazy, selfish, not trying hard enough, not good enough, why aren’t you like other kids, etc, etc, etc. Those voices become your own voice leading to anxiety and depression. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 46. I never had the support or treatment before then. Instead, I was constantly being punished for not being normal. Even though the diagnosis was the best thing I ever did, but the damage was already done. I live with an inferior complex all my life because of those voices that constantly remind me of my failure at being “normal” and anxiety grew from the fear of failure. I spiralled into depression at one stage. To this day, I still struggle to talk openly about my ADHD because of the stigma associated with it. These dismissing views only add fuel to this stigma fire. There is so much focus on the “disorder” side of ADHD. What about the benefits like “hyper-focus”? When I turn it on, I can do some of the most amazing things. I am in the ADHD spectrum and I am not ashamed of it. Not any more.

I'm strictly under the belief that anxiety disorders can be caused by ADHD. Your mind is constantly racing from ADHD, so you build anxiety thinking about things. I was treated for my anxiety three years ago, and I quickly figured out that I had ADHD and it was causing my anxiety.

People watching this video: paying attention to the video Me: “Why is her teeth blue?”

I really think that the name of ADHD does not help whatsoever. So many people in the comments that are like "it took me 2 hours to watch this video 🤪." Well no. That's not all ADHD is. Guess they've never heard of hyperfocusing

Can we get a video about ADHD getting mistaken for something else? I'm sure MedCircle doesn't intend any harm with this, and I'm certainly biased regarding this topic, but to me this is yet another piece of media out there in the wild that helps create even more obstacles for people meeting with much needed support, as it approaches the issue of misdiagnosis exclusively from a perspective that reinforces existing notions of ADHD being supposedly overdiagnosed, without acknowledging that, regardless of that, it is (also) underdiagnosed , as the slew of adults increasingly getting diagnoses clearly shows (particularly in women, which is just another example of how lopsided/prejudicial viewpoints disenfranchise people from support).

I wasn’t “performing” as well as my dad thought I could in school when I was young, so we both went in for an ADHD test (he thought I had it) but it wound up my Dad had it and I didn’t.

It feels like this video is backwards. I was just diagnosed with ADHD at 34 years old after a lifetime of thinking it was depression and anxiety. Everything I’ve read or seen since then (minus this particular video) says that ADHD is largely under-diagnosed, especially in women.

As a phd psy many of these disorders are also misdiagnosed when adhd is the cause, and children go into adulthood suffering with adhd being treated for years for depression, anxiety, mood disorders.

As someone who has ADHD and recovering CPTSD: anxiety and depression can result from how you are treated by your community with undiagnosed ADHD. My depression decreased by 60-70% after being diagnosed with ADHD. The deep shame about my blunders that caused the depression was gone. ADHD has such a bouquet of issues, not just restlessness and inattention. You may also have sensory issues like e.g. sensing every clothing tag/sock seams, eating irregularities because you forget, sudden exhaustion meltdowns as a kid, a "short fuse", strong physical reactions to joy/excitement, stimming/fidgeting like the restless leg/pressing a biro over and over, problems with organization, reacting strongly to positive stimulation like rewards/sweets.

It should be mentioned that if a child can not keep up attention at school, neither at home in general - but can be very focused for quite some time playing computer games or doing sports or a another specific area, then that is actually a big hint towards ADHD - keyword: hyperfocus.

We tried the depression thing and my case ended up being opposite. Treating depression did not help my inattentive symptoms but getting on ADHD meds did, and in turn helped my depression

As a female I was always steered towards a mood disorder. Finally, at 24, being treated for ADHD and it turned off all of the background noise I didn’t even recognize was there until everything was so clear and chill.

I've been getting treatment for depression for 25 years. No change. My parents finally told me that almost from a very young age (4+) I was always easily distracted at home, would often fixate on activities or hobbies and my early school reports all state I had poor organisational/management skills with consistently poor performance in written/home work. I've spent decades in jobs where I could not perform to a good enough standard, often missing deadlines and working all hours to keep up. Finally I'm seeing ADHD-PI making more sense. Definitely working towards getting a diagnosis.

This seems like a strange way to frame the topic when ADHD is so severely under-diagnosed and misunderstood by so many. There are already too many people convinced ADHD is wildly over-diagnosed to the point they don't even believe it exists. I'd be really concerned about reinforcing those beliefs