We all have ADHD symptoms. LAW?

This week, I consulted Dr. TikTok, only to find out that I may have ADHD. According to the millions of diagnostic “tools” proliferating on the platform, it seems that I am showing the vast majority of the “signs”.

See user @neuronush (“share the awareness” to his 95.5k followers), who explains ADHD sufferers hate loud noises, noisy meals, slow walkers and plans. Well, I completely hate slow walkers. And I’m strangely sensitive to bangs. Meanwhile, @doctorshepard_md reports that I’ve been labeled “moody and sensitive” and “jiggling in my chair”; @usamedical offers an ADHD test for adults in which it asks if I have “trouble remembering appointments” or feel “too active”; while @connordewolfe suggests that I might have “hyperfocus”, whereby I become obsessed with random tasks.

Although first diagnosed in the late 18th century, attention deficit disorder is today the quintessential modern malaise. According to ADHD UK, around 2.6 million people in the UK have the condition, with an adult incidence of 3-4% of the population. Figures from the charity ADHD Foundation suggest a 400% increase in the number of adults seeking a diagnosis since 2020. In the United States, 9.8% of children aged 3 to 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD, according to a national survey of parents. using data from 2016-19.

This week a BBC Panorama documentary explored the rapid rise in diagnosis among adults, via the rise of private clinics as well as the increased use of powerful ADHD medications. As waiting lists for treatment on the NHS can stretch for up to five years, people are increasingly paying specialists and private clinics to be seen. Not surprisingly, when you outsource health care and the use of expensive methylphenidates (the main component of Ritalin and Concerta), the probity of some private clinics can be slightly compromised. As the BBC documentary maker discovered, he was diagnosed with the condition three times in video calls, while a final appointment with an NHS consultant concluded he did not have ADHD .

Although first diagnosed in the late 18th century, attention deficit disorder is today the quintessential modern malaise.

I’m not an ADHD denier, but sometimes it can seem like everyone has a claim. A colleague who was diagnosed with ADD in his twenties puts it clearly when he says, “When the main diagnostic tool is to ask if you feel distracted by things that don’t interest you, everyone has the ADHD”. He does not feel stigmatized by a neurodevelopmental disease, nor by the problems it causes to his mental health. But he bristles at the assumption made by many that by taking medication he is somehow taking a “performance-enhancing drug”.

Admittedly, there’s a quick trade in ADHD meds in the playground, especially during exam month, when half a Concerta, a can of Red Bull and a donut will guarantee an uninterrupted review buzz from 14 hours. (I tried to tag Ritalin for this column as research, but unfortunately a geography student beat me to it, and the ADHD dealer is keeping a close eye on his supplies.)

And if you feel like everyone has ADHD symptoms, it’s probably because they do. In his book Scattered spirits, physician and ADHD expert, Dr. Gabor Maté, says, “If someone with any of the traits were to be diagnosed with ADD, you might as well put Ritalin in your drinking water and list most countries industrialized to group psychotherapy”. He goes on to quote Drs Edward Hallowell and John Ratey, authors of Leads to distraction, who pioneered a broader understanding of ADD, which says that “ADD is not a diagnosis of category but of dimension”. We all probably have little traits. In addition, in times of extreme stress, our brain may switch to more extreme behaviors: ADHD can affect us, then disappear, at different times in life. The main problem, according to Mate, is not whether you have symptoms, but their extent: the problem arises when the characteristics become so overwhelming that they “impair a person’s functioning to some degree”.

Yes, I easily get bored of the things that bore me. I am forgetful, pass out, and often feel a “relentless lack of stillness” (as Maté puts it) in my brain. In 1934, the New England Journal identified “organic motivation” as a distressing quality in some people’s lives. And me totally get that feeling. I also need the threat of failure or the promise of reward for completing tasks. I mean, look – now! I’m on a crazy deadline! What other evidence do you need? And did I mention I hate loud eaters? However, as far as I know, I am still able to lead a relatively free life.

Rather than suffer from a major mental illness, I simply deal with some of the less severe and fairly harmless traits of the disease. Basically, I’m just a very irritable human, who could one day need help.

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