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What if? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/adhd@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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[–] 15 points 7 months ago (9 children)

You very well still could be. Diagnosing conditions like these is very complicated when different things can present similarly, or even mask each other depending on their presentation. Autism and ADHD have a lot of overlap for example where it's not uncommon for someone to have one and be mistakenly diagnosed with the other because of how their particular combination of strengths and deficits manifested. Then still other conditions can mask symptoms entirely that without them no one would ever guess that someone might have ADHD.

That's what happened to my wife in fact. She joined a research study that was aiming to improve diagnosis for ADHD looking to be part of the control because she was reasonably certain she didn't have ADHD.

We come to find out through participating in that study that no, she did in fact have ADHD and her severe OCD had just been masking it all her life. The second she got on a new medication that got her OCD more under control I got a front row seat to literally watch the things I struggle every day with just manifest in her like I'd given her the damn Curse of the Were-Fuckup.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago*

    Autism and ADHD are a such a good example for this. While 15 years ago the DSM still said that it is impossible to have both, today we know that there is a huge overlap. Depending on the studies, when you have Autism, there is a 40-70% chance that you also have ADHD. And if you are diagnosed with ADHD, the chances to also have autism are between 20-50%

    And there are enough other common comorbidities that could be seen as the "main" diagnosis and prevent you from being correctly diagnosed, like depression, odd, ocd or anxiety.

    It's so important to get a psychiatrist that is specialized and it's a shame that it seems to be an almost global problem to even get any.

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    Or maybe it's time to understand that mental issues aren't as clearcut as viruses that you can test in a lab. As long as we don't understand the fine grain of how the whole brain work (and so far we only have ideas about it, not the whole story), the yes/no diagnostic will stay a dead end imo.

    Sorry to hear you have trouble though, I hope you still lives ok <3 good luck!

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Apparently DSM6 is giving up on naming disorders and will instead name only the traits. So instead of being diagnosed as autistic and ADHD you'll be diagnosed with Hyperfocus, Executive Disfunction, Maladaptive Daydreaming and stuff like that...

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    While it's a lovely notion that maybe one day we might live in a world that doesn't otherize and pathologize the way the minds of neurodivergent people function. Or that maybe one day the whole of society might not be organized around the convenience and function of neurotypical people and I would love for either of those would either of those to be the case. The fact of the matter is that this is not the world we currently live in. So if someone with ADHD or Autism wanted support from this society in the form of say medication, or therapy, then in most cases they would need to still engage with that system that pathologizes the way their minds work and acquire a diagnosis.

    So what good does it do to come into a conversation about the flaws in that diagnostic process and essentially just say "Well, maybe it shouldn't be like that." as if anyone here is in any position to just wave a magic wand and change the diagnostic criteria in the next edition of the DSM?

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  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Yeah if you wanna go to work, just sit on the back of the bus, grandma

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    I'm not sure what you're saying here.

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  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    That with that kind of defeatism the US would still live under jim crow laws.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Ah so you're LARPing as a civil rights activist, got it.

    You do realize that this right here isn't "activism" right? That in reality I'm doing more activism by giving someone advice on how to navigate the world as it currently exists than you are by pretending that saying "Things should be better than they are" on a random ADHD Meme community is "activism" in any real sense of the word.

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