Stigma

Two blog posts in one day. I must be avoiding cracking on with my literature review yet again.

I don’t always disclose that I have ADHD. Why? Stigma. In my last post, I talked about evidence and research and how opinions are often formed outside of this. Sadly, this is very true of ADHD. “It’s bad parenting”, “you should just try harder”, “you just need to plan better” etc. etc. There’s a ranty woman on youtube shouting that ADHD isn’t real. It bloody well is! It’s a very well researched neurodevelopmental condition. Oh and everybody isn’t a “bit ADHD”, you lost your keys a few times, that doesn’t mean you have ADHD. Oh and you don’t get diagnosed for having “a bit”. To meet the diagnostic criteria you have to have impairments in more than one aspect of your life. Newsflash: just because you drifted on in that very boring work meeting, does not mean you have ADHD. If you do meet the diagnostic criteria, welcome to the tribe!

Even worse is the stigma of taking medication. Stimulants in particular. Netflix “Take your Pills” did not help. No distinction made between people who take stimulant based medications for ADHD and those who take them recreationally. The effects described in there are not what most people with ADHD experience from these medications. Quite the opposite in some ways. I could have slept through most of the first week on stimulant medication. My focus started to improve but otherwise I didn’t feel “stimulated”. I don’t take my meds as smart drugs. They don’t take me to a higher level of functioning than neurotypical people, in fact not even to the same level. Just a better level, for me. When I got diagnosed, I didn’t want to take meds because of the stigma but then that felt unfair. I’m glad I did, and do take meds. They help me function at home, work and in life in general. You may not see the impairment ADHD causes me, but is is there. I’m not hyperactive, but my inner restlessness makes me feel like I’m running on a motor.

Us ADHDers often get told just cut out sugar, take vitamins, take this unproven nootropic. Some parents have even put kids through very expensive and unproven treatments like chelation therapy. “It’s a long road” they say, which is just as well for the clinics taking their money. Years of research have gone into the medication I take, and it works well for me and many, many others. Non-stimulant medication is also available as well as therapies like CBT and coaching, which can also help. Stigma is the thing that harms us, not medication.