Self-Diagnosis

Hacking Your ADHD

William Curb

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 702 Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2022

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Self-diagnosis has become a hot-button topic in the mental health world as social media has ramped up many people’s awareness of many of these conditions. But how valid is that self-diagnosis? Some people argue it's dangerous while others argue that self-diagnosis is as valid as a formal diagnosis.

In today’s episode, we’re going to wade into this minefield and see what grains of truth we can pull out and where this tool is useful and where it isn’t.

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Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/selfdiagnosis

This Episode’s Top Tips

So yeah, this is normally where the top tips would go, but I’m not sure that works as well for this episode, so I just wanted to break things down real quick here. What I’m trying to get at with this episode is that self-diagnosis tends to be an issue of equity and the fact that not everyone can easily get assessed for their mental health conditions is a problem. There is still a lot of stigma and misinformation around ADHD so getting that diagnosis can be difficult. What it comes down to though is what that diagnosis is going to do for you - if you need medication and accommodations then, yes absolutely go seek that formal diagnosis, but if you’re just looking for better ways to work with your brain, going with self-diagnosis isn’t a bad option. And to be sure if you do go the route of self-diagnosis, just be sure to be open to other options. As we went over there are a lot of ways that ADHD symptoms can show up in other mental health conditions, so just stay open and stay curious.

And at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what you’re diagnosed with as long as your doing those things that makes it easier for you to work with your brain.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD, part of the ADHD Rewired Podcast Network.
0:11.5	I'm your host, William Kerb, and I have ADHD.
0:14.9	On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Self-diagnosis has
0:23.1	become a hot-button topic in the mental health world as social media has ramped up many
0:28.0	people's awareness of these conditions. But how valid is self-diagnosis? Some people argue it's
0:34.7	dangerous while others argue that self-diagnosis is just as valid as a formal diagnosis.
0:39.9	In today's episode, we're going to wade into this minefield and see what grains of truth we can pull out,
0:45.0	and where this tool is useful, and where it isn't.
0:48.4	If you'd like to follow along on the show notes page, you can find that at hacking your ADHD.com slash self-diagnosis.
0:56.8	All right, keep on listening to find out what we actually know about ourselves.
1:05.5	Over the course of the pandemic, we've seen a large increase in the number of people seeking an ADHD diagnosis.
1:14.7	And this increase of diagnoses is something that is only continuing a trend that we've been seeing around the world for over a decade now.
1:23.2	There are a lot of theories around why such an increase would be happening, but one of the
1:28.3	most likely reasons for the overall trend is that there is just a lot more knowledge about ADHD,
1:33.5	and as well, doctors having better tools to screen for it.
1:37.2	And really, the cultural shift around ADHD has been immense.
1:41.1	While there is certainly still a lot of stigma associated with ADHD, it doesn't
1:45.9	have the same level that it used to have. Additionally, pop culture has slowly been moving away from
1:51.3	the harmful stereotypes of squirrel! And how meds turn children into obedient zombies. That isn't to say those
1:58.2	tropes have completely disappeared, and in fact in some cases are fairly
2:01.8	prevalent, but along with those harmful stereotypes, we're also seeing some better representation
2:06.7	now, which is a great step forward. Along with that pop culture shift, we're also getting
	...

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