Diluted-How Common Has ADHD Become?
What is ADHD? Has it become so common that the meaning has become diluted?
In the 70’s, about the time I was being recognized for “having it”, the stigma was “she needs to focus”, “she needs to behave better”, and “she is too hyper, we can’t seem to handle her”. These were all just assumptions about a chemical imbalance in the brain. The reality was that professionals and parents were just noticing there was a group of children that were behaving differently from the others, and instead of trying to figure it out, they grouped us all together and labeled us as bad kids. Which, we now know, is the farthest thing from the truth. Doctors would tell my parents, “Don’t worry, she will grow out of it”. It was such a new phenomenon that they didn’t have a name for “it” yet.
According to research, symptoms of what we know as ADHD were being noticed in individuals as early as the late 1900’s. However, it was recognized as an illness until the late 1960’s. Before this, there were a group of symptoms that individuals had that couldn’t be explained. It was referred to as a “defect of moral control”(1). It was later thought to be a form of brain damage with no real cause known.
Fast forward to today. Every time you turn a corner, someone is saying, “I have ADHD”, or “Don’t we all have a little bit of it”? For those of us who have an honest and true diagnosis, live with the symptoms and the daily struggles, this statement is a slap in the face. It’s not like we chose this. We didn’t just wake up one day and say today is the day I become ADHD! If you have a loved one who has said this, be sure to let them know it’s not a bad thing; they just need more information and to be taught what it actually is.
There was a time when it seemed that every kid on the block was being diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Today, we know that many of those kids were misdiagnosed and, as adults, are relearning how to navigate life with the correct diagnosis.
Regardless of when you, or someone you know, was diagnosed with ADHD, the truth is it is a struggle to learn how to live in a world that doesn’t understand you.
1. ADDitude ADHD Science & Strategies: The History of ADHD and Its Treatments
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its
whole life believing that it is stupid.
—Albert Einstein