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Mini: Signs That Don't Mean You Have ADHD · Why We Do What We Do

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we Do what we Do. Welcome
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: to Why we Do what we Do?
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  Speaker 2: Mini.
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  Speaker 3: I am your host, Abraham, and I'm here Shane. We
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  Speaker 3: are a psychology podcast. We talk about the things that
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  Speaker 3: humans and non human animals do and on Monday we
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  Speaker 3: release these short form episodes where we take a quick
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  Speaker 3: dive into a topic and then we let you go
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  Speaker 3: about the rest of your day, week, what have you.
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  Speaker 3: But it's quick, it's short, it's bite sized and therefore
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  Speaker 3: digestible and therefore good.
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  Speaker 2: I've decided, yes, yes, this is Yes, it's snack size
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  Speaker 2: but lovely.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. Anyway, thank you for joining us. If this is
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  Speaker 3: your first time, then I hope that you hear you
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  Speaker 3: enjoy what you hear in this episode, and I hope
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  Speaker 3: you hear it, I guess. And if you're a returning person,
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  Speaker 3: then thank you for coming back, and I hope that
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  Speaker 3: you are continuing to find joy and the things that
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  Speaker 3: we make for you. And either way, if you would
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: like to support us, and you haven't already, you can
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  Speaker 3: join us on Patreon, pick up some merch like subscribe,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: leave a rating and review, and go tell a friend
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: and I'll talk more about those things at the end
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  Speaker 3: of this discussion, but we got to dive right into
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  Speaker 3: this topic, and the topic is about the fact that
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  Speaker 3: English is funny. This episode is going to be titled
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  Speaker 3: signs that Don't Mean that you have ADHD. This is
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  Speaker 3: not sure signs that mean that you don't have ADHD.
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  Speaker 3: There are signs that don't mean that you do have ADHD.
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  Speaker 3: It's a difference between means you don't and don't means
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  Speaker 3: that you do. And I feel like doctor Zeus right now.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I just can't wait for this snizzle snazz to
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  Speaker 2: show up. That is what we're saying is we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: list a bunch of behaviors that people post about on
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  Speaker 2: social media about ADHD, and they are incorrect, not necessarily
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  Speaker 2: incorrect that their behaviors, but incorrect that they are signals
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  Speaker 2: that you have ADHD. Right, so you might have ADHD,
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  Speaker 2: these behaviors are not symptoms of ADHD.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, And again that's all we're trying to say here.
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  Speaker 3: This is not a judgment call about ADHD. It's not
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  Speaker 3: a judgment about you orienting to those posts. This is
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  Speaker 3: about pointing out that those are things that people say
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  Speaker 3: that are not actually part of the diagnostic criteria or
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  Speaker 3: any symptoms thereof that you might find as it's related
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  Speaker 3: to ADHD. Some of them might be symptoms or at
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  Speaker 3: least things that people report about, but they're not included
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  Speaker 3: in the diagnosis and necessarily right. And also, of course,
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  Speaker 3: I guess worth pointing out that there are going to
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  Speaker 3: be people who have ADHD who engage in certain behaviors
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  Speaker 3: that are not necessarily characteristic of the fact that they
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  Speaker 3: have ADHD, but it's sort of part of their personality.
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  Speaker 3: It's how they show up in the world, and they
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  Speaker 3: have ADHD, and so it's like, it's not that you
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  Speaker 3: have ADHD, and therefore everything that you do is a
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  Speaker 3: symptom of ADHD. It is like you have ADHD and
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  Speaker 3: you do other stuff too. Does that make sense right? Okay, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: absolutely great. So let's go ahead and dive into our discussion.
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  Speaker 3: If we've done enough setup, I think we're on the
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  Speaker 3: safe side of damage control here. I think we can
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  Speaker 3: get started.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think we're at risk
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  Speaker 2: management stage.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, so if we do.
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  Speaker 2: If we do cover the definition of ADHD and the
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  Speaker 2: associated criteria, it's going to be a full episode. So
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  Speaker 2: we'll add to this for full episodes. In the future,
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  Speaker 2: it may show up in the disabilities we do who knows. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: but for now, it is sufficient to say that ADHD
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  Speaker 2: is a diagnosis in the DSM that classifies difficulty paying attention,
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  Speaker 2: being hyperactive, and being impulsive as a pathological condition. So
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  Speaker 2: all those things are considered part of what can be
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  Speaker 2: described as a pathological condition.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a condition, and it's considered pathological sort of
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  Speaker 3: related to the medical model of disability, as we've discussed.
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  Speaker 3: But point being that is, people seek a diagnosis, and
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  Speaker 3: then for some of those people, when that diagnosis is ADHD,
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  Speaker 3: they end up on medication or maybe in therapy. And
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  Speaker 3: for some of them they just carry that label around
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  Speaker 3: with them sure, and post about it on social media,
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  Speaker 3: or they assign that to themselves and post about it
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  Speaker 3: on social media. Anyway, people really enjoy having a diagnosis
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  Speaker 3: that they can talk about on social media, some people,
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  Speaker 3: and so they have unhelpfully offered a wide variety of
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  Speaker 3: other behaviors well outside of the parameters of ADHD as
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  Speaker 3: evidence for or symptoms of their ADHD, and sort of
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  Speaker 3: as a way it seems like to perhaps bring other
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  Speaker 3: people into the fold, if you will, of like Hey,
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  Speaker 3: if you're like me, you've got ADHD because this is
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  Speaker 3: a behavior I do, and I've got ADHD or something
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  Speaker 3: like that. Sure, but there was a study conducted by
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  Speaker 3: doctor Young and colleagues, and there was another follow up
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  Speaker 3: study by a different group of people that they basically
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  Speaker 3: found the same thing. They found that they looked at
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  Speaker 3: one hundred posts about ADHD on social media and found
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  Speaker 3: that fifty two percent of those one hundred posts, and
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  Speaker 3: to be fair, there are over eleven billion posts about this,
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  Speaker 3: which is a gigantic number of boasts about yes, yes, anyway.
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  Speaker 3: Out of the hundred that they looked at, which is
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  Speaker 3: a tiny drop in the bucket relative to the amount
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  Speaker 3: of posts, fifty two percent of them contain misleading or
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  Speaker 3: outright false information about ADHD.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think something to point out to you
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  Speaker 2: real quick. I know this is a mini so I
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  Speaker 2: don't want to get on too much of a tirade.
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  Speaker 2: But that's not to say that, like things like diagnostic
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  Speaker 2: testing and assessment aren't expensive, there are people who have
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  Speaker 2: ADHD who never get diagnosed because they can't afford because
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  Speaker 2: services are not accessible.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, right, absolutely, that's correct.
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  Speaker 2: We are not talking about those people we're talking about
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  Speaker 2: the people that make up diagnostic criterion and then label
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  Speaker 2: themselves with completely made up diagnostic criterion. Yes, that's what
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  Speaker 2: we're focusing on here. Yes, good, all right, So just
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  Speaker 2: to be clear on that too again, damage control, risk management,
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  Speaker 2: all that. So some experts actually started to call the
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  Speaker 2: spread of self diagnosis from unregulated user generated content cyberchondria,
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  Speaker 2: which it's actually really crazy. So that so good, So
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  Speaker 2: thankful that I get to do this show with you
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  Speaker 2: because I get to learn these new words, and like,
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  Speaker 2: cyberchondria is such a great, great term for that.
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  Speaker 3: They really captured it beautifully in that one, So that's perfect. Yeah. Actually,
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  Speaker 3: it occurs to me now that we're going to read
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  Speaker 3: through a list of symptoms people have posted about and
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  Speaker 3: these are not symptoms that you have ADHD. You might
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  Speaker 3: have ADHD, but these aren't symptoms that you do. This
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  Speaker 3: might be symptoms, however, that you have cyberchondria.
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  Speaker 2: Surprise bonus episode inside the episode.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, So we're going to go through some
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  Speaker 3: behaviors that you might do that don't mean that you
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  Speaker 3: have ADHD. You might, but these behaviors aren't signs of it. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: Skipping ADS might be all right, we're back. We did
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  Speaker 3: a bunch of preamble and I guess risk management slash
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  Speaker 3: damage prevention sort of stuff, But we are describing the
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  Speaker 3: fact that there are these things that people say are
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  Speaker 3: ADHD that are not ADHD. So let's go ahead and
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  Speaker 3: jump into our list of things. And this is an
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  Speaker 3: incomplete list, but those are are some things that sort
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  Speaker 3: of floated to the top as things that people have
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  Speaker 3: posted about as being symptoms of ADHD, even though they're
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  Speaker 3: actually not related.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So number one is that some have said
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  Speaker 2: that ADHD is laziness. That's incorrect and not even on
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  Speaker 2: a list of symptoms, Like laziness is not even I
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  Speaker 2: don't even think diagnosable.
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  Speaker 3: It's not. And it's also like it's almost counter to
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  Speaker 3: what most people think of with respect to ADHD and
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  Speaker 3: the list of criteria for ADHD. So right, yeah, ADHD
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  Speaker 3: is not laziness. Another one that people have posted about
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  Speaker 3: is getting a song stuck in your head. That's that's
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  Speaker 3: that's being a human that has has heard music before, Right,
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  Speaker 3: You get a song stuck in your head because it's
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  Speaker 3: catchy to you and likely because you've listened to it
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  Speaker 3: a few times, maybe several times. But just because you
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  Speaker 3: get a song stuck in your head or you find
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  Speaker 3: yourself humming the sing song over and over again sometimes
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  Speaker 3: has nothing to do with whether or not you have ADHD.
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  Speaker 3: It's just you have heard music and you are alive.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. You forget things sometimes. Now, if you don't
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  Speaker 2: forget things, you are some kind of meta superhuman who
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  Speaker 2: has incredible memory. But people with ADHD might forget things.
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  Speaker 2: But forgetting things doesn't mean that you have add It
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  Speaker 2: means that you're alive and a human being.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, that's going to be a common theme. By the way,
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  Speaker 3: a lot of these are just like human.
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  Speaker 2: Things, right.
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  Speaker 3: Another one people have said is that you are very creative.
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  Speaker 3: For you, you like to engage in creative endeavors. That's great,
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  Speaker 3: good for you. This essentially means all artists who have
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  Speaker 3: ever lived has or has had ADHD. It grossly oversimplifies
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  Speaker 3: and misunderstands the symptoms of ADHD, and it doesn't necessarily mean.
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  Speaker 3: Being creative doesn't necessarily mean that you have ADHD. People
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  Speaker 3: with ADHD might be creative, but being creative doesn't mean
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  Speaker 3: you have ADHD.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, another symtom people list as being bored at work. Ironically,
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  Speaker 2: you might D. Someone who is super excited and energetic
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  Speaker 2: at work, I think that they might have ADHD. So
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  Speaker 2: bored to excited, you have ADHD. I don't think so.
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  Speaker 2: Being bored or excited at work doesn't mean that you
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  Speaker 2: have ADHD.
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  Speaker 3: I think it says more about your work than you.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Right, Maybe you need a career change.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Another thing, people say everyone has a little ADHD.
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  Speaker 3: There are a couple of problems with this. Actually, there
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  Speaker 3: are three that we have outlined. There are at least three.
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  Speaker 3: There might be more, but here are three. The first
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  Speaker 3: problem with the idea that everyone has a little ADHD.
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  Speaker 3: This is something people have posted.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: This diminishes the significance of ADHD and the willingness to
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  Speaker 3: do something about it for people who do struggle with
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  Speaker 3: that condition, because it's like, shut up, everyone has this. Right.
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  Speaker 3: That's sort of one of the things that's implied by this.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Two, the last D, and ADHD is the word disorder, right.
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  Speaker 3: The second part of that acronym, the second D. It
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  Speaker 3: means that this condition is path logical. By saying that
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  Speaker 3: everyone has this, you're saying that it's part of the
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  Speaker 3: normal human condition. And that it doesn't exist pathologically. That's
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  Speaker 3: what that would mean.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, okay.
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  Speaker 3: And the third thing that's a problem with this is
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  Speaker 3: it's a dumb thing to say. Fair.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, fair, and none of it means you have ADG.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Now, the seventh one is trouble sleeping. Now, there are
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  Speaker 2: a ton of reasons people have trouble sleeping. Sleep issues
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  Speaker 2: is not even on the list of the carteria for ADHD.
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  Speaker 2: You should go to sleep specialists. If you have trouble sleeping,
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  Speaker 2: you probably you're not gonna get evaluated for ADHD just
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  Speaker 2: because you have trouble sleeping.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, no, probably not. It doesn't mean you don't have ADHD,
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  Speaker 3: but it certainly doesn't mean that you do have ADHD. Right,
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  Speaker 3: all right. Another one I've seen is that people say
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  Speaker 3: something like, I feel like I have trouble connecting with
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  Speaker 3: other people, and that means I have ADHD. Many people
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  Speaker 3: with ADHD do feel this way. To be fair, so
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  Speaker 3: do people who are autistic, who have borderline personality disorder,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: who have dementia, who have just never really learned very
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: many social skills. There are a variety of reasons you
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  Speaker 3: might not feel very connected to a social environment. A
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  Speaker 3: chunk of the time. It's not caused by the disorder,
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  Speaker 3: whatever that disorder might it is, but it might be
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  Speaker 3: the other behaviors that you engage in that create some
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  Speaker 3: sort of isolation from a more robust social environment for
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: a variety of reasons that might exist.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, But feeling like you have a difficult time connecting
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  Speaker 3: with more people is not itself a criteria for an
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  Speaker 3: ADHD diagnosis. It's just not one of the things.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, not at all.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, So those are just some things we're already I
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  Speaker 3: think we're getting close to time to wrap this up here.
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  Speaker 3: But those are just some things that people have sort
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: of said about ADHD in social media spaces that are
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  Speaker 3: they're just incorrect, Like none of these things mean that
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: you have ADHD or they're necessary, They're not accurate about ADHD.
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  Speaker 3: Those are just wanted to make sure we got I'm
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: that list out there. So I think be skeptical about
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  Speaker 3: about when you see people posting about these things. Be skeptical.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's really that's really what it is.
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  Speaker 2: And if you are, if you're feeling like you might
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  Speaker 2: have it, you should go see a professional. Like that's
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  Speaker 2: just what it is. Don't treat TikTok as a diagnosis center,
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  Speaker 2: like that's a terrible place. Yeah, go go see somebody.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And again, we understand that it can be difficult,
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  Speaker 3: it can be expensive, it can be time consuming. It
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  Speaker 3: might be they might not be someone in your area
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  Speaker 3: for whom you can easily get that diagnosis, and that
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  Speaker 3: that's tough and there's not really an easy solution. And
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  Speaker 3: maybe you do have ADHD and it's gonna be while
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  Speaker 3: before you actually find that out. I think for most
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  Speaker 3: of us, the thing is that we see these things
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  Speaker 3: on social media and we start to feel like, well,
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  Speaker 3: that describes me, and like, yeah, that's because you're alive. Yeah,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: like having trouble remembering things. I'm like, that's all people,
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  Speaker 3: all of them. The old people who don't have trouble
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  Speaker 3: remembering things are superhumans. Seriously, that that's their superpower. And
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  Speaker 3: I know that there are people who like super super
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: good memories and they still forget some things. So like
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  Speaker 3: I forget.
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  Speaker 2: Things all the time. Yeah yeah, Wait a second, what
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  Speaker 2: does that mean?
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  Speaker 3: Did you forget?
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Oh no, what was this episode about? I think.
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  Speaker 3: All right, if you if you would like to write
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: in and tell us your thoughts about this list, or
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: give us some more things that you have seen that
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: are kind of wild on social media. That's say things
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: about ADHD that are just blatantly not true. We'd love
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: to hear from you. You can reach out to us
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: on social media, that's totally good. You can also email
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: us directly at info at WWD WWWD podcast dot com.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: If you'd like to support our show, you can join
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  Speaker 3: us on Patreon. Over there, you'll get ad free episodes,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: bonus content early episodes. Unless we record the episode and
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: then release it one hour later. That will happen very
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: rarely but occasionally, and then it's not realty but ever
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: now and again, but otherwise. I'll also read your your
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: name and a list of names of the people who
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: support us at the end of our full length discussions.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: This is a mini so I'll do it on the
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: next one that comes out, and just suffice it to say,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: that's a thing that we do and we do appreciate
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: our patrons very very much, So thank you all patrons.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Yes, you're the best.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: You can also like and subscribe, leave a rating and review.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: Go tell a friend about this episode about ADHD so
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: that they may know that just because they saw something
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: on TikTok that says that having hair means you have
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: ADHD is incorrect and might help get them on the
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: path towards a better understanding of themselves in the world.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: And that's all really good and we look forward to
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: you sharing this contact with people who need to hear it.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: I guess yeah, yeah, yeah, well yeah, we'll see what
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: kind of feedback we get to.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: Indeed, I would certainly like to say thank you to
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: my team of people who help make this happen. Justin
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: thank you so much for your very quick work on
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: this discussion today. Our social media coordinator is Emma Wilson,
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: and writing in fact checking from Shane and myself. Thank
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: you for recording with me today.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Shane, Hey anytime.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: Thank you all for listening. Go forth and be skeptical.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: I guess I think that's what we have to say.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Anything you'd like to add or that I forgot before
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: we wrap this one up, I don't.
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  Speaker 2: Know if you said this yet, but go forth and
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: be skeptical.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: Okay, very good. Thanks Thanks for adding that this is Abraham.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: It's a shade why we do what we do? Mini
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: is out Bye.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: You've been listening to why we do what we do.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: You can learn more about this and other episodes by
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: going to WWD WWD podcast dot com. Thanks for listening,
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: and we hope you have an awesome day.