It grinds my gears when I see lies about ADHD.

I recently enjoyed watching Dr. Barbara Franke discuss misconceptions and stigma around ADHD with Dr. Stephen Faraone at the World Federation of ADHD. For additional learning about ADHD, be sure to listen to my full conversation with Dr. Faraone on episode 85 of Wise Squirrels.

The following are the fourteen highlights discussed in the webinar, and I was inspired to post a short article here to help educate more people and continue my goal of removing stigma here at Wise Squirrels. Without further adu...

14 lies about ADHD...

1. ADHD is a modern American invention: The claim that ADHD originated in the United States in the late 1950s and was exported globally due to political or cultural factors.
2. ADHD medicalizes normal behavior: The idea that doctors are pathologizing ordinary childhood behaviors rather than identifying a debilitating condition linked to serious adverse outcomes.
3. ADHD medications are dangerous "speed": The misconception often promoted in media that ADHD medications are as harmful or addictive as crystal meth and make patients "speed freaks."
4. ADHD diagnosis is invalid because it is subjective: The belief that lacking a biological scan or test makes the clinical diagnosis unreliable, invalid, or meaningless.
5. Objective or neuropsychological testing is required for diagnosis: The assumption that FDA-cleared brain devices or neuropsychological tests are valid, useful, or necessary to confirm or rule out ADHD.
6. ADHD is caused by bad parenting or poor discipline: The myth that family context, lack of discipline, or parental incompetence causes ADHD rather than neurobiology and genetics.
7. ADHD symptoms are intentional moral or character failures: Viewing behaviors related to executive dysfunction and reward processing as laziness, lack of motivation, or carelessness.
8. Screen time and television cause ADHD: The claim that modern technology or screens trigger the development of ADHD.
9. People with ADHD cannot focus on anything: Overlooking that ADHD is an issue of attention regulation, which can include periods of intense hyperfocus. I'm writing this, right? LOL.
10. Therapeutic stimulant use causes substance addiction: The fear that prescribed stimulants lead to drug addiction, whereas evidence shows therapeutic use actually lowers the risk of substance abuse.
11. Medication is an "easy way out" or performance enhancer: Stigmatizing treatment as an unfair advantage rather than a medical intervention that establishes a neurobiological baseline.
12. ADHD only presents as hyperactive children: Caricaturing the disorder as solely hyperactive youth, which invalidates inattentive presentations frequently seen in adults and women.
13. ADHD is universally or predominantly overdiagnosed: The assertion that widespread diagnostic inaccuracy is strictly driven by overdiagnosis, ignoring that underdiagnosis also occurs.
14. ADHD does not exist or is a fraud: The belief that ADHD is not a genuine, real medical disorder.

Do me a favor.

If you hear one of these in the world, send that chump on over to this article. We Wise Squirrels have your back!

You can watch the full webinar, Misconceptions and stigma surrounding ADHD on the World Federation of ADHD.