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me waiting for the launch of Autism in 2013
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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2026
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I remember going to a therapist in 2013 and being told, "you're not depressed, you're just the normal amount of unhappy." It took me years of struggling in therapy before those online pharmacies opened up and I was able to get a mild antidepressant, which helped immensely with acute symptoms like intrusive thoughts.
Once I had the diagnosis, it made me able to do more work on myself, rather than just blowing from crisis to crisis. I pursued an ADHD diagnosis, but was told it wasn't worth testing because I didn't have ADHD, I was just depressed.
Since starting ADHD treatment I've been able to stop chronic self medication, be more productive and engaged at work and with my family, and all around just work on bettering myself. Now I have a good therapist and we can work on problems.
People who are like "ADHD is a tik tok thing" arent irredeemable, but many of them don't like the idea of someone who had trauma and psychiatric challenges being able to dig themselves out of the holes society placed them in. Some people just want other people to stay in their holes.
While it's certainly true ADHD is very real and can significantly impact one's ability to function (spoken as someone who has been diagnosed with it and takes medication to help), "ADHD is a tik tok thing" is also very true. I'm sure it existed before, but Tik Tok massively popularized the idea of having a mental health condition as something desirable (and indeed, even a source of identity) such that there are many "self-diagnosed" people who absolutely do not have ADHD. It's a huge problem, because it both delegitimizes the condition in the public discourse and creates an undercurrent of doubt that works against those that actually have the condition and are seeking help. It also causes a lot of misinformation where people frequently misattribute normal behavior as "their ADHD", which makes it difficult for people seeking out real information about it.
My daughter struggles with various health issues, and gets frustrated when people bandwagon health conditions to like valorize what, to her, has amounted to lifelong pain, inability to work, surgery and recovery. I sympathize with this frustration, but I think there's different social problems that manifest as valorizing health struggles.
If you could please provide specific instances where increased awareness and identification of symptoms was a net negative, compared to the problems caused by widespread cultural (hegemonic) suppression of people's identification with their own experiences, that would help me see your perspective. Because to me, who has experienced acutely the other side, your gripe seems hypothetical and functions (probably unintentionally) as part of a movement to continue to suppress peoples identification with their own experiences.
Like why do you even care (serious question)? Have you or somebody you know failed to get sufficient treatment as a result of individual misidentification? I think if someone is identifying with mental health issues in a way that misidentifies the disorder, that isnt behavior of a healthy, well adjusted and socially active person. Isn't it worthwhile to try and determine why someone might be experiencing a need that would drive them to misidentify with a health problem? If the cause is chronic loneliness, social media addiction, identity crisis, etc., that person should be encouraged to seek help for their experiences, not told they are faking it. That just moves the suppression of experiences away from these few conditions that previously went undiagnosed, into new forms of gas lighting that ensure people don't receive the help they need.
Like, I'm not really convinced that a lot of disorders are really all that negative by nature. In extreme cases, yes; but my ADHD might not have manifested depressive symptoms if there wasn't like devastating consequences to missing a utility payment, forgetting to pay a speeding ticket, mixing up days of my chaotic work schedule, etc. Its like there are all these people who don't fit in a rigid and punitive society, who are creative and kind and energetic, but get fucked over because fucking people over with bureaucracy is a time-honored way to make money. Which justifies the existence of the punitive society, by erasing the subjective reality of the individuals who make it up.
So all of the contradictions that emerge from having a human species that manifests individuals uniquely with incredible talents and possibility, being forced into a society that enforces an unrealistic ideal "neuro-normality" and punishes the rest, the consequences get shunted onto the individual (itself a socially/historically contingent definition). Society needs to take responsibility for the problems it creates for people. Silencing people just prevents them from talking to each other about our experiences, sharing struggles and identifying each other through them. And that social attitude doesn't benefit us, it benefits the bosses who make money by keeping us disorganized and suffering alone.