ADHD and social networks
Do we all have a attention disorder?
ADHD is sometimes trivialized on Tiktok, with the risk of promoting erroneous autodiagnostics. An association is worried.
Social networks can help trivialize attention disorder.
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- Social networks are talking more and more about attention disorder, but sometimes evoke bad symptoms.
- Only a healthcare professional can establish a diagnosis of the disorder.
- Its trivialization can affect the understanding of the real difficulties of patients.
It is sometimes described, wrongly, as a fashion effect: attention disorder. It is estimated to be concerned in Switzerland Between 5 and 7% of children And that it continues in almost 60% of cases in adulthood. When the diagnosis of ADHD falls, it is often a relief for the person concerned and those around him.
On social networks, videos where internet users tell their “symptoms” of ADHD flourish. These contents, which describe for example difficulties in concentrating, constant agitation or impulsive behaviors, seduce: many recognize themselves. Perhaps because these little everyday things, such as forgetting your keys or not being able to finish an administrative approach, finally find an explanation.
Inevitable medical diagnosis
The attention disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADD/H), however, meets very specific criteria, which appear in the manual diagnosis of mental disorders, the “DSM-5”. Concretely, only a doctor can attest to the presence of this disorder which can upset everyday life.
Does the tendency to expose (pseudo-) ADHD symptoms on networks? Daniela Brustolin, head of l’association Aspedah, helps people affected by an attention disorder. She notices the concrete influence of the dissemination of this type of video on networks.
“We receive emails from people who self-diagnostic and are convinced to have ADHD,” she explains. However, sometimes they come back to consult us later, after a meeting with a specialist and say that they had another diagnosis, for example depression. ”
A “totally new” phenomenon
The professional had never seen this kind of behavior in the past: “It’s totally new and this is where we notice all the influence of networks.” For her, the population must be aware of paying attention to “shortcuts”.
“ADHD is a real disorder, which impacts all the spheres of life in a lasting way, only a doctor can diagnose you,” says Daniela Brustolin. Today, we tend to have a lifestyle that can cause certain symptoms, like being a lot on screens, little sleeping and not being able to concentrate. But we cannot draw from conclusion by itself, from one or two signs of the genre. ”
Talk about ADHD, but don’t trivialize
If ADHD serves as a reassuring explanation to make sense of certain difficulties, it is actually much more complex than the symptoms popularized on the networks. In addition, more than half of the Tiktok videos devoted to ADHD would not meet medical criteria and disseminate erroneous information, reports the German media “The mirror”.
“ADHD is not a fashion, it has a real impact on everyday life,” concludes Daniela Brustolin. It is positive that we talk about it as much, but we sometimes go too fast, we make shortcuts, and some people end up identifying themselves wrongly. By force, it trivializes the reality of the disorder and it does not serve concerned. ”
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