A New ADHD Diagnosis: Here's What People Get Wrong

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often over-diagnosed in certain age groups, and under-diagnosed in others. The misunderstanding and misconceptions behind ADHD and ADD are clearly widespread. Double board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Dom Sportelli diagnoses and treats ADHD in children and teenagers in his practice every day. He knows better than most the misconceptions people have once ADHD is diagnosed in themselves or someone they love. These are the basic principles that everyone should know about ADHD—and what people get wrong when it comes to an ADHD diagnosis.

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[MedCircle]

Do you think that ADHD is often overdiagnosed or misdiagnosed?

[TheCoolOwen]

I wasn’t “over diagnosed”. I didn’t get diagnosed until 37. I feel like I left a 37 year prison sentence.

[hxpnxs]

Oh yessss, gosh I hate when people think it's just about focusing or just about one thing. It is such a complex thing, it affects every aspect of your life & your emotion regulation too.

[pookamonsta]

i didn’t get diagnosed until i was an adult. it would have helped me so much when i was younger. instead of learning how to manage it i just completely gave up on trying.

[NateJones]

This video doesn't help remove the stigma that ADHD faces. ADHDers have an underdeveloped frontal lobe that causes low dopamine uptake (which causes issues with focus and leads to unhealthy dopamine seeking behaviors). ADHDers have compromised executive functions - impacting on a spectrum our time awareness, self-esteem, hindsight/foresight, working memory, organization and planning and ability to regulate emotions.


ADHD often has co-morbid traits, everything from anxiety, depression, dyslexia, bi polar or opposition defiance disorder. ADHD treatment is best when putting coping tools along with stimulants. The coping tools help manage the executive functions while the stimulants boost the dopamine to normal levels. ADHD brain physiology is different from nuerotypicals, and it because of our underdeveloped dopamine receptors that stimulants are not dangerous or addictive for ADHDers to take. It should be noted, kids that do not get treated for ADHD and then do not grow out of it become more and more likely to have a synapses breakdown the older they get. These are life altering events that literally tear apart your entire sense of self and your ability to function as an adult until you rebuild your synapses over about a 5 year period of time.

ADHD is not over-diagnosed. It is misdiagnosed. Bi-polar often can seem like ADHD, the difference being that Bi-polar manic and depression phases are internal where ADHD has reactions to external stimuli that causes the extreme emotional states. Of course someone could likely lie to a doctor about having ADHD, but you spend enough time around an ADHDer and an non-ADHDer and you can identify the differences. The ADHDer will interrupt and talk to much. They will have trouble focusing on boring or routine tasks and want to do activities that stimulate them. The will have trouble shifting from a hyperfocus task to another task and they will likely have major emotional eruptions, especially if they are broken away from something that is keeping their focus.

This channel is being irresponsible with this video as it does not clearly explain legitimate ADHD and why stimulants are used to treat it safely. Please do better.

Because of this over-diagnosis problem I always thought I didn't have ADHD and denied it my whole life.

[ErinStevens]

Not one mention of executive dysfunction in this channel's ADHD vids. Psychiatrists really really really like to hone in on the "inattention" aspect of the disorder and not much else and it's irritating. Motivating myself to do uninteresting tasks has affected my life in school, work, and my self esteem. My doctor always just asks how my concentration is. I've had a diagnosis and been on meds since I was 10 and it was only in my mid twenties that I realized some of the stuff I berated myself for was actually my ADHD. I had to learn this from the internet and other people with ADHD. I wish the medical community would do more research on the other aspects of it and talk about those more. Because despite having a diagnosis I still thought I was lazy, uncaring, a failure, etc because no professional ever actually told me what ADHD fully entails.

[antoniac]

Ugh, videos like this really hurt the cause. I was diagnosed as a child and as an adult, I still struggle. I take Concerta and have never gotten a rush. In fact, I only take 18 MG because anything over that gives me this weird rushy feeling that I hate. I take guanfacine as well and find that is a much better combo than upping the stims. I'm so tired of getting nothing but contempt and belittlement from these types.

[humboldthottakes]

Seriously! Like when a second grade teacher asks “is he MEDICATED” as if she is at all qualified to make that diagnosis much less assert that there should be ‘medication’ at that age...

[jcast]

I got diagnosed with ASD ADHD and PTSD when I turned 40. Imagine, 40 years of these things undiagnosed..

[darnielladd]

I agree at least for boys that they are sometimes misdiagnosed with ADHD. If a young boy is hyper then sometimes they will get diagnosed with ADHD when it could be something else entirely. When researching autism I found that it is often misdiagnosed as ADHD and that a lot of people with ADHD have autism but only get diagnosed with ADHD. So yes, there are some misdiagnoses and overdiagnoses in some areas but if you're not a boy and a child then it can take years until you finally get diagnosed and a big reason why girls are less likely to get diagnosed is not that they are less likely to have it but because it is often being overlooked.

Also, I get why he brought up the drug-seeking people but at the same time, it's usually someone who actually needs the drug and the doctor will be hesitant to give the medication that the patient needs because of the stigma. It's kind of annoying when people say that you could get addicted to your meds when most people struggle to remember to take them in the first place.

[wolfferoni]

Hmm it really depends where you are and the age you're being diagnosed. There are a lot of adults that are undiagnosed and only realise they have it when their kids exhibit symptoms or it gets bad enough that they go and get help for their symptoms. Some doctors just hand out pills like candy to try and solve the problem (albeit temporarily) and get the parents and kids out of their offices. ADHD is often co-morbid with anxiety and/ or depression and a lot of symptoms overlap so it just adds another layer of confusion. For people curious about ADHD, I'd recommend Dr Russell Barkley's lectures, interviews and the like on the subject since he dedicated his life to this.

[cameront]

1:28 Interviewer: "What is ADHD?"
1:50 Response: "That's [ADHD] in the nutshell basically."
I was staring at the screen and I didn't hear a word of the response. I guess my doctor was correct about my ADHD results.

[bobidderis]

My GP said I'm not ADHD. I failed miserably in life. I'm impulsive and disorganized. I can't regulate my emotions correctly. And my clumsiness really affected my jobs stability. And still she said I'm ok and functioning. This makes me so sad to the point of hurting myself

[Imtoobusyslayingrn]

the fact that most people still thinks that guys only have adhd and you have to look hyper to have adhd is crappy. this is why most people don’t get any diagnosis

[ronnie-lynn]

I’ve been diagnosed at 36 years old. I am female. I was diagnosed with with severe anxiety as a child. My hyperactivity & impulsivity masked as anxiety.

[jeannypedersen]

Living with aspergers, adhd (hyper and hypo), ocpd, trauma from being abused as 2 year old, social anxiety, ptsd, celiac, diabetes and sleepapnea….happy, calm and loving life thanks to a optimistic personality

[daniellereid]

As a parent and a teacher, I’m finding this series very interesting and helpful. There are definitely a good deal of over- and misdiagnoses going on right now. This is critically important for children, particularly as so many are on medications, strong medications, at a time when they are still developing and I’m not convinced that many such meds are even proven safe in the long run. I’ve had bad experiences with my own children and prescribed psychiatric meds at a young age, so I’m very interested to hear what is said in future videos. Thanks again for producing such informative material.

[jonwhitney]

Not much was said beyond - "over diagnosis"- and " inattention"- ADHD is so much more than sound bites. My teachers, during my formative years, would often say- "he has so much potential" and " if only he would apply himself"... no one addressed my inability to focus on things that were of no interest to me- executive function issues were unknown then- and I have suffered for it my entire life.

[judeboy]

I THINK IS MISDIAGNOSED. MY FIRST DOCTOR THINKS I HAVE, ADHD, WHEN I REALLY HAVE IS O.C. D. MY NEW PSYCHOLOGIST TELL ME, THATS MISDIAGNOSED HAPPENS TO MANNY