Bipolar 2 From Inside and Out

Posts tagged ‘ADHD’

Diagnosing Yourself

It’s hard enough for a mental health professional to properly diagnose someone. For someone with no training in psychology or psychiatry, it’s virtually impossible. Nonetheless, every day, there are people who decide that they are bipolar, or have autism, or ADHD, AuDHD, or some other diagnosis.

Many of them decide this based on the pop psychology that permeates our society. Some base their “diagnosis” on tests or surveys they take online. Perhaps others simply feel that the differences they see in themselves equal neurodivergence. It’s trendy, in other words.

Elizabeth M. Ellis, Ph.D., an ADHD specialist, wrote an article that was published in July 2025 in Medium, titled “No, You Don’t Have ADHD, and Here Are 5 Reasons Why.” I’ll summarize, in case you don’t have access to Medium.

Her five reasons are:

  1. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental Disorder. You do not “get” ADHD past the age of 12.
  2. You don’t have ADHD because part of the diagnosis is the fact that the symptoms of ADHD are evident in childhood.
  3. Functional Impairment. You do not have ADHD because you were/are not functionally impaired.
  4. ADHD has a chronic course with most cases persisting into adulthood, negatively affecting a person’s ability to use their strengths and abilities to live successfully. You have had a successful life. You do not have ADHD.
  5. Responding positively to stimulants does not mean that you have ADHD.

Basically, an adult who says they have ADHD is not familiar with what ADHD really is—the criteria for a diagnosis by a professional, when the condition appears, the impairments of ADHD that occur, and why taking ADHD medications that seem to make you more productive with less effort doesn’t mean you have such a disorder.

Why do people claim a diagnosis that they don’t actually have?

First, they may have a lack of understanding of what the condition is. They may think, for example, that ADHD makes a person extra-productive because they don’t get a “normal” amount of sleep. They like the idea that they are a genius who has turned the diagnosis to their advantage. Or they think that they have OCD because they are obsessively neat. They don’t know about the obsessive thoughts that are a hallmark of OCD, the reason for rituals other than cleaning, and the harm they fear will happen if they do not perform these rituals.

Similarly, they may believe they have bipolar disorder because their moods change quickly, sometimes more than once a day. But even ultra-rapid-cycling bipolar disorder doesn’t really work that way. What the person is feeling may be normal reactions to the world around them. They’re happy in the morning because they received a compliment on their work. They feel sad in the afternoon when a friend cancels a dinner date. But bipolar disorder, in general, means that moods change over days, weeks, months, or even years, often without a visible cause. The DSM lists the symptoms that go with bipolar disorder (and other disorders), how often they occur, how long they last, and how many of those symptoms add up to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

Most online quizzes that purport to diagnose whether you have any of these psychological or psychiatric disorders present questions that are superficial and shallow. They lack important elements. Even the depression screener that doctors’ offices now use ask how often a person feels a symptom and how long it lasts, and have a better chance of suggesting a possible diagnosis, and allow the doctor to interpret the results and advise the patient on what to do about it. Online quizzes can’t and don’t.

As far as I can tell, online quizzes regarding psychological issues are no more useful than those that ask what Star Trek character you most resemble or whom you should date. They may be interesting, but they are valueless. That’s why we have professionals and leave actual diagnosis to them.

And, for people who simply decide on a condition they think they have, they’re not merely inaccurate; they spread false ideas of what it means to have a psychological disorder. Their misunderstanding makes life more difficult for those who actually have the conditions.

Nor are online quizzes the only culprits. There are also TV shows that have neurodivergent characters. I suppose I should be grateful that neurodiversity is mentioned at all, but the portrayals are often caricatures. Autistic people are seen, but only as nonverbal children who act out a lot or as savant doctors. People with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities) are either sadistic killers or played for laughs. And I have yet to see a good portrayal of a person with bipolar. It would be awfully boring to have a show about a person who can’t get out of bed for weeks, then spends money or drives recklessly.

So, you’re not the person who can diagnose yourself. A psychiatric or psychological practitioner needs to do it. You might, of course, go to a psychiatrist and say, “Dr., I’m having these symptoms. Do you know what could be causing them, and can you help me deal with them?”

That’s the way to get diagnosed.

Category:

Mental Health

Tagged with:

One or the Other? How About Both?

Who does this sound like?

Someone—child or adult—who hyper-focuses on a particular topic or interest, exhibits repetitive behaviors, responds to routines and consistency, and can be diagnosed in early childhood.

And who does this sound like?

Someone—child or adult—who needs novelty and change; is distractible, restless, and impulsive; and who is usually diagnosed as an adult.

I bet you said an autistic person for the first description and someone with ADHD for the second. But recently, there has been a diagnosis that covers people with both conditions: AuDHD.

At first, it sounds illogical that someone could have both disorders, given the very different traits. But if you look at them closely, there are places where they overlap. And sometimes the same trait is expressed in different ways. Both may interrupt conversations, have difficulty maintaining friendships, have sensory differences, and seek sensory stimulation. This overlap can make it difficult to diagnose AuDHD.

Still, there are noticeable differences. For example, people with autism need familiarity, while those with ADHD want novelty. With autism, a person is detail-oriented and resistant to change. In ADHD, there’s a tendency to miss details and crave change and novelty.

But the combination of autism and ADHD sometimes produces surprising strengths. People with AuDHD are creative problem-solvers and think outside the box. They love puzzles. They can hyperfocus. Someone with AuDHD can be productive. The combination of traits can be balanced and lead to valuable strengths.

Of course, there are drawbacks to a person having AuDHD. They may not have the combination of traits that make them handy in business, for example. They’re bundles of neurodivergent traits that may or may not line up in ways that suit neurotypical individuals. And they are susceptible to the stigma and harassment that come with being neurodivergent.

AuDHD is not a medical diagnosis that appears in the DSM. AuDHD is often self-diagnosed, particularly as an adult, based on symptoms. It’s a condition recognized by the neurotypical people themselves, much as ADHD sometimes is (though it requires a professional to make an official diagnosis). Even professionals can have a hard time recognizing it, though. Because of the difficulties in diagnosing the condition and its relative newness, AuDHD isn’t well understood. Research usually focuses on either autism or ADHD, so there isn’t a lot of scientific data about the prevalence of AuDHD or treatments for it. And AuDHD is perhaps underdiagnosed in women and girls, given the difference in diagnoses of autism and ADHD. Also, autism is often stigmatized, even more so than ADHD.

While there are diagnostic criteria that point to a diagnosis of autism and ones that appear with ADHD, there aren’t any official ones for AuDHD. The phenomenon is so new that not much research has been done on it. And because many cases are self-diagnosed, therapy professionals may not be up on how to help or even react to someone who believes that they have the co-occurring diagnoses.

That being said, professionals sometimes start with a diagnosis of autism (sometimes difficult to pinpoint itself) and then look for characteristics of ADHD. Sona Charaipotra suggests that the non-medical condition be diagnosed by combining autism with one of the subsets of ADHD (inattentive or impulsive/hyperactive), demonstrating five characteristics of either one. A combination diagnosis would require five traits from each of the subtypes. And the traits must cause some kind of functional impairment.

Treatment for the condition? Therapy is the first option. But because there is no medication treatment for autism, medications like Ritalin that are used for ADHD are sometimes prescribed. Lifestyle and environmental supports are also called for. Persons with AuDHD can help by suggesting what accommodations they need. After all, they know better than many psychiatric patients what they’re feeling and thinking, and what they need.

This is just a brief overview of AuDHD. There’s so much that still isn’t understood that, as time goes by, more exact definitions, diagnoses, and treatments for it will begin to emerge.

Category:

Mental Health

Tagged with: