“TikTok is perfect for the ADHD audience because the videos are short, punchy, and entertaining.” He warns that not all content on TikTok is factual, nor does it replace seeing a doctor. Researcher Anthony Yeung, MD, and colleagues viewed one hundred of the most popular TikTok videos on ADHD.
This oversimplification of ADHD—symptoms as common as sleepiness and feeling unmotivated have been equated with disorder on TikTok—may boost the risk of overdiagnosis and misdiagnoses, the researchers suggest, adding to a growing body of evidence that ADHD is becoming increasingly overdiagnosed in adults.
Problems with social media are common and frequent for adults with ADHD, who sometimes lack social skills and communication clarity online, where it can be more difficult to gauge feedback and social cues.
Millions of videos on TikTok and Instagram Reels talk about ADHD. But experts say using these videos to self-diagnose the disorder is ill-advised.
Social media has also propelled ADHD into popular awareness, as it has taken over platforms like TikTok and Twitter. As of May 2022, the hashtag #adhd has 11.4 billion views on TikTok. Many people credit these platforms with helping them realize they had the diagnosis and subsequently seeking treatment for it.
Motor tics may be mild, with movements such as excessive eye blinking or shrugging. They can also be very noticeable, with movements such as mouth opening, facial grimacing, head movements, shoulder shrugging, twitching, or combinations of these movements.
Sensitive to Rejection. People with ADHD are exquisitely sensitive to rejection and criticism. They can experience hopelessness and demoralization because they try to succeed by imitating the paths to success of people without ADHD, and then fail over and over again because the same paths don't work for them.
One of the things you shouldn't say to someone with ADHD is that it's in their head, they're lazy, or if they learn to focus that they can get their work done. By saying these things, you're dismissing their condition and the challenges they deal with daily.
One recent Center for Countering Digital Hate study found that when researchers posed as 13-year-old users and searched and liked mental-health videos, they received potentially harmful content (including about eating disorders and self-harm) from TikTok every few minutes or more.
According to a first-of-its-kind study from University of Minnesota computer science researchers, the social media platform and its unique algorithm can serve as both a haven and a hindrance for users struggling with their mental health.
In particular, concerns have been raised around the dangers of the infinite amount of personalised short videos. A recent study shows that personalised TikTok videos activate reward systems in the brain and create higher addiction levels when compared to non-personalised algorithms.
With ADHD children, we use "The 30% Rule" to set realistic expectations. The 30% Rule goes like this. Take the age of your ADHD child and subtract 30% from it. If your son is 12, for example, subtracting 30% of 12 (3.6 years) from 12 gives you 8.4.
Often girls with ADHD have a physiological sensitivity that results in their not wanting to be touched or feeling really sensitive to physical affection, such as hugs.
As we've discussed, unfortunately, many people with ADHD tend to have a lack of empathy. This can be addressed, though, through identifying and communicating about each other's feelings. If you see a disconnect between ADHD and empathy in your child or in your spouse, don't give up hope.
ADHD is not on the autism spectrum, but they have some of the same symptoms. And having one of these conditions increases the chances of having the other. Experts have changed the way they think about how autism and ADHD are related.
ADHD can reduce life expectancy by as much as 13 years, but its risk is reversible.
The largest review ever of ADHD patient brain scans was carried out at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre and published in 2018. Parts of the ADHD brain mature at a slower pace (approximately one to three years) and never reach the maturity of a person who does not have ADHD.
A: ADHD brains need more sleep, but find it doubly difficult to achieve restfulness. It is one of those ADHD double whammies: ADHD makes it harder to get enough sleep, and being sleep deprived makes it harder to manage your ADHD (or anything else).
If our brains can't get enough information to keep them alert, they start to slow down. This means you might be talking to someone with ADHD and then they will suddenly start: yawning. looking sleepy.
ADHD Is Associated With Short-Term Memory Problems
Although they do not have problems with long-term memories, people with ADHD may have impaired short-term — or working — memory, research shows. As a result, they may have difficulty remembering assignments or completing tasks that require focus or concentration.