Hacker News Reader

I wonder what the officially diagnosed number for adhd is and it it is rising over the decades; literally all my kids of my friends and acquaintances 'have adhd'. Most are not diagnosed by a medical professional but self diagnosed. A lot of people I talk with (people over 35-40) have self diagnosed themselves as having adhd to explain their issues in life.

Did the actual number increase? Did the definition broaden? Why does it seem like a plague now?

View on HN

Also I have literally never met anyone in my life telling me 'I have ADHD'. However on the internet it seems that everyone has it. My pet theory is that it is a very American thing, not that people feel more free to talk about it on the internet.

I've got ADD, which is a close sibling of ADHD. I know better than to tell people IRL I've got it. Experience has shown me that the moment you do you're reduced to that singular attribute. Suddenly everything you do is explained by the ADD. It's infuriating, and easily avoided by simply not telling people.

I don't even know how you would notice if you had ADD while working construction or some other manual labour job. While performing office work makes everyone feel like they have ADD if they aren't performing as they expect themselves too.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com