ADHD Myths: ADHD Isn't Real

Why ADHD isn't some sort of "Big Pharma" plot.

Photo by Growtika on Unsplash

While many myths about ADHD tend to distort the realities, one myth simply denies the existence of ADHD altogether.

This is often rooted in a number of issues:

1. Misunderstanding. Many ADHD symptoms can also be present in neurotypical people—such as inattention, distraction, and impulsivity—so people may dismiss ADHD as simply someone being lazy or lacking willpower.

2. Stigma around mental health. This can be particularly prevalent in some cultures and communities which disregard or tend to ignore mental health in general. Since ADHD is a more common condition (most estimates suggest 5-10% of the general population have ADHD) with a history of being undiagnosed, some may see the recent rise in ADHD awareness as signaling an over-diagnosis problem.

3. “Big Pharma.” One of the most effective treatments for most people with ADHD is medication, which makes it a target for people thinking that it’s a “made up condition to push pills.”

4. Invisible symptoms. ADHD is often called an “invisible condition” because there isn’t any obvious physical evidence of it, making it easier for people to dismiss it and think it’s not real. And under the right conditions we often appear to be thriving which can make it even more confusing.

But ADHD actually has a long history of evidence backing it up. There have been major breakthroughs in recent years, but it’s hardly a made-up condition.

It was actually documented as far back as 1798 (!!) by Sir Alexander Crichton, who referred to a condition as “the incapacity of attending with a necessary degree of constancy to any one object.”¹

While this phrase doesn’t quite line up with our modern understanding of ADHD—I can hyperfocus on on object to an extreme “degree of constancy” for example—it shows that this is hardly some newly invented condition.

Just see if this paragraph from Crichton sounds familiar at all, remembering that this was written over two hundred years ago (emphasis added):

In this disease of attention, if it can with propriety be called so, every impression seems to agitate the person, and gives him or her an unnatural degree of mental restlessness. People walking up and down the room, a slight noise in the same, the moving a table, the shutting a door suddenly, a slight excess of heat or of cold, too much light, or too little light, all destroy constant attention in such patients, inasmuch as it is easily excited by every impression.

I mean, come on!

This could’ve practically been written by me, if I used words like “propriety” and “inasmuch” more often.

This early research was later expanded upon in the early-to-mid 1900s, and in recent decades, there has been an explosion of new research on ADHD.

In fact, the American Medical Association said that ADHD is “one of the best-researched disorders in medicine, and the overall data on its validity are far more compelling than for most mental disorders and even for many medical conditions.”²

In addition to all this is just the confirmation and validation that many of us have felt in the past few years as the ADHD community has grown through social media, leading many of us to feel seen and validated and understood for maybe the first time in our lives.

We know that ADHD is real because we’ve found the people that live our shared experience, the people that understand what it’s like to stare at the task you keep meaning to do and know the frustration when we notice it again weeks later still waiting to be done, that have learned to laugh at our mistakes to avoid crying about them happening yet again, that know the unique thrill and joy of a hyperfocus session gone right getting more accomplished in an afternoon than seems possible, and all the other unique ups and downs and lefts and rights that come with living ADHD.

Have you encountered this myth about ADHD? How has it affected your life or the lives of people you know? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

Stay curious,
Jesse J. Anderson

P.S. I’m really excited to be part of a group proposing an ADHD panel for next year’s SXSW and would love your support!

I’m part of the “How to Create ADHD-Supportive Workplaces to Benefit Everyone” panel, and there’s a second ADHD panel being proposed called “Creating and ADHD: Navigating Rocky Roads to Completion” so I encourage you to vote for both!

You can see more details here, and follow each link to create a quick account and cast your votes. You can vote for each proposal once. Thanks!

ADHD Myths Series

• ADHD Myths: People with ADHD Are Lazy or Lack Willpower

• ADHD Myths: People with ADHD Can’t Focus On Anything

• ADHD Myths: Only Kids Can Have ADHD, Not Adults

1. Lange, Klaus W et al. “The history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.” Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders vol. 2,4 (2010): 241-55. doi:10.1007/s12402-010-0045-8

2. Goldman, L S et al. “Diagnosis and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association.” JAMA vol. 279,14 (1998): 1100-7. doi:10.1001/jama.279.14.1100