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Comment by bsd44 | Hacker News Reader

Seems about right. People have already devalued the meaning of terms such as "racism", "feminism" and "depression" by severely abusing them, causing enormous damage to those who are victims of what those terms represent and now they've ganged up on ADHD. Globalised social networking truly is cancer of our societies.

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People don't even realize that trivializing it is doing real harm to people that actually have it. I was diagnosed with ADD as an adult, and it took about a month to find a psychiatrist willing to see me because most think that you probably just want drugs because "omg, I'm like, so ADHD sometimes". I've talked to other people with it, and it's a common issue.

I understand how hard it must be wanting to seek help but at the same time trying to avoid being falsely stigmatised. I sympathise with you because I can relate, but that's the world we live in. Downvotes tell you all you really need to know.

In a similar vein, people claiming they are OCD or using OCD as an adjective - may they never truly experience the distress OCD can cause. Often though, their use of it doesn’t bother me that much, I don’t think their intent is malicious and I’m sure I have such blind spots for other afflictions, or, well, I pick my battles nowadays.

Yeah this is where I'm at now with people misusing "OCD" :/ Sometimes, online, I just link them to stuff that explains what OCD actually is. My hope is that if people learn exactly how complex and life-ruining actual OCD can be, and how long people take to get diagnosed, they'll actually find it interesting and naturally stop using "OCD" to mean "neat" or "particular"

I have used the exact same language... "not malicious"... but it's still term overloading that hurts people with OCD and keeps them living in what is legitimately hell on earth

Took a year of attempting bipolar treatments before my doctor finally agreed with ADHD diagnosis at 25. I’m glad she stuck with it but it sounds like I wouldn’t have as much luck even getting help now.

OCD is another victim.

True OCD can be debilitating, yet I hear so many use it as a synonym for being particular or fussy.

People who disagree: please write a substantive comment outlining your views instead of knee-jerk downvoting something you find unpalatable.

This is downvoted because the examples elicit knee-jerk reactions, but Concept Creep is a real phenomenon, and social media does drive it.

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