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Comment by varispeed | Hacker News Reader

Not sure if you noticed the play. You don't have ADHD or autism, you just suffered from trauma.

Government doesn't like that "too many" people want to get support, so looks like they reach for academics.

Same crap they did with cannabis and others when it was impacting certain interests.

As an ASD, if you mean support by putting you on benefits, then I absolutely do not want to have any support like that. I certainly do not think that anyone that can participate in conversations should live a life without becoming part of society and be responsible about how they live.

The support I need is just to have NORMAL people around that I can mirror and be part of normal society, and not just traumatized people or criminals(which can be the same as well).

While I support free will, but cannabis changes brains - and people, that have killed certainly can't claim that they had any beneficial effects from smoking cannabis. And as someone that have heightened senses, I also have negative bias towards cannabis use in public. Also, I have tried it - it did not made me feel better, but worse - I felt even more stressed. I would rather be drunk, than smell cannabis around me.

> You don't have ADHD or autism, you just suffered from trauma.

Yeah that's exactly what I'm saying, but more specifically I wanted to relieve myself of blame through a label my parents could more easily empathize with

It can be both. It frequently is when you're trying to navigate a condition and everybody is downplaying it or just pointing it as your fault for being stupid or lazy. And, yes, years of that (frequently involuntary) gaslighting creates trauma.

Well, adult treatment paths for complex ptsd are definitely much more resource intensive than adhd (medication) or autism (congrats for getting the diagnosis and good luck). So I don't think this can be what the article is about. It may not be well-covered by insurance, though, and thus not as much pursued (as compared to treating the superficial symptoms of depression, anxiety etc), especially as evidence for positive outcomes and standardised treatment is much more lacking.

I’m sure a lot of people seeking an ADHD / Autism diagnosis after “discovering” they “totally have it” after seeing a video on social media do not in fact have ADHD / Autism.

Of course. You know better other people minds than they know themselves. Why being spiteful? Are you jealous that someone is disabled?

Who knows? At least a YT video puts them in the direction of getting a proper evaluation after potential decades of struggling and not knowing "what's wrong with me", etc.

Diagnosis isn't 'read online.'

Yes and a lot of folks do too, it’s not useful to make sweeping statements either way.

Yes? That why you go to a certified professional to see if you have it.

The problem is that even certified professional clinicians can't reliably determine whether you have "it". Studies have shown that when the same patient is examined by three different mental health providers they often receive three different diagnoses (or no diagnosis at all). It's a highly subjective process, and patients themselves often exhibit significantly different behaviors at different times.

this dismissive attitude, with the scare quotes, is so bizarre to me.

to make an analogy to physical health:

someone has chronic gastrointestinal pain, but they just live with it and have never talked to a doctor about it.

they watch a video from someone talking about having chronic GI pain and getting diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.

they go to a doctor and say "I think I have ulcerative colitis"

the doctor runs tests, and they come back negative.

I get that it's tempting to say "oh this person was misled by a video on social media"

but, the pain they were feeling was real. even if they jumped to an incorrect conclusion about its cause.

and after those negative tests, they can work with their doctor to find out "ok, what else might be causing my symptoms?"

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