iagnoses of various developmental disorder like ADHD have come to appropriate this label and use it to refer to anyone who subjectively feels different or like an outsider in their community.
ADHD is not viewed as a completely cultural or societal construct, but rather as a real and significant neurodevelopmental disorder. While ADHD may certainly present with different phenotypes and appearances in different communities in this country, there is little debate in the field of developmental psychology that ADHD presents significant functional challenges regardless of cultural origin.
In this age of social media, there is an abundance of information on the Internet about a wide range of health topics, including neurodevelopmental disorders and psychiatric disorders. While this insertion of social media into the behavioral healthcare space has served as an important vehicle for destigmatization, normalization, and community among people confronted with behavioral health symptoms, it has also introduced a high degree of misinformation, predatory online marketing, clickbait, and snake oil salesman eager to cash in on the fears, hopes, or desires of people researching their content. Unscrupulous online marketers, influencers, or content creators often exploit a phenomenon called the Barnum Effect which they use to establish credibility, recruit followers, and generate likes and comments.
The Barnum Effect
The Barnum Effect (AKA the Forer Effect) is a social psychology phenomenon in which people perceive that vague and general information about their life, personality, or circumstances applies uniquely to them even though the information readily applies to many people in the general population. For example, let's say you watch a TikTok video where someone says "I have ADHD and I often start too many projects and then I can't finish them." While you might strongly identify with this statement, in reality, everyone in the world has had experiences of being too busy to get everything done that they need to, whether they have ADHD or not. The person's use of the label "ADHD" in this statement links ADHD with this incredibly common tendency experienced by millions of developmentally healthy people every day. However, the Barnum effect leads us to believe that the statement is true and applies specifically to us. The Barnum Effect happens because we often want to feel special and understood, so when we hear something that sounds like it describes us, we tend to believe it, even if it's not actually that unique or specific. It is so important to keep the Barnum Effect in mind as we peruse social media, consume news media, work with salespeople, or decide whether to pursue costly treatments marketed as an easy fix for everyday problems and inconveniences, such as those purported to be caused by ADHD.
Why is ADHD Overdiagnosis Bad?
If a person struggles with concentration problems, brain fog, or disorganization, why not just diagnose them with ADHD? After all, people with ADHD commonly report these symptoms so perhaps physicians should just provide stimulant medications, accommodations, or interventions for anybody with these complaints. Unfortunately, doing so causes immense harm not just to the person with the inaccurate diagnosis, but to the broader ADHD community. Apart from simple diagnostic inaccuracy, when a person receives a "false positive" ADHD diagnosis (meaning they are diagnosed with the condition, but do not actually have it), several adverse outcomes occur. These negative outcomes include:
- Entrenching pathological beliefs and behavior
- Encouraging accommodating behaviors in loved ones and society (unnecessary accommodations or interventions)
- Promoting an external locus of control (believing ADHD prevents them from making positive changes in their life)
- Diverting resources away from the ADHD community
- Delaying treatment of psychopathology
- Incurring unnecessary medical and behavioral health costs
- Developmentally healthy individuals appropriating the very real and significant experiences of people with a true de