“Symptoms are not better explained by another mental disorder”: the misdiagnosis of ADHD

Without more extensive training in the identification and diagnosis of ADHD, medical personnel often fall back on “the symptoms are not better explained by a better mental disorder.” I don’t want to use too many absolutes here, but societally, “we” are “all” “familiar” with depression, anxiety, temper tantrums, panic attacks, OCD, sleep problems, oppositional people, chronic low or irritable mood, allergies, rejection sensitivity, and high or low blood pressure. Unless you are skilled at teasing apart the symptomolgy of ADHD in real-life applications, most other disorders probably seem more appropriate. A concise application of Occam’s razor slices problems down to their most basic set. Depression or anxiety, after all, are much “simpler“ problems. After all is said and done, feeling depressed is only due to depression.

While not a doctor or a prescriber, I believe people who have taken multiple classes of antidepressants for an extended time period with no relief to symptoms may not have depression. Same holds true for all the other misdiagnosed situations.

When I don’t have a hammer, every nail gets treated like something— anything!— else. When a medical practitioner lacks a comprehensive understanding of ADHD— or even believes the disorder goes away after adolescence!— none of us will receive the proper care we need to function in this world. Lack of proper ADHD care guarantees the medical industry will spend copious time and monies attempting to treat the resultant anxiety, depression, panic disorder, insomnia, oppositional defiance disorder, chronic irritable mood, rejection sensitivity dysphoria, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, and hypertension.

Perhaps we just need that hammer. This is a call for better training and greater acceptance and understanding of ADHD throughout the wider medical profession.