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Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

(www.freyaindia.co.uk)
540 points drankl | 2 comments | 06 Jul 25 22:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.417s | source
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parpfish ◴[07 Jul 25 01:05 UTC] No.44485690[source]▶
Decades ago in my first abnormal psych course, the prof warned us that there was an almost iron-clad law that students will immediately start self diagnosing themselves with “weak” versions of every disorder we learn about. In my years since then, it has absolutely held true and now is supercharged by a whole industry of TikTok self-diagnoses.

But there are a few things we can learn from this:

- if you give people the chance to place a label on themselves that makes them feel unique, they’ll take it.

- if you give people the chance to place a label on themselves to give a name/form to a problem, they’ll take it.

- most mental disorders are an issue of degree and not something qualitatively different from a typical experience. People should use this to gain greater empathy for those who struggle.

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1. uncircle ◴[07 Jul 25 10:14 UTC] No.44488655[source]▶
According to Google, any physical symptom is indicative of cancer.

According to social media, any personality quirk is indicative of ADHD.

I am diagnosed ADHD from a qualified professional, took medication, found it a great help, and I’ve come around to believe it’s all bullshit. Yeah, you have ADHD symptoms, yeah it’s disrupting your life, yeah you cannot find concentration and motivation. No, you’re not special. You’re not genetically born with pre-frontal cortex deficiencies. It’s, simply enough, an epidemic of massive proportions. We’ve created a society of distracted, gratified, unsocialised lazy squirrels all but interacting with the world through a piece of magic glass; what do you expect?

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2. ryuker16 ◴[10 Jul 25 06:53 UTC] No.44518080[source]▶
I was diagnosed adhd well before mobile phones. Also, mri scans show adhd so yes, it is a prefrontal cortex deficiency.

Let me give you some old man advice. Untreated adhd feels sutble to the person but its not subtle to everyone around you. You think your calm but come off like a zany, pacing autistic person or incredibly anxious. Alcohol and drugs can make you even more spazzy or impulsive.

Dont believe me? Go ask friends and coworkers how you come off. Your going to be shocked, trust me.

Every adhd person i met who told me what you just said was a spazzy mess or incredibly rigid/disciplined/control freak to counter act the adhd.

They were rarely away how much of a spazz we come off as even with treatment.