Since the 2010s, statistics have shown an increase in the number of Autism and ADHD diagnoses sought, accompanied by an outcry that the struggling NHS is unable to cope with the extra demand. Today, NHS neurodevelopmental services receive five times as many referrals for Autism assessment as they did in 2019, and prescriptions for ADHD medication have increased by 51%. Women particularly are seeking diagnosis at higher rates. 

Theories attempt to explain this increase by tracing it back to social media usage, but in perhaps unexpected ways. Young people online may find themselves in communities which engage in free and unregulated discussions of health and wellbeing, with information passing back and forth which may not be verifiable or credible. The app TikTok receives particular heat, for having seemingly spawned its own questionable brand of ‘psychiatry’. 

Heightened awareness of health conditions, including neurodevelopmental disorders, can be viewed highly positively: it may open somebody’s eyes to a diagnosis which they genuinely had no idea they needed, and which would vastly improve their quality of life. After all, many support services, such as disability accommodations at university, may require a student to have a formal diagnosis in order for them to gain access. This makes the prospect of diagnosis particularly important for young neurodivergent people undergoing challenging life transitions, while lacking crucial support to which they should be entitled. 

Many resort to self-diagnosis, on account of terrifying wait times. Receiving word that your NHS appointment is scheduled for 2027 is, by now, an experience likely familiar to many. However, the validity of self-diagnosis is a debate of its own, with the act of self-diagnosing presenting new barriers; for example, symptoms may be misconstrued in the absence of a professional assessor. Access to disability accommodations may also be restricted, something I experienced myself when I was told as a first-year undergrad that being on a waiting list for a diagnosis was not evidence enough that I had a disability. I was advised to get back to them once my diagnosis was made official, which I did, two years later. 

Fervent online discussion around health is also perceived negatively by supposedly causing young people to over-pathologise ordinary behaviours. A TikTok viewer may find themselves relating to the symptoms of a disorder that they do not necessarily meet all the diagnostic criteria for. There is also the theory of social contagion, which was brought to the fore by the brief Tourette’s syndrome scare on TikTok in 2020, a fascinating incident worth reading about. Such behaviours have been greeted by concerns about the already squeezed NHS not being able to process the influx of referrals, and that the uptick is likely just a ‘trend’ of teenage girls seeking attention: the same response met by Tourette’s-gate. 

Personally, I would argue that the people helped and lives improved by heightened awareness are worth a few potentially inaccurate referrals. In reality, there is little research out there about how many ‘false diagnoses’ are made. In other words, we do not know how many are led down the path to diagnosis erroneously. Accusations of false referral and diagnosis opens up the wider, often ableist debate about who is really disabled, and who is ‘faking’. While I cannot speak for everyone, the people I have encountered in neurodivergent spaces, including NHS support groups, were not ‘fakers’, but instead had long suspected that something was amiss and were better-off having received the diagnosis they needed. 

After all, women and girls are coming at this from the angle that their part in neurodivergent history was neglected for many years, with Autism and ADHD considered boys’ disorders on account of the diagnostic criteria. Traits which are more characteristic of girls remained unexplored until fairly recently, and so the ‘surge’ may well be women and girls catching up. Given that adult women are seeking diagnosis also, the ‘trend’ is not exclusive to adolescent TikTok users. So is it a ‘trend’ at all? 

Any debate about NHS resources ends up circling back to the fact that the NHS is underfunded, regardless of who uses it. Concerns about its longevity need to be addressed by government policy, not by teenagers seeking support. It is often easier to blame social media, still a relatively new and unregulated phenomenon, than to address issues at a broader societal level. If responsibility lies with either outdated diagnostic criteria and underfunded health systems, or the age-old trope of ‘attention-seeking’ young women, I find myself more inclined to believe it’s the former.

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