[slothtrop]

I myself was diagnosed twice. I don't have it, at all. Notwithstanding any perverse incentive to diagnose, the process itself is not stringent and borders on pseudo-scientific. It's not to say ADHD doesn't exist, but that they (psychiatrists) egregiously cast too wide a net.

You might ask how I know I don't have it. No one really cared about other symptoms I exhibited: chronic insomnia foremost, and some anxiety. Once I got a handle on that with non-pharmaceutical interventions, my focus was fine.

And to the extent that insomnia was given any credence, it's to push pills. Generously you could say practitioners default to that because it's so often demanded by clientele, they want to just press a button to make problems go away. But they just don't bother giving you an alternative.

edit: would also mention, the first time I was diagnosed as a young child was because I was a bored daydreamer who didn't always pay attention to the teacher. This is what we're treating as a weakness to be rooted out.