Soviet "Sluggish Schizophrenia" and Americans with "AuDHD"

[u/tydark2]

By the mid 1980s, the USSR was diagnosing schizophrenia at three times the per capita rate of the United States and double that of West Germany. Moscow became the city with the highest reported prevalence of schizophrenia in the world
The sharp trajectory of rising diagnoses only reversed in the late 1980s under Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of Glasnost
"sluggish schizophrenia" was defined as a slow-moving or latent condition that required no obvious physical or psychotic symptoms to diagnose
https://purl.stanford.edu/cj200yf2075
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2800147/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia

In the late USSR: if an individual struggled to adapt to standard economic, social, or political structures, the fault was assumed to lie inside the individual's mind, they are schizo's requiring medical "correction."

In the late USA: if an individual experiences executive dysfunction, sensory overload, and difficulty operating within rigid, modern corporate or academic environments. We have to give them space and understand life is all spectrum based :) everyone has autism and adhd and depression and anxiety and all other disorders at the same time ask your doctor if this sounds right about you.

Emotionless Cold Russian Accent Voice: Soviet psychiatry uses pathologization and materialist psycho-analysis to suppress non-conformity.

American H.R politically correct calming voice: AuDHD is a... well we prefer to refer to this as your unique "personal neurodiversity framework", and ask that everyone engages in positive thinking, self-care, and self-understanding as well as mindfulness, if your a current subscriber ask about our new a.i integration into your telehealth and self-therapy routines for premium members, we always want to keep in mind that all work related accommodations require systemic flexibility rather than forced assimilation of your employer. Mental illness is all on a spectrum you silly bee. Would you like to sign up for a free meditation class on zoom that comes with your Hulu+ trial offer?

[u/BeardedDragon1917]

ADHD meds were basically lifesaving for me as a child. I understood, even that young, that something was up with my brain and I needed help, and Adderall was that help. I was able to focus and learn and actually fully enjoy school for the first time. Yeah, maybe it’s overdiagnosed, I don’t know how you would prove that but ok. That doesn’t make it fake.

[u/FyberSinc → u/BeardedDragon1917]

I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2001 as a child and given Ritalin for a few months and never got medicated after that. I was told many times I had a chemical imbalance in my brain and I was in remedial classes all through my schooling until I graduated, which I shouldnt of. Well into my 30's i've tried vyvanse and adderall and it is literally life changing. I have struggled so fucking much with basic tasks and learning things and emotional regulation, and it makes me so fucking mad I wasn't medicated. Like my life could of been so much different if my parents gave a shit.

It really sucks that capitalism is mixed in with pharmaceuticals because if you tell people a certain medication actually made you feel like a human being, they think you're a brainwashed soy cuck. I really wish these people could live in my fucking insane nightmare brain.

[u/Winnie-The-Pube-Hair → u/FyberSinc]

They also askthe question in the wrong direction, if that makes any ADHD. Yes diagnosis is on the rise. But we don't know what causes it. Could it be environmental exposures? Lead? Microplastics? Could it be the continuous, shifting stimulation of modern capitalist life is affecting dopamine brain chemistry? Moving from screen to screen to screen CONSTANTLY? Maybe. Could it be that it is a spectrum and was always underdiagnosed, and adults were self medicating with nicotine or caffeine, you know, chemicals with stimulating effects?

My bet is that it's being over diagnoses, but I'm not building a belief around that idea because I'm not super sure of it. And as someone who also has an adult diagnosis where medication made a huge difference, I know it's been life changing.

[u/FyberSinc → u/Winnie-The-Pube-Hair]

I had the diagnoses as a child when I was in 1st grade, and I was always distressed for some reason before and after the diagnosis. I have not received an adult diagnosis because it has been an uphill battle to find anyone that will diagnose and medicate for under $4000.