Dr. Phil believes the medical community overprescribes medication for ADHD.

“I think we overmedicate kids in this country unbelievably.”

ADHD is a fraudulent diagnosis rather than a legitimate medical condition.

“As I've said repeatedly all this time for well over a decade uh the science behind the theory of ADHD isn't simply underbaked or inadequate. It is comically useless to the point that it is obviously fraudulent. The whole thing is a fraud.”

Riley expresses that her long-term prescription of ADHD medication in her youth felt like being on a strong drug that caused negative side effects and emotional numbness.

“I don't look back at that and be like, why did you all put me on like such a basically like prescribed meth essentially? That's essentially all that is.”

The speaker believes ADHD medication is problematic because it has long-term negative effects and kids are prescribed it without a full understanding of the consequences.

“But I look now and I'm just like, man, some of these pills that we just give kids to fix a thing we don't fully understand. It really bothers me. I'm like, oh, I there might be elements of me that are still long-term [ __ ] up from taking this drug.”

Prescribed ADHD medication at a young age had negative effects on his personality, athletic performance, and eating habits.

“And the truth of the matter is is that it kind of dulled me. Like I'm this very outgoing, sometimes very obnoxious person. Um sometimes it benefits me, sometimes it's not. And when I took this medicine, I was just like dulled out. And it also dulled me out in my athletics.”

Receiving a formal ADHD diagnosis helped in shifting from self-criticism to viewing the condition as a project to be managed.

“having a formal diagnosis being told that I had ADHD and dyslexia and all this other stuff it was a GameChanger because when you understand what you're dealing with I mean I'm sure you've had this experience you realize oh my God that's the issue and then you realize oh I'm not the only one”

She views receiving a formal diagnosis of ADHD as a positive and comforting experience because it provided her with necessary information to better manage her symptoms.

“and immediately I was happy my ADHD in me gave me it gave me information right so whenever there's lack of information is when I get most thrown off um so I'm always seeking information Comfort very averse to change so the minute I was aware of these things it's actually made the dealing much simple”

Matt believes that seeking an official diagnosis is a valuable step for understanding his behavior and identifying effective coping mechanisms.

“I just wanted to know what was like actually going on like I wanted to know for real like do I have ADHD or am I just self-diagnosing because I think everybody's so quick to self- diagnose after they see a Tik Tok about oh you could have this or you could have this”