Upplevelsen av att bli diagnostiserad med ADHD i vuxen ålder
En kvalitativ sociologisk studie
AbstractWe have chosen to examine how it can be to be diagnosed with ADHD in adults. Our purpose of this study was to examine the experience of being diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. We wanted to investigate if people feel that the diagnosis has led to a change and if so, in what way. We also wanted to investigate the impact that the participants attribute the diagnosis. We have made a qualitative study in which we interviewed five men aged 31-45 years, who have all had their diagnosis for a year or more. We have analyzed our material from our theoretical premises, which has been the SOC and Stigma theory.Our results demonstrate that the people we interviewed, to some extent have experienced a change in their lives as a result of the diagnosis of ADHD. The diagnosis has worked for them as an explanation for their difficulties and as an opportunity to get support and help, such as medication. Some of those we interviewed also felt that the diagnosis has had a negative impact on their lives by an unsympathetic environment and a sense of being different. The people we interviewed attributed the diagnosis of great importance because it contributed to an explanation of their difficulties, as well as access to support and help, and secondly that they believe they have been a different situation if they had been diagnosed as a child.We do not want to draw any general conclusions from the results we obtained in the study, but we can see that the people we interviewed told us about a higher degree of comprehensibility and manageability after being diagnosed with ADHD. We do not see that they experienced an increased sense of purpose after they were diagnosed with ADHD, which is why we can´t say if they have received an increased SOC in its entirety as a result of the diagnosis. We also see that for some has been a stigma attached to being diagnosed with ADHD, while others describe it as a stigma of living with ADHD problems without knowing the cause of it.Keywords: ADHD, SOC, stigma, adult men, experience of diagnosis