image: People with self-diagnosed ADHD report more negative self-image and more internalized stigma than clinically diagnosed individuals.
Credit: Hiki App, Unsplash, CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
People with self-diagnosed ADHD report more negative self-image and more internalized stigma than clinically diagnosed individuals, and are more likely to seek social validation, per analysis of 450,000 ADHD sub-reddit posts
Article URL: http://plos.io/4plEDJz
Article title: Seeking validation in the digital age: The impact of validation seeking on self-image and internalized stigma among self- vs. clinically diagnosed individuals on r/ADHD
Author countries: U.S., China
Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.
Journal
PLOS One
Article Title
Seeking validation in the digital age: The impact of validation seeking on self-image and internalized stigma among self- vs. clinically diagnosed individuals on r/ADHD
Article Publication Date
1-Oct-2025
COI Statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.