Growing awareness of ADHD may be leading some young adults to mistakenly believe they have the disorder, according to new U of T Scarborough research. The study, published in Psychological Medicine, found that while mental health awareness programs are designed to help people recognize symptoms and seek support, they can trigger false self-diagnosis. But the researchers also found that a short educational session on the nocebo effect – a phenomenon in which negative expectations about having a disorder can make someone’s symptoms appear worse – can lower the likelihood of mistaken diagnosis.