MEGAN MARX: My comments about ADHD were inflammatory – but I won’t be shut down by Abbie Chatfield

I grew up in a fundamentalist religion, where certain mental health conditions were deemed either a sin, or a punishment from God.

Schizophrenia and epilepsy were considered demon possession, arthritis was bitterness, depression was selfishness, and ADHD was just a general lack of discipline. 

I have ADHD and know what it’s like to not seek help because of harmful community attitudes (an exorcism was more commonplace than going to a therapist).

I’m therefore devastated to think that my original – and admittedly haphazard comments – regarding the condition may have prevented people from seeking help.

Whilst I don’t believe I have been ‘attacked’ by Abbie Chatfield for personal reasons, I also don’t believe that her campaign against me is about harm reduction.

Abbie’s content regarding me has proven to be more an act of entertainment and self-promotion than a semblance of comradeship within the ADHD space.

A fair example of this would be Abbie claiming that weight loss as a side effect of ADHD medication is something that shouldn’t be discussed as it could trigger people with eating disorders to seek false ‘treatment’.

Her point could have had merit, yet she proclaimed this to her near-half a million followers, providing a platform for the very idea she found too harmful to examine.

The fact is, Abbie Chatfield is a stranger. And strangers can’t possibly have the singular moral authority to make an objective statement regarding my character based on a few Instagram stories.

Pursuing a muddy defamation case and personally organising an exile from a community I am part of, without any regard to my experience with substance abuse, withdrawal, neurodivergence, and most importantly ADHD diagnosis and medication is not just absolute lunacy, but total hypocrisy.

The fact is, Abbie Chatfield is a stranger. And strangers can’t possibly have the singular moral authority to make an objective statement regarding my character based on a few Instagram stories, says Megan Marx

‘I am happy to be held accountable not just within a social media space, but in my everyday life with family and friends’

If harm reduction is the goal of ‘calling someone out’, then I need an ethical explanation regarding its dubious methods.

I’m not saying I don’t believe in reparative justice, because I do. My original comments regarding my views on ADHD amongst influencers were much too casual, inflammatory, and gave zero context.

I am happy to explain further and be held accountable not just within a social media space, but in my everyday life with family and friends.

But how is this ‘justice’ being achieved? And at what cost?

I am frequently asked by people, on knowing my diagnosis, to ‘borrow’ my meds for weight loss, a night out, or for performance enhancement, says Megan Marx

I don’t have the media privilege, the wealth privilege, or followership privilege that Abbie Chatfield has. I am privileged in many ways, but I live a quiet life in a small town on the Sunshine Coast, use a boom box for audio in my sh**ty car, and for the most part sell commissioned nude paintings for a living.

I don’t have the media ‘power’ that could possibly shield me from the wrath of nearly half a million followers.

I am frequently asked by people to ‘borrow’ my ADHD meds for weight loss, a night out, or for performance enhancement.

On the latest show I was on, The Challenge, I was asked by two contestants to use my Ritalin for elimination challenges, and yet another contestant told me they used to sell their medication to partygoers.

I am sick of the ongoing claims that substance abuse within and outside of real ADHD diagnoses doesn’t exist, and worse, the dialogue that refuses to acknowledge the dark side of amphetamine prescription.

ADHD is frequently dubbed on TikTok as something fun and quirky – a cool group to be part of – and this has been incredibly belittling and frustrating not just for me, but my inbox full of frustrated people with ADHD (influencers included – gasp!), too scared to speak out in fear of breaking the social justice ‘rules’.

Whilst I understand that many influencers are doing great work within this space, and I do understand the benefits of community building and making light of a condition that can be extremely debilitating, I also believe that we live in a world where the medical system constantly fails us. 

We should take both social-media based self-diagnosis, and prescribed medication as treatment, more seriously.

I’m a big fan of diversity of thought and experience within any community group, and will not bow down to ‘you’ve done this which is out of my experience, so I have the right to humiliate you and take everything from you’ dialogue by the likes of Abbie Chatfield – or by any person or ‘social justice’ brand for that matter.

‘We should take both social-media based self-diagnosis, and prescribed medication as treatment, more seriously’