‘An influencer fad’: Abbie Chatfield and Megan Marx fight over ADHD
One hooked up with the other’s ex shortly after their breakup— but that’s got nothing to do with the reason why Abbie Chatfield and Megan Marx are fighting on social media.
Confidential
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Abbie Chatfield and Megan Marx are beefing on social media, and it’s got nothing to do with former Bachelor contestant Marx hooking up with the media mogul’s ex-boyfriend on The Challenge, shortly after their breakup.
Marx has copped widespread backlash by claiming ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) has become an “influencer fad”, suggesting bloggers are taking medication designed to manage the condition in order to lose weight.
“I do think that ADHD diagnosis — there’s a possibility that it could be a little bit of a trend,” she said in response to a fan question on Instagram Monday afternoon.
“Some people with ADHD may have symptoms that were brought on by ‘environmental factors’, including being ‘overstimulated’ by social media use,” Marx continued, and
her colourful opinions did not end there.
She went on to call ADHD medication “basically meth” and said “high-functioning influencers” are steering people to medicate themselves blindly.
Soon after sharing her thoughts on Instagram to 152K followers, Marx’s videos were then re-uploaded onto gossip forums and went viral.
Abbie Chatfield ripped Marx a new one, slamming her opinions as “invalid and ableist” via her Instagram stories.
Chatfield said it was stigmatising and inaccurate to say all people are using ADHD medication for weight loss, or because it’s a trend.
Unpacking the suggestion that ADHD is a trend, she argued that the increases in diagnoses are a response to wider education.
“It’s the new influencer drug for weight loss you reckon. Do you know how f..king hard it is to get ADHD medication or to get diagnosed? Women are so undiagnosed particularly. Maybe the reason we’re seeing an increase in diagnoses is because people are actually f..king understanding that ADHD isn’t just naughty boys ripping things apart. It’s actually a diagnosis and health condition that affects people’s lives. The symptoms are debilitating,” Chatfield said.
She also qualified this by saying it cost her $1,500 and 18 months to receive her diagnosis.
Marx then responded to Abbie’s video with a since-deleted Instagram post, in which she revealed that she herself is ADHD diagnosed and medicated.
She asked people “not to jump on the hate train,” adding that medication literally changed [her] life for the better” and that she “understands the process very well”. Rather, she wants the side effects “to be discussed”.
Chatfield then called this out as being “worse” in an 18-minute-long self-described “rant”, which she posted on Tuesday night.
The Hot Nights radio host has recently opened up about her struggles with medication causing dramatic weight loss, and said someone with ADHD should not be adding further stigma.
“The weight loss can be quite triggering. The reason why people don’t speak about ADHD medication making you lose weight is these people don’t want to encourage you to take medication to lose weight. This is why I didn’t speak about it for a long time,” Chatfield said.
“People are trying to destigmatise medication for mental health issues...It isn’t weight loss medication. It isn’t practically meth. It is not to be able to get more work done or study harder. It is to normalise our brains.”
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