The trick is largely to learn when to shut your gob, or say one thing and do another. I was repeatedly diagnosed with ADHD and ODD in my year of school in the states - flushed the pills, got expelled (well, forced to leave, as they didn't want an expulsion on their squeaky clean record).
Back to school in England... "Engaged", "curious", "incisive questions". Partially down to cultural differences in terms of views on mental health (I'm merely "eccentric" these days), and partially down to me doing a year long master class in the states as to how to lie my arse off and pretend to accept authority while rejecting it.
Yeah, and probably an American kid in the UK - and for sure in Eastern Europe where I currently reside - would be diagnosed with autism ;-) Too quiet, has no views or opinion of his own, sits still all day. ;-) I love it.
I remember my first days at the office in the US. I was like - am I in a mental institution with a band of cranky autistic adults now?
And for them I was waaay too crazy. Asked too many questions, talked too much, walked too much, "rocked the boat" too much.
Finally, they got really offended when I told them that I really came to believe they must be medicated or have some stuff added to water / food. ;-) And I loved that too.
I had a friend from LA visiting Poland. He used "dude this is intense" about 10 times an hour. He claimed people drive crazy here, say crazy stories, generally are crazy, and he was like - is that all for real?
Cultural differences can be huge factor in determining if someone mentally fit or not.
I happen to know quite a few American kids who moved to countries around the world and unsurprisingly, none of them were diagnosed with anything. I have also known Poles who moved to America and other countries and have never considered them more intense than other people. Maybe your experience says more about you than the world in general.
I used a parallel (exaggerated) to present my point of view.
You see for you it's already "something wrong with you" department. In Eastern Europe cynicism is just much more common.
The point is that American will feel as if everybody around them has ADHD when in Poland. And a Pole may (I did!) feel that people suffer from serious autism when visiting the USA ( office setting in particular). US office vs. Polish office is like autism vs. adhd to me at least and I have the right to express that opinion. I'm not saying everybody in the US is autistic and that everybody in Poland has ADHD. I'm saying people are closer to these psychological traits: in Poland ADHD, in the US autism.
Also Americans (and I'm one too!) are well known for over medicating their kids for trivial reasons. I think there are cultural reasons for that too.
Back to school in England... "Engaged", "curious", "incisive questions". Partially down to cultural differences in terms of views on mental health (I'm merely "eccentric" these days), and partially down to me doing a year long master class in the states as to how to lie my arse off and pretend to accept authority while rejecting it.