Revisiting this post now that its heyday has long passed because seeing it again reminded me of the things that didn't make the cut, which I will briefly go over:
One symptom of Adderall abuse I found was fainting spells
The reason why this is important:
When Stiles needed to cut off Derek's arm, Derek asked if he fainted at the sight of blood, to which Stiles said no (but he might at the sight of a chopped off arm). When Scott gets a tattoo, Stiles faints, but later that same episode, he has no problem holding down Scott as Derek sears his flesh with a blowtorch to get him a tattoo (in fact, he stares right at it).
We also see, when Stiles is looking into the deadpool murders, he has gruesome crime scene pictures strewn all over his desk (to which Finstock calls disturbing).
In an episode where Melissa needs to inject Lydia, Stiles predicts that he might faint at the sight of a needle being used, but then Liam faints while Stiles is still left standing.
This proves that Stiles doesn't actually have a problem with the two potential triggers of fainting he (as well as the audience) originally thought: gore and needles. However, the two times he does faint (at the tattoo parlor and right after they kill the Nogitsune) do go hand in hand with the idea of the Adderall abuse steadily peaking around the time the Nogitsune preyed on Stiles' deteriorating mind.
Why it was cut from the original post: I tried diligently to find the article again for screenshots but couldn't find it (because I had found the article 4+ years prior to the original post and it was now buried under mountains of data), so I left it out because I felt like no one would believe me without evidence. Since then, I have however found it again:
Another symptom of Adderall abuse is shortness of breath
The reason why this is important:
In season 2, Stiles treads water for two whole hours while holding up 200+ pounds of Derek's deadweight. In season 1, Stiles manages to outrun an Alpha werewolf chasing him down the halls. He also plays an entire game of lacrosse and scores the winning goal later in the season. However, much later in the series, Stiles is heavily winded after a short training sprint. His stamina has severely declined over the seasons despite, arguably, becoming more active in terms of dealing with baddies and running for his life and lacrosse training.
Why it was cut from the original post: the 'being out of breath' scene takes place after 3B, indicating that he's not getting better (and is in fact getting worse) and might still unknowingly be abusing Adderall into an early grave, unlike the positive outcome I posted originally. The thought made me sad and I didn't want to end on a downer (although we don't see him having anymore breathing issues after a particular point, and I did write a mini-fic explaining it that I might post later, but nothing tangible).
Bonus: PTSD Symptoms that differentiate from ADHD
Recently found this while researching this topic again and the startle response made me remember how easily startled Stiles is all the time. And the avoidance of thoughts/memories/feelings reminds me of when Stiles once said he was a big fan of ignoring a problem until it went away.
Having persistent negative beliefs and a persistent negative emotional state could easily be seen as hyperfixation until you think about how Stiles only really hyperfixates when he thinks something will go wrong and he's waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And having exaggerated negative beliefs explains why sometimes he can take things too far when upset/stressed (like when he got Scott beat up after the sheriff was hurt at the PT meeting, or when he threw Scott to the ground when the sheriff was in the hospital, or when he asked why Isaac was not over his abuse yet, or saying they should let Derek die). It's because a singular event (Scott ignored his messages about the Alpha, Derek's pack wanted to kill the kanima/Lydia) gets overblown (i.e. it's always Scott's fault his dad gets hurt, Derek's pack will always have ulterior elmotives).
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