The Masked Self: A Philosophical Inquiry Into AuDHD, Authenticity, and the Ontology of Psychiatric Classification

This philosophical treatise examines the co-occurrence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)—colloquially termed "AuDHD"—through the lens of existential philosophy, phenomenology, and the philosophy of psychiatry. Central to this inquiry is the phenomenon of masking: the strategic concealment of neurodivergent traits to conform to neurotypical social expectations. This paper argues that masking constitutes a form of existential inauthenticity as articulated by Heidegger and Sartre, raising profound questions about the nature of selfhood, identity diffusion, and the ontological status of psychiatric categories themselves. By examining the 2013 revision to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) that permitted comorbid ASD-ADHD diagnosis, this treatise interrogates whether diagnostic categories illuminate authentic human experience or paradoxically obscure it. The analysis concludes that masking represents not merely a behavioral adaptation but a fundamental philosophical problem concerning the relationship between social being, authentic selfhood, and the medicalization of human difference.