- Science
- Mind, Body, Wonder
Is the world finally catching up to the historical under and misdiagnosis of women and girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?
Published January 16, 2024
Rach Idowuwould convinced she had dementia at age 22 due to forgetting birthdays, missing work meetings, and economic difficulties. A Google search led her to think she had early-onset dementia, but her doctor dismissed it. After seeing two psychiatrists, Idowu was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 26.
For Idowu, the diagnosis was life-changing as it helped her make sense of her constant fidgeting as a child and other lifelong behaviors. Many women and individuals assigned female at birth are similarly diagnosed with ADHD as adults, and the number of adult women diagnosed with ADHD has been on the rise for several years. From 2020 to 2022, the number of women aged 23 to 49 receiving an ADHD diagnosis nearly doubled. The COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of telehealth, and ADHD’s increased presence on social media have sparked concerns about overdiagnoses or just catching up.
There are three types of ADHD: hyperactive, inattentive, and combined. Girls and women more commonly have the inattentive type, characterized by disorganization, forgetfulness, and difficulties starting and staying on task. According to Julia Schechter, co-director of Duke University’s Center for Women and Girls with ADHD, they are often seen as daydreamers struggling to stay focused.
Hyperactive or combined-type girls also show their symptoms differently than boys, including excessive talking, twirling their hair, constantly shaking their legs, or emotional reactivity, making their symptoms harder to identify. Clinical psychologist Kathleen Nadeau even noted that when researching girls with ADHD in 1999, the community mostly thought of ADHD as a “boy disorder.”
Despite girls excelling in school, the research community focused squarely on boys and men. This tendency has led to an overgeneralization of hyperactive, disruptive boys as the stereotype for ADHD. This reality has ignited concern over the historical rates of ADHD diagnoses not being equally representative of women. To learn more, visit the National Geographic website.