ADHD In Women and Girls: Misconceptions

this is Kira in elementary school she daydreams a lot but wasn't very disruptive in class she achieved good grades and her teachers quite liked her high school is a bit harder but Kira is still able to manage it eventually she got into a good university and was excited to have a new start however in university Kira became stressed her grades began to drop she constantly got her schedule mixed up and spent hours working on projects that should have being done with a lot less time when she is able to focus she spends hours on end working on the same thing and often forgets to eat or take care of herself she decides to talk to a therapist about her problems and is referred to a doctor her doctor diagnoses her with ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder so what is ADHD ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is defined by symptoms such as inattention impulsivity and hyperactivity these symptoms begin in childhood and often last through adulthood there are three subtypes of ADHD primarily inattentive primarily hyperactive or impulsive and primarily combination seven-years-old is the average age of diagnosis so why was Kira diagnosed early well here are some misconceptions of ADHD in women one common misconception is that ADHD is more prevalent in boys in actuality ADHD diagnosis can be more difficult to obtain for girls and women and this is because diagnostic criteria were originally based on hyperactive boys in the 1990s researchers believe that ADHD was 9 times more prevalent in boys and girls nowadays the ratio has dropped to 2.5 times more prevalent in boys and girls another misconception is that ADHD symptoms present similarly in any gender although many people think girls are more likely to have the inattentive subtype of ADHD this is not the case they may show their symptoms differently though for example for the hyper active subtype girls maybe a chatterbox or more rebellious whereas boys maybe more stereotypically hyperactive and disruptive in the classroom it has also been noted in some studies that girls and women are more likely to mask their symptoms or internalize them but as they gain more responsibilities it is harder to hide their symptoms dr. Helen Reid a psychiatrist and ADHD lead for a large London National Health Service Trust says that girls are far less likely to bounce around the classroom fighting with the teachers and their colleagues a girl who did that would be so criticized by peers and other people that is just far harder for girls to behave in that way for example girls may be more talkative or rebellious but parents and teachers may not associate that with ADHD especially because girls are expected to be more sociable than boys evidently this is a case-by-case basis and is important not to generalize all girls but societal expectations of girls are important to take into consideration with ADHD lastly some people may believe that ADHD symptoms are less serious and girls and women ADHD symptoms exist on a spectrum but this applies to all genders thus girls have many of the same symptoms boys do such as hyperactivity problems with impulse control and the inability to focus along with extra symptoms Stephen Hinshaw a psychologist and leading researcher on ADHD and girls at University of California Berkeley and a Harvard scientist and psychiatrist Josef Peter Minh looked into the overlap between ADHD and major depression in girls these studies on ADHD symptom ology and its correlation to major depression found that boys were particularly prone to bipolar disorder and psychiatric hospitalization girls with ADHD however are more prone to self-harm and suicide attempts as a result of these misconceptions parents and teachers often overlook ADHD symptoms and girls downplaying their hyperactivity or not noticing their lack of attention or focus on school as well gender stereotypes have a role in the under diagnosis of girls in women as girls may be expected to be more polite social or quiet and these behaviors are not what people associate ADHD with so what happens when women are not diagnosed ADHD often comes as comorbid conditions in fact a study has found that as many as 80% of adults with ADHD have a comorbid psychiatric disorder this includes depression anxiety substance use disorders and personality disorders for those who have undiagnosed ADHD comorbid disorders can make it harder to diagnose ADHD this could be because their ADHD was misdiagnosed as something else or because they have ADHD symptoms that are disguises and other disorder symptoms such as depression or bipolar disorder in addition if a woman with ADHD goes undiagnosed that means they aren't receiving treatment people who don't have access to treatment can be affected in different facets of their life let's look at how they're affected in the world of school and work women who go undiagnosed are more likely to get fired from their jobs underachievement school and work and not complete high school college or university and the realm of health woman with undiagnosed ADHD are more likely to have disordered eating or eating disorders substance use disorders which can be three to four times greater in people at untreated ADHD and serious mood swings some other things that undiagnosed woman can struggle with are failed marriages relationship problems driving ability as they can be more distracted or impulsive and emotional regulation ari Tuckman psychologist and author of more attention less deficit success strategies for adults with ADHD and Linda Rowley the founder of the ad diva Network says that treatment for ADHD is important if it's impacting your ability to function in life but treatment starts with diagnosis brog lee says when you know what you're dealing with you can actually change the trajectory of your life in all areas Tuchman also mentions that there is a price paid an additional suffering from holding a treatment that research shows is beneficial

Channel: Demystifying Medicine McMaster

Views: 193,654

Keywords: McMaster University, Demystifying Medicine, ADHD

Id: Ls3djLqwLhA

Length: 6min 44sec (404 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 13 2020