Why ADHD Diagnoses Have Exploded In The U.S.

They left out two of the biggest reasons that ADHD is up. 1) There are more distractions these days (especially if you work from home) so it becomes a lot more apparent that you tend to get distracted. 2) ADHD is less obvious when there is a good structure in place. The pandemic pulled the rug out from under us when it came to structure. A lot of borderline ADHD people suddenly found themselves with no structure and the symptoms became obvious.

It's important to keep in mind that not all attention problems are ADHD. I feel like there are a lot of people who will jump to the conclusion that they have ADHD just because they have trouble paying attention, but it doesn't work that way. There are many other mental disorders that can cause symptoms similar to ADHD including bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and autism just to name a few.

I was recently diagnosed with adhd after having lifelong issues. I wish they would spoken more about why people weren’t diagnosed when they were younger, like girls, poorer students or students of color. While adhd has become more “trendy” I am seeing a lot of people who were ignored finally get some answers and help.

Ive been diagnosed and I absolutely hate that so many people abuse ADHD meds making it harder for people like myself to get help. Its been difficult getting help, and once I did get help from a doctor she was very hesitant to prescribe me meds for treatment and im sure its because she had to first determine if i genuinely needed help or if i was just seeking drugs. Its been life changing for me and I dont abuse it. I still sleep well, eat healthy and get exercise. But people like me dont make the headlines, only the people who abuse it and have terrible experiences with ADHD meds.

Here’s one - they missed all the girls. Because they usually aren’t disruptive. So we just struggled for decades. Finally diagnosed in my 50’s. Both a relief and enraging.

I have combined ADHD (the whole chart they showed, unfortunately) and it's really frustrating that emotional dysregulation isn't listed as a symptom or mentioned more often. It is by far the most difficult part of having ADHD. I hate it so much. I can deal with the others. For example, fear of failure, rejection sensitivity, unawareness of emotions, and spiralling anger.

I have it and my uncle has it. He was diagnosed in the 80s as a kid, I was called a shy and anxious young girl in the 90s and brushed off by the doctors Medicaid afforded my mom. It took until I was in my 20s to be diagnosed with something I definitely didn't want, but it was too obvious at that point that I was not society's definition of normal. I'm not a fan of how many people see this disorder as something trendy to say they have because they get distracted by Tiktok, but with more research and understanding on ADHD in women, it makes sense that more of us are being diagnosed.

I've thought my husband has ADHD for decades. He's finally getting diagnosed (at age 60) and treated, but ADHD in adults is no joke and can be quite crushing to their careers and mental health. There's still too much stigma associated with mental illness.

PLEASE, PLEASE, do another video about how before 2008 (Obama Care), ADHD was not treated or paid for by insurance companies because it was thought adults grow out of having issues with it. I had to threaten legal action against Community Hospital North in Indianapolis for not being honest with me about the issues ADHD was causing for me. They gave me a diagnosis of NOS as my insurance company wouldn't pay the same for an ADHD diagnosis compared to a NOS diagnosis.

During a meeting with my psychiatrist she stopped and asked me why I didn't include ADHD on my medical history and realized that I wasn't diagnosed growing up when I should have been.

It's only been over the past 20 years that research into ADHD has taken a leap. I was diagnosed early into this, and some of the consequences still affect me today.

I use to take my ADHD medication every day but because I had to wait a week for my pharmacy to have it in stock, I decided to stop taking it on weekends for two month. I would recommend everyone do this. That way when it comes time for your next refill, you will have like 2 weeks worth of extra medication in case anything happens.

I have seen patients and friends trying to learn ways to manipulate the system in an attempt to be diagnosed with ADHD to get prescriptions for stimulants. It’s a disturbing trend because this drug abuse causes real diagnosed patients to have hard time getting their prescriptions filled. I have seen so many TikTok videos of these “influencers” trying to convince and diagnose themselves and their audience they have ADHD. Perhaps TikTok and social media should take some responsibility and look into those videos and take the misleading ones down. That would help some of the issues of people learning to fake symptoms and seeking a diagnosis that does not apply to them. That’s one of my opinion in this matter.

I think there must be ALOT of women getting these adult ADHD Diagnosis. It was severely undiagnosed back in the 90’s because the symptoms manifest differently in girls and they are better at masking it to avoid social scrutiny.

I was diagnosed with ADHD this year as an adult. I felt like I had to fight for the diagnosis after paying what I’ll call the ADHD tax (I.e., poorer professional and social outcomes) for so many years. I was evaluated as a child yet labeled as a ‘good student’ so my masking kept my parent from seeking help. I’m so happy to see more content on adult ADHD.

The cost of medicine in the USA is truly insane. Vyvanse in Australia costs under US$30

The problem is someone like me is a fairly normal and healthy person but our society has evolved to a fast paced environment where everyone is trying to pay attention to too many things at once and this causes their brains to lose focus on everything

The fact of the matter is that ADHD medication helps many persons to be better in specific spheres of life, especially academically and career-wise.

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 17. I had struggled for years with symptoms doctors couldn’t quite put a diagnosis to that truly encompassed what I was going through. Growing up, I was constantly bored even when I had plenty to do. Nothing could hold my attention except for when it held all of my attention and became my hyperfixation. Careless mistakes were guaranteed on everything, which still is true to this day. I couldn’t stay organized, jumping from task to task while not finishing a single one. I would forget things that were asked of me and was unable to listen consistently when I was talked to (my mom would always say I just had “selective hearing”). In school, my lack of ability to keep attention combined with making good grades kept ADHD from even being a consideration because this was just seen as me being “quiet” and “too intelligent to have a disorder”. For me, social media videos discussing ADHD highlighted that the presentation of the disorder in women is not always a kid who is bouncing off the walls and instead typically manifests internally. It made me realize that the disorder could explain the impairing struggles I had been dealing with my whole life which, after receiving unhelpful treatments for years, I had just accepted as normal. It encouraged me to do more digging and eventually talk to my therapist. Receiving a diagnosis and treatment for ADHD was like putting on glasses for the first time. I wasn’t constantly depressed as I had adequate levels of neurotransmitters being supplemented that my brain did not adequately produce on its own. I could stay more organized and lost things less frequently. Tasks I wanted to start would not only be started but ended up getting completed more often than before. I still struggle with ADHD symptoms but this is to be expected as treatments are not a cure-all. With this said, I am thankful to have stumbled upon videos that encouraged me to do more research as my diagnosis has allowed me to receive treatments that have significantly improved my life in ways I never thought were possible before.

This sounds like exactly what happened with depression diagnoses when SSRI's (Prozac, etc.) first became available. There was a huge spike in demand, concern that there was over-diagnosis and prescription, and then the realization that no, there actually were that many people out there that were depressed and could benefit from pharmaceutical assistance. And now it's ADHD. The question I have is why are so many people suffering from this kind of mental health issue? Is there a way to prevent it? Those answers seem less available.