Image Courtesy of nytimes.com
ADHD is a prevalent psychological condition in American adolescents (3.3 million are diagnosed) and San Luis Obispo High School is no exception. But what’s the deal with the stark contrast in the amount of men over women who are diagnosed?
Dr. Joseph Biederman of Harvard Medical School explains, “The scientific literature about ADHD is based almost exclusively on male subjects, and girls with ADHD may be underidentified and undertreated.”
Research has shown, in community samples, the ratio of men to women with diagnosed ADHD was 4:1.
Now this may mean that ADHD is more common in men then it is in women, however newer research has shown that the way that ADHD presents in women is much different than the way it does in men.
Girls / people who were assigned female at birth with ADHD aren’t usually hyperactive. Instead, they tend to present with the attention-deficit part of the disorder. `
Often, young boys are able to get a diagnosis because hyperactivity is much more disruptive in a classroom setting while on the other hand inattentiveness is hard to notice.
Often girls with ADHD have a hard time focusing and tend to stay quiet because they’re distracted with other things. Often they’re labeled as a “pleasure to have in class” because they’re quiet.
82 percent of teachers believed that attention deficit disorder is more prevalent in boys. Four out of ten teachers admitted they have more difficulty recognizing ADHD symptoms in girls.
Dr. Joseph Biederman of Harvard Medical School explains, “The scientific literature about ADHD is based almost exclusively on male subjects, and girls with ADHD may be underidentified and undertreated.”
Many women and AFAB, think they may have undiagnosed and untreated ADHD.
With a rising awareness of what it means to be neurodivergent in the general public, people ( have been able to recognize symptoms in themselves.
“With the healthcare system and the insurance I have, it’s difficult to find a psychologist that can diagnose me which also proposes an issue of me getting diagnosed. It’s been years that I’ve struggled with the label but it’s been extremely difficult opening up the possibility I may have ADHD. Even my parents have brought it up to me after reading so many articles about it and researching.” said sophomore Izzy Nino de Rivera-Krieger.
There are so many things that contribute to the difficulty of getting an ADHD diagnosis, biological sex being just one of them.
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