Rising number of women diagnosed with ADHD as adults

now let a look inside attention deficit hyperactivity disorder specifically in adult women ABC's Dio sat down with several women who opened up about receiving this diagnosis a personal Journey for Diane herself I always felt a sense of not being good enough for decades Jessica Covington thought she was lazy and unmotivated until she got a life-changing diagnosis it explains so much she's part of a growing trend of women being diagnosed with ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder you say brains are different for people with ADHD what do those differences cause persistent struggles with things like time management things like planning things like organization a recent study shows diagnoses for women 23 to 49 years old nearly doubled from 2020 to 2022 that rise attributed in part to a shift in understanding how ADHD affects girls and women girls present with inattention they may not be jumping them down but they'll be twirling their hair clicking the pencil and they get overlooked now as moms many are unexpectedly getting diagnosed after learning about their children's ADHD I started to realize how familiar it all sounded others are being tipped off by social media I started seeing videos about women particularly were struggling to keep their houses cleaned or they start one task and then they do another parenting influencer Libby Wards says those videos made her realize she might have ADHD and eventually get diagnosed the same thing happened to me as a best-selling author and successful news anchor ADHD wasn't even on my radar until social media videos like Libby's led me to get evaluated by a licensed psychologist is there anything in particular that feels tricky to my surprise 4 minutes into the intake I was in tears I think all my coping mechanisms worked really well for me until I became a mom and now I have two kids and I love them dearly I just find it really hard sometimes to manage all of that and the expectations that I put on myself but people with ADHD often excel in areas like creativity and problem solving potentially making you seem lazy when you struggle elsewhere I would write list and not be able to find the list or I would make a system I would forget the system when these girls grow up they spend so much mental energy trying to compensate that they become depressed and they become anxious now 10 years later Jessica coaches others with ADHD while Libby shares about it with her nearly 2 million social media followers I have been stopped on the street countless times by women who have said and never would have gone to my doctor if you hadn't shared your story I'm one of them it gives me goosebumps there's so much power in knowing what ADHD is and how it's impacting you because then you can actually set up your life to be successful living with ADHD Dr Darion joins us now we're looking at all of your phone notes here um how do people know if they should even go to get an evaluation for ADHD I think that this is so helpful awareness like this especially when you randomly find out that you might have symptoms through something like social media are really helpful and so some of the symptoms to pay attention to if you're curious if you want to get formally diagnosed includes two kind of buckets or categories one is that inattentive category and that can yield problems of losing concentration at work and affecting your performance and it can also drift into your relationships as you forget or you're just unfortunately inattentive and not paying attention and again it's not a fault on your own and then also there's that hyperactive and we often associate that with children not being able to sit in their seats but as a adults that includes symptoms of cutting into conversations or cutting away from conversations into random subjects and Diane did something really important here she took those signs and those symptoms in her own experience and then saw someone who is licensed which is the next best part sitting with uh social media and trying to diagnose yourself is not the way to go right to that point if you think that any of these symptoms or this list applies to you who should you go see if you're seeking to get a little more clarity on this situation great point there is a lot of different Specialties that would cover this kind of diagnosis one of them being cognitive behavioral therapists that can help you obviously with that training but formally uh talking to your primary care provider to get a referral to either a psychiatrist or a licensed therapist that specializes in this is where you would start and the treatment doesn't always include just medications I know many people fear that it can include making changes in your daily life with cognitive behavioral therapy or even just organizational methods that can help you better adjust to your diagnosis so it's about knowing and again I think it's great to know because it's really helpful and also to remember this looks different in women than it does in men absolutely you have to know that absolutely Dr Darion thank Youk you and thank you to Diane as well for her reporting