naomipedlar - The Impact

Who does ADHD affect?

Receiving an ADHD diagnosis may be a struggle for some, especially women and girls. On one hand, ADHD is very commonly hidden by other mental disorders/illnesses, such as, but not limited to, depression and anxiety. On the other hand, the symptoms of this disorder appear quite differently in women and girls than in men and boys. While boys may be disruptive, act impulsively, and show outward aggression, girls' symptoms manifest in much more private ways. A girl with ADHD may have a low level of attentiveness and self-esteem issues. Though these symptoms are less stereotyped and are often coined as regular teenage behavior, they can be due to or worsened by ADHD. Because of this, only 38% of people diagnosed with ADHD are women, the remaining majority of 62% being men (Milder).

Health-related quality of life, or HRQL, is severely affected by ADHD in children and adolescents. Those with ADHD are more likely to experience troubles with mental health, self-esteem, and other general behavior. An ADHD diagnosis also affects the parents of these kids, commonly appearing as a decrease in their emotional health and the time they have to fulfill their own needs. Kids with more than one medical condition (comorbidity) often have a worse HRQL in regard to their social behaviors and individual thoughts (psychosocial HRQL). For example, a child with OCD and ADHD will have a psychosocial HRQL that is much lower than a child with ADHD. This shows that ADHD causes impacts the health of a person, and sometimes the people around them, in several areas (Classen et al.).

Click the photo to see some ADHD comics.

ADHD is much more complex than what the stigma portrays. While being easily distracted and fidgety are both common symptoms, there are countless others that are severely underrepresented in the media. It is hard for the societal understanding of ADHD to improve when problems like forgetfulness, severe energy fluctuation, sensory issues, etc. are not nearly as widely discussed. Due to the frequent stereotyping of these symptoms, those who don’t possess the common symptoms have a much harder time getting a diagnosis. More often than not, these people are young women (Pratt).

The Bright Side of Things

While ADHD is, by definition, a disorder and is frequently portrayed negatively, people with ADHD can grow to be very successful in their careers. One positive aspect of ADHD is that those with this disorder are often creative, energetic, and innovative. People with ADHD often have a unique ability to hyper focus on the things they care about, which results in hard, efficient work that makes incredible progress towards whatever their goals may be. Impulsivity is a very well-known symptom of ADHD and though it may seem negative, it is very typical for people with ADHD to convert that trait into spontaneity, which is an immensely useful trait in many facets of life. There are many occupational fields that are very well-suited for those with ADHD, such as education, entrepreneurship, interior, and graphic design, art, and emergency responders like paramedics and firefighters ("Learn about").