Many people recently diagnosed with ADHD may not actually suffer from the condition, says the professor.
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As a woman in her 30s who frequently typed “ADHD” into my computer, something intriguing happened in 2021. I was surprised by a series of online advertisements, all related to ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
These included a free one-minute assessment to determine whether I had the disorder, an offer for a digital game designed to “reactivate” my brain, and even an ad asking if I was having difficulty at work despite my best efforts. . .
The reason the term “ADHD” has become a fixture in my digital life is because I am a clinical psychologist who is dedicated solely to treating patients with ADHD.
Additionally, I enjoy a psychiatric research position at the University of Washington School of Medicine, where I investigate trends in ADHD over the course of a lifetime.
These ads represented an impressive new trend. The following year, in October 2022, the United States Food and Drug Administration announced a nationwide shortage of mixed amphetamine salts, marketed under the brand name Adderall.
Both Adderall and its generic variants have emerged as extremely common drug treatments for ADHD. As a result, in the following months, other drugs intended to treat ADHD joined the list of missing prescription drugs.
Even in August 2023, the United States continued to grapple with the shortages of several ADHD medications, with the prospect of a fix only in a few months, at least. Evidently, this shortage has been caused by a combination of high demand and difficulties in accessing key ingredients. In recent months, a large number of North Americans have been faced with the lack of guarantees regarding access to their daily care.
Reporting an unprecedented increase in stimulant prescriptions between 2020 and 2021, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unearthed, in March 2023, startling findings. The demographic that has seen the largest increase in the use of these stimulants – almost 20% in a single year – are women aged between 20 and 30 years.
The CDC findings, coupled with persistent stimulant shortages, raise interesting questions, to which no definitive answers have yet been found, about the factors behind these trends.
The challenge of diagnosing adult ADHD
Despite the increased awareness of ADHD over the past two decades, the reality is that many people, particularly women and individuals from minority ethnic groups, are not diagnosed with ADHD in childhood.
Unlike depression or anxiety, diagnosing ADHD in adults is a complex task. The diagnostic process, in both children and adults, first requires identifying ADHD-like traits that exist on a spectrum and can vary.
These traits must be severe and persistent enough to negatively impact the person’s ability to live a healthy, functional life.
The average person may experience some symptoms that resemble ADHD, making it difficult to distinguish between ADHD-like characteristics — such as forgetting keys, keeping a cluttered desk, or making the mind wander during monotonous tasks — and a medical disorder that requires diagnosis.
Because there is no objective test to diagnose ADHD, doctors often conduct structured interviews with patients, gather information from family members using rating scales, and review medical records to arrive at an accurate diagnosis.
Challenges in diagnosis are also noted by mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, due to ADHD’s similarities to other conditions. Interestingly, difficulty concentrating is the second most common symptom in all psychiatric disorders.
The complexity is even greater because ADHD is a risk factor for several conditions with which it shares characteristics. For example, constant exposure to negative feedback can lead adults with ADHD to develop secondary symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Accurate diagnosis requires a well-trained, experienced healthcare professional who is willing to invest the time to accurately take the patient’s history.
Given the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, while there are some obvious factors, it is unclear how much they have contributed to the rise in stimulant prescriptions.
In the year 2021, the US was still at the peak of the pandemic. People were grappling with job loss, financial challenges, and the complexities of working remotely, balancing responsibilities like educating their children online. Insecurity and uncertainty were rife, with many families mourning the loss of loved ones.
The pandemic has impacted everyone, but evidence suggests that women have been hit hardest. This has likely led to a commensurate increase in the search for stimulating treatments to help adjust to the demands of daily life.
Also, with the restrictions on face-to-face recreational spaces, people have started investing more time in digital platforms.
In 2021, the concept of “neurodiversity” has gained traction in online discussions of social justice. This term, which has no medical connotation, refers to the wide range of brain processes that differ from the conventional model.
Around the same time, the #ADHD hashtag became a major trend on TikTok, with humorous reports on item loss, procrastination, and the hallmarks of ADHD.
However, even with the online proliferation of ADHD-related content, research conducted in Canada ranked TikTok videos with the hashtag #ADHD into categories based on accuracy and usefulness. The discovery was remarkable: most of the videos were inaccurate. Only 21% of posts provided correct and useful information.
Therefore, in the growing online community, many people recently diagnosed with ADHD may not actually suffer from the condition. For some, cibochondrion, a health-related anxiety that follows online searches, may have caught on.
Others may have confused ADHD with another disorder, which is surprisingly common. Additionally, some may have experienced only mild attention problems that do not reach the level of severity to be considered ADHD.
What ADHD treatment was like in 2021
In 2021, the US mental health system faced a challenging backdrop. Most traditional ADHD service providers, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health therapists, and psychiatric nurses, had waiting lists months in advance for new patients.
People seeking recent help for ADHD began to find more timely consultations with their primary care physicians, who were sometimes or weren’t comfortable diagnosing and treating adult ADHD.
With the growing demand for ADHD care, new options were needed to meet the needs of patients.
At the same time, online startups focused on ADHD treatment have appeared, attracting potential consumers through engaging digital advertisements, similar to the ones I received.
Compared to traditional service methods, the models adopted by these startups have tried to cut costs, favoring quick assessments and a team of professionals with more accessible remuneration.
These startups were also reported to have employed a standardized treatment model that did not adequately tailor treatments, often choosing to prescribe stimulants over potentially more appropriate treatments.
Some of these companies are currently under investigation by the federal government.
While these models have generated controversy in the medical community, it is possible that they have reduced the barriers to ADHD treatment for many people.
The final verdict is not yet clear. Until the CDC releases data on stimulant prescribing for 2022 and 2023, researchers like me won’t have a complete picture of whether the trends observed in 2021, such as the increase in adult prescriptions and the demand for ADHD medications will hold up.
If these trends stabilize, this could indicate that patients who previously had difficulty accessing care will finally have the opportunity to get the help they need.
However, if ADHD prescriptions return to pre-pandemic levels, we can understand that a combination of factors related to the covid-19 pandemic has caused a momentary spike in searches for the treatment of ADHD.
What is clear is that the current shortage of mental health professionals comfortable diagnosing and treating adult ADHD will continue to impact the ability of new patients to receive an appropriate diagnostic evaluation for ADHD.
* Margaret Sibley is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington.
This article was originally published on the academic news site The conversation and republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original English version here.
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
