AUSTIN, Texas — ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, was once believed to only affect children. But there has been a significant increase in adult ADHD diagnoses in recent years.
Diagnostic Learning Services, a Texas-based provider that specializes in diagnosing ADHD and other mental health conditions, said it has seen a larger increase in adult diagnoses in Austin than at its five other locations across the state.
There’s a common misconception that ADHD is over-diagnosed when, in fact, it remains severely underdiagnosed, particularly among women and marginalized communities.
FDA-cleared objective-based tests, available in-clinic and via telehealth, measure core ADHD symptoms that are then analyzed and presented on a report comparing the results to those of the same age and gender who do not have ADHD.
Laurie Peterson, the executive director of Diagnostic Learning Services, said she believe there has been a rise in the number of adults seeking a diagnosis because of awareness. As more kids have been diagnosed, now parents and older siblings may think they have ADHD as well.
"I personally have ADHD and, as a child, I was just labeled as lazy. So I think we oftentimes chalk it up to something else. In women, oftentimes women are pleasers. They want to do well. They're overachievers, so they work really hard to hide and mask those symptoms until they hit a wall or get to a point in their life that they just can't do it any longer and they start trying to figure out what it is," Peterson said.
Typically, women can end up getting misdiagnosed with anxiety and depression. Those symptoms may be part of what they're dealing with, but Peterson said the root may be their difficulties with attention, focus and executive functioning.
McCall Letterle, the head of commercial operations at Qbtech, said the company actually see that adults are usually not diagnosed with ADHD until another disorder has reared its head.
"That's oftentimes from undiagnosed and untreated ADHD, which can lead to depression and anxiety. A lot of increase in risk taking behaviors, suicidal ideation – and it's those things that, oftentimes, will bring adults into the clinic," Letterle said.
The diagnosis process has come a long way for patients. Peterson said it used to consist of going to your doctor or filling out a questionnaire that listed the symptoms of ADHD, then getting medication prescribed. Now, examiners and providers are more thorough in their evaluations and provide a comprehensive assessment to rule out that the issues aren't just anxiety.
"Austin's great because it has a lot of great medical resources. So people are identifying it at work or at home a lot quicker and a lot easier, and they have somewhere to go by quickly. But people in rural areas, especially across Texas, may not have access to the right type of provider or even someone that may say, 'Hey, this might also look like ADHD,'" Letterle said.
ADHD looks different in men and women, so health officials say finding a provider that's using objective data is important because you can quickly go in or from the comfort of your home.
Peterson said she feels like medication typically gets people about 50% of the way, but it's not an overall solution.
"It helps you focus, and it helps you pay attention. But here's what it's not going to do: it's not going to keep you from procrastinating. It's not going to get your house organized and make you on time to work every day," Peterson said.
Because of that, experts recommend trying "Executive Function Coaching," which can help teach people with ADHD things like how to organize, plan and manage their time.
"ADHD is very genetic. So it's something that you have all of your life. It's just sometimes you are able to manage or mask the symptoms until, I always tell people, until you hit that wall. For every single person, that wall is going to come at a different time. Or if you have the hyperactive, impulsive kind, other people are going to see it," Peterson said.
To accelerate the diagnosis process, clinicians are leaning on technology-driven tests to provide precise, easily digestible results to make more informed decisions and offer patients a better understanding of the challenges they have experienced throughout their lives.