Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is underdiagnosed in girls and women, research shows. The reasons are manifold, and include gender stereotypes and internalised symptoms.
In fact, the neurobiological metabolic disorder is diagnosed four times more often in boys than in girls, although it occurs with equal frequency in both, according to Dr Astrid Neuy-Lobkowicz, a specialist in psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, and a member of the board of the Federal Association for ADHD in Germany, who has ADHD herself.
Symptoms typically start in early childhood.
In many girls, she says, ADHD presents itself predominantly as inattention. They tend to be dreamy, shy, slow and unobtrusive rather than hyperactive and impulsive.
Either way, ADHD is “a particularity of being human”, remarks Neuy-Lobkowicz, the title of whose latest book translates from German as Female ADHD.