If you care about women and girls with ADHD

You should sign this petition

It is election season here in the U.S. and as such, it seems impossible when going to the market or the library to avoid young people advocating for one cause or another. They seek signatures on petitions for various issues — revising voting laws, protecting reproductive rights, environmental issues. I am always interested in what these people, clipboard in hand, have to say. However, as a journalist, I usually decline to sign petitions regardless of how I feel about the issue.

I don’t want to risk revealing my opinion because I am committed to listening to and reporting on all sides of an issue. That is to say, I want to remain open to hearing opinions I may not share and by signing a petition that can and will be seen by innumerable people, I don’t want to discourage that open discourse.

That being said, every so often I find a petition for something I passionately support and seems a no-brainer (silly as that expression may be given the topic here — stay with me). Thus is the case with this online petition asking the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD) to improve gender equity* in the diagnosis of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

According to the petition initiated by Dr. Michael Morse, a psychiatrist specializing in treating ADHD at the Maryland-based Chesapeake Center, the National Institute of Mental Health held a conference in 1994 (yes, 30 years ago!) in which the need for more research on gender differences in the diagnosis of ADHD was considered. And this has remained a topic of discussion since.

Yet a consensus statement released by the World Federation of ADHD in 2021 noted 208 evidence-based conclusions about ADHD though not one of these adequately addressed gender differences in the manifestations of ADHD or its subsequent diagnosis, Morse states in the petition.

Historically, women’s health issues have taken a back seat to men’s and I previously wrote about some of the reasons this is specifically true for ADHD.

I wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my 50s and, initially, a practitioner misdiagnosed me with bipolar disorder — a frustratingly all-too-common occurrence for women with ADHD. I was certain she was wrong and it turns out I was right. Suffice to say, I left that practice and waited months to get an appointment with a new provider. That long wait is another systemic challenge most people seeking psychiatric treatment also experience. But that’s an issue for another day.

So what gives? Why has it been three decades with negligible progress for women who could benefit from an ADHD diagnosis? What has your experience been? I’d love to hear about it. Go ahead and tell me in the chat.

* Note (from the petition): We are aware of the limitations and interconnections of the terms “gender” and “sex” and that these terms do not reference binary phenomena. For simplicity, we use the term “gender” to refer to the combined broader construct that could also be named “sex/gender.”

And one last thing: You may have noticed a button in this post that reads, “Buy Me a Tree.” Writing these missives takes creative time and energy. And because I believe the information I share in this newsletter is important, I will never put it behind a paywall. However, if you enjoy them, find them elucidating and want to support my work, I’d be filled with joy and gratitude if you feel inclined to donate. By the way, I originally thought I’d be funny and ask y’all to buy me a Porsche. But I used the power of my executive functioning (which isn’t always functioning well — thank you ADHD) and figured folks who don’t know me may take that the wrong way. Besides, carbon gas producer or eradicator? It was an easy decision. Hence the tree. And who doesn’t love trees?