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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects how a person’s brain develops, often with symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Over the past few decades, ADHD diagnoses have risen significantly across all age groups around the world, according to Brown Health and University of Utah Health.
In Ontario, a study from North York General Hospital found that the number of ADHD prescriptions given by doctors in the province had increased by 157 per cent from 2015 to 2023.
According to The Guardian, up to 80 per cent of adults with ADHD have gone undiagnosed and untreated until recently.
"For years, ADHD researchers have done their best to raise the awareness that ADHD is underdiagnosed in females and adults in general,” stated Professor Barbara Franke of Radboud University, as per News-Medical. “Over the last years, this knowledge finally takes hold in the population, but with such speed that it feels like an epidemic.”
Clinical standards have broadened immensely. ADHD used to be only seen as something that could manifest in young, hyperactive boys. It is now recognized across the gender spectrum and in all age groups. Because there is no standardized way to diagnose ADHD, like a blood or urine test, doctors rely on comprehensive clinical evaluations.
With the spike in diagnoses, healthcare systems have become more strained.
“The current struggle is not just due to increased demand, but also due to the paucity of neurodivergent knowledgeable healthcare practitioners available in the first place,” psychologist Jare DeFife told The Guardian.