Forty six per cent of Canadian women with ADHD misdiagnosed: survey

A recent CADDAC survey of Canadian women with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) found that 46 per cent were misdiagnosed with another disorder prior to being diagnosed with ADHD.

Although the number of adult women newly diagnosed with ADHD has nearly doubled from 2020 to 2022, many women remain undiagnosed.

Halifax-based clinical scientist Lisa Batten said women are not being diagnosed with ADHD in childhood, despite having the disorder.

“It is a development disorder, which means it does begin in childhood. The average age of diagnosis for women is 37 or around 37. For men, it’s seven,” she said.

“There are a few reasons for that. One of them is that women tend to internalize their symptoms more. But also, a lot of the criteria that we use to diagnose ADHD were built on research done with young boys. So there is a bit of a gap here and adult women are really the most disadvantaged because of this.”

Batten said some women who live with ADHD are being misdiagnosed with anxiety and depression.

“You got a lot of people who are misdiagnosed with anxiety or depression that were actually living with ADHD and were not treated properly all these years,” she said.

Batten was 26-years-old when she was diagnosed with ADHD.

“I always knew I felt different and I wasn’t really targeted as someone having ADHD until I was doing grad school learning how to assess for ADHD. So my supervisor pulled me aside and said ‘Have you ever had a diagnosis?’ So that’s when I first began my journey.”

Batten said with limited resources and long wait times, women can talk to their family physician or use a virtual care platform to get a referral to see a psychiatrist.

“You can also go to a private clinic. It’s a lot more expensive. It’s a comprehensive assessment, so you will get a lot more time with your person but there is no follow up with that clinician,” she said.

“Your third option, which is the best one right now, is ‘Talk with Frida.’ This is a virtual care platform built by people with ADHD, and their clinicians are really on the ground with this population in particular. Which means they know a lot more about the lived experience. They know the types of questions to ask, and these are ADHD specialists. So that’s paid out of pocket, but it’s not as expensive as the other options, and they do have follow-up care, and you can get your medication through them as well.”