Luise Lehnard from Freiburg was only 21 when she was diagnosed with ADHD. “No one ever saw it.” Not uncommon: the disease is diagnosed less frequently in girls than in boys.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has long been known as a childhood illness. However, it is now known that adults can also have this disease. In women, it is often only detected in adulthood – and not in childhood, as is usually the case with boys. Just like Luise Lehnard from Freiburg.
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ADHD symptoms dismissed as character traits
Luise Lehnard finds it difficult to concentrate on several things at the same time. But also to concentrate on only one thing. The Freiburg student has ADHD. “You can imagine it like sitting on a tram and everyone talking loudly at once. Only that it’s in your own head and that it’s your own thoughts,” says the 23-year-old.
She was only 21 when she was diagnosed with ADHD. And only because she went to the doctor of her own accord. Her environment always signaled to her that she had nothing, that that was just her character. But Luise Lehnard realized that she was somehow different. She is very dreamy and often unfocused. In addition, she had countless hobbies and stopped them again and again. The ADHD symptom is called hyperfocus. Suddenly becoming interested in a topic, learning everything about it and then just as quickly losing interest in it again.
Late diagnosis can be distressing
Before the diagnosis, she felt disadvantaged. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. Often thought that others thought they were stupid. Since it is clear what she has, she is relieved. The symptoms are not part of their character but part of the disease. And she can now take medication that will help her concentrate better.
But she is also a little annoyed: With an earlier diagnosis, many things could have been easier for her. “Especially my school days could have been different if you had just noticed earlier that I have ADHD,” says Luise Lehnard.
The case through the grid: Women are less likely to be diagnosed with ADHD
Swantje Matthies is Senior Physician for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital in Freiburg. She explains that ADHD has long been considered a childhood disease that mostly affects boys. For about 30 years, the disease has also been researched in adults. And research on women with ADHD has only been going on for ten years.
Swantje Matthies, Senior Physician at the Freiburg University Hospital, together with other doctors and psychotherapists, has written a book about the late diagnosis of ADHD in girls and women.
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Why is the disease diagnosed later in girls than in boys? Because ADHD is embodied in the loud and over-excited boy, the fidgety fidget who disrupts class. But girls have other symptoms – and they are often not perceived as such by society. Girls tend to be daydreamers and have more symptoms related to inattention, says Swantje Matthies. “Girls may tend to control the symptoms because ADHD-typical behavior, such as being disruptive or loud, is usually rated more negatively in girls than in boys,” says Matthies.
When ADHD goes undetected
Although the symptoms can be treated, ADHD cannot be cured. If the disease goes undetected, as is the case with some women, it can have fatal consequences. Coping with everyday life can become an impossible task. This can lead to depression or other complications, says senior physician Swantje Matthies.
ADHD can also have benefits
In addition to all the disadvantages and limitations, the disease also has a few advantages, as Matthies emphasizes. And that goes for all genders. Luise Lehnard also talks about her great empathy and, above all, her hyperfocus. You can deal with just one topic for ten hours, for example a term paper – as long as you are really interested in the topic. “Whether that’s healthy is another topic,” she says, laughing.