Posts in category: Blog

In 2016, the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) found that an estimated 6.1 million children between the ages of 2 and 17 were diagnosed with and treated for ADHD (Danielson et al., 2018). Up to 20% of patient’s meeting criteria for BD also meet the criteria for ADHD; however, treatment for both disorders are very different. Due to the presentation of both disorders, which includes irritability, poor impulse control, mood symptoms and restlessness, both disorders are under diagnosed, misdiagnosed or over diagnosed.

According to the literature, ADHD is diagnosed in females 1:3 compared to males. This does not show that ADHD is present lesser in females, but due to the presenting symptoms not being disruptive or hyperactive (Sayal et al., 2018), parents tend to not seek evaluation or treatment, thus prolonging suffering and difficulties with emotional dysregulation and within academics. Most studies which had focused on males with ADHD, it has been known that there are other domains which are unique to females with ADHD. These are sleep dysregulation, which is more prevalent compared to males, along with symptoms of internalizing disorders (Beckers et al., 2018).