Whatever treatments you decide, understanding you have ADHD makes a difference.
MB: Thanks for taking the time, Ari. I’m curious, before we start talking about treatment, what are your thoughts on where we are with adult ADHD today? How common is it, and how often is it recognized and diagnosed?
AT: The irony about ADHD in adults is that we know a lot about it—the problem is in getting that information out to clinicians and the general public. We’re doing a pretty good job of identifying ADHD in kids, but most adults with ADHD have never been diagnosed and are therefore going through life untreated (which doesn’t just mean medication, of course). Most kids with ADHD retain at least some of those struggles into adulthood, but we stop looking for it when someone graduates. Probably about 4 percent of adults have ADHD, which is not a small minority.