Adults who don't know they have ADHD can struggle. Here's how a diagnosis can help

Edmonton resident Nikki Houde was 41 when she was formally diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

In November 2021, the middle school success coach was working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, often finding her concentration drifting during video meetings, regularly avoiding tasks and making up distractions to get out of completing her work. 

"I was just creating things so I didn't have to do things that I didn't want to do," she said

After speaking with a friend who had been diagnosed with ADHD, Houde decided to seek help and learned that she was one of the thousands of adults who struggle with undiagnosed ADHD.

If left undiagnosed, experts like Dr. Ainslie Gray — a psychiatrist who founded the Springboard Clinic in Toronto and serves as the facility's medical director — say that adult ADHD can seriously reduce a person's overall quality of life.

"ADHD can impact every element of an individual's life and the stereotype that it resolves by adulthood, even if it has been diagnosed in childhood, is not true," she said, adding that the majority of people diagnosed in childhood and adolescence continue to experience challenges in adulthood.

When Houde was finally diagnosed, she said she "felt relief because it explained a lot of things about myself that I didn't have to feel so bad about myself, because there are things beyond my control."

Houde's feelings of relief are familiar to Gray.

"Adults often feel tremendous relief because they gain an understanding of what areas of their life have been responsible for their impairment," Gray told The Dose host Dr. Brian Goldman. 

According to Gray, ADHD is a "usually genetic" neurodevelopmental disorder that can range in symptoms, most often associated with hyperactivity, restlessness and inattention. 

According to the Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada (CADDAC), roughly five per cent to seven per cent of children are diagnosed with the condition, while four per cent to six per cent of adults are diagnosed. 

While children may have a harder time processing their symptoms, Gray says adults can "learn to mask their symptoms," making it difficult to determine if patients have ADHD or other mental health concerns.

Still, the life impacts of adult ADHD are very real. 

"There's real concrete stats saying there's compromised socioeconomic status, there's lower annual incomes, there's higher divorce rates, there's less workplace satisfaction and less job security," she said.