Do I have ADHD?

Simply put, no, ADHD is not overdiagnosed. Diagnoses have gone up in the last few decades. But studies over 30 years find that the share of kids and teens who actually have ADHD hasn't gone up [9]. What changed is our ability to spot it. The rise in diagnoses is largely due to better science, better diagnosis, and better awareness. We're getting better at noticing ADHD in all its forms and in all kinds of people.

For adults, the research points the other way. In one large US health system, kids aged 5 to 11 were 3 to 4 times as likely as adults to have a diagnosis [7]. And among adults 50 and older, about 2 in 100 show signs of ADHD, but only about 2 in 1,000 have a diagnosis [2]. If you think you might have ADHD, it's a fair question to bring to a clinician.

Lots of adults with ADHD were called lazy growing up, and some still say it to themselves. With ADHD, you can really care about something and still have a hard time starting it or finishing it. ADHD is a health condition. It mostly runs in families, and studies of twins find it's about 74% genetic [13]. In studies of adults, ADHD medication helped with symptoms more than a fake pill did [9].

To sort this out for yourself, look back over your whole life. Did some of this start when you were a kid? Does it show up in more than one place, like at work and at home? Does it happen even with things you care about? A clinician will ask about things like this too. Our free assessment can help you decide if it's worth talking to one.

Most don't. In a US study that followed kids with ADHD for 16 years, only about 9 in 100 had fully grown out of it by about age 25. For about 2 in 3, the signs came and went over the years [14].

ADHD also tends to change as you get older. Many people become less hyper, but the trouble with attention stays [9]. So you might look calmer than you did as a kid and still have ADHD. And if you had some easier years and then things got hard again, that pattern showed up a lot in this study too.

Boys do get diagnosed more, especially as kids. In a study of health records in Wales, boys were diagnosed about 5 times as often as girls in childhood. Among people diagnosed after 18, it was closer to 2 to 1 [5]. That gap shrinks because many girls and women don't find out until later in life.

One reason is that ADHD can look quieter in girls, so it's easy to miss. Girls and women are also more likely to be told they have anxiety or depression before anyone finds their ADHD [5]. If that sounds familiar, our page on ADHD in women goes deeper.

No. ADHD starts in childhood, but lots of people don't find out until much later. Most adults 50 and older who show signs of ADHD have never been diagnosed [2]. Yara, one of Shimmer's members, was diagnosed at 52.

Since ADHD starts when you're young, a clinician will ask what you were like as a kid. Many adults have a hard time remembering that far back, so clinicians often look for other clues. Old report cards can help, and so can a parent or other family member who knew you then.

No. A Scottish doctor described people who couldn't keep their attention on one thing in 1798. By 1902, a British doctor was writing about children who had trouble paying attention and controlling what they did. In 1937, a doctor reported that a medicine helped kids' behavior and schoolwork [15].

It can seem new because the name has changed a lot. Over the years, doctors called it things like minimal brain dysfunction and attention deficit disorder, and the name ADHD only goes back to 1987 [15]. More adults are also finding out they have it now. In one large US health system, the share of adults with a diagnosis more than doubled from 2007 to 2016 [7].

Research doesn't point to any of these as the cause. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder [1]. That means it comes from how your brain grows and develops, starting when you're young. It isn't something you catch. It also runs in families, mostly through genes [13], and other things can add to the risk, like being born very early [9].

In 23 studies that tested sugar on kids, it didn't change how they behaved or paid attention [16]. Teens who used screens a lot had slightly more ADHD signs later, but researchers can't tell yet which one causes the other [17]. The National Institute of Mental Health has said there's little compelling evidence that ADHD can come purely from social factors or how you were raised [12]. Things around you can make ADHD harder to live with, but they don't seem to cause it by themselves [12].

So if you've wondered whether you or your parents did something to cause this, the research mostly points to genes and how the brain develops.

ADD is the old name. It became the official name in 1980 and was changed to ADHD in 1987 [15]. If a doctor told you years ago that you had ADD, the name today would be ADHD.

The name can be confusing because the H stands for hyperactivity. You can have ADHD without being hyper at all. Some people mostly have trouble with attention, and that's still called ADHD. When people say ADD today, that's usually what they mean.

No. Only a trained clinician can diagnose ADHD. A screener like our free assessment can help you decide if it's worth pursuing an official diagnosis. Ours uses the World Health Organization's adult ADHD screener, which asks 18 questions about how often certain things happen to you.

Your score can't tell you for sure either way. A high score can come from other things, like anxiety, depression, or poor sleep. A low score doesn't rule ADHD out, since screeners can miss people who have it. So use your score as a starting point. We'll email you a copy, and you can bring it to your appointment.

Yes. Good grades or a good job don't rule out ADHD. It shows up in people at every IQ level, and it can still get in the way for people who are very smart [9]. Many people cover up their ADHD by working extra hard or trying to be perfect [22]. That can work for a while, but it wears you out.

So when you talk to a clinician, tell them how things look from the outside and what it takes you to keep them that way. They'll look at how much ADHD is getting in the way of your life.

No. At Shimmer, you don't need a diagnosis to work with a coach. Whether you've been diagnosed, think you might have ADHD, or are still figuring it out, you're welcome.

Coaching is about your everyday life, like managing your time, putting things off, and getting organized. You and your coach set goals, try something new each week, and look at what worked. A coach can't diagnose you, so if you want an official answer, you'll still need a clinician. You can do both at once, or start with one and add the other later.