"Everyone Has ADHD these Days"
- Michael Ling
- Nov 5
- 2 min read
… except, they don’t!
This is something those of us with ADHD hear quite often, and I do understand where it comes from - with so much conversation around ADHD in the media and online, it can sometimes feel as though everyone is being diagnosed. The truth, however, is very different.
Recent research (links at the bottom) shows that around 5 percent of children are diagnosed with ADHD, and in adults, that figure is between 3 and 4 percent. That is a small proportion of the population, so the idea that “everyone has ADHD” simply does not hold up!
What has changed is our level of understanding; we are finally beginning to recognise ADHD in people who were previously missed, particularly in women and girls, and we’re also becoming better at identifying how it presents differently from person to person.
In the UK, the current male-to-female diagnosis ratio sits at roughly 3:1. That gap doesn’t necessarily mean that ADHD is less common in women; rather, it reflects years of misunderstanding and underdiagnosis, as my female clients can testify to. Many women only discover they have ADHD in adulthood, often after recognising the signs in their children or stumbling across information that finally makes sense of their lifelong experiences.
So when people say “everyone has ADHD now,” it is important to remember that ADHD isn’t new, it’s just that we’re finally starting to understand it better. Greater awareness means more people can get the right help and support, and that can make a real difference to their quality of life. One of my missions in life is to raise awareness and offer support as much as I possibly can, to help improve the lives of neurodivergent people.
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