Danielle Elliott

If women were not expected to handle the majority of executive functioning tasks at home or at work, if the world didn't rely on addictive technology, if we all moved and connected more, ADHD might be a little bit easier to manage. But the need for societal solutions doesn't replace the need for individual treatment. And it's time for that individual treatment to consider the experiences of women.

I started this podcast asking why so many women are being diagnosed with ADHD. People told me we just didn't understand ADHD in girls and women. They were wrong. Sari Solden told me there's a simple answer. The pandemic and TikTok. Ned Hollowell told me there's environmentally induced ADHD and that modern life is making ADHD symptoms worse.

I started this podcast asking why so many women are being diagnosed with ADHD. People told me we just didn't understand ADHD in girls and women. They were wrong. Sari Solden told me there's a simple answer. The pandemic and TikTok. Ned Hollowell told me there's environmentally induced ADHD and that modern life is making ADHD symptoms worse.

On Reddit, women are certain that decreasing estrogen during perimenopause and menopause brings on ADHD. I think it's more complicated than all of this. But I also have my own simple answer. Why women? Why now? Because throughout history, we did not prioritize women's health. And now women are demanding that we do. Climbing the Walls was written and reported by me, Danielle Elliott.

On Reddit, women are certain that decreasing estrogen during perimenopause and menopause brings on ADHD. I think it's more complicated than all of this. But I also have my own simple answer. Why women? Why now? Because throughout history, we did not prioritize women's health. And now women are demanding that we do. Climbing the Walls was written and reported by me, Danielle Elliott.

It was edited by Neil Drumming. Sound design by Cody Nelson. Brianna Berry was our production director. Ash Beecher was our supervising producer. And Diana White was our associate producer. Fact-checking by Mary Mathis. Research by Karen Watanabe. Our music was composed by Kwame Brant Pierce, with additional music provided by Blue Dot Sessions, and our mixing was done by Justin D. Wright.

It was edited by Neil Drumming. Sound design by Cody Nelson. Brianna Berry was our production director. Ash Beecher was our supervising producer. And Diana White was our associate producer. Fact-checking by Mary Mathis. Research by Karen Watanabe. Our music was composed by Kwame Brant Pierce, with additional music provided by Blue Dot Sessions, and our mixing was done by Justin D. Wright.

This series was brought to you by Understood.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. From understood.org, our executive directors are Laura Key, Scott Cochier, and Seth Melnick. A very special thanks to Ray Jacobson, Julie Zietz, Jordan Davidson, Sarah Greenberg, and Kathleen Nadeau.

This series was brought to you by Understood.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. From understood.org, our executive directors are Laura Key, Scott Cochier, and Seth Melnick. A very special thanks to Ray Jacobson, Julie Zietz, Jordan Davidson, Sarah Greenberg, and Kathleen Nadeau.

If you want to help Understood continue this work, consider making a donation at understood.org slash give.

If you want to help Understood continue this work, consider making a donation at understood.org slash give.

Here's a not-at-all fun fact. The average attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds in the last 25 years or so. We are all increasingly struggling to focus. The writer Johan Hari attempts to reckon with this phenomenon in his 2022 book, Stolen Focus, Why You Can't Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again. I read it in 2023 after a guy I was seeing recommended it.

Here's a not-at-all fun fact. The average attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 seconds in the last 25 years or so. We are all increasingly struggling to focus. The writer Johan Hari attempts to reckon with this phenomenon in his 2022 book, Stolen Focus, Why You Can't Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again. I read it in 2023 after a guy I was seeing recommended it.

He was in the middle of wrestling with his own ADHD symptoms. Anyway, the author of the book moved to a seaside town as an experiment. He cooked for himself. He walked everywhere. He read a daily newspaper and read books. He left his smartphone at home and called his family from a landline. Essentially, he lived in his immediate surroundings. Within weeks, he felt like his old self.

He was in the middle of wrestling with his own ADHD symptoms. Anyway, the author of the book moved to a seaside town as an experiment. He cooked for himself. He walked everywhere. He read a daily newspaper and read books. He left his smartphone at home and called his family from a landline. Essentially, he lived in his immediate surroundings. Within weeks, he felt like his old self.

He could think clearly and write for sustained periods of time. He enjoyed conversations with strangers. Outside of the pace of modern life, his symptoms ebbed. After three months, he left this little paradise and set out to find reasons why it's so hard to achieve this feeling in regular life. He found that many forces beyond our control are sort of short-circuiting our brains.

He could think clearly and write for sustained periods of time. He enjoyed conversations with strangers. Outside of the pace of modern life, his symptoms ebbed. After three months, he left this little paradise and set out to find reasons why it's so hard to achieve this feeling in regular life. He found that many forces beyond our control are sort of short-circuiting our brains.

Things like pollution in the air, chemicals in our food, tech companies creating addictive products. In essence, the conditions of modern life are not good for our brains, neurotypical and neurodivergent brains alike. And many of the habits of modern life aren't good either. To be clear, Stolen Focus is not about ADHD.

Things like pollution in the air, chemicals in our food, tech companies creating addictive products. In essence, the conditions of modern life are not good for our brains, neurotypical and neurodivergent brains alike. And many of the habits of modern life aren't good either. To be clear, Stolen Focus is not about ADHD.

But the book hones in on what Ned calls our ADDogenic culture and why more people might be developing what he called environmentally induced ADHD. That is to say, the way we live these days is manifesting ADHD-like symptoms, even for people who do not have ADHD. Does accepting this fact open the door for greater numbers of misdiagnosis? Yes.