Dr. Russell Barkley

We now know that girls have kind of a two-phase onset.

There are some girls whose onset is in childhood, like the boys, and they tend to be pretty bad cases.

But there's a second wave of onset at the onset of puberty and menstruation.

And we're now realizing that female hormones and their balance play a role in exacerbating ADHD symptoms in women.

And so we have a second wave of onset of girls who were kind of marginally ADHD in childhood who hit their menses and now are full-fledged.

women with ADHD.

And each month, as their cycle comes back around, are going to have three to five days of exacerbated symptoms that clinicians have to deal with, particularly with regard to emotional dysregulation and their forgetfulness.

But the emotional ones tend to be really exacerbated by these changes.

And now let's fast forward.

You're 55.

Now you're going through perimenopause.

And we now have women coming in who are marginally ADHD who are just fallen apart in their mid to late career because of perimenopause and the changes.

So there are some great articles coming out now on the impact of the imbalance of estrogen and progesterone.

on women with ADHD.

So like I said, we're catching up.

More girls are being referred.

More girls are being treated.

More girls are being put on medication than ever before.

And that's all good news to me.

But it's also to say, you know, we still got a ways to go.