772 - Why Are So Many Adults Being Diagnosed With ADHD?

Public Health On Call

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

News, Health & Fitness, Medicine

4.6 • 644 Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2024

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

About this episode:

What's behind the significant increases in adult diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder—historically thought to be a neurodevelopmental disorder of childhood? A new understanding of symptoms, better diagnoses, and some of the best treatments in psychiatric medicine mean more and more people are benefiting from the evolving science behind ADHD.

Guest:

Dr. David Goodman is a Johns Hopkins psychiatrist and the director of the Adult Attention Deficit Disorder Center of Maryland.

Host:

Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, the largest center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
0:05.9	where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges.
0:16.3	If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to Public Health Question at jh.h.edu.
0:23.8	That's Public Health Question at jh.edu for future podcast episodes.
0:31.9	This is Lindsay Smith Rogers.
0:34.2	Today, a look at ADHD, a disorder that is being diagnosed in adults more frequently than ever.
0:40.3	Psychiatrist David Goodman, Director of the Adult Attention Deficit Disorder Center of Maryland,
0:45.3	talks to Stephanie Desmond about the origins of ADHD, why it has been difficult to diagnose in adults,
0:51.3	and why drug shortages are impacting care. Let's listen. David Goodman,
0:58.0	thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for having me, Stephanie. I'm glad we're covering this topic
1:02.0	today. Yeah, so the topic today is ADHD. And I know that in recent decades, we're hearing more
1:08.6	about ADHD diagnoses in adults. And I sort of thought it was
1:12.1	considered a childhood disorder. So what's going on? Well, historically, we had thought about
1:17.9	attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and not in adults. It was often said if you
1:24.5	were discharged by your pediatrician, you no longer had ADHD.
1:28.2	And it didn't seem to make much sense to people, but that was the dictum of the day.
1:33.6	If you follow children then past adolescence and into young adulthood and early adulthood,
1:39.3	the symptoms really persist in about 60 to 90 percent of children.
1:42.9	So this is a neurodevelopmental disorder that starts in childhood.
1:48.0	It doesn't start in adulthood.
1:49.8	Starts in childhood and then continues for the vast majority of people into the adult years.
1:56.3	And back when it was first described, because there wasn't medication, how were the kids treated?
	...

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