Worth Reading

Women are being diagnosed with ADHD at unprecedented rates. Here’s why.

Women and girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have historically been under and misdiagnosed. Is the world finally catching up?

National Geographic – Science | Mind, Body, Wonder

By Kaelyn Lynch

At age 22, Rach Idowu was convinced she had dementia. She found herself forgetting birthdays, missing meetings at work, and struggling to manage credit card debt. A Google search suggested that she had early-onset dementia, which her doctor quickly dismissed. It would take her another four years and the assessments of two psychiatrists, but eventually Idowu was diagnosed with ADHD.

While this article isn’t about ADHD and it is quite long and detailed, it is powerful and important and relevant for a lot of my clients. I am frequently asked if I think social media is a big issue for teens, especially girls, and this is the best answer I have seen. For those who don’t want to wade through the whole article, there is a conclusions section at the end (further summarized in the title!).
~ Lynn

Social Media is a Major Cause of the Mental Illness Epidemic in Teen Girls. Here’s the Evidence.

Journalists should stop saying that the evidence is just correlational

After Babel

By Jon Haidt

A big story last week was the partial release of the CDC’s bi-annual Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which showed that most teen girls (57%) now say that they experience persistent sadness or hopelessness (up from 36% in 2011), and 30% of teen girls now say that they have seriously considered suicide (up from 19% in 2011). Boys are doing badly too, but their rates of depression and anxiety are not as high, and their increases since 2011 are smaller.

As children’s ADHD diagnoses rise, parents discover they have it, too

Washington Post

By Natachi Onwuamaegbu

When her son Jake was diagnosed with ADHD at age 11, it didn’t occur to Cary Colleran that she may have the condition as well. It didn’t occur to her that the appointments she forgot, the permission slips left on the kitchen table, the misremembered dates of field trips might be anything other than a symptom of her personality. She’s disorganized. That’s all.

An ADHD diagnosis has reframed years of thinking I was ‘too much’

Washington Post

Perspective by Mathangi Subramanian

There are about a hundred ways to tell a South Asian woman that she’s too much, and I have heard them all.

There’s the way men tell me I’m “super loud for an Asian girl.” Or the way my bosses tell me I’m “entitled” for asking why the men in my department are paid more than me. Or the way relatives tell me I’m “scary” when I set boundaries in a quiet, even voice.

How women and girls with ADHD are given short shrift with treatment, other forms of help

Washington Post

By Katherine Ellison

After a lifetime of arriving late, missing deadlines and having friends call her a ditz, Leslie Crawford wanted to know whether her chronic distraction meant she had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. And, if that were true, could medication help?

The lost girls: ‘Chaotic and curious, women with ADHD all have missed red flags that haunt us’

The Guardian

By Noelle Faulkner

After multiple burnouts, in my early 30s I finally knew why life sometimes felt harder for me. It made perfect sense, so why had no one noticed before? Neurodivergent women often slip through the cracks of ADHD diagnosis because they can appear smart or gifted.

This is a terrific article on how to conquer our fears and live a more courageous life.
~ Lynn

The Science Of Conquering Your Fears — And Living A More Courageous Life

Huffpost

By Carolyn Gregoire

Aristotle believed courage to be the most important quality in a man. “Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes all others possible,” he wrote. Today, it’s one of the more neglected areas of positive psychology, but recent research has begun to move toward an understanding of what courage is and how we might be able to cultivate the ability to face our fear and make decisions with greater fortitude.

I often get questions from my clients about apps and online courses that claim their “brain training” can make you more mentally agile. I found this article in Fast Company quite helpful. It recommends one (and only one!) training that has been proven to be effective, and makes several excellent suggestions for keeping our brains agile and healthy.
~ Lynn

This Is The Only Type Of Brain Training That Works, According To Science

Fast Company

By Michael Grothaus
August 21, 2017

There are dozens of apps and online courses that claim their “brain training” can make you more mentally agile, but there’s usually little scientific evidence to back up those claims. While the FDA does approve certain brain training programs aimed to treat specific medical disorders…

BIT can be life changing for people with certain head injuries, especially post-concussion syndrome. This article gives more details about post concussion syndrome and common symptoms.
~ Lynn

Post-Concussion Syndrome

Healthline

Medically reviewed by Seunggu Han, M.D. — Written by Joe Bowman
Updated on August 28, 2019

What is post-concussion syndrome? Post-concussion syndrome (PCS), or post-concussive syndrome, refers to the lingering symptoms following a concussion or a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).