Why there’s no “gold standard” for adult ADHD tests

Last fall, I heard something that floored me: The tests we have for ADHD in adults don’t work very well.
As an adult with ADHD, I think about this all the time because our diagnosis is so stigmatized and so misunderstood. It’s overdiagnosed. It’s underdiagnosed. Everybody has it. Nobody has it.
If only there were a silver bullet or some test that could definitively say yes or no.
So, I asked the two Chicago School faculty members who got me thinking about this after their presentation at the CHADD conference last year: Jessica Rosenfeld, a clinical psychologist, and Reneh Karamians, a neurorehabilitation psychologist.
They explained why adult ADHD diagnosis is so difficult, and how new scan technology holds promise for spotting ADHD in the brain.
For more on this topic
Listen: Is ADHD genetic? We asked a Harvard scientist
Listen: Understood Explains: ADHD in adults
For a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]
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