Though some worry that the significant rise in adult ADHD diagnoses over the past two decades may be unwarranted, the facts are plain: ADHD UK says roughly two million cases are still undiagnosed in the UK.
ADHD research from the UK Longitudinal Household Study found 12 times as many people were in the ‘undiagnosed distress’ category as those considered ‘overdiagnosed’ in 2024, too.
Experts think that ADHD may be more frequently diagnosed among adults nowadays because of increased awareness and decreased stigmatisation.
For Alex Partridge, founder of LADbible and UniLad, host of ADHD Chatter podcast and author of Now It All Makes Sense: How An ADHD Diagnosis Brought Clarity To My Life, a later diagnosis was transformative.
He spoke to HuffPost UK about how the experience went for him.
“The stereotype of ADHD is physical hyperactivity, but I struggled to see that in myself”
The founder and author shares that he didn’t recognise himself among stereotypical descriptions of ADHD, because he was “quiet and shy.”
“Instead, my hyperactivity was very much internalised and concentrated in my head,” he says.
So, while he exhibited signs a psychiatrist later told him were “clear as hell” (like abandoning projects, overspending, and struggling to maintain friendships and relationships), Partridge didn’t get diagnosed until 34.
The news, which came “after a lifetime spent feeling out of place without knowing why,” changed his life forever, he adds.
“My initial diagnosis came with a significant amount of grief, confusion, and questions,” he comments (he sought help from an expert after a coworker made a passing remark about how ADHD-like his behaviour seemed).
“What would my life have been like if I’d had this understanding earlier? Who am I, really? What’s me and what’s masking? It’s a fascinating, but difficult, journey of self-discovery that I’m still on today.”
But this “grief” comes with “enormous gratitude,” Partridge comments.
“I’m grateful for finally finding out I’m not broken and that I don’t need to be fixed. Everything in my past makes sense. My life makes sense. I was always enough.”
“You’re not too old”
Partridge says there are lots of reasons to put off or avoid seeking an ADHD diagnosis as an adult besides feeling “too old” for it.
Maybe you “can’t face the idea of being on a waiting list for potentially years, or believe that, as you’ve coped perfectly well up until this point, you don’t necessarily need an ‘official’ ADHD diagnosis.”
He says this “is a completely valid way of thinking – however you opt to engage with potential neurodivergence is entirely up to you, and whatever you choose is OK.
“All I can say is that, for myself, if I had been born with the understanding of ADHD I have now, my life would have been very different. So much pain would have been avoided.”
The author added he wishes he could go back in time and hug his younger self “and tell him, you’re not broken. You don’t need to be fixed. Your brain works a little bit differently.
“And with the right tools, you can mitigate the challenges of ADHD, lean into
your unique strengths, and ultimately achieve amazing things.”
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