Mum who became a coach for other ADHD parents speaks out as new study reveals 20-fold increase in women taking drugs for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADHD rates have surged in Britain with adult women taking medication for the condition seeing a 20-fold increase.
A study of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) published in the Lancet has thrown the condition back in the spotlight as one mum has told how she was diagnosed herself before learning to manage the ‘meltdowns, tears and explosive behaviour’ in her children. Lauren O’Carroll is 41 and lives in Cambridge with her children who are aged nine and seven who have both been diagnosed with ADHD. Lauren had herself been diagnosed at the age of 21.
Lauren explained: “I learned to build a life that worked with my brain and was able to stop using medication for periods of time. From the outside, I looked successful: a good career, strong friendships, independence. Inside, everything relied on careful balance but it was working. That balance collapsed when my responsibilities increased and support decreased.”
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Lauren told how she had to stop taking her ADHD medication while undergoing fertility treatment. She added: “Seven years later I had two young children, a demanding NHS role, a household to manage – and two daughters who, like me, showed clear signs of being neurodivergent.
“Like many girls, my children masked brilliantly at school and nursery. Teachers didn’t see a problem. But masking comes at a cost. When they got home – to the place they felt safest – the emotional overload poured out in meltdowns, tears and explosive behaviour.
“What looked like ‘bad parenting’ was actually two overwhelmed nervous systems hitting breaking point. As the pressure on my children grew, so did the pressure on me. I swung between gentle parenting and sudden rage, exhausted and ashamed.”
The new study by Oxford University looked at medication prescriptions in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK between 2010 and 2023. The UK had the highest relative increase in ADHD medication and experts say the rise is down to better awareness of the condition.
The study showed the increase is most pronounced in adults with “a more than 20-fold increase in females and 15-fold in males” among over-25s.
At the age of 37, Lauren restarted her ADHD medication which she says “gave me the clarity to understand what was happening in our home, helped me to regulate my emotions better”.
She said: “I read every book, took every course, and eventually retrained as a parenting coach specialising in ADHD families because I knew one thing for certain: this wasn’t just happening to us.”
Lauren’s children had been stuck on NHS waiting lists for a diagnosis before she paid privately for them to be assessed. At one point she says she was paying around £500 a month for private ADHD care, including prescription fees, mandatory reviews and medication.
Lauren explained: “Because NHS waiting lists stretched into years. It took two more years before I finally accessed shared care through the NHS via the right to choose pathway.
“I had my eldest daughter assessed privately at seven as school refused to refer her. My youngest has been on an NHS waiting list since the age of five.
“Around 80% of ADHD diagnoses are still made in boys, yet we now know ADHD doesn’t disappear in girls – it simply goes unnoticed. Late diagnosis doesn’t just affect adults; it affects entire families.”
It comes after the Government has launched a national review into the rising demand for mental health, ADHD and autism services. Its review will look at rates of diagnosis, whether people are being over-diagnosed and NHS delays to vital support.
There has been criticisms of the surge in ADHD from some politicians and experts who say the condition is being overdiagnosed and that we are “medicalising” normal life struggles.
This is something many who support people with ADHD fiercely rail against along with the suggestion that ADHD is a negative label that restricts people’s ability and willingness to learn to cope.
Campaigners insist the problem is the huge NHS backlog in getting ADHD diagnoses and support for families in crisis.
Lauren, who now runs Positively Parenting to help support families with ADHD, added: “Diagnosis hasn’t labelled us. It has protected us. It has given us language, access to support and relief from the quiet parental gaslighting so many families endure.
“I’ve written You’re Not a Sht Parent, You Just Have ADHD to give parents something the system often can’t – understanding, tools and hope while they wait.”
