# How COVID changed ADHD diagnosis rates

- **Episode:** [173](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/173.md) (2025-02-20)
- **Type:** interview
- **Tags:** adhd, diagnosis, covid
- **Time:** 10:55–13:23 (start 655s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/173?t=655](https://truthliesandwork.com/173?t=655)

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[10:55] Skye Waterson: So this is a tricky question, but I got asked this question a while ago, and I think Honestly, I think COVID really pushed it. Like COVID was where you really started to see people get a diagnosis. And so I think a lot of what we're seeing now in the continual diagnosis of ADHD has sort of springs from that point. And a lot of it was, and, and still is the sense of, okay, I was taking on this responsibility and then I had some kids, or I started a new job, or I got a promotion, or I moved to a bigger city, and then I had to deal with a pandemic. It's just too many things, you know. The executive functioning that you're doing, you might— okay, well, I guess we'll work some Sundays, and okay, I guess we'll do extra prep in the evenings. And eventually you're like, nope, I can't do it. That's it. There's got to be something. I'm going to somebody. And, and that was my story as well. You know, I, I finished my master's. And I got a scholarship to do a PhD, which was amazing, but I was so burned out at that point that I don't even really remember getting the scholarship. I only really sort of realized later, yeah, I went and worked in a bakery for a year and like made art and all this kind of stuff. I was like, oh, I, I'm done with that like whole thing. And it was only later when I was like, wait, I think that was just me being super, super burned out. So, you know, and then when I went back to university to do the PhD, Then I was like, okay, I'm just, I'm going to go to the inclusive learning center and I'm just going to be like, what is it? Just, just help me figure it out. And so I think a lot of people with ADHD, they don't necessarily know they have ADHD. They just know something is wrong and they've, they've gotten to a point in their life where they've piled on too many things and now they're just, they're, they're going for help. And when you go for help these days, ADHD becomes part of the conversation, whereas before it wasn't part of the conversation. I've had worked with tons of clients, especially female clients who are like, well, we thought it was anxiety and depression and it never quite seemed to fit. And then when ADHD came along, that was a, that was a fit. And now I'm feeling better because again, with ADHD, once you know about it and you get the strategies, then, then you're, you're, you're not good. You're still going to struggle forever, but it, It can really help. You know, the research indicates it's one of the more treatable source struggles