A Narrative Review of Outcomes, Comorbidities, and Alternative Behavioral Interventions in Adolescent and Adult Women with ADHD

Abstract

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition that persists into late adolescence and even adulthood. While a lot of research has addressed the issues of childhood ADHD, manifestation of the condition in adults, particularly females, remains largely obscure. The aim of the present narrative review is to address the sex-specific subtleties of ADHD in adolescent and adult female populations and critically analyze the various intricately complex facets of the associated comorbidities and outcomes, based upon data extracted from scholarly works indexed in online databases (eg, PubMed, Google Scholar, etc). We provide evidences refuting the presumption that ADHD primarily affects men, highlighting the complexity of clinical outcomes and comorbidities, and the consequent misdiagnosis of women as a possible reason. Comprehensive critical assessment of the multiple aspects of psycho-socio-behavioral, cognitive, and other clinical outcomes and comorbidities associated with ADHD in women indicated widespread dysfunctions and atypical characteristics. Furthermore, we also propose the probable utilities of art-based and other unconventional behavioral therapeutic regimens as alternatives and/or additives for the therapy of female ADHD cases to address case- and gender-specific needs and induce an overall improvement in their functioning. While this is not an exhaustive review of the literature, we hope that our points of discussion will generate further interest among scientists, clinicians, and caregivers to address the age and gender specificity of the condition to advance our perspectives of the condition and eventually establish novel therapeutic measures for the same.