Adult ADHD diagnosis: ‘You’ve got to relook at your entire life’

Recognition of ADHD in Australia is likely to rise further with the release this week of the first evidence-based guidelines on screening, diagnosis and management. Photograph: yokunen/Getty Images/iStockphoto

When Zoë Rose found out she had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder – also known as ADHD – four years ago, at the age of 38, it was like the moment at the end of the Bruce Willis film The Sixth Sense when (spoiler alert!) it’s revealed that the main character was dead the whole time.

“Same scenario, but you had ADHD the whole time,” Rose says. “You’ve got to relook at your entire life”.