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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Politics
Kelli María Korducki

TikTok trends or the pandemic? What’s behind the rise in ADHD diagnoses

An illustration shows a brain in a neon green hue with pink light emanating from it on a chaotic landscape of colors
A surge in adult ADHD diagnoses has been more than a decade in the making. Photograph: Steven Mcdowell/Science Photo Library/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF

Dani Donovan almost didn’t post the illustration that changed her life: a deadpan visual gag that translated her ADHD-addled storytelling style into a 12-point flowchart.

When she released her drawing into the Twittersphere in December 2018, she figured that few people would see it. Instead the post went viral “almost immediately”, amassing more than 100m views across social media channels. Just over a year later, she quit her corporate graphic design job to make ADHD comics full-time.

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