New research from Understood.org, a leading nonprofit for people with learning and thinking differences, finds there is an urgent, unmet need of women with ADHD. The report, titled "Missed, Misread, and Misdiagnosed: Current State of Women With ADHD," notes that for decades, ADHD was wrongly considered a "boy's disorder," and women were misdiagnosed with conditions like anxiety or depression.Experts believe the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused a shift, with the loss of external structures forcing many women to confront their struggles with organization and focus. As a result, the number of new ADHD diagnoses among women ages 23–49 doubled between 2020 and 2022.Poor diagnosis resulted in 89 percent of women with ADHD reporting damaged self-confidence from misattributing their neurobiological symptoms to character flaws. This contributed to more severe mental health issues, with 23.5 percent of women with ADHD reporting a lifetime history of suicide attempts, significantly higher than the 8.5 percent among men with ADHD.Eating disorders are 3.6 times more common in girls with ADHD than in other girls. Sleep issues are also common. Among adults with ADHD, 60 percent screen positive for a sleep disorder.