Once upon a time, doctors used to believe that a woman’s uterus was a wild, unpredictable entity; something that roamed around inside her body, causing all sorts of mayhem and trouble. (The term ‘hysterical’ comes from the Latin hystericus: ‘of the womb’).
Knowing that, it’s not too much of a stretch to see how for centuries, women’s bodies were regarded in medicine as inferior to men’s. Our brains were smaller; we were weaker; and our capabilities, therefore, were more limited. Once hormones were discovered (shockingly recently – the first hormone in 1902, and oestrogen only in the 1920s) then these substances became responsible, in the eyes of scholars, for a whole load of feminine unpredictability. This is why, in many areas of medical research, studies have been done only on male subjects. And this, in turn, is why we know a lot less about many health conditions and how they affect women differently to men.
Technically a neurodevelopmental disorder, ADHD has been known in various forms for over 200 years, until very recently it was believed it affected boys and men far more than it affected girls and women. Now, with more adult women being diagnosed – often in their 40s, 50s and older – we know differently.
Dr. Petra Hoggarth is a clinical psychologist based in Christchurch, who works
