Hong Kong Trusted Brands 2025

PAYING ATTENTION TO ADULTADHD New awareness and diagnostic tools are helping more of us understand how our brains work BY Melissa Greer ILLUSTRATIONS BY Dan Page *not her real name HEALTH G rowing up, Suzanne Smith* always thought she had some sort of learning disorder. The artist says she daydreamed during class and doodled on her work, even- tually falling behind. She was clumsy, often breaking things or making a mess. Throughout her childhood, she was called quirky and eccentric – traits that people would attribute to her creative per- sonality. “I found different ways to cope and just accepted that this is me,” she says. But eventually, “it got to the point where I was really not function- ing well, and my relationship with my husband was taking a hit.” Smith describes herself as “disorganised” and says she finds it hard to focus, making everyday household tasks like cooking and cleaning very chal- lenging. “It’s an unfair division of labour, and that was resulting in resent- ment,” she says. Smith began doing some research online and reached out to the Uni- versit y of Mar yland Psycholog y Clinic, which offers sliding-fee scale mental health evaluations. After undergoing an assessment there in August 2024, she was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivi- ty disorder (ADHD) at the age of 54. She’s now part of a growing number rdasia.com 5