ADHD in men.

Men are diagnosed with ADHD more often than women, largely because they more often show the hyperactive-impulsive or combined presentation — the visible, disruptive kind that gets flagged early. But plenty still slip through the cracks: a boy's restlessness gets waved off as "typical boyishness," an inattentive man who was never hyperactive doesn't match the stereotype at all, and a "high-functioning" man hides it well enough that no one thinks to look.

By adulthood the obvious hyperactivity has usually gone internal — a restless, wound-up feeling rather than climbing the walls — while the forgetfulness, disorganisation, and emotional reactivity quietly persist and get chalked up to stress or "just how he is."

There's a particular pressure here. Cultural ideals of masculinity — be the provider, the stable one, never show weakness — push a lot of men to mask. They compensate by overworking, staying at the office until nine to finish what others do by five, until burnout sets in and hides the ADHD underneath it. Underneath the mask sits real shame: about losing emotional control, forgetting the bills, feeling like they've let the family down. And because research and treatment historically centred on hyperactive boys, the adult man's experience has often gone unheard. Many only recognise it later, when a promotion, a new baby, or a strained relationship finally overwhelms the coping.