The increase in ADHD diagnoses across all age groups in Finland highlights growing demand for assessments, revealing significant strains on specialist services and concerns over diagnostic quality amid rising medication use.
ADHD diagnoses in Finland have climbed sharply across age groups, and the surge is stretching waiting times for assessment, especially for adults. According to reports from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, diagnosis rates among children and young people have continued to rise, with particularly marked growth among girls in their teens. The same trend is now visible in adults, where demand for assessment and treatment has also increased.
That expansion has not been matched by an equally rapid increase in specialist capacity. Anu Raevuori, a professor of youth psychiatry and chief physician at HUS, said many psychiatrists do not take on adult ADHD assessments, start medication or provide follow-up care, which helps explain why queues can become long. She said the work requires specific training and experience, and that not every psychiatrist has the background needed to carry out a full diagnostic review.
Raevuori said adult ADHD assessments are often more complex than they first appear because the symptoms can overlap with sleep disorders, depression, anxiety or substance use. A diagnosis cannot be made simply from a patient’s current symptoms. Clinicians also have to trace the history back to childhood, look at how difficulties show up in different settings and assess how they affect day-to-day functioning. That typically means repeated appointments, questionnaires, document review and, in some cases, input from relatives or other professionals.
The pressure on the system is being driven by both greater awareness and a shortfall in specialists with deep ADHD expertise. Raevuori said the number of professionals familiar with the condition has not necessarily risen in step with demand. Joel Holmén, a psychiatrist at Recuror, has separately warned that the growing market for assessments has encouraged overly superficial diagnostics in both public and private care. He has argued that when ADHD assessments are moved away from specialist services, a broader psychiatric evaluation can be missed, with the risk that another condition is treated as ADHD, or ADHD is overlooked altogether.
There are also financial consequences for patients. In Finland, the cost of an assessment depends on how much specialist time is needed and which examinations are required. Raevuori said not everyone needs the same set of tests, so the price varies from case to case. Some clinics use multidisciplinary teams that include psychologists or neuropsychologists, while others rely more heavily on the doctor’s own evaluation. In ADHD cases, she said, the process often demands more background work than many other psychiatric assessments because clinicians must review older records and earlier developmental history.
The wider public health picture helps explain why demand has risen so quickly. THL data indicate that ADHD diagnoses among children and young people have climbed steeply in recent years, with prevalence especially high among boys in primary school and rising fast among teenage girls. Finnish authorities have also linked the increase in diagnoses to greater use of ADHD medication among children and adolescents. For adults, medication use has likewise grown: Iltalehti reported that nearly 26,000 people started ADHD medication in 2025, while about 132,000 people used such medication in the most recent annual statistics. That scale of need, combined with the depth of assessment required, suggests the backlog is likely to remain a challenge.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
