ADHD Symptoms For Women
Women with ADHD typically experience symptoms of emotional volatility and sensitivity to rejection. They might also experience insomnia or poor quality sleep, which could cause symptoms to get worse.
Women and girls tend to hide their ADHD symptoms better than men and employ coping strategies to meet social expectations and norms. This can lead to a misdiagnosis as well as a delay in treatment.
1. Difficulty Focusing
For a lot of women suffering from ADHD concentration is the biggest challenge. This neurodevelopmental disorder can make it difficult to concentrate at school, during meetings at work as well as when reading or listening to other people talk. It can also be difficult to complete everyday tasks like keeping track of appointments or remembering to take medication.
Difficulty focusing is one of the most common adhd symptoms for girls and women, regardless of their gender identity or whether they have hyperactive/impulsive or inattentive ADHD. According to CHADD, women with the inattentive version of the disorder may have difficulty organizing their home and their desks. They may also find it hard to prioritize tasks. These issues can lead them to miss appointments, arrive in the wrong place at the correct time or fail to keep up on their tasks. They can make them feel bad about themselves and blame themselves for their troubles and think they are incompetent or forgetful.
Attention-deficit ADHD symptoms can also make it difficult to stay on top of responsibilities, leading to poor school or work performance and an accumulation of debt. They can be triggered by stress or other mental health conditions like anxiety and depression that are often associated with ADHD in women, as per CHADD.
Some girls and women with inattentional ADHD aren't diagnosed or treated because of biases that teachers and parents may have towards men and boys. They may not be able to express their ADHD symptoms as well, especially the hyperactive/impulsive ones, and may have difficulty finding treatment that works for them.
For adult women with ADHD symptoms, they can be worsened by hormonal changes. For instance, they could be more evident during the menstrual cycle or during perimenopausal transition, the period leading up to menopausal, when estrogen levels decrease and cause emotional problems, including mood swings and irritation.
Stimulant medications can help improve concentration for adults with ADHD, but it won't treat the condition. Other strategies like mindfulness training, lifestyle changes and cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) can also assist with organization and focus. adult add in women and workplaces offer facilities to assist with these issues.
2. Forgetting Things
Inattention can make it difficult to stay on top of daily tasks or manage obligations. You may have difficulty remembering important details about people or events, especially when they happen in a noisy or crowded environment. You may also end up having trouble remembering appointments or getting late to work or school. Women with ADHD tend to forget to pay bills or responding to emails, which can result in financial stress and a sense of urgency. You may have difficulty working in a busy or noisy office. You may also get lost in conversations, leaving the other person to feel disregarded or untruthful.
Many women and girls suffering from ADHD also have trouble maintaining friendships and are at risk of being forced into sexual activities that are not desired or being victims of violence from intimate partners. They are more likely than other people to feel overwhelmed because they are unable to manage their emotions. They could also be struggling with self-esteem, and they might view their issues as an "personal flaw" instead of recognizing that their behavior may be linked to their ADHD symptoms.
Females and females with ADHD are also underdiagnosed due to gender bias, since their symptoms are more noticeable than those of males and females. They can disguise symptoms as anxiety and mood disorders, which can cause a misdiagnosis and improper treatment.
Symptoms of ADHD are influenced by hormone fluctuations particularly during puberty, when estrogen drops and progesterone rises. This can cause more frequent change in symptoms from day to day, which can make it more difficult to diagnose and manage ADHD effectively.
Finding a doctor and getting treatment can help you gain the life skills needed to manage your ADHD symptoms. You can also consider lifestyle changes, like eating a balanced diet and limiting sugar, caffeine and other stimulants that might cause symptoms to become worse. Meditation and mindfulness techniques can help calm your mind and reduce the impulsiveness and restlessness. They can also improve the regulation of emotions. A mental health professional could be able to assist you by discussing possible accommodations that can assist you in managing ADHD symptoms at school or at work.
3. Disruptive Behavior
Women who suffer from ADHD are more inattentive than hyperactive or the symptoms of impulsivity. This could be because girls and women have different brains than men and boys. It could also be due to the volume of activity in the brain areas that control impulsive behavior.
As a result, it can be harder for a doctor to recognize and diagnose ADHD in women. Many women devise strategies to hide their symptoms. Some are healthy, but others are not sustainable and could cause other health issues. For instance some women resort to excessive alcohol or drugs to manage their symptoms. They could also develop depression or other mental health issues like anxiety. These unhealthy coping strategies can make it difficult for someone to recognize that they have a mental health problem and delay a proper diagnosis.
Disruptive behavior is among the most common symptom of adhd for women. It can affect their school or work performance, as well as their relationships. They typically involve not being focused on a particular task, not remembering important events or tasks, and becoming easily distracted by other aspects of the surroundings or in their thoughts. They might fidget or tap their feet or hands or squirm their seats. They may also speak out loud or yell, and they can be interruptive.
Women with the inattentive subtype are prone to having difficulty concentrating during lectures or conversations or completing schoolwork writing, reading, or reading assignments, following directions in class or at work, and juggling daily tasks. They may be unorganized and messy and have a difficult time adhere to commitments or tasks. They are more likely to lose or misplace things such as eyeglasses, wallets, and keys.
Having the predominantly hyperactive/impulsive type of adhd can disrupt work or school, cause social problems, and create relationship challenges. This type of disorder can cause issues at home, at work as well as at school, and it can trigger feelings of anxiety and boredom. It can also cause frustration. They have a hard waiting to be called upon at school, at home or at work and often interrupt other people. They tend to act recklessly and aren't able to manage their behavior.
4. Anxiety
Women and girls who have ADHD may have a harder time to manage their symptoms. This is partly due to societal expectations that demand that mothers and women be the primary caregivers for their children and their household. When a woman struggles to fulfill her obligations this can cause anxiety and low self-esteem. This can make it harder to seek out treatment for her ADHD.
In addition, women with ADHD frequently have a difficult time getting diagnosed as their symptoms are not as pronounced as those of boys and men. They may present with primarily inattentive symptoms, which do not have the same outward appearance as hyperactive/impulsive ADHD symptoms, making them less likely to receive a referral for treatment from teachers and parents. Additionally they are more likely to develop coping strategies that cover up their ADHD symptoms, including excessive fidgeting and forgetfulness, which could be misinterpreted as symptoms of anxiety disorders.
The symptoms of ADHD can also change over a woman's lifetime. For instance, during periods of hormonal changes, like menstruation or pregnancy, a woman could find her ADHD symptoms to become more intense. This can result in being viewed as a woman who is emotionally overly sensitive, which adds to her feelings of frustration.
This article is based upon research into how ADHD affects different people based on their gender. Verywell Health recognizes that sex is a matter of biology: chromosomal makeup, hormones, and anatomical structure, while gender is an internal sense of the person you are as a man, a woman, or if non-binary, or a person. This distinction is crucial because it allows for better understanding of the ways and the ways that ADHD manifests may differ between genders. This is why throughout this article, we refer to males and those assigned to male at birth (AMAB) as men and boys, and to women and people assigned to female at birth (AFAB) as women and girls. This terminology is utilized in many research studies. For more information, read Verywell Health's guide on gender and sex.