ADHD in Women
ADHD in women gets overlooked quite often. Sometimes for decades! This is detrimental. Let me explain.
Why it goes unnoticed
It is usually the quieter type
ADHD in women tends to show up as the inattentive type, and the inattentive type is not obvious or outward. Nobody is bouncing off the walls. Nothing is disrupting the room. What is happening is happening on the inside. Attention drifting mid-sentence. Things slipping from memory or not even making it into the memory in the first place.
The coping strategies work too well
People learn to compensate which can hide the ADHD, but it’s costly. The systems, the extra hours, the double-checking, the quiet rebuilding after every slip.
Those strategies help and that is the problem. What nobody sees is what it costs to keep the coping skills running (i.e. anxiety, depression, overwhelm)
The struggle stays silent, then shows up somewhere else
The ADHD can cause more obvious or outward issue. This can look like anxiety, depression, trouble regulating emotion, or many other things.
Those get noticed because they are more outward. They get named and treated, but many times the underlying issue is ADHD.
What to do about it?
If any of that landed, there are three concrete places to start.
1. Read the criteria for the inattentive type
Read them and notice which ones describe your life rather than an occasional bad week.
2. Take a look at the ASRS
The ASRS is a short screener you can take on your own. It will not tell you whether you have ADHD, and it should never be treated as though it does. What it will do is tell you whether this is worth a closer look, which is exactly the question a lot of women have never been asked.
3. Start a conversation with someone who actually knows ADHD
This is the one that matters most. Not every mental health professional understands ADHD. That is not a knock on anyone. ADHD is complex, and plenty of skilled clinicians have very little training in it, which is precisely how the inattentive type in a capable adult woman gets read as anxiety for a decade.
So ask directly. If you are looking into ADHD therapy in New York, ask a provider what their experience with ADHD specifically is before you get far into the process. An ADHD therapist in NYC who works with this every day will recognize the pattern above quickly, because they have seen it walk in many times.
Next steps…
PRGRS Therapy is a group practice based in New York City that specializes in ADHD, with virtual ADHD treatment available across New York State. If you have spent years managing the anxiety or the low mood and something still does not add up, book a free call. We will start with what you have noticed, and we know what to look for. 💬
