ADHD Symptoms For Women
Women who suffer from ADHD frequently experience symptoms of emotional volatility and sensitivity to rejection. They might also experience insomnia and poor quality of sleep, which can exacerbate symptoms.
Girls and women are generally better at concealing their ADHD symptoms by using coping strategies to conform to social expectations and norms. This can lead to a misdiagnosis as well as delays in treatment.
1. Problems with Focusing
Focusing is the biggest challenge for many women with ADHD. This neurodevelopmental disorder makes it difficult to concentrate at school in meetings at work, or when reading and listening to other people talk. It can be challenging to complete everyday tasks such as keeping track of appointments or taking medications.
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 condition can struggle with organizing their homes and their desk. They may also have difficulty deciding how to prioritize tasks. These problems could cause them to skip appointments, arrive in the wrong place at the correct time or fail to follow through on their work duties. These difficulties can make them feel uneasy about themselves, and they may blame themselves for their own problems.
Inattentional ADHD can also lead to poor performance at work or in school and can also lead to the accumulation of debt. They are often triggered by stress or other mental health issues like anxiety and depression that often co-occur with ADHD in women, as per CHADD.
Teachers and parents may be biased towards males and girls, leading to some girls and women to be underdiagnosed. 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 women of adult age who suffer from ADHD symptoms, they may be caused due to hormonal changes. They can be more noticeable during menstrual cycles or perimenopausal periods that is the time leading up to a woman's menopause, when estrogen levels drop and can cause emotional issues like mood swings or irritation.
Adults with ADHD may benefit from stimulant medication to boost their concentration but it won't cure the condition. Other strategies like mindfulness training, lifestyle changes, and cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) can also assist with organization and focus. Certain schools and workplaces have accommodations to help with these issues.
2. Forgetting Things
Inattention can make managing your daily tasks and responsibilities challenging. It may be difficult to keep track of important details especially when they take place in a noisy environment. You may also find that you often forget appointments or are late for work and school. Women who suffer from ADHD tend to forget to pay bills or respond to emails, which could lead to financial stress and a sense of urgency. You might have trouble working in a noisy or crowded office, and you may zone out during conversations. This could make someone else feel ignored or misunderstood.
Many girls and women who have ADHD also struggle to maintain friendships. They also run the risk of being forced into unwanted sexual behavior or becoming victims of violence from intimate partners. This is because they have a difficult managing their emotions and are more likely to be overwhelmed. They may also have issues with self-esteem and could be more likely to view their difficulties as "personal flaws" instead of acknowledging the fact that their behavior is correlated to their ADHD symptoms.
Girl and women with ADHD are also often overlooked because of gender bias because their symptoms are less noticeable than those of boys and men. They may camouflage symptoms with anxiety and mood disorders, which could lead to a misdiagnosis and improper treatment.
ADHD symptoms can differ based on the fluctuation in hormone levels. This is especially the case during puberty when estrogen levels drop and progesterone levels rise. This can lead to a more frequent change in symptoms from day to day, which makes it difficult to diagnose and manage ADHD properly.
When diagnosed and treated, you can learn to manage ADHD symptoms. You can also consider lifestyle changes, for example, eating a balanced diet and limiting sugar, caffeine and other stimulants that may cause symptoms to become worse. Meditation and mindfulness techniques can help relax your mind and reduce the impulsiveness and restlessness. They can also improve the regulation of emotions. Talking to an expert in mental health can be beneficial, since they can discuss possible accommodations at school or at work to help you manage your ADHD symptoms better.
3. Disruptive Behavior
In most cases, women who suffer from ADHD have more irritable symptoms than those who are hyperactive or impulsive. It could be because the brains of women and girls differ from those of men and boys or it could be to do with how much activity is taking place in the regions of the brain responsible for managing disruptive and impulsive behavior.
It can be a challenge for doctors to identify ADHD in women. Many women devise strategies to disguise their symptoms. Some are healthy, but others are not long-lasting and could lead to other health problems. For instance women may turn to drinking or using drugs to deal with their symptoms. They may also be depressed or suffer from other mental health conditions like anxiety. adhd in adult women test of coping can make it difficult for someone to recognize a mental health problem and delay the diagnosis.
Disruptive behavior is one of the most common symptom of adhd for women. It can affect their school or work performance, or even their relationships. They can be a problem when they are unable to stay focused on a specific task, or forgetting important tasks or events, and easily getting distracted by the environment or their thoughts. They might fidget, tap their feet or hands, or shake their hands. They can also talk out loud or yell. they could be disruptive.
Women who have the inattentive subtype are prone to having difficulty concentrating during lectures or conversations or completing schoolwork writing, reading, or reading assignments, following instructions in the classroom or at work, and managing daily tasks. They might be unorganized, forgetful, and messy. It can be difficult for them to follow through with commitments or tasks. They are more susceptible to losing or misplacing items like keys, wallets, and eyeglasses.
Having the predominantly hyperactive/impulsive type of adhd can disrupt work or school, cause social problems, and create relationship challenges. This subtype can cause problems at home, work, or school. It can also lead to feelings of boredom, restlessness and frustration. They have a hard waiting for their turn at school, home, or in the workplace and they frequently interrupt others. They are not able to control their behavior and tend to behave in a reckless manner.
4. Anxiety
Women and girls who have ADHD may have a harder time to manage their issues. This is largely due to social expectations, which demand that women and mothers are the primary caregivers for their children and household. If a woman suffering from ADHD struggles to keep up with her responsibilities, she can experience heightened feelings of anxiety which can lead to low self-esteem. This, in turn, makes it more difficult to seek out treatment for her ADHD.
Women with ADHD are often not diagnosed as readily as boys or men because their symptoms do not appear as prominent. 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. They are more likely to develop coping mechanisms that mask their ADHD symptoms. For example excessive fidgeting and forgetfulness could be interpreted as symptoms of anxiety disorders.
The symptoms of ADHD can also change throughout a woman's lifetime. For instance, during times of hormonal changes, like menstrual or pregnancy, women may discover her ADHD symptoms to become more severe. This can result in her being misunderstood or dismissed 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 individuals based on their gender. Verywell Health acknowledges that sex is a reference to biology, including chromosomal makeup, hormones, and anatomy; while gender refers to an internal sense of being a male, female or a nonbinary. This distinction is important because it helps us to better comprehend the reasons behind why ADHD can manifest differently in men and women. In this article, we are referring to males and people who were assigned males at birth as boys and males. We also refer to females and those who were assigned females at conception as girls and women. This is in line with the way many research studies employ this terminology. For more information, read the guide to sex & gender by Verywell Health.