By: Noelle Lindsay
Throughout history, ADHD has been predominantly considered a male condition. This is not due to a lack of women with ADHD; this is due to a lack of diagnoses. So many young girls fall through the cracks and go undiagnosed because they often don’t present with the same “typical” symptoms as boys do. That is because there are different forms of ADHD. Men predominantly have what is called the hyperactive-impulsive type, and women more commonly have the inattentive type. A mix of the two types, referred to as the combined type, is also common. The hyperactive-impulsive type presents symptoms such as difficulty sitting still, speaking out of turn, and impatience. This type of ADHD, as stated above, is most common in boys and is more quickly diagnosed because of the externality of the symptoms. The inattentive type presents symptoms. The inattentive type is more common in girls, and since its symptoms are internalized, they are often hard to notice. This means that they may not cause disruptions in class or have a seemingly endless amount of energy, which is the stereotypical presentation of ADHD and what parents and teachers likely think to look for.
I know firsthand what it feels like to fall through the cracks. As a child, I was quiet in class, got good grades, and was not marked a “behavioral issue” by my teachers. They did not see my anxiety, my difficulty paying attention, or my struggle to understand verbal instructions. I would take longer to process information and miss details if I did not have the instructions in writing. I felt that I had to work twice as hard to do the same assignments as my classmates were doing. The frustrating part is that it would not have taken much for things to be easier for me – accommodations that I would have gotten had I been diagnosed. For the longest time, I did not realize that it did not take everyone else this much effort to get through everyday tasks, but once I did, I began wondering why it was so hard for me. For years, I thought I wasn’t trying hard enough to pay attention or understand things. It wasn’t until high school, when my therapist mentioned that it might be worth it for me to talk to my doctor about the difficulties I was having, that I even thought about having ADHD. Once I received the diagnosis from my doctor, everything fell into place. I felt so much better and had higher self-esteem, knowing I was not alone and that there were ways to make things easier. I had access to accommodations and medications to help me get through school, work, and life. Diagnoses are not just labels but the pathways to help and understanding.
Knowing the symptoms of ADHD in young females (and males!) is so important for physicians, teachers, parents, and anyone responsible for the well-being of children. An early diagnosis can save many girls from blaming themselves for underachievement, low self-esteem, challenges with their identity, and even developing other psychiatric conditions. If ADHD is left undiagnosed and untreated, it can lead to lower educational levels, higher rates of unemployment, and higher rates of divorce and relationship struggles. All it takes is the knowledge of the symptoms of ADHD in females to change lives. I hyperlinked common symptoms of ADHD above, but you can also click here to see them!
References
Da Silva, A. G., Malloy-Diniz, L. F., Garcia, M. S., & Rocha, R. (2020). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and women. In J. Rennó, G. Valadares, A. Cantilino, J. Mendes-Ribeiro, R. Rocha, & A. Geraldo Da Silva (Eds.), Women’s Mental Health (pp. 215–219). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29081-8_15
