ADHD looks different in everyone, but there are identifiers in groups that help when diagnosing it. Because there are some aspects that manifest differently in different groups, ADHD might not be identified if the best-known indicators aren’t visibly present. The Atlantic addressed this in a new article on how ADHD can present in women. Below is an excerpt, and if you are in the greater Cleveland area and recognize yourself or someone you know, we want to remind you that the Center for Effective Living does testing for all types of ADHD in kids and adults, which can be arranged without a physician referral and can be done for CFEL clients as well as clients of other practices. When it’s appropriate, we can do reports and fill in forms to allow additional time and other accommodations for college-bound testing such as ACT and SAT, and for current and new college students. We have psychiatrists and nurse practitioners who can treat ADHD medically, as well as therapists who will work on behavioral plans. Contact us here to learn more.
ADHD does not look the same in boys and girls. Women with the disorder tend to be less hyperactive and impulsive, more disorganized, scattered, forgetful, and introverted. “They’ve alternately been anxious or depressed for years,” Littman says. “It’s this sense of not being able to hold everything together.”
Further, while a decrease in symptoms at puberty is common for boys, the opposite is true for girls, whose symptoms intensify as estrogen increases in their system, thus complicating the general perception that ADHD is resolved by puberty. One of the criteria for ADHD long held by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is that symptoms appear by age 7. While this age is expected to change to 12 in the new DSM-V, symptoms may not emerge until college for many girls, when the organizing structure of home life—parents, rules, chores, and daily, mandatory school—is eliminated, and as estrogen levels increase. “Symptoms may still be present in these girls early on,” says Dr. Pat Quinn, cofounder of The National Center for Girls and Women with ADHD. “They just might not affect functioning until a girl is older.” Even if girls do outwardly express symptoms, they are less likely to receive diagnoses. A 2009 study conducted by at The University of Queensland found that girls displaying ADHD symptoms are less likely to be referred for mental health services.
Please click here for the full story on The Atlantic’s website.