Girls and women often have a more difficult time accessing the treatment they need for ADHD. Many are better at masking symptoms, and they also face unique issues related to hormonal effects.
Their behaviors can heighten frustration and misunderstandings in relationships with family, friends, teachers, and co-workers. Symptoms can appear as forgetfulness, procrastination, and social isolation.
1. Pay Attention to Disruptive Social Relationships
Most people learn social skills through incidental learning in childhood (playing grown-ups, mimicking others), practice and feedback. But people with ADHD miss these fine points and may misinterpret social signals.
Girls with ADHD who experience emotional regulation difficulties tend to internalise these problems, making them even harder for clinicians to spot. They can seem distracted, dreamy or forgetful rather than outwardly disruptive.
Teachers and school staff need to be aware of ADHD in girls and women, with training on symptom presentations and associated vulnerabilities. Teachers should also have access to screening tools and be able to use them in conjunction with medication prescribing. Psychoeducation taking a lifespan approach is important, including discussion of risky behaviours such as deliberate self-harm and vulnerability to exploitation. Parents and carers should also be given psychoeducation about the elevated risks of these behaviours for teenage girls with ADHD.
2. Look for Compensatory Behaviors
Girls and women who have ADHD become adept at camouflaging their symptoms. This can lead to an underestimation of their underlying problems and delay the time to referral. Compensatory strategies can include overeating or restricting food, avoiding specific situations or people, using alcohol or cannabis to cope with emotional turmoil and social isolation or using self-harm to deal with distress and low self-esteem.
If your ADHD-related inattentive symptoms are interfering with work performance, ask your doctor about cognitive behavioral therapy and/or medication. You should also consider making some lifestyle changes, such as establishing a consistent sleep routine and checking your mail each day to prevent it from piling up. Also try scheduling your most pressing tasks for early in the morning or taking regular exercise to help you feel more energized.
3. Pay Attention to Behavioral Patterns
Girls with ADHD often develop problematic relationships with men, and their impulsivity can make them at risk of being pressured into unwanted sexual activity or become victims of intimate partner violence. They are more likely to struggle with co-occurring depression and anxiety, have at least one space in their lives that is disorganized (e.g. bedroom), and have a hard time keeping track of appointments or deadlines.
Women and girls are better at masking their ADHD symptoms, which can make it harder for them to get a diagnosis or access treatment. This is because they have learned to change their behavior to meet societal expectations and norms.
Girls and women may be more likely to dismiss symptoms of inattention, daydreaming, procrastination, or forgetfulness as normal, especially if they have female caregivers. It is also important to take into account their menstrual cycles when evaluating ADHD symptoms in girls and women.
For more info visit: 5 Strategies to Help Clinicians Spot ADHD in Girls and Women
4. Pay Attention to Behavioral Patterns in the Classroom
Girls and women with ADHD often have behavioural patterns that are hard to spot, especially in the classroom. They may be prone to daydreaming or procrastination which aren't disruptive, and they tend to have the inattentive type of ADHD. This makes them easier to overlook than boys who have hyperactivity symptoms. However, these behavioural problems can still impact their performance at school, such as missed test items or poor academic outcomes.
Educating the community about ADHD in girls and women can help to identify these problems earlier. Finding a clinician or therapist who has experience with ADHD in girls and women is also important. Therapy can be helpful to validate experiences, question societal expectations and encourage self-advocacy. Skills groups to promote social skills, problem-solving and impulse control are also beneficial.
5. Pay Attention to Behavioral Patterns at Home
Women and girls with ADHD often mask their symptoms at home. They may be more prone to daydreaming or procrastinating, but their family members might notice that they often miss important appointments or fail to complete household chores. They might also blurt out hurtful statements in anger or forget birthdays and anniversaries.
In some cases, teachers and school staff can be more sensitive to signs of ADHD in girls than others. They might ask parents about their daughters' difficulties at home, but they may overlook them or link them to personality differences or immaturity.
Rating scale norms derived from male samples may disadvantage girls with ADHD, so greater emphasis should be placed on collateral information such as family reports and teacher or nurse observations. It's also important for schools to train their staff on how to identify the disorder in girls.
