More Accurate Symptoms of ADHD in Women

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, otherwise known as ADHD, is an extremely common neurodevelopmental disorder among children. But why is it typically found more in boys than in girls?

Its most notable symptoms include trouble paying attention and impulsive behaviors. ADHD is often coupled with at least one other mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder, such as anxiety and depression. ADHD can be treated in a number of ways, including medications and behavioral therapy, and those who go undiagnosed and untreated often struggle to cope with the behaviors they are experiencing. According to the CDC, ADHD is 7% more likely to be found in boys than it is in girls, but this isn’t because it occurs naturally in boys at a higher rate. ADHD is widely associated with the symptoms of being jumpy and hyperactive, but this is because most studies on ADHD use boys when observing and collecting data. Because of this, doctors use the symptoms of ADHD common in boys to diagnose girls, which leads to many undiagnosed girls. Girls tend to display ADHD in a different way which isn’t always accounted for when doctors make their diagnoses. The symptoms they demonstrate are often times more internal in comparison to the external symptom of hyperactivity. A study published in BioMed Central in 2020 by Susan Young et al. aimed to determine methods in which symptoms of ADHD manifest in girls and women and how to help them manage it. 

There has been a long history of women being left out of medical studies. Women’s health has never been a priority over men’s. It was very common for any problems women had to be written off as something of lesser importance. Specifically in mental health, women were often labeled as psychotic or hysterical. Their issues were never really taken seriously or looked into and it is a bias that is still prevalent in how we analyze conditions today. Doctors that focus on the studies that observed ADHD in only boys and use that information as the standard display this bias and disregard important information that affects almost half of everyone who has ADHD. For example, the study done by Young et al. discusses one of the lesser known symptoms of ADHD and a very common symptom in girls and women, which is the “compensatory strategies” that are used to help focus or to hide stress. These strategies can include drug use or seeking out “a social network by forming damaging relationships”. Knowing these symptoms makes it easier to help the people who might want to engage in these reckless activities as coping mechanisms. Doctors would be able to identify ADHD in girls and women more accurately and could prescribe the proper treatment in order to prevent them from forming these harmful strategies. 

Some of the symptoms found in girls with ADHD include low self-esteem, difficulty in social situations, self-harm, or impulsive behaviors. To treat young girls and teenagers, the authors of the study suggest therapeutic interventions and in some cases psychostimulants. The study also covers how undiagnosed ADHD could potentially affect these girls into adulthood. Just like any other disorder, if it goes unchecked, then the problem is not being addressed and will progress. For example, if someone did not know they had autism, life would be a lot more difficult for them, not because of the disorder, but because they do not have the proper coping mechanisms and tools in order to deal with the disorder. The same line of thinking applies to those who have ADHD. It’s better for anyone with ADHD to learn early on that they have the disorder so they have time to equip themselves with the tools and knowledge they need in order to make their lives easier. Women with ADHD face not only the social and emotional struggles that come with the disorder, but also balancing them with the roles they play in everyday life, such as a mother or a workplace professional and the stigmas that follow either role.  The study mentions “targeted support” with stress and emotional conduct as a possible solution to women who have gone undiagnosed. 

The findings of this study prove to be incredibly helpful to the future of identifying ADHD in girls and women. The benefits of using this information also include the disparity between boys diagnosed and girls diagnosed with ADHD becoming smaller. Girls and women can be properly diagnosed and will have a better chance at not developing harmful compensatory strategies. If more doctors utilize the information found in the study, then less women will go undiagnosed, and more coping mechanisms will be available to help them through their everyday lives. It’s studies like these that help to make healthcare more impartial for women and hopefully more research can be done in this field in order to break down the stigma of women’s mental health. 

References

Young, Susan, et al. “Females with ADHD: An expert consensus statement taking a lifespan approach providing guidance for the identification and treatment of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder in girls and women.” BMC Psychiatry, vol. 20, no. 1, 12 Aug. 2020, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A633066409/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=696732f8. Accessed 8 Mar. 2023.