ADHD in Girls and Women

by Martha Barnard-Rae TEDxKinjarling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybk2IzwV6Zg&t=116s

This Video was helpful because there was a lot I didn’t know about ADHD for females and about ADHD in general. It relates to myself. Am I on the ADHD spectrum?  Would I work and feel better f I learn about myself using the lens of these traits?

What I learned in the video helps me understand neurodivergence in general which I expect is an asset for working with and doing business with many different neuro-types. Women or men

The question comes to mind is anyone developing a tool in conjunction with AI to screen for ADHD in 

I hold the hope that in the future 3DR will have products specifically for all types of neurodivergent individuals. Products for learning and for maintaining healthy balance in managing balance within their systems. Perhaps looking into what we are thinking of as neurodivergence now will become all one or a web of neuro-styles. Maybe the divergent terminology will transform into a whole different perspective.

No two women with ADHD are exactly alike, just like neurodivergence in general. ADHD is described as being on a spectrum of traits and severity. It also is a “thing” that changes how people think and process information.

A little about our speaker, Martha. She was born into privilege, earned college degrees, taught English Literature, is an entrepreneur, and a mother.  After her children were born she was having trouble coping. This is when she was diagnosed with ADHD at 39 years old!

Hearing her story is opening up my mind and heart to how women and girls cover for ADHD. Personally I have not wanted to look into the possibility that I have ADHD. And maybe I don’t. But I will look. When I thought about it 20 years ago, my thought then was, oh well I will manage.  I’ll take care of it by being gentle with myself and know it’s okay to flit from one task to another, for instance.

And our speaker, Martha, takes issue with the “attention deficit” part of the label.  She knows that part of the problem is too much attention, so much attending to information coming in from the environment it’s too voluminous and coming in too fast to process with less ability to control it.  She described her mind as different in that it has lower levels of dopamine and the system is always looking for more stimulation.

Her talent is in language. Mathematics has been nearly impossible for her. She had successful strategies for many work and social life situations. 

She says it’s not just about focus. It’s about regulating our brains so we can get things done. The executive functioning is not working like a neurotypical person’s. Students with ADHD for instance may have trouble with being:

• Overwhelmed and underwhelmed
• Over stimulated and under stimulated
• Working memory might be affected
• Be super sensitive to criticism and rejection
• Trouble starting, organizing and finishing tasks

All of the above are examples of trouble with executive functioning. We all have trouble with executive functioning but people with ADHD have significantly more trouble. About 5 to 8% people in Australia have ADHD. We don’t grow out of it, yet only about one in 10 adults in her country are getting treatment.

Independent of this Talk I looked at prevalence in other countries. In the US approximately 5% of the population has ADHD according to WebMD.  The countries with the highest prevalence are Africa (8.5%) and South America ( 11.8%).  Japanese and Finnish children scored the lowest.

Martha described the luck of finding out she might have ADHD and getting referred to a specialist who was well versed in how ADHD appears in women. Many doctors are not up to speed on considering ADHD or making a referral. She is thankful. The diagnosis and treatment were life changing.

Still, Martha has feelings everyday of shame, not feeling good enough and like she is a burden that happen everyday. She was resilient because of having loving kind supportive parents. For many ADHD can become severely debilitating.

Three categories of ADHA:

Inattentive Type

Hyperactive Type

Combined Type

For women the ADHD presents more in the mind than the body.  CNS is more likely affected. This looks like sleeplessness, headaches and stomach aches and anxiety. 

For young girls because of the behavioral and societal standards placed on them they usually mask the problems and hide them!  It’s not just a matter of just trying harder.

“Diagnostically ADHD is Feminist Issue.  Women weren’t even included in ADHD research until the late 1990’s.  It wasn’t until 2002 women had their own longterm study!  This lack of research has negative effects on families, communities and businesses a big way.

And yet paradoxically, ADHD limits some abilities and at the same time people with ADHD have the ability to do things that are hard or nearly impossible for neurotypical people to do!  She has periods of intense hyper focus. That fact that she looses interest in things easily has transformed into entrepreneurialism.