Women With Attention Deficit
Women suffering from ADHD might have a difficult time navigating their relationships, careers and even life in general. They may become irritable easily, and minor nuisances like waiting in line or being stuck on hold for prolonged periods of time could be major irritations.
Many women have difficulty to get an accurate adult ADHD diagnosis. This can be due to gender bias and the fact that many studies focus on children and cisgender males.
Impatience
Women with attention deficits typically have difficulty juggling daily responsibilities. Their frustration can sometimes be taken as irritability or moodiness, or a lack of commitment to work or relationships. In reality, these struggles may be signs of a common disorder that goes underdiagnosed in adults: adult ADHD.
Impatience is a common symptom of ADD. Women with the disorder may rush through tasks or jump into projects without a clear plan, which can lead to mistakes and a feeling of being overwhelmed. They are also easily distracted by things happening around them which makes it difficult to finish their tasks or maintain a conversation.
Women can face many difficulties with the inattentive ADHD symptoms, including procrastination, apathy, and forgetfulness. They also require assistance to keep the track of appointments or possessions. A lot of these women are very self-critical and their issues can be worsened by depression or anxiety that often accompany the disorder. They have a difficult time accepting criticism, and are more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence.
Hormonal fluctuations may increase or decrease a women's symptoms of ADD. As women enter puberty, they might have changes in estrogen which can aggravate ADD symptoms. These changes can last through menstrual cycles and perimenopausal periods as estrogen levels become low. In addition, a woman's symptoms can be exacerbated by menopausal changes, pregnancy or hormonal fluctuations in women suffering from bipolar disorder.
Women with ADHD need to find a healthcare provider who is familiar with their condition and has been trained to diagnose and treat it. You should read the recommended books listed in this article prior to scheduling an appointment to understand ADHD and its symptoms.
You may want to consider taking part in a study if you can't find a doctor trained to treat ADHD. Clinical trials are research studies that look for new methods to diagnose, treat or prevent disorders and diseases. You can learn more about clinical trials and determine if they are right for you by visiting NIMH's Clinical Trials webpage.
Impulsivity
Women with ADHD may have trouble controlling their emotions. This can result in impulsive behavior that can be detrimental. Examples include buying things on impulse that lead to marriage or relationships before they are ready, and interrupting other people during conversations or blurting out answers without paying attention. Additionally, they could be sensitive to rejection, which can cause them to feel intense emotional reactions to rejection, whether real or perceived.
Women with attention deficit disorder are faced with the same issues as men, but their challenges are different. Their hormones, for example can affect the way symptoms are manifested and how they react to treatment.
For women who suffer from ADD the task at hand could seem to be endless as they struggle to keep their focus. For them, getting distracted or lost in their thoughts or daydreaming is normal, especially when doing boring tasks such as shopping for groceries, writing letters, or performing chores. They can easily become bored and have a hard to focus on various activities, which can hinder their work and school.
Women with ADD are having a difficult time keeping the track of their appointments and belongings. They are more likely to forget things and have a difficult recalling the details of events or conversations, which can result in embarrassing mistakes at work, school or social situations. They also tend to delay or get overwhelmed by multitasking. This can lead to anxiety.
In addition to the difficulties of impulsivity and inattention women suffering from ADD may also have a combined subtype that also includes hyperactivity or prefrontal cortex dysfunction. Women who have a combination subtype have both inattentive and hyperactive symptoms, however they are often difficult to differentiate from one another particularly when they are young.
Regular exercise can help reduce ADHD symptoms. Physical activity can boost the mood and concentration by increasing neurotransmitters. It can also relieve stress, an problem that many women suffering from ADHD have to deal with. Women suffering from ADHD are advised to engage in at minimum four or five hours of aerobic or cardio exercise for 30 minutes every week, which include running, swimming, cycling or participating in team sports.
Lack of Organization
Women with ADHD are unable to keep the track of their daily tasks and activities. This can result in messy offices or homes and financial issues and a general lack of organization at work or in their daily lives.
They may be unable to finish projects or tasks that are not immediately exciting or rewarding and may not have a plan for the future obligations. In addition, women with ADHD are often unable to focus on and retaining what others have said during conversations. Because of this, they often miss appointments and meetings, struggle to follow directions at school or work and are more likely to encounter frustrating misunderstandings in their relationships.
It is essential to consult an expert physician for a clear diagnosis. Adult ADD is often misdiagnosed and many doctors are not aware of this disorder. Consider asking the doctor you're considering for recommendations for reading materials, and then ask them several questions to make sure they are aware of the disorder.
ADHD in women can be caused by gender roles. It is common for women to feel pressured to be successful in their professions and have more family responsibilities, maintain happy relationships, and perform well in the community. These pressures from society could make it difficult for women to identify the symptoms of ADHD because they hinder their ability to meet the expectations of society.
ADHD symptoms are less obvious in girls, adolescent females and men than in males or females. This can lead to an underdiagnosis. This is due to the fact that girls and women are often expected to focus on their social skills and appearance, rather than recognize any issues in their performance or focus. Moreover, females with ADHD often have more inattentive symptoms than hyperactivity and tend to suffer from co-existing mood disorders and anxiety which can further mask the existence of the disorder.
The good news is that there are ways you can alleviate your symptoms and improve your performance. Regular exercise releases neurotransmitters, which boost concentration and decrease anxiety. Try swimming, jogging and dancing or attending group classes like yoga or Pilates. Include these activities in your routine to help control ADHD symptoms. It is also helpful to keep a notebook and use checklists or post-it notes to manage your day-to-day tasks. Take frequent breaks, and eat a diet high in omega-3 fatty acid, which can help improve concentration and improve mental clarity.
Social Awkwardness
Social awkwardness, unlike social anxiety, is not caused by a fear of judgement, but rather a lack of ability to manage the complexities of social interaction. This could be due to a lack of experiences, a neurological condition like autism spectrum disorders, or other personality traits that make it difficult to adjust to social settings.
A person who is uncomfortable in social situations might say or do inappropriate things in a conversation, seem off-balance, and fail to notice nonverbal signals that tell them how to proceed. They may also have a hard time understanding social conventions, such as sarcasm or humor. They might also shy away from group activities, or feel overly self-conscious about their appearance in social situations. This can cause feelings of shame and rejection.
People with a social awkwardness often withdraw from group activities and resort to self-care methods like eating too much, shopping or watching TV to help feel better. These behaviors can increase the feeling of being socially awkward by cutting down on social opportunities.
Sometimes the feeling of social awkwardness stems from trauma. Trauma can happen when a person's needs for trust, attunement or autonomy go unmet in the early years of life and they develop a rigid behaviour pattern to deal with the threat. This could lead to feeling social awkwardness, when sensory information from the surrounding environment triggers the trauma.
Gifted children can also be socially awkward due to their higher level of intelligence makes them appear older and more mature. They can also be overly focused on their interests and act like they have more knowledge than the average child, which could lead them to speak in an overly-academic tone or appear out of balance in conversations.
Fear of being judged by others for their appearance or behaviour is a further reason for social awkwardness. treatment for adhd in women can result in poor posture, avoiding eye-contact or adopting a tense posture that reveals how uncomfortable they feel. Fortunately, the majority of feelings that are a result of social awkwardness can be resolved with therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) which challenges and reframes negative thought patterns, is one way to aid people. Exposure therapy gradually exposes people in anxiety-provoking situations to help them build tolerance and confidence.