7 Sneaky Signs Of ADHD In Women

Plus, therapist-backed advice for people who think they have ADHD.

Earlier this spring, actress Busy Philipps announced that she was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) alongside her 15-year-old daughter. Philipps’ diagnosis is part of a recent trend of more and more women and girls being diagnosed with ADHD.

From 2020 to 2022, the rate of ADHD diagnoses in women has doubled, said Suwilanji Kuezi-Nke, a clinical psychologist at Transcend Counseling Chicago. This steep rise “may be due to the ways in which the pre-COVID-19 pace and structure of life masked symptoms,” she said, but also speaks to something larger.

“ADHD was once a diagnostic category that was dominated by boys with too much energy,” said Madison Perry, a psychologist and owner of Austin Holistic Psychology in Texas. In fact, boys are roughly three times more likely to receive an ADHD diagnosis than girls, according to Medical News Today.

“More women are being diagnosed with ADHD because information is spreading. With more awareness of the varied presentations of ADHD, more women are likely to be referred for an evaluation,” Perry said.

When thinking about ADHD, you likely imagine someone who is rambunctious and can’t sit still. While that isn’t wrong, that is not the way ADHD tends to show up in women and girls. A number of factors play into the differences in ADHD presentation, but one major one is the societal pressures and norms expected for women.