ADHD adult women + late diagnosis

“You can’t have ADHD, you’re in your 40s!” is usually followed by “isn’t ADHD just what naughty boys have?”

If you’ve read my other very long blog post about women, girls and ADHD, you’ll know that this is a subject very dear to me and one I will never stop campaigning and talking about.

Don’t forget, until the 1980s ADHD wasn’t really diagnosed in ANYONE - and until recently, adult ADHD was pretty much dismissed outside of rare psychiatry studies. We are still in the early days of so much understanding and research about the brain and ADHD.

So why is it still happening - and what impact does that have?

Many women go undiagnosed until later in life due to societal stereotypes and how many disguise their ADHD symptoms. It's not that the symptoms weren't there; they were just wearing an invisibility cloak. The combination of

• not looking at anxiety, depression, eating disorders, procrastination as ADHD related

• misunderstanding the presentations of ADHD (inattentive, combined, hyperactive)

• discounting the real difficulties girls and women describe & blaming ‘hormones’

• the higher social drive for many girls to blend in so internalising the problems & shame…

• the onset of more visible problems with each hormonal shift

• the ‘invisible load’ executive function demands increasing with age and stage

Until very recently, it just wasn’t on the radar for so many psychologists - or women experiencing these problems. The ‘anxiety and depression not responding to medication or therapy’ was actually ADHD - and without treating that, the effects of it would persist. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

Interestingly, there's a surge in ADHD diagnoses among women over 50.

We now know that declining oestrogen throughout our 40s has a huge impact on our dopamine production (along with other important hormones) and without the protective effect of high circulating oestrogen… yes, ADHD starts to become much harder to handle. It’s not ‘just’ that women of this age are trying to juggle work, older children, older parents, relationships and a world that seems to be on fire.

The lifelong challenges that these women faced were caused by ADHD. The relief of recognising that their challenges were not caused by a character flaw, a failure to ‘grow up’ and it doesn’t have to be that way - can be huge relief.

A late diagnosis can be both a relief and a source of regret. It's like finding out the manual to your brain was in the last place you'd look—decades after you needed it. It’s one of the topics of my Podcast - launching October 18th 2023.

While a late diagnosis is better than no diagnosis, early intervention is key. If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD or you recognise many of the experiences described in my longer blog guide, please don’t hesitate to approach your doctor or healthcare provider to discuss it - and don’t be put off if they are initially dismissive. It can help to take along a self-screening questionnaire and even a list of why you think it might be ADHD.