| Due to a variety of circumstances, it's sort of been the norm that women with attention deficit disorder are overlooked and undiagnosed. Common wisdome is that ADD is more prevalent in men and boys than in women and girls.
If you are a women who feels stressed out, distracted, overwhelmed, with too many responsibilities and no time for sleep or friends then you too have some of the symptoms of ADD. But what woman doesn't feel like that these days? It's precisely for this that it's so hard to diagnose ADD in women.
Women with ADD were once girls with ADD but since girls tend to display the "inattentive" versus the "hyper" type of behavior, they may have gotten by early on due to structure imposed by school.. Girls tend to be more protected and their lack of accomplishments may not be quite as much a concern to the adults around her.
Problems tend to arise as the responsibilities increase. Women in our societies are expected to organize for the men and kids around them. A man with ADD usually just replaces his parents and teachers with secretaries and wives while Women are still expected to be those organizing secretaries and wives.
Here are some common characteristics of women with attention deficit disorder that is undiagnosed or untreated:
1. They feel depressed. ADD can lead to chaos in many aspects of their lives and they get discouraged when losing the battle with their hectic lives.
2. Some feel like they are capable of so much more and this is frustrating. They are often creative and intelligent but have a hard time harnessing those qualities and focusing them on plans or goals.
3. Others feel incompetent. They internalize their chronic disorganization and resulting failures.
4. Some manage successful professional lives but they break down at home. They are unable to take care of basic things like errands and bills. Still others have to spend tons of extra time and effort just to be able to match their co-workers.
5. They may feel immature because they can't reach the normal goals of adulthood due to their disorganization.
6. They feel overwhelmed.
7. They could may feel constantly bombarded by their daily enviroment, unable to stay focused because they are constantly distracted by even the littlest noises, sites, thoughts, etc.
8. They tend to move from one unfinished activity to another.
9. They have trouble planning, organizing, and prioritizing and often miss deadlines or have trouble gaging their time.
10. While they generate a flurry of ideas internally, they process information from the outside more slowly.
11. They spend a lot of time thinking about and trying new systems to get organized.
The symptoms and signs in women with attention deficit disorder are very common in women without it too. ADD is also a subject that has gained more attention in recent years, leading many more people to ask themselves "is this me?" You can find some information online. But only a woman's doctor can say more definitively. |