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Kaitlyn Dankworth

Prof. Leonard

English Composition ll

March 14, 2022

The Effects of ADHD in Women

Growing up, I was always surrounded by people with ADHD, Attention Deficit

Hyperactivity Disorder. These people, I realized, were almost always men. This confused me; why

would little to no women that I knew personally be diagnosed with ADHD? The answer is simple,

women have varying symptoms in relation to men. Women all over the world go unnoticed in their

struggle with ADHD everyday and the awareness of side-effects and symptoms need to be spread

and more well known as to help diagnose and treat more women. Women with ADHD have

struggled because of their lack of a diagnosis, symptoms that vary from men, and the overall use of

medication and stimulants in all patients.

When it comes to the history of ADHD, things get a little complicated. As stated by Kimberly

Holland in The History of ADHD : A Timeline, Sir George Fredrick Still stated that children have a

problem in which they seemed to have moral troubles (soon to be called ADHD) in 1902. ADHD

being only discovered in 1902 means that it has not had as much time to be tested in comparison to

other mental disorders. Many mental illnesses were at least recognized even in ancient times,

giving doctors and scientists thousands of years to develop their understandings of how it works

and how to treat it. That being said, time is not the only thing against ADHD patients, but also

insufficient research has played a role.

While a large amount of research has been done on ADHD over that past century, the

research as to how it affects males and females differently has been skipped over. As stated in a
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Knowable Magazines article, many girls face the hardships of going undiagnosed for years while

dealing with the abundant underlying symptoms and side effects. From 1997 to 2016, on average,

there were twice as many boys diagnosed with ADHD than girls (Ortega).

Caption: We can see that over the years, girls have repeatedly had lower reported cases of ADHD than boys.

In current times, we now know that these numbers are inaccurate and the number of

diagnoses between the sex’s have grown closer. In seeing such a gap between numbers that have

now been updated, something must have been wrong with the research at the time. Today, we

know that symptoms between males and females vary, women tending to show less noticeable

signs.

Women with undiagnosed ADHD can have many struggles they must go through due to

their lack of professional help. One area that these women must adapt to is an educational setting.

As said by Lisa Joy Tuttle in a newspaper interview with Philadelphia Inquirer, “The nearly

missed deadlines, the mental disarray, the effort needed to achieve . . . anything” (Giordano). As
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many may know, people who suffer from ADHD tend to have a hard time focusing and need to

work harder in school to receive the grades they want. That being said, not being diagnosed and

going through school may be a very frustrating situation for someone because they could be

struggling and not know why. This is why the diagnosis of mental disorders like ADHD is so

important. Many women also state that they felt as though they were just slower and more dumb

than anyone else around them (Giordano). The lack of a diagnosis can then turn into an even more

difficult situation when people start to blame themselves for the slower learning and lack of

motivation when, in reality, they need an understanding that it’s not their fault but its the effects of a

mental disorder.

Social standards that have been placed on girls also have a major effect on how their

ADHD comes into play. Firstly, girls have been placed in a box of how a lady should act; calm,

caring, generous, loving, and obedient. While all girls surely don’t fit into this category, it is what is

expected of them and as a person with ADHD, some may be hyper, impulsive, carless, and

outgoing. As stated in the article “The Strives, Struggles, and Successes of Women Diagnosed

With ADHD as Adults”, when girls show characteristics that are not in the list of traits considered

normal, they place themselves at a higher risk of being a target to judgment of society (Holthe). As

anyone would do if they were to be put under large societal pressure, they try to hide the thing that

makes them different. Not only does this stress the person, it suppresses the symptoms of their

mental health. As stated by Rita Giordano in an interview with Kelly Cavanagh, she described

Kelly as an unusual kid growing up and even used the word tomboy to describe her. Seeing that

the author used the word tomboy to describe a patient of ADHD, it goes to further prove that their

characteristics weren’t common or expected of a young girl. Girls are also usually placed under the

category of a “airhead” or a “space cadet” when they display common symptoms of ADHD in
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women such as spacing out or being less organized (Giordano). All of such situations have had

and continue to have major effects on women all over the world who are silently suffering.

Image: From the article 21 Comics

About ADHD By A 29-Year-Old Artist

That Only Got The Right Diagnosis A

Year Ago

Caption: An artist has made a series of comics to help people struggling with ADHD feel like they are heard and

that they can be understood.

Not only do women struggle with receiving a diagnosis but the constant comparison of sex

orientated symptoms hold back these people from getting better. As stated earlier, women with

ADHD tend to stand out from the expected social standards placed on women. From the book A

Radical Guide for Women with ADHD, if you are a woman that has been diagnosed with ADHD,

you have probably seen that you are quite different from the people around you ever since you
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were young and that you are not alone (Solden). When these girls are seen with unusual

characteristics that are most of the time similar to boys, they are told by society that they are

different. People must look further into their behaviors to fully understand that something deeper is

going on within the brain.

When these characteristics are examined, the diagnosis skips over ADHD because males

have varying symptoms. In the film Regaining Focus on ADHD in Adults, symptoms of ADHD

for all people ¨include attention difficulties, inability to focus, restlessness, unstable mood,

disorganization, a short temper, reduced stress tolerance, and impulsivity¨. These are all very

common symptoms when looking at ADHD as a whole and in a general aspect, but what makes

women's symptoms different? According to the website article What Parents Need to Know About

ADHD in Girls, girls with ADHD may be more sensitive to sounds or emotions, often daydreams,

seem to cry more easily than other children their age, and they may appear like they are not

listening to instructions (CFPsych). At a glance, these symptoms seem to be commonly related

back to children who may have behavior issues or other underlying mental illnesses. These side

effects of ADHD are not viewed as common symptoms and are therefore easily overlooked and

misinterpreted as something else.

Not only do behavioral symptoms vary, but so do other medical conditions linked to

ADHD. While it is common for other medical issues to be present with ADHD, some illnesses that

are heightened in women include eating disorders, chronic pain, anxiety, and low self esteem. Most

of these side effects are the cause of late and mistreated diagnosis. Late diagnosis is a common

reason as to why women are put under societal pressure and mistreated ADHD can lead to women

being treated for an illness they may not have.

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To start, chronic pain is a major side effect of ADHD in women. For example, we look at a

case study conducted in Sweden. The goal of this study was to see if women that were on the

autism spectrum and/or had ADHD were being affected by chronic pain. They did this by

conducting a 16-19 year long study on women who lived in Sweden. According to their results,

over ¾ of the women involved in the study that had ADHD were positive for symptoms of chronic

pain (Asztély). With such a high percentage of people with symptoms that directly correlate with

chronic pain, it is an unignorable set of statistics that support that chronic pain may be a symptom

that must be treated in more women with ADHD. A side effect as daunting as this is a clear reason

as to why women may have more hidden struggles with their mental health.

Image from

Chronic Pain And

Health-Related

Quality Of Life In

Women With

Autism And/Or

ADHD: A

Prospective

Longitudinal

Study by Karin

Asztély

Caption: A chart that places the women involved in that study as having NCP, CRP, or CWP.

Meaning no chronic pain, chronic regional pain, and chronic widespread pain (in the same order

as above)

Next, it is common for women to struggle with eating disorders as it is but ADHD increases risk of

such disorders. It seems to be a long line of a domino effect; women have a societal pressure
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placed on their behaviors which leads to low self esteem and self image issues, which can then lead

into eating disorders in some cases. Low self esteem is a struggle of its own, causing many women

to fall under its effects. According to ADHD in women: A lifetime of frustration, its causes easily

missed traits such as helplessness and difficulty letting go of failures can be learned and are

common with undiagnosed women. Some may even turn to suicidal thoughts and self harm and be

more subject to domestic violence (Giordano). Low self esteem has such a big impact on even the

most unexpected things in life, causing many of these outcomes to appear that they have come out

of nowhere. Having this poor self image could also lead to eating disorders. A college student

named Christin said in a study with Kimberly Holthe, “‘I felt so out of control with my life that I

was trying to control what I was eating. And by doing so, I was doing the opposite; I was even

more out of control’”. Eating disorders are very serious and even life threatening diagnoses that

should not be overlooked. Closer examinations of female symptoms need to be ungone to ensure

that less women are ensnared into the negative consequences of undiagnosed ADHD.

Lastly, ADHD related prescription drugs can have major negative effects on its users.

These drugs that were commonly being used to treat ADHD or if they were being misused to have

other effects have had some effects that are important to take into consideration. Drugs such as

Adderall, Dexedrine, and Ritalin are commonly used prescriptions for ADHD. According to a

study on how eating disorders can be linked to ADHD, all of these drugs were cited as being used

for other outcomes such as weight loss on numerous college campuses (Gibbs). Even though these

students were using ADHD related drugs recreationally, the effects of weight loss were still the

same. Taking these medications may leave many people with this adverse side effect, whether it be

wanted or unwanted.
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When these drugs are used properly to treat ADHD, they still have many negative side

effects. Adderall, a stimulant (which means that it increases activity in the body) and is a drug used

to treat ADHD and narcolepsy, is a go-to for many people when they have been diagnosed with

ADHD. What many people don’t know are some of the adverse side effects that come along with

this widely used medication. According to the article Adderall: Side effects, dosage, with alcohol,

and more, side effects can range from headaches to hallucination and rhabdomyolysis (a form of

muscle degeneration) to heart damage and unwanted weight loss (MNT). Some of these more

common side effects listed in the article are said to decrease with consistent use but the serious and

long term effects can be detrimental to one's health in many ways. Adderall is highly effective in its

goal of lessening the symptoms of ADHD but at what cost?

Adderall is not the only drug with many negative side effects. Ritalin is also a commonly

used ADHD stimulant that can be harmful. As stated in an MNT article, Ritalin: The Short Term

and Long Term Effects, serious side effects include increased heart rate, development of manic

symptoms, poor circulation, and chances of cardiovascular reactions such as heart attacks and

strokes (Eagle). Much like Adderall, these outcomes can seriously affect all people with ADHD

and even further add onto the struggles that women with ADHD face even after diagnosis.

Some may say that these adverse effects caused by these medications are not common and

should not be a big issue because of the medications efficiency of lessening side effects of ADHD.

As said in a MNT Medical Network article, Ritalin has been proven to be a great stimulant when it

comes to improving the brain's ability to focus and have better listening skills. (Eagle). These

stimulants help many people have an easier time concentrating, a big part of the issues related to

ADHD. Adderall has also been proven by MNT Medical Network to help an abundance of

children, more specifically around 80% of children to have lessened effects of ADHD and a better
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sense of normalcy (MNT). Both of these medications have been proven time and time again to

help adverse effects of ADHD.

Their effectiveness is not to be underestimated but their side effects are not to be

overlooked. Many times through each article on Ritalin or Adderall has the authors stated that these

drugs will have negative outcomes. MNT Medical Network article states that although it has

proven to be an effective medication, it has its negative and serious side effects. When Ritalin is in

use in the body, it causes a sense of heightened alertness, resulting in many people feeling

confident and reckless, which can lead to serious injury (Eagle). Much like any drug, one must be

knowledgeable of the effects a medication can have in order to stay safe and aware while in use of

such drugs.

To close things up, ADHD is a mental disorder that has been under the misconception of

the public for many years, leading to women having a hard time dealing with their mental health.

ADHD can affect women when there is a lack of a diagnosis and their symptoms being

overlooked due to the commonly used list of male orientated symptoms and in the sense that

medications for ADHD have many adverse effects. Medical professionals need to acknowledge

and advance their lack of action that has been taken in regards to the struggles of women with

ADHD.
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Works Cited

Adult ADHD. [Electronic Resource] : Regaining Focus. Films Media Group, 2007. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01128a&AN=scc.b1457191&s

ite=eds-live.

Anonymous. “21 Comics about ADHD by a 29-Year-Old Artist That Only Got the Right

Diagnosis a Year Ago.” Bored Panda, Bored Panda, 7 Apr. 2022,

https://www.boredpanda.com/adhd-explaining-alien-comics/?utm_source=google&ut

m_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic.

Asztély, Karin, et al. “Chronic Pain and Health-Related Quality of Life in Women with Autism

And/or ADHD: A Prospective Longitudinal Study.” Journal of Pain Research, vol. 12, Jan.

2019, pp. 2925–32. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S212422.

CFPsych. “What Parents Need to Know about ADHD in Girls.” Child & Family

Psychological Services, 7 Aug. 2020,

https://www.cfpsych.org/blog/what-parents-need-to-know-about-adhd-in-girls/.

Gibbs, Elise L., et al. “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder–specific Stimulant Misuse, Mood,

Anxiety, and Stress in College-Age Women at High Risk for or with Eating Disorders.”

Journal of American College Health, vol. 64, no. 4, May 2016, pp. 300–08. EBSCOhost,

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Giordano, Rita. “ADHD in Women: A Lifetime of Frustration, Its Cause Easily Missed.”

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Holland, Kimberly. “The History of ADHD.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 28 Oct. 2021,

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