A clinical psychologist discussed the three reasons she believes women with ADHD go undiagnosed for so long
A psychologist has discussed the reasons Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) goes undiagnosed in women and girls. Stephanie Georgiou, a psychologist and author who offers expert guidance to her TikTok followers, highlighted three reasons women are often diagnosed with ADHD later in life.
The NHS describes ADHD as a behavioural disorder that often presents as restlessness, concentration difficulties, and impulsive behaviour. These symptoms usually surface during early childhood and become more apparent when children start school.
However, there are instances where ADHD remains undiagnosed throughout childhood, only being recognised later in life. Stephanie shared a video discussing the reasons women “fail to get diagnosed” with ADHD.
In the brief video, Stephanie said: “Three reasons why women fail to get diagnosed with ADHD until their late 30s/early 40s. For those who don’t know me, my name is Steph and I’m a psychologist here to break it down.
“One – they’re usually diagnosed with anxiety or depression or even an eating disorder. Two – they tell themselves they’re just lazy, and this becomes a story of their life, and then it becomes really difficult to undo this narrative.
“Three – the diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition] is heavily brain-based and kind of matches the profile of a hyperactive child.”
According to Understood, women are “less likely than men to have hyperactivity as a symptom”, and this is one of the reasons they’re diagnosed less often. Your symptoms determine the type or ‘presentation’ of ADHD you have. Mental health professionals look at the main symptoms to make a diagnosis.
Types of ADHD
Understood shared the three types of ADHD:
- Predominantly inattentive: You have trouble with attention, focus, and organisation.
- Predominantly hyperactive/impulsive: You may feel restless or act without thinking.
- Combined: You have parts of the two other types.
The experts at Understood said: “Girls and women mostly have the inattentive type of ADHD. Being inattentive doesn’t stand out like being hyperactive and impulsive does. Those symptoms are more common in boys and men. Inattentive girls and women are more likely to be overlooked or misdiagnosed.”
Signs of ADHD in women
In a separate video, Stephanie discussed the most common signs of ADHD in women. She said: “Let’s talk about symptoms of ADHD in women; they are more likely to have lower self-esteem and doubt themselves because their whole life they’ve been told they’re not enough. Perhaps they were labelled as sensitive or moody, but the truth is they have rejection-sensitive dysphoria.
“They tend to swivel in their chair or fidget or shake their leg, they have strange eating patterns or they struggled with binge eating, because of that dopamine and chaotic eating patterns.”
She added: “They are overly critical of themselves and often minimise their symptoms and put it down to anxiety or stress because I think they should be able to do it all.
“They say they’ve got a terrible memory, but the truth is they don’t remember where they put things, they lose items or they misplace objects unless everything is written down. They forget appointments and things that they have to do.”