Girls with ADHD sometimes struggle to make and keep friends. Many also experience low self-esteem, depression or anxiety. They also have higher rates of self-harm, substance abuse, and suicide attempts than other girls.
Girls with ADHD often struggle to decode the myriad of social subtleties of girl-world: what to wear, what to say, how to talk, when to be comforting, when to be mean. “Girls are under a lot more pressure to be socially tuned in and self-controlled,” says Dr.
With girls, inattentive ADHD is the most common.
Interestingly, girls with untreated ADHD may be more likely to blame and judge themselves for these problems, leading to a higher risk for low self-esteem than boys who have ADHD. They may also be more likely to have problems with substance abuse, eating disorders, and anxiety.
They keep their things fairly organized and try to avoid making a mess. But many kids and adults with ADHD are the opposite — they're messy most of the time. And it can cause problems at home, school, and work.
“Tomboys” with ADHD
Hyperactive girls are often “tomboys.” They are physically active, drawn to more risk-taking activities such as tree climbing, exploring and playing with their brothers or other boys in the neighborhood.
Research is showing that the symptoms of ADHD often intensify for girls during puberty when estrogen increases in their bodies. 3 As you already know, puberty is a time of great change in a girl's life as she begins the transition from childhood into adulthood.
Effective treatment involves a multimodal approach that often includes medication, therapy and counseling, stress management techniques, workplace and homelife accommodations. Some women and girls incorporate various lifestyle strategies to help manage their ADHD.
Some of the common foods that can cause ADHD reactions include milk, chocolate, soy, wheat, eggs, beans, corn, tomatoes, grapes, and oranges. If you suspect a food sensitivity may be contributing to your child's ADHD symptoms, talk to your ADHD dietitian or doctor about trying an elimination diet.
The emotional and social fallout of ADHD can be very serious. Girls with ADHD sometimes struggle to make and keep friends. Many also experience low self-esteem, depression or anxiety. They also have higher rates of self-harm, substance abuse, and suicide attempts than other girls.
They may find it challenging to make and keep friends because of their brain's executive functioning impairment. The brain's executive control manages their ability to wait their turn, avoid getting distracted, direct their actions, control their emotions, and use their working memory to respond in social settings.
“Challenges with processing emotions start in the brain itself. Sometimes the working memory impairments of ADHD allow a momentary emotion to become too strong, flooding the brain with one intense emotion.” Thomas Brown, Ph. D., explains why (and how) ADHD sparks such intense anger, frustration, and hurt.
Some women diagnosed with ADHD are also emotionally sensitive. This includes sensitivity to criticism, deep empathy toward others' feelings, and reacting to situations with quick temper out of left field, leaving others hurt and confused.
This pattern of working hard to hide ADHD struggles is especially true for gifted females. These children often do well in elementary school, where their intelligence more than compensates for the challenges posed by ADD (ADHD).
Girls are also less likely to be diagnosed earlier because they often display more symptoms of anxiety. Medical providers may only treat a female patient's anxiety or depression without evaluating for ADHD. Hormones, which affect the symptoms of both ADHD and anxiety, can complicate things.
Female children with ADHD often try to join a group, talk a lot but can hardly understand how her peers feel about what they are doing. They have difficulty connecting socially with others and when frustration gets in, they become impulsive and resort to verbal aggressiveness.
Forgetting things such as appointments, assignments, or paying bills is common in both children and adults with ADHD. ADHD can also impact working memory.
Personal hygiene can be significantly affected for a person with ADHD because of the symptoms we tend to experience. The Mini ADHD Coach Medical Advisor says: "Overwhelming stress, difficulty organizing, and a lack of prioritization – which are typically related to ADHD - can contribute to poor grooming and hygiene.
In addition to genetics, scientists are studying other possible causes and risk factors including: Brain injury. Exposure to environmental risks (e.g., lead) during pregnancy or at a young age. Alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy.
During teen years, especially as the hormonal changes of adolescence are going on and the demands of school and extracurricular activities are increasing, ADHD symptoms may get worse.