ADHD presents itself differently in men than it does in women, The reality is there are three types of ADHD: Impulsive/Hyperactive, Inattentive, and Combined. It is now known that the Impulsive/Hyperactive is typically found in boys and the Inattentive in girls.

Being hyperactive tends to disrupt a classroom more than someone who is being inattentive. Teachers are quicker to notice and recommend children getting tested for ADHD for this reason.

There are generations of girls who went through school without any notice of their ADHD. That doesn’t change that they did in fact have it. These women may have been the girls who stared out the window in class or the ones that did their homework and consistently forgot to turn it in.

As these girls grew up and graduated high school, the structure from school disappeared and they were greeted with a whole different kind of world. They started to feel immense gloom, misery, worry, and apprehension. They also may have shown signs of massive mood swings. They tried to get help but they were instead treated for depression, anxiety, and often times bipolar disorder. None of which really helped because they weren’t the right diagnosis.

No one ever thought to test these women for ADHD. Why would they? We have been educated that ADHD looks like kids who are “hyper” and “can’t pay attention.” This wasn’t their experience.

And even the women who did think they had ADHD were often dismissed by their doctors and not taken seriously. (And unfortunately this is STILL happening.)

So why now?

While many women with ADHD weren’t getting diagnosed or getting misdiagnosed, they started adapting to the world around them. They created a world that they could exist or survive in and even thrive!

Many chose careers in fields that were really interesting to them that also provided structure. Unknowingly, they were using their superpowers of ADHD to create a world that worked for them. Using hyperfocus, fear of missing deadlines, thriving in chaos, ability to multitask, calmness under pressure and more to succeed.

Then the pandemic hit.

The separation of home life and business life collapsed on itself congealing into one over stimulating, over sensed, panic inducing, anxiety ridden, clusterfuck.

The structure that was carefully curated, disappeared. The ease of hyperfocus, gone. Any hope of positive talk that was slowly progressing to be better than berating oneself for being a piece of garbage, got worse.

Women with ADHD now felt like they were terrible employees, horrible moms, irresponsible adults, and hope for a clean house was gone forever. (Granted most of these thoughts happened before the pandemic hit, but they were magnified when they were stuck at home.)

Anxiety and depression became more and more normal and they could tell something was wrong. They knew other women in their neighborhood were not struggling as much as they were. So, they started to scroll on social media, either looking for answers, or more than likely, to avoid the craziness that surrounded them.

Eventually though, many of these women stumbled across more ADHD posts, videos, blogs, content creators and more and continued to wonder if they might have ADHD. As things started to open up again, they finally were able to get appointments and confirm what they already knew deep down to be true, that they do in fact have ADHD.

Slowly, the 98% certainty dwindled to maybe about 30% depending on the day and the moment. Because, why should a woman trust herself? Plus all of the nightmare issues of working from home didn’t disappear.

Some probably tried to get an appointment with their doctor only to realize they were still in a pandemic and had to bust through a shit ton of paperwork and loop holes just to get the appointment not playing well into their executive dysfunction and eventually gave up on trying to get diagnosed.

As women with ADHD flocked to Tiktok, they stumbled across these videos. At first, they laughed and felt seen. The more they watched them, the more they felt seen and heard, until they did a deep dive with the amazing power of hyperfocus watching all of the Tiktoks they could find on ADHD and then heading over to Google to find out as much as they could about this thing that seemed to explain their whole entire life. After 8 hours down the rabbit hole, they came out 98% certain that they had ADHD.

Those who were educated about their ADHD started making creative, humorous and relatable videos. In fact, #adhdtiktok currently has more than 2 billion views.
As anyone with an internet connection knows, TikTok boomed during the pandemic. Millions of people downloaded the app on their phones and found themselves reproducing dances and getting much more creative with the one minute videos.

Eventually though, many of these women stumbled across more ADHD posts, videos, blogs, content creators and more and continued to wonder if they might have ADHD. As things started to open up again, they finally were able to get appointments and confirm what they already knew deep down to be true, that they do in fact have ADHD.

Slowly, the 98% certainty dwindled to maybe about 30% depending on the day and the moment. Because, why should a woman trust herself? Plus all of the nightmare issues of working from home didn’t disappear.

Some probably tried to get an appointment with their doctor only to realize they were still in a pandemic and had to bust through a shit ton of paperwork and loop holes just to get the appointment not playing well into their executive dysfunction and eventually gave up on trying to get diagnosed.

As women with ADHD flocked to Tiktok, they stumbled across these videos. At first, they laughed and felt seen. The more they watched them, the more they felt seen and heard, until they did a deep dive with the amazing power of hyperfocus watching all of the Tiktoks they could find on ADHD and then heading over to Google to find out as much as they could about this thing that seemed to explain their whole entire life. After 8 hours down the rabbit hole, they came out 98% certain that they had ADHD.

Those who were educated about their ADHD started making creative, humorous and relatable videos. In fact, #adhdtiktok currently has more than 2 billion views.
As anyone with an internet connection knows, TikTok boomed during the pandemic. Millions of people downloaded the app on their phones and found themselves reproducing dances and getting much more creative with the one minute videos.