Understanding ADHD in Women
ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, is a difference in how the brain manages attention, focus, and follow-through. In women it more often looks like inattentiveness and internal restlessness than the visible hyperactivity people expect, which is a major reason so many women reach adulthood undiagnosed. At Lilac Psychiatry, ADHD is evaluated and treated by Natasha Massoudi, MD, MPH, a physician who specializes in women's mental health.
How ADHD Shows Up in Women
ADHD in women is frequently quiet and internal. You may recognize some of these:
- Trouble starting, organizing, or finishing tasks
- Losing track of time, deadlines, and details
- A mind that feels busy, scattered, or hard to quiet
- Emotional overwhelm and sensitivity to stress
- Forgetfulness, misplacing things, and mental fatigue from constant compensating
- Symptoms that worsen with hormonal shifts, such as the menstrual cycle or perimenopause
Why ADHD Is So Often Missed in Women
Many women were never the disruptive child that fit the old stereotype, so they were overlooked. Instead, they learned to mask, over-prepare, and push through, often at great personal cost. ADHD in women is also commonly mistaken for anxiety or depression, or dismissed as being disorganized. A careful, women-focused evaluation can finally connect the dots.
Evaluation and Diagnosis
Diagnosis begins with an unhurried conversation about your history, your daily life, and how symptoms have shown up over time, at school, at work, and at home. Because ADHD often travels with anxiety, depression, or hormonal changes, Dr. Massoudi evaluates the whole picture rather than a single checklist, so you get an accurate answer and a plan that fits.
How We Treat ADHD
Treatment is individualized and evidence-based. Depending on your needs, it may include practical strategies and skills, support for co-occurring anxiety or mood symptoms, and, when appropriate, medication. As a physician who also provides psychotherapy, Dr. Massoudi is not a pill-pushing provider; the goal is a plan that helps you function and feel better, not just a prescription.
What to Expect at Your First Visit
Your first appointment is an unhurried 90 minute evaluation, delivered by secure telehealth across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Florida. You will have the time and space to be fully heard. There is space for your story here.
What to Expect in Care
A few things set Lilac Psychiatry apart, and you feel them from the very first visit:
- A physician who takes you seriously. Every visit is with Dr. Massoudi, so the struggles you have masked for years are finally named.
- Expertise in how ADHD hides in women. Fellowship-trained, familiar with the quiet, inattentive presentation that is so often missed.
- Room for the whole history. First visits run 90 minutes, long enough to trace how ADHD has shaped school, work, and home.
- A plan, not just a stimulant. Strategies, support for co-occurring anxiety or mood, and medication when it fits, built around your life.
You are not disorganized. You may be undiagnosed.
A thorough, women-focused ADHD evaluation, from wherever you are.
FAQs
In women, ADHD more often shows up as inattentiveness, disorganization, forgetfulness, and internal restlessness rather than obvious hyperactivity. Many women describe feeling scattered, overwhelmed, or like they are working harder than everyone else to keep up.
It can look like trouble starting and finishing tasks, losing track of time, misplacing things, emotional overwhelm, and mental exhaustion from constantly compensating. Symptoms may also worsen around the menstrual cycle or in perimenopause.
Common symptoms include difficulty with focus and organization, forgetfulness, time-management struggles, a busy or restless mind, and heightened sensitivity to stress. A full evaluation distinguishes ADHD from anxiety, depression, or hormonal changes.
Many women did not fit the hyperactive childhood stereotype and instead learned to mask their symptoms. ADHD in women is also frequently mislabeled as anxiety or depression, which delays an accurate diagnosis, sometimes for decades.
Treatment is individualized and may include skills and strategies, support for co-occurring anxiety or mood symptoms, and, when appropriate, medication. Dr. Massoudi builds the plan around your needs, delivered by telehealth in MA, RI, and FL.