As I’ve alluded to in the past few posts, the most arresting topic during this conference for me so far has been attention/ADHD– particularly ADHD as it relates to women. This is all for personal reasons. I think that personal engagement with this information is one of the chief reasons God brought me to this here extended weekend in D.C. (Yeah, you read that correctly.)
I am having “aha!” moments of joy, relief, and sadness as I continue connecting the dots between what I’m hearing/reading and experiences in my life. I’m getting a novel gloss on some of these experiences that resonate in deep tones. It feels different than the psychology student performing haphazard self-diagnosis.
So, I would like to share this journey! Writing about it will help me retain, consolidate, reflect, order. And, because this info is not widespread and has brought me such consolation, sharing will up the chances for someone else to have a similar discovery.
The ADHD content is coming straight from the power-pointish notes of Dr. Patricia Quinn (yes, she is Dr. Quinn and is a medicine woman, though not in the shaman sense [that I know of, anyway]). Dr. Quinn is the director of the National Center for Girls and Women with ADHD, located in D.C.
Facts are hers; I’ve created the headings, full-sentence form and elaboration.
Finally, the cat picture below is just *perfect*. If I do say so myself. Which I clearly do. Because I just did.
*Ahem.*
. . .
ADHD Myths (Unicorns involved in neither myths nor truth)
ADHD is instinctively thought of as a male disorder–we think of the white, elementary, hyperactive boy. Wild, excitable behavior is thought of as the primary symptom. We also commonly think of ADHD as a childhood disorder, and that, perhaps, inattentiveness, impulsivity, and executive functioning problems are outgrown.
Where the data at?
Though ADHD study has its origins in the 1970s, until 2000, there were only 20 ADHD studies focusing on girls and women. Part–if not all–of why was due to the assumption that ADHD findings in studies of males would apply equally to females. A natural consequence of this is that all DSM criteria for ADHD has been based entirely on observations of boys. “Talks excessively” is often the only symptom that routinely applies to ADHD females.
Flippin’ the script
One big breakthrough was for the inattentive type of ADHD to be recognized at all; ADHD was originally called hyperkinetic disorder, or some such thing–again, focusing on the hyperactive behavior. The current state of ADHD study purportedly suggests that inattention, rather than hyperactivity, is the central feature of the disorder. Which brings the focus to executive functioning and the pre-frontal cortex.
So, what’s the difference?
First, there are different areas of the brain involved for girls and boys with ADHD. Second, there are different cultural expectations for women: they should be organized, not messy, shouldn’t lose things. As Dr. Quinn astutely pointed out–for women, there is no equivalent of “boys will be boys”.
Now, getting into more of the juicy stuff for me. Girls with ADHD tend to internalize the difficulties, resulting in self-blame and anxiety. Whereas a boy is more apt to be like “F– this project! F– Miss So-And-So!” (‘scuse my french–pretend I’m quoting one of my students), a girl will think that there’s something wrong with *her* that causes the project to be difficult or causes Miss So-And-So to hate her.
Also, girls with ADHD have more of a tendency to compensate for their deficiencies than boys do. If Nelson remembers he has a project due tomorrow and he has absolutely no materials to construct a model of the solar system, there is significant likelihood that he’ll say, “Oh, I should probably do that. Meh–let’s go play some Metal Gear Solid 4.” He goes into class the next day with nothing. Teachers and parents notice.
In this same situation, however, Olivia will get anxious. She’ll freak out because she ABSOLUTELY canNOT go in to school tomorrow without a project and disappoint the teacher and have Peter make fun of her for blowing it. If she’s got sympathetic parents, mom’ll run out to a 24-hr CVS and buy what’s needed. Olivia will work really hard with mom, stay up late, eventually go to bed and mom may very well finish the project. She’ll go into school the next day and no one will notice a thing.
Her proverbial closet’s just as messy as Nelson’s. But, in the words of Dr. Quinn, she’ll stay in the messy closet a lot longer.
But the closet’s not fun.
As mentioned a bit earlier, girls most-often manifest their ADHD internally. There’s self-blame. There’s stress. There’s low self-esteem and demoralization. Unrecognized, all of this inner turmoil can lead to the development of anxiety and depression–which can end up masking the root problem of ADHD.
There also can be an abundance of psychosomatic symptoms not often seen in boys. Stomach ulcers, headaches. (Just realizing here…my headaches…hrmm.) At times, girls are so shaken by “classroom trauma” that school phobias develop, and they manifest PTSD-like symptoms in response to anything mimicking an evaluation-type environment.
All of this–but an ADHD diagnosis is unlikely. The inattentive type is harder to recognize in general, and particularly when it’s found in a girl. Dr. Quinn referred to a study by a fellow named Mohan: when case studies were given to teachers of girls and boys with a shared array of symptoms, the teachers didn’t recommend counseling or screening for the girls who presented with the same scenarios as the boys.
. . .
Thanks for joining me for part one of these ADHD reflections. As always, I’d love to hear anything coming to your mind about this topic. Hope I didn’t bore ya! But even if I did…I’m okay with that. 🙂
More to come.
I know the wrap-up here isn’t 1/237 as suspenseful and exhilarating as Abraham’s drunk girl saga.
…But if that drunk girl was turning to substances to compensate for her undiagnosed ADHD…well, I’d say I’m doing my part.
I Find/I'm Found 