Anxiety and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect millions alone and combined, but in women, they’re often co-occurring conditions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 2023, about 15.5 million adults were living with an ADHD diagnosis, while the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports that 19.1% of the adult population in the United States coped with an anxiety disorder in the last year.
We know that approximately one-third of women living with ADHD are also living with an anxiety disorder. The special issues that deal with both diagnoses simultaneously pose a challenge for women and their mental health care providers.
Janelle Adams, MA, LMFT, ATR, provides advanced treatment for women whose quality of life has been impacted by symptoms of both anxiety and ADHD. At In Touch Counseling, she takes a holistic and highly individualized approach when treating her clients, and is dedicated to forming a partnership that’s focused on goals that you set together.
Anxiety for women coping with ADHD is more than feeling restless, nervous, or on edge. Since ADHD and anxiety have been shown to fuel each other, many women are plagued by insecurity and self-doubt, which is both overwhelming and stressful, and when the conditions coexist, their intersection causes distressing symptoms.
Women with ADHD and anxiety tend to hide their struggles, which can be intense. Feelings of self-blame also abound when they feel they haven’t lived up to a self-imposed standard. These tendencies contribute greatly to anxiety.
When ADHD is undiagnosed and untreated, anxiety can spike as they try to keep up, and women often become hypervigilant because they don’t want to miss something or forget to complete a task.
Loud sounds, bright light, and too many people talking at once are a recipe for overloaded senses, and in the case of a woman with ADHD, this can also lead to intense anxiety.
This may cause significant difficulties with clear thinking, concentration, and even stable breathing.
Anxiety frequently creates an internal conversation within yourself that’s agitating. Especially if you live with ADHD, you may constantly be wondering whether you’ve forgotten something critical, if you’ll meet an important goal, and whether your struggle will be apparent to the outside world.
When these thoughts run amok, they can exacerbate certain challenges posed by ADHD, like problems prioritizing, managing time well, and relentless rumination.
Procrastination sets a person up for failure, so how can it ever be juxtaposed with perfectionism?
In women living with ADHD, the anxiety that feeds a desire for everything to be flawlessly executed can make them procrastinate because things might not turn out perfectly — a potent driver of anxiety.
Since so many women were never diagnosed with ADHD as children, they were often critiqued unfairly, so they developed great worry about failing and rejection.
This fear feeds into anxiety about taking risks, trying new things, and even interacting socially.
Anxiety and ADHD cause everything from a rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing (not taking sufficient oxygen into the lungs), and sore muscles to headaches and gastrointestinal problems, which intensify the cycle of anxiety.
The combination of anxiety and ADHD can cause debilitating symptoms in women that disrupt their relationships, rhythms, and lives.
When you work with Janelle, she can help you understand how your ADHD and anxiety feed off each other and affect your physical and mental well-being. Her deep belief in the importance of treating the whole person means that she recommends wide-ranging, eclectic treatment approaches that can tame the anxiety that intersects with ADHD:
A combination of carefully considered treatments can provide lasting relief for women struggling with the formidable challenges posed by anxiety and ADHD. We always approach treatment with an evidence-based orientation and great compassion.
Contact our Camas office at 360-205-5236 to schedule an appointment with Janelle, or you can use our convenient online booking tool.
