
Women with ADHD

Comprehensive ADHD-Informed Care Designed for Your Unique Needs
Our specialized services address the complex ways ADHD presents in women's lives, offering evidence-based treatment that honors both your neurobiological differences and your personal aspirations. Each service is designed to help you develop sustainable strategies for living authentically while managing the executive functioning, emotional regulation, and values-alignment challenges that often accompany ADHD.
Understanding ADHD in Women: Why Specialized Care is Essential
Women with ADHD face unique diagnostic and treatment challenges that require specialized clinical expertise. Research indicates that women are significantly underdiagnosed with ADHD, with many not receiving accurate diagnosis until adulthood—often in their 30s, 40s, or beyond. This diagnostic delay occurs for several critical reasons that our specialized approach directly addresses.
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We provide ADHD assessments specifically designed to capture the complex ways this condition presents in women. Our evaluation process goes beyond symptom checklists to understand how ADHD affects your specific life domains, relationships, and goal pursuit patterns, with particular attention to presentations that may have been previously overlooked.
Assessment Includes:
Detailed clinical interview focusing on ADHD's impact across your lifespan, including childhood symptoms that may have been missed
Evaluation of executive functioning challenges and their practical effects
Assessment of co-occurring conditions commonly seen with ADHD, particularly those that may have led to previous misdiagnoses
Consideration of hormonal factors and their impact on symptom presentation
Values clarification and analysis of the values-action gap
Relationship and family functioning evaluation
Review of previous diagnoses and treatment history to identify patterns consistent with ADHD
Comprehensive treatment planning based on your unique presentation
Our assessment process ensures that treatment recommendations are tailored to your specific needs, presentation patterns, and life circumstances, while addressing any previous diagnostic confusion or incomplete understanding of your symptoms.
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Our individual therapy approach combines specialized ADHD expertise with personalized treatment planning that addresses your unique presentation and life goals. We focus on helping you understand how ADHD affects your daily functioning, relationships, and ability to pursue what matters most to you, with particular attention to the ways women's presentations may have been previously overlooked or misunderstood.
What We Address:
Executive functioning challenges and their impact on goal pursuit
The values-action gap that creates feelings of "self-sabotage"
Emotional dysregulation and mood-related difficulties, including hormonal influences
Relationship patterns affected by ADHD symptoms
Professional challenges and workplace accommodations
Self-esteem issues stemming from years of misunderstood struggles
Processing experiences of misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
Understanding how masking behaviors may have protected but also exhausted you
Through weekly sessions, we develop ADHD-compatible strategies that work with your brain rather than against it, helping you build confidence in your ability to create meaningful change while honoring your authentic self.
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Our group therapy sessions provide a supportive environment where women with ADHD can connect, learn from shared experiences, and practice new skills together. Group work offers unique benefits for ADHD treatment, including peer accountability, normalized experiences, and opportunities to practice social and communication skills in a supportive setting.
Group Benefits Include:
Validation and understanding from others with similar experiences, including shared stories of misdiagnosis or late diagnosis
Reduced isolation and shame around ADHD-related struggles
Peer support for goal-setting and skill implementation
Practice with time management and communication in a structured environment
Cost-effective access to specialized ADHD treatment
Normalization of the complex ways ADHD presents in women's lives
Groups are facilitated by clinicians with advanced training in both ADHD and group therapy processes, ensuring that sessions remain focused, productive, and therapeutically beneficial for all participants.
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Our innovative Accountability-Assisted Therapy program provides additional support for translating therapeutic insights into consistent behavioral change—often the biggest challenge for individuals with ADHD. This evidence-based enhancement works alongside your primary therapy to address executive functioning barriers to progress.
How It Works:
Skills and exercises are assigned by your primary therapist based on your treatment goals
Trained accountability partners provide structured support between therapy sessions
Lower-cost skill practice sessions bridge the gap between weekly therapy and daily life
Regular check-ins help maintain momentum on therapeutic homework and goal implementation
Integration with your primary therapy ensures all support remains aligned with your treatment plan
This program is available as an enhancement to individual, group, couples, or family therapy services and provides the additional scaffolding many ADHD clients need for successful treatment outcomes.
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ADHD significantly impacts intimate relationships, often creating patterns of misunderstanding, frustration, and disconnection. Our couples therapy approach addresses how ADHD symptoms affect relationship dynamics while helping both partners develop strategies for improved communication, emotional connection, and mutual support.
We Focus On:
Communication patterns affected by ADHD symptoms (interrupting, distractibility, emotional intensity)
How executive functioning challenges impact household responsibilities and shared goals
Managing the parent-child dynamic that can develop when one partner has ADHD
Developing understanding and empathy for neurobiological differences, particularly when ADHD was previously undiagnosed or misdiagnosed
Creating relationship structures that support both partners' needs
Addressing intimacy and emotional connection challenges
Understanding how years of masking or compensating may have affected relationship patterns
Our approach helps couples move from conflict and misunderstanding toward collaboration and mutual support, recognizing that ADHD affects the relationship system, not just the individual.
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When one family member has ADHD, the entire family system is impacted. Our family therapy services help all family members understand ADHD's effects and develop strategies for healthier family functioning, improved communication, and mutual support.
Family Therapy Addresses:
How ADHD symptoms affect family roles and responsibilities
Communication patterns that may have developed around ADHD-related challenges
Sibling dynamics when one child or parent has ADHD
Parenting strategies that work effectively with ADHD presentations
Reducing blame and increasing understanding across family members, particularly when diagnosis is new or was delayed
Creating family structures that support everyone's wellbeing
Processing how undiagnosed ADHD may have affected family dynamics over time
We work with families to develop systems that honor neurobiological differences while maintaining appropriate boundaries and expectations for all family members.
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While our clinical team specializes in ADHD-informed therapy and treatment, we recognize that comprehensive care often requires formal diagnostic evaluation and medication management. We have carefully cultivated a curated network of psychiatrists and psychologists who have been personally vetted by Lauren to ensure their understanding of ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions in women reflects the latest research and clinical best practices.
Our Community Partners Provide:
Up-to-date diagnostic evaluations that recognize the unique ways ADHD presents in women
Comprehensive psychological testing when indicated
Medication management with understanding of hormonal factors and women-specific considerations
Affirming, trauma-informed approaches that honor your lived experience
Clinically sound assessments that avoid common diagnostic pitfalls and biases
When we provide a warm handoff to one of our community partners, you can trust that you'll receive an evaluation or medication consultation that is both clinically excellent and deeply informed about the complexities of neurodivergent presentations in women. This collaborative approach ensures continuity of care and understanding across all aspects of your treatment journey.
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Women with ADHD Peer Support Groups
Our peer support groups are facilitated by Brilla but are not a therapy service.
The goal is to provide a place for women navigating similar challenges to connect, reducing isolation and offering practical strategies from those with lived experience. Group sessions combine educational components with peer support, creating a comprehensive learning environment.
Get unstuck for good. Book with your ADHD specialist today.
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…my own life story. For years before that diagnosis, I had been filling journal after journal, trying desperately to figure out why I couldn't seem to follow through on goals that mattered deeply to me. The word 'self-sabotage' appeared over and over in my writing—I was convinced that something was fundamentally wrong with my character or willpower.
After my diagnosis, I went back and read through those old journals with new eyes. What struck me most was how repetitive they were—the same struggles, the same self-criticism, the same confusion about why I couldn't just 'make myself' do the things I knew I should do. I could see the threads of undiagnosed ADHD woven throughout every entry, just wrapped around different topics: relationships, career goals, daily routines, creative projects.
Understanding that neurobiological differences—not personal failings—were interfering with my ability to live according to my values was transformative. It wasn't that I lacked motivation or discipline; my brain simply processed attention, time, and goal-directed behavior differently than the strategies I'd been trying to force myself to use.
This personal experience drives everything we do at Brilla. I know intimately what it feels like to spend years believing you're somehow broken, only to discover that you've been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. My mission is to help other women skip years of that unnecessary suffering by providing the specialized, ADHD-informed care that actually works with how their brains function—not against it."
The Hidden Nature of Women's ADHD Presentations
Women often present with inattentive or combined-type ADHD, which manifests as internal restlessness, distractibility, and difficulty with organization rather than the hyperactive behaviors more commonly recognized in boys. These "quieter" symptoms are frequently overlooked by educators, parents, and even healthcare providers, leading to years of internal struggle without proper understanding or support.
Additionally, women develop sophisticated masking behaviors and compensatory strategies that can camouflage ADHD symptoms, particularly in academic or professional settings. This masking often comes at significant psychological cost, leading to chronic exhaustion, anxiety, and depression that may be treated as primary conditions rather than secondary effects of undiagnosed ADHD.
Hormonal Factors and ADHD Symptom Fluctuation
Hormonal changes significantly impact ADHD symptoms in women, creating additional complexity in both diagnosis and treatment. Estrogen affects dopamine regulation in the brain, meaning ADHD symptoms often fluctuate throughout menstrual cycles, during pregnancy, postpartum periods, and menopause. Many women first recognize their ADHD symptoms during times of hormonal transition when their usual coping strategies become insufficient.
These hormonal influences can lead to misdiagnosis of mood disorders, particularly when symptoms worsen during premenstrual periods or menopause. Women may receive treatment for depression or anxiety without recognition that these conditions are secondary to underlying ADHD, resulting in incomplete symptom resolution and continued functional impairment.
Common Misdiagnoses and Missed Diagnoses
Women with ADHD are frequently misdiagnosed with anxiety disorders, depression, or bipolar disorder before receiving accurate ADHD diagnosis. The executive functioning challenges and emotional dysregulation characteristic of ADHD can present similarly to these conditions, particularly when masking behaviors conceal the underlying attention and organizational difficulties.
Many women report receiving multiple psychiatric diagnoses throughout their lives without experiencing significant improvement until ADHD is properly identified and treated. This pattern of misdiagnosis can delay appropriate treatment for years or decades, during which time self-esteem, relationships, and career trajectory may suffer significantly.
Why Specialized ADHD Care Matters
Effective treatment for women with ADHD requires providers with advanced training in neurodevelopmental conditions and deep understanding of how ADHD presents across different life stages and contexts, particularly the unique ways this condition manifests in women. Our specialized approach addresses both the neurobiological realities of ADHD and the complex psychological impacts of living with this condition in a world designed for neurotypical functioning—especially for women whose symptoms may have been misunderstood for years.
Ready to Begin?
All of our services are provided by clinicians with specialized training in adult ADHD presentations, gender-specific factors in diagnosis and treatment, and evidence-based treatment approaches. We're committed to creating a therapeutic environment where you can be authentically yourself while developing practical strategies for living according to your values and achieving your goals.
Contact us today to discuss which services might be the best fit for your needs and goals.