Attention, Girls: ADD in Young Women

By Michele Ballard

It took a long whole before somebody thought that Nina might be having problems. She looked like the typical good girl. She was always busy because she took care of her younger sister, held three jobs at a time, and was always just quiet. Nobody suspected that Nina has an attention-deficit disorder, or ADD.

ADD or ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactive disorder), a persistent and chronic disorder characterized by forgetfulness, impulsivity, and distractibility, has often been associated with boys. Because girls' behavior tends to be less disruptive and more discreet, they have often been under-diagnosed. Later on, their disorder will likely be pinpointed once it manifests in other destructive behaviors such as alcohol and substance abuse.

Nina, on her senior year this school year, says she "felt as if she was unraveling at the edges," but she could not afford to wallow in the feeling of restlessness and low self-esteem because of the responsibilities she had to attend to. Instead, she did her everything that was expected from her - school, work and household responsibilities - like the typical good girl.

"Women with the disorder tend to suffer in silence compared with their male counterparts," Patricia Quinn, M.D., director of the National Center for Gender Issues and ADHD, a nonprofit group has stated in an earlier work. "Women often develop strategies to hide their deficiencies, but in the process, feel ashamed and have low self-esteem."

It was only later after Nina was diagnosed with ADD that she realized that the heavy drinking and drug abuse she got deep into before her high school graduation was her way of coping with poor school performance, forgetfulness at work and her strained relationship with her family - all manifestations of her disorder.

At present, Nina is studying for her final exam, with the aid of Ritadil. The good girl with ADD has finally got her sense of focus.

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