by Dorothy Sander

Created on: April 27, 2007   Last Updated: May 01, 2007

ADD in women is an often overlooked condition. Attention Deficit Disorder, without the hyperactivity commonly associated with it, looks like many other things in women. ADHD, the most common form of this condition is most often associated with males and more often than not with male children. ADD is, as Sari Solden in her book Women with Attention Deficit Disorder,

"a neurochemical disorder, not a psychological one. As the study of biochemistry leaps forward, we are becoming more and more educated to the fact that many of these seemingly psychological problems are, in fact, physiological.

I have spent my life time as what I like to call a "guinea pig for psycho-pharmological education". Much of what is being learned now could have helped me 30 years ago, but I am thrilled that the process is evolving in the fashion that it is and I can attest to the leaps it has made with regard to depression in particular. Although I was first diagnosed in my late 20's with what they called at the time "clinical depression", it is becoming increasing clear to me that the source of my problem was not depression but ADD. This concerns me. How many young girls are being completely overlooked in our schools and homes today that could be helped? The boys are receiving help because they are usually hyperactive and their behavior demands that the problem be addressed. But, ADD young girls are often quiet and well behaved. Their struggles are, for the most part, internal.

Let me give you an example. For as long as I can remember I hated school. How I got through 20 years of education is still a mystery to me. The pubic school setting alone was overwhelming to me. I could not begin to process all that was around me, the children, the noise, the confusion, so many pictures on the wall, concern for my appearance, my hair, my dress, my socks and shoes, what was going to happen at lunch time, what the teacher was saying to the troubled little boy in the corner all of this was swirling around inside of me where was the room in my ability to attend to the education part? As I grew older and the social aspects of high school took forefront and the school work became more perplexing I focused on the one thing I could begin to understand relationships. In junior high school I would be given an assignment I may have written it down, but I only have heard it for all the other noise in my head. When it came time to doing it, I often did not know how to approach the work. Reading comprehension

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