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ADHD and Hormones - The Massive Impact on Women with ADHD

Therapy in a Nutshell

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Hormones have a drastic impact on women with ADHD. Learn how estrogen and your menstrual cycle impact focus, mood, and why symptoms suddenly get worse.

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Why do ADHD symptoms in women seem to change throughout the month—or suddenly get worse in your 30s and 40s?
In this video, we break down the powerful connection between women, ADHD, and hormones—and why this piece of the puzzle has been overlooked for so long.
You’ll learn how estrogen directly affects dopamine (the brain chemical behind focus, motivation, and executive function), and why shifts during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause can dramatically impact ADHD symptoms.
We’ll cover:
Why ADHD in women is often underdiagnosed and misunderstood
How hormonal changes influence attention, mood, and memory
What happens during puberty, pregnancy, and perimenopause
Why ADHD medications may work differently across your cycle
The surprising link between estrogen, dopamine, and executive function
If you’ve ever wondered why some weeks feel manageable and others feel impossible, this video will help you understand what’s happening—and how to work with your brain instead of against it.
You’ll also get practical strategies to:
Track your cycle and identify patterns
Plan your work and energy around hormonal shifts
Adjust expectations (without beating yourself up)
Support your focus and mental health more effectively
ADHD isn’t just about willpower—and for women, hormones play a huge role. Understanding this can be a game-changer.

What Is Executive Function - And Why Is Executive Dysfunction So Bad for Mental Health? What Is Executive Function - And Why Is Ex...

Frontiers article: "Research advances and future directions in female ADHD": https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/...

00:00 Hormones and ADHD in Women
00:32 ADHD in Women is Misunderstood and Underdiagnosed
03:04 How ADHD Women Hormones Connect: Estrogen
06:08 ADHD and Hormones: Lifelong Impacts
06:15 Childhood
07:45 Puberty
09:57 Sexual Health
10:44 Birth Control
11:33 Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum
12:58 Perimenopause, Menopause and ADHD
15:56 Hormone Replacement Therapy for Women with ADHD
17:26 Medication for Women with ADHD
18:26 ADHD and Hormones for Menstruating Women
20:33 We Need More Research for ADHD and Hormones

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Check out my podcast, Therapy in a Nutshell: https://tinpodcast.podbean.com/

Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health.
In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.
And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/c...

If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 988 or your local emergency services.
Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

20 Comments

@TherapyinaNutshell Creator 1 month ago Pinned

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@janswimwild 1 month ago

Many of us have known this our whole lives, but no one has ever listened to us, they actively ignored us, and then we stopped talking. I’m 72 now and I’m grateful for younger generations that medical research is finally catching up with life itself.

@rachelbourque8802 1 month ago

It’s very concerning that we have to diagnose ourselves before seeing our doctor.

@empresskali6783 1 month ago

I became a completely different person after peri started. (Feels like I entered some sort of insular cocoon & shut off the world). I saw my mother go through the same thing. I digitized our family photos a few years ago & saw the light go out of a few generations of women around the time of peri. Something massive is happening to the women in my family & this explains what might be going on. Thank you so much for sharing this.

I’m also furious at the medical researchers who erased women from their research & grateful to these researchers for remembering us.

@bluemine1712 2 weeks ago

The idea that some parts of your personality might actually be learned patterns is kind of unsettling. Has anyone here read The Mind I Became by Cal Hollins?

@RiceHall-x4v 13 hours ago

Psychedelics/psilocybin containing mushroom have proven a to be a reliable cure for depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar, OCD, insomnia, and other related disorders. Saved my life honestly.

@Shelllshock79 1 month ago

I love that you have posters (homemade) and not a bunch of slides. Your videos are so much more relatable.

@littleheavenfanvids 1 month ago

This explains why I was always so energised, focussed, creative and productive when I was ovulating. I had no idea it was a dopamine thing. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 53, three years post-menopause, and autistic at age 55. It wasn’t until my estrogen was gone that I lost the ability to manage myself and my life. I was forgetting to do routine things like feed my child. It was so bad I thought I was developing dementia. Then I saw a friend’s Facebook post about ADHD and so many things resonated. But when I went to my GP seeking a diagnosis she told me it was too hard to get one and offered me HRT instead. That helped a bit but eventually I paid for a private assessment. So much of my life makes sense now. The sensitivity, the intense interests, the post partum depression, the exhaustion from working in a “collaborative workspace”. Always feeling left out socially. It’s been quite a process to work through it all.

@stephaniewood1547 1 month ago (edited)

Yeah, I am in menopause now and yeah its been a roller-coaster ride for sure. Yikes!
I recently took an ADHD test a couple months ago. The Pysch Nurse Practitioner told me she thought my issues are both ADHD and trauma during my life. I am 58. Really, I have been struggling all my life. They didn't test me back in my day. They just told me I was lazy and wasn't trying hard enough. My grades were definitely effected. I got grounded and taken off of sports by my parents, not by my school. It was horrible being me back then with no support. I still don't have quite the answers I need. I am thankful I found your channel though. I have a great counselor as well.

@thebalancedvirgin4893 1 month ago (edited)

I couldn't click fast enough on this. I am in HELL; autism, ADHD, PMDD, and I'm in perimenopause. The frustrating part is that I'm just getting my life together after 20 years of addiction (self-medicating bc I wasn't diagnosed until 38 - I'm 42 now) and it's like I take half a step forward and 2 steps back. Therapy, meds including Yaz, daily self-work, doing all the things to be healthy and productive, and my hormones are fucking it up. It also sucks because even though loved ones know of my diagnoses, they don't understand the seriousness, and still think I'm being dramatic. Plus I've had to lead my doctors to this and the right treatment because they have no idea!

@Cassaronda 1 month ago

PREACH IT GIRL!!! You can’t hide your passion (or your disgust at the lack of research). Since you have a large platform, I hope your voice is heard.

@2Mushy 1 month ago

Literally just took my third dose of estrogen last night. I woke up this morning and thought "man I feel better than I ever have in my life." Then your video popped up. Thank you so so much

@ChubbyUnicorn 1 month ago

I fought like a wildcat for hormones. 1st my thyroid now estrogen. I was very, very, very su1cidal. Those thoughts immediately disappear when i have correct hormone levels. Poof! Gone!

@galeokibby2617 1 month ago

I was not diagnosed until age 83! I became a therapist at age 66 (Master's at age 64 and 2 years Supervision) and in recent years have been working with so many clients with ADHD, that I began doing a lot of research and began to recognize myself. I then took myself to a psychiatrist and he agreed with my self diagnosis. WOW!!!!! In the mid 1940's, I was considered "precocious"; smart alecky; etc. I am not aware that was even such a diagnosis as ADD/ADHD in those days. As a poor mother to four after 5 marriages, 4 divorces and 1 widowhood, I am now able to see why things went so wrong for me in my life.WOMEN: WE MUST ADVOCATE FOR US TO RECEIVE REALISTIC AND SPECIFIC MEDICAL ATTENTION.

@keeleyProwse 1 month ago

I'm autistic and have just gone through a pretty hellish menopause. I'm talking darker than losing my parents, that's how dark.

@DianeWorfolk 1 month ago

Oh Emma, I want to cry and cry and cry....i got diagnosed in May at the age of 63. I feel so sad that I didn’t know this information when I was growing up. I became depressed at 11 and suffered terribly with pmdd(chronic pms) Rejection Sensitivity Disorder and had no clue about of this until very recently. I love you for putting this information together for others poor ladies to get the facts! I've spent my life feeling lonely and rejected, but now I know why. ❤

@erinhancock31 1 month ago

I'm in surgical menopause and have audhd, the difference between having estrogen and not is crazy. Without estrogen I have intense freeze and fight responses.

@oonameade-fx3jl 1 month ago

I feel soooooo much RAGE, which, of course is actually grief, around the fact that soooooo many of the women in our herstorical lineage’s have struggled, much more than necessary. Due to the lack of studies done in support of Womben’s health.

In Rage & Grief,
Oona⚜️

@kuromistulay 4 weeks ago

okay as a woman THE LACK OF STUDY AND RESEARCH ON WOMEN IS SOOOOOOOOOO INFURIATING ARGH

@smheart425 1 month ago

I found out from 30something coworker. I had no idea. I am 57, I was diagnosed in my early 40s through much testing including my IQ and other things, not just based on symptoms. I was basically told that since I had made it this far in life with relative success that I didn't need medication which might raise my blood pressure, etc. My coworker heard a podcast and wondered if some of the issues I was having were bc I had gone through menopause. Sure enough, I had almost no estrogen as well as having very low vitamin D. It is amazing how much better I am doing on HRT and vitamin D. Thanks for explaining what is actually going on and why it causes so many problems!