Books on  ADHD in Women

Launched in October 2022, our member organisations have provided us with a list of books. More languages coming soon. Download the card to share on social media or you can download the full card to make prints to share!

Useful Books for Everyone!

When Moms and Kids Have ADD
 ADD-Friendly Living by Patricia Quinn M.D, and Kathleen Nadeau, M.D

“How am I supposed to help my kids when I can’t manage my own ADD?” Unlike many other parenting books, When Moms and Kids Have ADD recognizes that ADD is a family affair. Rather than offering parenting advice that may be highly unrealistic, this book starts by addressing a mother’s needs, helping her to understand the importance of getting help for herself before she can succeed in helping her kids.

Understanding ADHD in Girls in Primary School
 A guide for parents

ADHD in girls is less well-known and often overlooked or diagnosed late with significant consequences for the child and the family. Written as a simple guide for parents of primary school-age girls with ADHD, this booklet is a helpful resource with user-friendly and up-to-date information

Understanding ADHD in Girls and Women
 ADD-Friendly Living by Patricia Quinn M.D, and Joanne Steer (Editor), Andrea Bilbow (Foreward)

ADHD in girls is less well-known and often overlooked or diagnosed late with significant consequences for the child and the family. Written as a simple guide for parents of primary school-age girls with ADHD, this booklet is a helpful resource with user-friendly and up-to-date information

 

Better Late than Never

“Understand Surviv & Thrive Midlife ADHD diagnosis” with Emma Mahnoy

Everything – and nothing – changed once Emma Mahony was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 52. In Better Late Than Never she seeks to reduce the stigma around diagnosis as an adult, and provides support for anyone who finds themselves in the same situation or thinks they may suffer from ADHD.
Offering helpful advice alongside Emma’s experience, subjects covered include:
o Seeking diagnosis later in life
o Getting a diagnosis
o How ADHD can present and how it varies between men and women
o Medication and self-medication
o Getting help
o Heritability
o Thriving beyond diagnosis

So much can be done to help sufferers of ADHD. This book will help you to survive and to thrive.

ADDitude ADHD Experts Podcast

“All the Feels: An ADHD Guide to Emotional Dysregulation and Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria” with William W. Dobson, M.D.

People with ADHD feel emotions more intensely, more frequently, and more suddenly. For many, emotional dysregulation is one of the most challenging core symptoms of ADHD to manage. In fact, one third of adults with ADHD say the inability to manage their emotions is the most impairing aspect of their ADHD, adversely affecting work performance and personal relationships. Dr. Dobson answers questions from participants and explains the difference between ADHD, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) and Bipolar Disorder in women.

Among the biggest emotional challenges facing adults with ADHD is RSD, an extreme sensitivity to criticism and judgment that seems to exist only in those diagnosed with the disorder. The good news is that certain ADHD medications can relieve RSD for about half of people diagnosed with it.

Click here to listen now!

ADHD According to Zoe

The Real Deal on Relationships, Finding Your Focus & Finding Your Keys by Zoe Kessler

In this unique and engaging memoir, Kessler shares her own stories of living with ADHD in a way that is relatable, but never predictable. She describes how her impulsive behaviour has affected her love life; how being disorganized once stood in the way of landing a job; and how inattentiveness has caused certain challenges in her relationships. Kessler also offers key coping skills based on her experience; skills that you can use to focus your energy, become more organized, and boost your self-esteem while tapping into creativity and humor.

Kessler’s story illustrates how being diagnosed with ADHD late into adulthood can be bewildering, but it also shows what a great opportunity it can be to take stock of your life and make real, lasting changes. Whether you share her diagnosis of ADHD, or just like a good story, ADHD According to Zoë will inspire you and encourage you to embrace your quirks. For more information about Kessler and her work, please visit www.zoekessler.com

The Queen of Distraction

How Women with ADHD Can Conquer Chaos, Find Focus and Get More Done by Terry Matlen

Do you rule the realm of disorganization, clutter, and chaos? Are you constantly battling to get things done? Are you ready to give up and toss your day planner into the dungeon? If so, you might just be The Queen of Distraction. And whether or not you’ve been formally diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you probably already know that something’s got to give. The Queen of Distraction presents practical skills to help women with ADHD achieve focus and balance in all areas of life, whether it’s at home, at work, or in relationships.

Psychotherapist Terry Matlen delves into the feminine side of ADHD―the elements of this condition that are particular to women, such as: relationships, skin sensitivities, meal-planning, parenting, and dealing with out-of-control hormones. In addition, the book offers helpful tips and strategies to get your symptoms under control and outlines a number of effective treatment options for you to pursue. From getting dressed in the morning, to making it to a job interview, to planning dinner―sometimes just getting through the day can be an ordeal for a woman with ADHD. If you’ve been accused of getting lost in your own world, maybe it’s time to make a change. If you’re ready to start getting organized and stop leaving your groceries in the car, this book can help. It’s more than just a survival guide; it’s an ADHD how-to to help you thrive! 

Divergent Mind

Thriving in a World that Wasn’t Designed for You by Jenara Nerenberg

A paradigm-shifting study of neurodivergent women – those with ADHD, autism, synesthesia, high sensitivity, and sensory processing disorder – exploring why these traits are overlooked in women and how society benefits from allowing their unique strengths to flourish.  

As a successful Harvard and Berkeley-educated writer, entrepreneur, and devoted mother, Jenara Nerenberg was shocked to discover that her “symptoms” – only ever labeled as anxiety – were considered autistic and ADHD. Being a journalist, she delved into the research and uncovered neurodiversity – a framework that moves away from pathologizing “abnormal” versus “normal” brains and instead recognizes the vast diversity of our mental makeups. 

The ADHD Effect on Marriage

Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship Step-by-Step

An invaluable resource for couples in which one of the partners suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), this authoritative book guides troubled marriages towards an understanding and appreciation for the struggles and triumphs of a relationship affected by it, and to look at the disorder in a more positive and less disruptive way. Going beyond traditional marriage counseling which can often discount the influence of ADHD, this discussion offers advice from the author’s personal experience and years of research and identifies patterns of behaviour that can hurt marriages—such as nagging, intimacy problems, sudden anger, and memory issues—through the use of vignettes and descriptions of actual couples and their ADHD struggles and solutions. This resource encourages both spouses to become active partners in improving their relationship and healing the fissures that ADHD can cause. Also included are worksheets and various strategies for difficult conversations so that couples can find a technique that fits their unique relationship and improve their communication skills.

100 Questions & Answers about ADHD in Women and Girls

by Dr. Patricia Quinn M.D.

Currently, ADHD diagnostic criteria tend to emphasize traits common to boys and leave the majority of girls and women with ADHD undiagnosed and misunderstood. 100 Questions and Answers About ADHD in Women and Girls offers authoritative and practical answers to questions specifically about ADHD in women and girls. Written by a pediatrician who is an expert on the unique impact of ADHD on women and girls, this comprehensive guide is an essential resource for understanding and coping with the medical and emotional effects of this condition.

The Disorganised Mind

Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks and Talents by Nancy A. Ratey

Tackling disorganization from a psychological perspective, this book aims to help you change your brain patterns and your habits. The author is a professional ADHD coach; she teaches people how to imagine that things can be different, how to make choices, and how to put those choices into action to make change. She uses strategies that have worked for her clients to help you get on track, get organized, and move past your challenges into a new life without the same disorder and turmoil to which you have become accustomed

Confessions of an ADDiva

Midlife in the NonLinear Lane by Linda Roggli PCC

Midlife women have moments when they are sure they have lost their minds. Is it “menopausal madness” or is it ADHD? In this lighthearted, inspirational book, Linda Roggli tells what it’s like to live forty-five years with undiagnosed ADHD; the diagnosis explains a lot! Memory lapses, running late for appointments, losing not only the car keys but the car in the parking lot! It’s all part of the ADHD woman’s experience. In this engaging, lighthearted and startlingly honest book, Linda, a bona fide ADDiva in her own right, comes out of her ADHD closet to share the highs and lows of life in the non-linear, spontaneous, creative lane. Written in ADHDfriendly style with lots of illustrations and white space, Confessions of an ADDiva is bound to inspire mid-life ADHD women regardless of the challenges they face! 

The Fog Lifted: A Clinician’s Victorious Journey with ADHD

by Kristin Seymour MSN RN AHCNS

This book is a reflection of what it feels like to live with ADHD. It’s about overcoming obstacles and accomplishing goals, finding personal and professional success, and ultimately true self-love. It’s about learning to live with ADHD without relying solely on medication and discovering that ADHD can actually be one of your biggest assets! Endorsed by physicians and educators, this book is an inspiring resource for parents, educators, students, therapists — anyone affected by ADD/ADHD.

A Radical Guide for Women with ADHD

Embrace Neurodiversity, Live Boldly and Break through Barriers by Sari Solden

This radical guide will show you how to cultivate your individual strengths, honor your neurodiversity, and learn to communicate with confidence and clarity. If you are a woman with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you’ve probably known—all your life—that you’re different. As girls, we learn which behaviours, thinking, learning, and working styles are preferred, which are accepted and tolerated, and which are frowned upon. These preferences are communicated in innumerable ways—from media and books to our first-grade classroom to conversations with our classmates and parents.

Over the course of a lifetime, women with ADHD learn through various channels that the way they think, work, speak, relate, and act does not match up with the preferred way of being in the world. In short, they learn that difference is bad. And, since these women know that they are different, they learn that they are bad. It’s time for a change.

Women with Attention Deficit Disorder

Embrace your Differences and Transform your Life by Sari Solden

Psychotherapist Sari Solden’s groundbreaking book explains how every year, millions of withdrawn little girls and chronically overwhelmed women go undiagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).

Help for Women with ADHD

My Simple Strategies for Conquering Chaos by Joan Wilder

This radical guide will show you how to cultivate your individual strengths, honor your neurodiversity, and learn to communicate with confidence and clarity. If you are a woman with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you’ve probably known—all your life—that you’re different. As girls, we learn which behaviours, thinking, learning, and working styles are preferred, which are accepted and tolerated, and which are frowned upon. These preferences are communicated in innumerable ways—from media and books to our first-grade classroom to conversations with our classmates and parents.

Over the course of a lifetime, women with ADHD learn through various channels that the way they think, work, speak, relate, and act does not match up with the preferred way of being in the world. In short, they learn that difference is bad. And, since these women know that they are different, they learn that they are bad. It’s time for a change.

The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD

An 8-Step Program for Strengthening Attention, Managing Emotions and Achieving Your Goals by Lidia Zylowska

Don’t let ADHD stand in your way—this 8-step mindfulness program provides you with the tools you need to stay focused and confident in all areas of your life! Physician-researcher Dr. Lidia Zylowska has created an 8-step program for using mindfulness practice (attention and awareness training) to overcome the symptoms of ADHD. The program includes practices such as meditation, body awareness, thoughtful speaking and listening, development of self-acceptance, mindful selfcoaching, cultivation of a balanced view of thoughts and emotions, and more. Dr. Zylowska educates readers about ADHD, helping them to understand how their ADHD brain works and how they can use mindful awareness to work with their challenges. She also explains how the mindful approach can be combined with other treatments, including medications, to boost self-improvement.

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