Could ADHD be part of your story? Take our test for women

ADHD continues to be misunderstood, especially in women ^[1]. Historically, girls and women with ADHD have been underdiagnosed. Often, this is because ADHD shows up differently in women than in men. Women and girls are more likely to display symptoms like inattention, disorganization, and forgetfulness, while boys and men typically show more hyperactivity and impulsivity. 

Many women don’t get a diagnosis until they’re adults. This can delay important care and affect your self-esteem and mental well-being. 

This ADHD quiz for women can’t diagnose you, but it can start giving you some insight and answers. A professional evaluation and diagnosis is an essential step toward getting the support you need to manage ADHD symptoms. 

Are you experiencing symptoms of ADHD?

Choose the answer that most accurately describes your experiences, between “yes,” “no,” and “sometimes.” Most methods that measure ADHD symptoms ask whether you’ve experienced symptoms in the past week. But you can also reflect on how these patterns have affected you throughout your life.

This quiz is tailored to ADHD symptoms that tend to be seen mainly in people socialized as female. 

1. Does it feel like your mind is constantly moving, like you always have thoughts going through your mind?

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

2. Do you tend to start tasks or projects but not finish them?

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

3. Is it hard for you to complete a task or project in one sitting without a sense of urgency or deadline?

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

4. Do you tend to underestimate or overestimate how long a task will take to complete?

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

5. Do you experience sensory overload? In other words, do bright lights, loud sounds, or lots of visual stimulation make it hard for you to focus or think?

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

6. Are verbal directions challenging for you to understand and follow through on?

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

7. Do you tend to “freeze” or become overwhelmed when you have a lot to do and don’t know how to start?

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

8. Is it hard for you to see the start, middle, and end of a project all at once? For example, planning an entire outline may be difficult for you.

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

9. Do people tell you that you seem to “zone out” or get distracted easily during conversation?

   • Yes

   • No

   • Sometimes

10. Do you tend to seek change in an effort to stay engaged or excited about something?

    • Yes

    • No

    • Sometimes

Quiz results 

• Mostly yes: Symptoms of ADHD are present

• Mostly no: You likely don’t have ADHD 

• Mostly sometimes: Symptoms may be present but are likely attributed to another condition or situation 

Quiz content written by Lolly Coleman, MS, LMFT.

How does this quiz assess ADHD in women?

This quiz was developed by licensed mental health professionals with expertise in ADHD. Our clinicians have specialized knowledge on how ADHD affects women specifically. 

The questions are, in part, based on the symptoms of ADHD recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Many questions are also based on the World Health Organization (WHO) adult ADHD self-report scale ^[2], which is an evidence-backed questionnaire.

But this quiz also incorporates research and clinical knowledge about how ADHD shows up differently in women. 

This quiz isn’t a replacement for a professional evaluation and diagnosis. But it does give insight into whether you might be experiencing common ADHD symptoms. 

These symptoms include: 

• Restlessness and agitation (may show up as racing thoughts)

• Executive functioning difficulties (ADHD paralysis or procrastination)

• Sensory processing differences

• Inattention and distractibility

• Time blindness

If you answered mostly “yes” on these questions, we recommend getting a formal ADHD evaluation to get a diagnosis. But even if you didn’t, you can still benefit from an evaluation. An evaluation can give you clarity on if a mental health condition might be present and what to do next. 

Next steps toward an ADHD diagnosis

Your results on this quiz alone can’t give you an ADHD diagnosis. 

Whether to seek out an official diagnosis is a personal decision. But for most people, it helps. A diagnosis is the first step to getting the treatment you need — especially medication. A diagnosis can also offer you legal protections. For example, it can offer your access to workplace accommodations so that you can succeed in your job.

In research ^[3], women with ADHD report many emotional and psychological benefits to getting diagnosed, including:

• Validation

• Self-compassion

• Social support

To get an ADHD evaluation and diagnosis, find a licensed healthcare professional. Because ADHD is still so misunderstood — especially in women — it’s important to work with a provider who specializes in ADHD in women. 

It’s possible that, despite your results on this quiz, your comprehensive evaluation will determine that your symptoms aren’t due to ADHD. This is a frustrating experience that many women with ADHD go through. 

It’s OK to get a second opinion. Throughout history, women with ADHD have been underdiagnosed. Especially if your first provider didn’t have a deeper understanding of how ADHD shows up in women, talk to someone who does.

But you should always give more weight to the opinion of a licensed healthcare provider than any online quiz. Even if your experiences may not be due to ADHD, that doesn’t mean they aren’t valid.

Clinician’s take

When you explore ADHD as an adult, what often clicks first is the realization that your struggles were never about laziness or not trying hard enough, but about unseen challenges with attention, emotional regulation, and mental load that you learned to manage through overworking, perfectionism, or people pleasing.

Ashley Ayala, LMFT

Clinical reviewer