01/15/2026
Many women in their late 30s, 40s, and 50s come into therapy wondering the same thing:
“Why does everything suddenly feel harder to manage?”
They’re successful.
They’re capable.
They’ve worked incredibly hard to build careers, relationships, families, and routines that work.
And yet—
their brain feels overloaded.
Memory feels foggy.
Focus feels scattered.
Simple tasks feel exhausting.
Often, when they seek answers, they’re told:
“You’re just overwhelmed.”
“You need to delegate more.”
“This is normal stress.”
But here’s the truth that’s often missed:
ADHD shows up differently in women.
Especially women who were never diagnosed earlier in life.
Many learned to compensate—through perfectionism, over-functioning, people-pleasing, or working twice as hard just to keep up. Those strategies worked… until life got fuller.
More roles.
More responsibility.
Hormonal changes.
Past trauma.
Chronic stress.
At a certain point, the brain reaches capacity.
So what is it really?
• ADHD that’s always been there, now louder without the same cognitive margin
• Trauma that creates similar symptoms (memory, focus, emotional regulation)
• Nervous system overload from years of carrying too much
• Or all of the above
The answer isn’t always a label.
And it isn’t a failure.
It’s information.
Your brain isn’t broken.
It’s been working overtime for decades.
Understanding the why changes how we offer ourselves compassion, support, and tools—without minimizing our experience or telling women to simply “do less” in a world that keeps asking them to do more
