6 Signs You May Be An Adult with Undiagnosed ADHD

Have you ever received the following feedback: “ ______ is great at his/her job and always gets work done, but management is confused by the fact she/he is also perpetually anxious and “scattered”. This kind of feedback outlines a familiar story for adults with ADHD who are undiagnosed. ADHD is a diagnosis that affects BOTH men and women and is NOT exclusively a diagnosis made in childhood.

Here are some signs that may make you consider being evaluated for ADHD by a psychiatrist:

You likely are reluctant to admit to yourself that you are eternally having trouble staying organized with daily tasks and appointments. Specific examples of trouble with organization can be: trouble remembering to put events in your calendar and or making small mistakes when you go to do so (that often do not get caught at the time leading to problems later), remembering to look at your calendar in the morning before day starts, forgetting to plan travel time to events and or not taking needed materials to an event. You may often run late to things or potentially have developed a way of tricking yourself into being on time by now.
Your friends/family may have purchased you airtags/tiles/tracking devices because you are very likely to forget essential items necessary for doing most tasks outside of the home: KEYS, PHONE, WALLET. Chances are you may reply to this post with some kind of answer like “don’t worry I have a system!” - and if you didn’t have the system (airtags/tiles/etc) you would be forgetting your essential objects once again (thank goodness it’s 2024). Another often forgotten task is remembering to get gas - you may be only incentivized too when the gas light shows up on your dashboard.
At some or multiple points in your life, peers told you “you have a lot of energy” often. While these comments may have led to some hurt feelings in some contexts such as grade school or dating, it could have also helped you in social events where you enjoy playing a role as “the life of the party” or “the fun one”.
Even if your career is not known for being creative, there’s a high likelihood that when you feel a rush of creativity, you do really cool things (make art, dance, make elaborate playlists) and like to engage that part of yourself (possibly at the expense of other more traditionally rewarded tasks).
If you have a task or appointment on a given day, it may honestly feel like the only thing you can concentrate on even if it’s a relatively small portion of your time that day. You may feel a good deal of anticipatory anxiety and worry about getting there on time.
Summarization is a hated task whether you are still in school, working, or helping your family members with their schoolwork. In conversation, it feels like significant work to tell a story in sequence of events and get to a succinct conclusion. More than a few times you’ve wondered if people were tuning you out because you couldn’t communicate a story in less words.

If you or a loved one felt like these points described you, please consider getting screened by a psychiatrist for ADHD. Even if you do not proceed with treatment, getting a diagnosis can be life-changing. It is important to remember that treatment is often a combination of medication management and learning skills to manage this diagnosis.

A psychiatrist (MD) or a psychologist (PhD, PsyD) can make a diagnosis of ADHD, though not all psychiatrists and psychologists feel comfortable doing so. Please be mindful of looking for a doctor that specializes in ADHD for the best results in your mental health journey.

This article is brought to you in collaboration with Scottsdale Professionals Collective.

Dr. Katherine Gallardo is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in anxiety, ADHD, and mood disorders in female professionals. Dr. Gallardo is a concierge psychiatrist at Choulet Wellness: Scottsdale Concierge Psychiatry at the border of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is passionate about bringing excellent care to women and working professionals with ADHD, anxiety, and those seeking personal growth.