Kristen McClure Therapist

  You know the feeling. The end of a hard day — managing too much, holding too many things in your head, performing composure when you were anything but composed. A drink arrives. And for a little while: The mental chatter slows. The hypervigilance softens. The self-criticism quiets. You can

Rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD) is a pattern of intense emotional pain triggered by perceived or actual rejection, criticism, or failure. In many women with ADHD, the response does not build gradually. It arrives fast, peaks hard, and can take much longer to recover from than the trigger seems to warrant.

Anxiety is extremely common in women with ADHD. It is also one of the most consistently misunderstood aspects of the condition — misdiagnosed, mistreated, and often framed as a personal problem rather than a predictable outcome of how ADHD interacts with hormones, environment, and the demands placed on women’s nervous

Postpartum anxiety affects many new mothers. In women with ADHD, it is far more common than in women without ADHD. Large population studies show that ADHD functions as an independent risk factor for postpartum anxiety — one that remains significant even after accounting for age, education, income, relationship status, and

Breastfeeding can feel straightforward for some women with ADHD and overwhelming for others. Both experiences are common, and both make sense given what ADHD involves. This page explains how ADHD intersects with breastfeeding — including the hormonal changes, sensory demands, executive functioning strain, and medication questions that are most relevant

Many women with ADHD describe perimenopause as the point when everything stopped working. Coping strategies that had functioned for years stop being effective. Symptoms that were manageable become harder to manage. The gap between how the brain is working and what is being asked of it widens. This is not

    Fragmented Sleep Is Harder to Recover From With ADHD Parenting often involves years of interrupted sleep. For ADHD women, returning to sleep after an interruption can be especially difficult. Once alertness increases, it does not always settle quickly. Thoughts resume. Planning starts. Sensory awareness heightens. Even brief awakenings

Many ADHD women follow sleep advice carefully and still struggle to sleep. When sleep does not improve, the experience often leads to frustration, self-blame, or the belief that something is being done incorrectly. In many cases, the problem is not effort or consistency.The problem is that most sleep advice is

# Why Do People with ADHD Often Develop Depression? A 2025 Study Has New Answers A major new study published in 2025 in the *[Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2024.11.015)* looked at an important question: **Why are people with ADHD more likely to become depressed as

# Understanding ADHD Through a Gender Lens ADHD isn’t just a childhood disorder—or a “boy’s diagnosis.” A new study analyzing over 2,200 adult patients reveals that ADHD symptoms and impairments manifest differently in men and women, especially in adulthood. While the core features of ADHD remain consistent, how those symptoms

ADHD Energy Tracking  as a Burnout Prevent Tool If you are an ADHD woman and an autistic woman or both (AuDHD), you’ve probably noticed that your energy levels can swing a lot. Some days, you feel unstoppable, and others, even basic tasks, feel exhausting. Energy tracking is a simple way