81 books
—
129 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life” as Want to Read:
Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life
by
Explores treatment and counselling options, and uses real-life case histories to examine the special challenges women with ADD and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) face, such as the shame of not fulfilling societal expectations. This book includes a chapter on friendship for women with ADHD.
Get A Copy
Paperback, 354 pages
Published
November 1st 2005
by Underwood Books
(first published October 1st 1995)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Women with Attention Deficit Disorder,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about Women with Attention Deficit Disorder
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life

This book has changed my life. If you are a woman, or know a woman who has been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, read this book!
I think it is especially important for women like me. I had a lifetime of dealing with issues, beating myself up, & feeling frustrated. This is not uncommon, because most women as young girls don't exibit obvious symptoms. I made good grades & didn't cause trouble. I was the daydreamer in class, unless it was a class I liked. I was a pleaser, who worked extra hard. We learn ho ...more
I think it is especially important for women like me. I had a lifetime of dealing with issues, beating myself up, & feeling frustrated. This is not uncommon, because most women as young girls don't exibit obvious symptoms. I made good grades & didn't cause trouble. I was the daydreamer in class, unless it was a class I liked. I was a pleaser, who worked extra hard. We learn ho ...more

This book was very helpful and totally nailed me. I've known for years that I had "something a bit like A.D.D." but always assumed that my low energy levels proved that I didn't have a disorder often referred to interchangeably as "hyperactivity". I was surprised to learn that the sluggish feelings and the inability to put thoughts into action are actually a symptom of one kind of Attention Deficit Disorder.
I read the original version, which is possibly the only reason I'm giving this 4-stars in ...more
I read the original version, which is possibly the only reason I'm giving this 4-stars in ...more

As I was reading this book I thought, "Oh my gosh, my WHOLE LIFE makes sense now!" No wonder I'm a disorganized librarian---I have adult ADD! I'm being treated for ADD now with medicine and I can't believe what a difference it is making!
...more

It was okay. Very informative in the beginning about the common misconceptions about what ADHD is and how it often goes undiagnosed in women because it often shows up as internal inattention but not external hyperactivity - aka daydreamers.
But the rest of the book? I kept reading because I thought I would find hope. Instead I felt more hopeless about having ADD than I ever have before in my life. Acknowledging all my flaws didn't help me: it made me angrier at my current situation and feel vict ...more
But the rest of the book? I kept reading because I thought I would find hope. Instead I felt more hopeless about having ADD than I ever have before in my life. Acknowledging all my flaws didn't help me: it made me angrier at my current situation and feel vict ...more

ADHD is criticized by many as an over applied diagnosis. I've heard someone say, "Oh everybody has that", and I've heard others say it's just an excuse for laziness or not trying hard enough. Frankly, I feel it is under diagnosed, especially in women.
In 1995, I inquired into the possibility that I might have it and was almost immediately dismissed. I was 18 and maybe didn't have the surest footing into my own identity, but I was pretty sure something was different about me from most everyone els ...more
In 1995, I inquired into the possibility that I might have it and was almost immediately dismissed. I was 18 and maybe didn't have the surest footing into my own identity, but I was pretty sure something was different about me from most everyone els ...more

Helpful information, even if not all of the suggestions are practical (wouldn't we all love to be able to afford daycare so we can get the housework done, bookkeepers for our businesses, and professional organizers and coaches to help us set up systems that work for us? Not gonna happen, though, and getting a promotion/higher-level job while requesting extra accommodations and assistants just because it might work better seems like something that's probably never happened for anyone who wasn't e
...more

OK, so maybe I didn't read the ENTIRE book but I did read a solid 65% of it until I just couldn't stand it any more. It wasn't until Chapter 11 that I found some remotely useful few pages and then it was back to downhill from there. I imagine that many of Sari Solden's professors often wrote comments about how general her writing is/was. In 188 pages, all she told the reader was that ADD is very stressful for women, it's real, and that you need to deal with it -- over, and over, again. I will de
...more

Sari took a microscope to my brain in this book.
My only gripe is the assumption that we all have money to hire outside help. No ma'am. ...more
My only gripe is the assumption that we all have money to hire outside help. No ma'am. ...more

I did rate this book a 4, but my brain has been obsessively mulling over a few points about this book that don't sit 100% with me.
This book described so many of my ADHD scenarios to a tee. Especially, considering the fact that I was only diagnosed last year at the age of 26! There were a few parts in the book where I had to put my Kindle down and go 'I am so glad, but also so sad that I am not the only person who has been through these sorts of experiences.' By not feeling so bad, I mean that I ...more
This book described so many of my ADHD scenarios to a tee. Especially, considering the fact that I was only diagnosed last year at the age of 26! There were a few parts in the book where I had to put my Kindle down and go 'I am so glad, but also so sad that I am not the only person who has been through these sorts of experiences.' By not feeling so bad, I mean that I ...more

How does this book know everything about me?! Totally insane to hear (listened to this as an audiobook, which offers the added bonus of leaving the listener free to play the Happy Mondays’ ‘Step On’ on a loop in their head as they devise a small dance they feel represents the experience of being both inattentive and hyperactive) experiences that were SO CLOSE to my own as well as get tips that might keep me from crying preemptively in 80% of work meetings. As other reviewers have pointed out, so
...more

Mar 07, 2012
Ginny
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Ginny by:
Library Find
Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life
Many women think they are the only one who struggles with the demands of work, motherhood and other issues that women face in today's society. Quite frequently women are unaware of having ADHD much less, how it contributes to these struggles. However, Ms. Solden has written an excellent book discussing this topic. She not only shares examples of what other women are facing, but also explains why the strictures ...more
Many women think they are the only one who struggles with the demands of work, motherhood and other issues that women face in today's society. Quite frequently women are unaware of having ADHD much less, how it contributes to these struggles. However, Ms. Solden has written an excellent book discussing this topic. She not only shares examples of what other women are facing, but also explains why the strictures ...more

I was expecting to react very emotionally to this book, and was surprised when that didn't happen. Other women have said that this book changed their lives or finally made them feel understood for the first time in their lives. While I didn't have that reaction, that didn't stop this from being the best book about women and ADHD that I have found.
Sari Solden really covers it all, from diagnosis to medication, treatment, the grief cycle, and redefining your core self-concept. It's breadth made it ...more
Sari Solden really covers it all, from diagnosis to medication, treatment, the grief cycle, and redefining your core self-concept. It's breadth made it ...more

It's rare that I read "self-help" books to begin with. It's even more unusual when a book reads like my autobiography.
Sari Solden describes not only the "typical idea" about ADD, but differentiates between ADD and ADHD. She also expands on the concept, describing common traits that occur when a woman has only sort of dealt with having ADD. Solden explains that many women struggle due to familial expectations -- the expectation that women must keep their homes and lives (plus those of family memb ...more
Sari Solden describes not only the "typical idea" about ADD, but differentiates between ADD and ADHD. She also expands on the concept, describing common traits that occur when a woman has only sort of dealt with having ADD. Solden explains that many women struggle due to familial expectations -- the expectation that women must keep their homes and lives (plus those of family memb ...more

It's like the author is writing about ME. I've never felt so deeply understood as I do reading this book.
...more

the best!! The relationship/family parts don’t really acknowledge that lesbianism is a thing; she says “partner” but only really talks about straight relationships. Understandable since she’s drawing from her own life a lot but don’t be lulled by the p word ;) really helpful though esp if you haven’t read anything in depth about being a woman with add. Rereading it years later it was cool to see how much of the sad emotional stuff DOESN’T apply to me as much now that I have the framework she pro
...more

So eye-opening. Although I don’t identify as a woman, I was raised as one and thus related to a lot of this book. It’s more aimed at women who have a spouse and a family than anyone else, but there was still so much useful info here for a single person like me. I feel much better about getting treatment for my own ADHD in a way that’s healthy and productive for me.
Highly recommended for literally everyone, especially those who see ADHD as a thing that happens to only hyperactive white boys (and, ...more
Highly recommended for literally everyone, especially those who see ADHD as a thing that happens to only hyperactive white boys (and, ...more

The best book I've read so far on the subject. Comprehensive, validating, challenging in places. May pick up a physical copy to have handy
...more

This book is packed full of useful information in understanding how ADD presents itself in women. It’s well researched and referenced.
So what kept me from giving it 4 or even 5 stars? It needed more how on top of the why. This book is very long, with a lot of information, which made it very difficult for me, a person with ADHD, to process. With all the work I did to absorb the information, I learned a lot, but not a lot of how to change my circumstances. So much wants me to rely on others, but ...more
So what kept me from giving it 4 or even 5 stars? It needed more how on top of the why. This book is very long, with a lot of information, which made it very difficult for me, a person with ADHD, to process. With all the work I did to absorb the information, I learned a lot, but not a lot of how to change my circumstances. So much wants me to rely on others, but ...more

I have always known I was different. I fitted in without really fitting in.
I'm what most will qualify as being a good functioning ADHD person.
Mostly because I am finished my degree, got a job I love and generally don't stand out as a ADHD prone person. That is, until you see how I am living and learn the way my mind works. Then there is absolutely no doubt. I've got ADHD. Some days it is the worst curse in my life and i hate it with all my heart. But most days it's just something that are a pa ...more
I'm what most will qualify as being a good functioning ADHD person.
Mostly because I am finished my degree, got a job I love and generally don't stand out as a ADHD prone person. That is, until you see how I am living and learn the way my mind works. Then there is absolutely no doubt. I've got ADHD. Some days it is the worst curse in my life and i hate it with all my heart. But most days it's just something that are a pa ...more

I have torn had people jokingly say that I was " so add". I picked up this book at half price books and before the end of the evening had used all my post it page markers. Things that I had attributed to depression for years were mentioned specifically in this book.
It would not have been helpful for me to have picked this book up after a diagnosis, but I think the information gleaned from the pages will help my therapist and I develop a plan for the future.
I can't begin to describe how elated I ...more
It would not have been helpful for me to have picked this book up after a diagnosis, but I think the information gleaned from the pages will help my therapist and I develop a plan for the future.
I can't begin to describe how elated I ...more

A little wordy, but a must-read for women with ADD. A comprehensive book on the non-attentive type of ADD, it specifically deals with womens issues and experiences and combines real life composite histories and treatment experiences with the latest clinical resarch. Also provides new information on medication, diagnosis, treatment, therapy, counseling, and support groups, work and family relationships.

This book is going to save my life. I have found the 'missing link' Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, I've been Saved! It's like someone took a magnifying glass to my life, it's been that powerful. Oh, and I just got it today to see if 'may' apply to me. It's been a Godsend.
Have I praised it enough? ...more
Have I praised it enough? ...more

Wow, what a book.
The TL;DR of my review is: If you are a woman with ADHD, or a parent, friend or partner of one such woman, I highly recommend this comprehensive guide.
It's been about a year since I discovered I have ADHD. Embarking on this journey has been a whole lot of a lot but has offered me a better understanding of myself and how I navigate the world. In this I have been able to forgive myself for shortcomings, as well as find more effective ways to manage and talk about them. This has ...more
The TL;DR of my review is: If you are a woman with ADHD, or a parent, friend or partner of one such woman, I highly recommend this comprehensive guide.
It's been about a year since I discovered I have ADHD. Embarking on this journey has been a whole lot of a lot but has offered me a better understanding of myself and how I navigate the world. In this I have been able to forgive myself for shortcomings, as well as find more effective ways to manage and talk about them. This has ...more

I listened to the audiobook version of this, so my review is based on that. In general, I didn't mind the voice recording but disliked the actor voices and background soundtrack. It became extremely confusing to listen to her words at some points over the talk or music. I also found it difficult to relate to many of the scenarios due to personal thought patterns and a totally different inner voice to what the actors were saying.
Much of it felt very contrived and false, and while this is not real ...more
Much of it felt very contrived and false, and while this is not real ...more

This was admittedly an impulse buy from a thrift shop, but I'm so glad I went with my gut! I was diagnosed ADHD later in life (long story short: started therapy at 12 on and off, prescribed anti-depressants at around 18, then at around 22-23 finally convinced therapists that there's something else wrong and am not just depression/anxiety, went through tests with mental health professionals and was finally diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Adderall at 23, now I'm 25), and everything I've read in
...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Sari Solden, M.S, is a psychotherapist who has counseled adults with ADHD for 30 years. She is the author of Women with Attention Deficit Disorder, Journeys Through ADDulthood, and co-author of A Radical Guide for Women with ADHD (July 2019). She serves on the professional advisory board of ADDA and was received their award for outstanding service by a helping professional. Her areas of specializa
...more
News & Interviews
Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day.
To create our...
23 likes · 8 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.” —Maya Angelou”
—
2 likes
“Many women still see their disorganization issues as a character flaw.”
—
1 likes
More quotes…