ADHD in Adults

ADHD does not begin in adulthood, but it is frequently identified there — often when responsibilities finally exceed the compensations someone has spent a lifetime building.

What does ADHD look like in adults?

Rarely like the hyperactive child most people picture. In adults it more often presents as:

Chronic difficulty starting tasks, particularly boring or ambiguous ones
Time blindness — consistently misjudging how long things take
Working memory problems that look like carelessness
Emotional reactivity that feels disproportionate and passes quickly
Long stretches of hyperfocus alongside an inability to engage with anything else
A house, inbox or calendar that is perpetually *almost* under control
Exhaustion from the effort of appearing organized

Why is ADHD missed in women?

Because the diagnostic picture most clinicians trained on was disruptive and male. Inattentive presentation — drifting, disorganized, overwhelmed but quiet — does not generate teacher referrals, and girls are far more likely to present that way.

Many women arrive in their thirties or forties, having been told for decades that they were scattered, sensitive, or not applying themselves. Symptoms frequently worsen in perimenopause, when falling estrogen affects dopamine regulation — which is why some women are identified only then, and why the two questions are worth asking together. See perimenopause mood changes.

What else looks like ADHD?

Quite a lot, which is the reason careful evaluation matters:

Anxiety — produces the same concentration difficulty by a different mechanism
Depression — impairs attention, motivation, and working memory
Bipolar disorder — increased energy, impulsivity, distractibility, and goal-directed activity that define hypomania/mania are dangerously overestimated as ADHD
Sleep apnea and chronic sleep deprivation
Thyroid dysfunction, iron deficiency, B vitamins deficiencies
Trauma and hypervigilance
Simple overload — not every attention problem is a disorder.

These also frequently co-occur with ADHD, rather than replacing it. Treating anxiety with a stimulant makes anxiety worse; treating ADHD as depression leaves the ADHD untreated; treating bipolar disorders with stimulants dramatically risks destabilizing mood and even inducing psychosis.

How is it diagnosed?

Through a comprehensive evaluation with developmental history, screening for the conditions above, and — in our practice — objective computer-based testing, rather than questionnaires alone. See ADHD testing and treatment for what an evaluation involves.

Is it worth being diagnosed as an adult?

For many people, yes. Treatment is effective, and the reframing itself matters — there is a meaningful difference between believing you have been lazy for much of your life and understanding that you have a treatable neurodevelopmental condition.

It is also worth saying that a diagnosis is not always the answer, and we will tell you if the evaluation points elsewhere. That is the point of testing properly.

Treatment in person and throughout Arizona

We see patients in person at our office in Glendale (in the Arrowhead area) and via telehealth anywhere in Arizona — from Tucson, to Flagstaff, to the east valley, and everywhere between. Virtual visits are the same appointment with the same provider at the same rate.

Getting Started

Our comprehensive, new patient evaluations are $375 and require 60 to 90 minutes.

Our psychiatric follow-up visits are $125 and require 30 minutes.

(Thank you for arriving early, as we are unable to see late patients and must reschedule if life gets in the way of you arriving on time.)

We are out-of-network with all insurance carriers but will gladly provide a superbill you can submit to insurance to seek reimbursement.

For more info, please see our fees page.

Pinnacle Psychiatry

17505 N 79th Ave, Suite 309, Glendale, AZ 85308
Phone 623.321.2221 · Text 877.749.7502
Monday–Wednesday 8:00am–5:00pm · Thursday 7:00am–5:00pm