ADHD Aha! She broke the silence on ADHD shame in women (Sari Solden’s story)
Sep 2, 2025
Sari Solden, a pioneering psychotherapist and author, is a steadfast advocate for women with ADHD. In her discussion, she reflects on her personal journey of discovering her own ADHD while shaping the field in the 90s. She addresses the societal pressures and stigma surrounding women with ADHD, sharing candid anecdotes about her struggles with shame and working memory. Sari emphasizes the importance of community support and self-acceptance, highlighting the recent surge in diagnoses and the evolving understandings of ADHD in women.
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Lifelong Struggle With Organization
- Sari Solden describes lifelong disorganization, clutter, and school struggles despite being gifted.
- She used dramatization and compensation strategies to succeed when organization tasks failed her.
Shame Shapes Women's ADHD Experience
- Sari noticed women with massive organization problems felt shame in ways men did not.
- That gendered shame highlighted ADHD presentation differences and led her to identify with many women she treated.
Testing Revealed Working Memory Limits
- During learning-disability testing Sari scored very low on tasks requiring short-term retention of nonsense names.
- That 16th-percentile result revealed a severe working-memory problem she had not recognized before.
