ADHD in motherhood: Identification and treatment

Acquire the skills to recognize ADHD in the perinatal population, and to develop strength-based, practical treatment plans that reflect the realities of navigating ADHD in motherhood.

This professional training helps mental health clinicians, physicians, and allied health professionals deepen their understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in motherhood.

The facilitator will guide participants through the recent consensus statement on identifying and treating ADHD in women. Special attention will be on how ADHD may present differently during pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood, and on how changes associated with motherhood can exacerbate or alter ADHD symptoms.

To address the issues of underdiagnosis or misdiagnosis of ADHD in the perinatal period, this training will examine several critical domains in depth. These include recognizing the inherent limitations of conventional diagnostic criteria; using diagnostic tools developed specifically to identify ADHD in women; identifying symptoms that individuals may internalize, mask, or compensate for; applying comprehensive approaches to differentiate ADHD from anxiety, trauma, depression, perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder, or physiological conditions; and reviewing frequently co-occurring conditions.

Participants will examine the specific challenges faced by mothers with ADHD, including overstimulation, lack of external structure, household management, emotional regulation, sleep deprivation, emotional labour, and the challenges of raising children when you have ADHD.

Drawing on recent findings from research that center the voices of mothers with ADHD, treatment strategies will be identified that can help mothers with ADHD manage their symptoms and stressors. These include auditory accommodations, psychoeducation, the concepts of neurodiversity, positive reinforcement, technology, social media, exercise, stress management, structure, and psychological interventions. The facilitator will also address best practices for medical management.

Learning objectives:

• The ability to describe the ways in which ADHD symptomology may present differently in women during the perinatal period and identify tools that support accurate identification.
• How to apply differential diagnostic strategies to distinguish ADHD from commonly overlapping conditions such as anxiety, depression, trauma, perinatal OCD, or physiological causes.
• The ability to develop and implement evidence-based treatment plans that incorporate psychoeducation, environmental supports, behavioural strategies, and interdisciplinary collaboration to help mothers with ADHD.

Through clinical examples, discussion, and resource-sharing, attendees will gain the skills to recognize ADHD in the perinatal population, and to develop strength-based, practical treatment plans that reflect the realities of navigating ADHD in motherhood. Reserve your spot now.

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