Ten years ago, when Emily Stoddard was in her late twenties, she asked her therapist if they thought she might have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD.) Working tirelessly for a non-profit, often sleeping only four hours a night and forgetting to eat meals, Emily wondered if her restlessness and tendency to "hyperfocus" only on work for 12 to 14 hours at a time, which led to said sleeplessness and negligent starvation, could have to do with ADHD. Her therapist pushed back, pointing to Emily's history of trauma as the clear culprit for her difficulties.
"It was very disorienting," Emily remembers, to be dismissed by someone she'd come to for her help. She didn't see her therapist again, even though she was having suicidal thoughts and desperately needed support.
