Create an account Log In
Cart

The Overlooked Diagnosis: ADHD in Women, Perimenopause, and Mental Health

Enroll in the Online Self-Study and complete the training on your own schedule.
3 CE hours available for behavioral health clinicians completing the Online Self-Study

ADHD doesn’t fade with age—it evolves. For many women, midlife brings a sudden storm of forgetfulness, emotional swings, and overwhelm that doesn’t quite fit the familiar categories of depression, anxiety, or burnout. What’s often really happening is a hidden convergence of ADHD and perimenopause—an overlooked diagnostic intersection where hormonal shifts amplify executive dysfunction and emotional dysregulation.

This course invites clinicians to re-examine their diagnostic lens and learn to identify what’s been missed for decades: how ADHD manifests, masks, and morphs in women navigating midlife transitions.

Enroll in the 3 CE Online Self-Study for $75

Payment Options are listed at checkout

Register Now - 3 CE

Register for the 0 CE Training Video for $37.50

Payment Options are listed at checkout

Register Now - No CE

As estrogen and progesterone fluctuate, the brain’s regulatory systems change. Clients who once coped through structure and sheer determination find their old strategies collapsing—stimulant medications suddenly feel less effective, the late-luteal week becomes a predictable crisis point, and emotional reactivity intensifies. Meanwhile, cultural scripts around competence and caregiving pressure women to mask harder, leading to shame, self-blame, and a painful sense of “I should be managing this.” This training names those patterns and translates emerging neurobiological and clinical insights into clear, compassionate frameworks for assessment and care.

Melanie Smith, PhD, LMHC, CEDS-S, brings extensive experience as a psychotherapist, national trainer, and co-author of The Renfrew Unified Treatment for Eating Disorders and Comorbidity. As Director of Training at The Renfrew Center, she merges scientific precision with deep empathy—offering clinicians language, structure, and tools that honor both biology and lived experience.

Dr. Smith delivers this as a clinic-first seminar: brief myth-busting to surface why women’s ADHD is missed; a cycle-aware model you can map with clients; and short lecture segments interwoven with case vignettes, guided reflection prompts, and “language labs” that reshape scripts for assessment and psychoeducation. You’ll see decision trees for differential diagnosis, documentation cues, and collaboration frameworks for prescribers. The tone is neurodiversity-affirming, precise, and practical—aimed at tools you can use in session the same day.

You’ll learn how estrogen and progesterone fluctuations alter attention, working memory, emotion regulation, and medication response—why stimulants may seem to “stop working,” why late-luteal weeks reliably worsen symptoms, and how cycle-aware history-taking prevents misdiagnosis with mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. Smith surfaces lived realities—masking, overcompensation, rejection-sensitive dysphoria (RSD), and the cost of being “high-performing yet misunderstood”—and translates them into concrete steps for differential diagnosis in perimenopause, targeted psychoeducation, psychotherapy strategies, and effective prescriber collaboration.

Melanie Smith Headshot

Instructor

Melanie Smith, PhD, LMHC, CEDS-C (she/her) is a therapist in private practice at CBT of Central & South Florida (https://cbtcentralflorida.com) and a Consulting Clinical Training Specialist for the Renfrew Center. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Qualified Supervisor in the State of Florida. Additionally, she is a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist and Approved Consultant (CEDS-C) and is a Certified Therapist & Trainer of the Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP). Special treatment interests include Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction such as Rumination Syndrome, OCD, phobias including emetophobia, health-related anxiety, and coping with chronic pain & chronic illness.

Dr. Smith is passionate about the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based treatments, clinical supervision, and clinical training and has presented numerous lectures, workshops, and Keynote presentations at academic and professional conferences nationally and internationally. She has co-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals and is co-author of the peer-reviewed treatment manual and patient workbook, The Renfrew Unified Treatment Model for Eating Disorders and Comorbidity, published by Oxford University Press.

Key Takeaways:

  • Identify ADHD in women during perimenopause with clarity and cultural sensitivity.

  • Distinguish hormonal effects from mood and anxiety disorders for accurate diagnosis.

  • Apply cycle-aware, evidence-based interventions to improve functioning and self-understanding.

Why this course?

  • Brings visibility to one of the most underrecognized presentations in adult mental health.

  • Prevents costly misdiagnosis by integrating hormonal, neurological, and psychosocial data.

  • Equips clinicians with language, tools, and case strategies ready for immediate clinical use.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

  • Identify at least three ways ADHD symptoms present differently in women compared to men, particularly during perimenopause.

  • Differentiate between ADHD, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders in midlife women, accounting for hormonal influences across the lifespan and cycle.

  • Apply evidence-based strategies for assessment, psychoeducation, and treatment planning that address the intersection of ADHD, perimenopause, and mental health.

When midlife symptoms overlap and old explanations stop fitting, clinical clarity becomes an act of care. This course gives you the insight and structure to reframe clients’ experiences, document them accurately, and plan treatment that restores confidence and self-trust.

Enroll today to strengthen your diagnostic accuracy, deepen your empathy, and help midlife women finally see their symptoms—and themselves—clearly.

This is a non-interactive, self-study course; over three hours of video instruction and a post-test.

Enroll Now

Select each tab for course details

Availability: From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.

Who Should Attend: This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching Methods: This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

How to attend: Directions for completing a course can be found by clicking here.

This program was recorded on August 22, 2025.

Testimonials

View All 700+ Testimonials