Symptom expression and coping strategies in women-focused attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder communities: a comparative natural language analysis of Reddit.

INTRODUCTION

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in women remains underrecognized despite increasing evidence of gender-specific symptom patterns and treatment experiences. Using computational text analysis, this study examined how ADHD is expressed and managed in two Reddit communities: r/adhdwomen and r/ADHD.

METHODS

We collected and analyzed 3,383 unique, publicly available posts (r/adhdwomen: n = 1,414; r/ADHD: n = 1,969) using GPT-assisted natural language processing and statistical comparison methods. To ensure consistent output while identifying patterns of symptom expression and coping strategies, we set the model's randomness parameter to 0.2 and ran it using Python 3.11.

RESULTS

Both groups frequently discussed core DSM-5 symptoms (inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity). However, posts in r/adhdwomen contained more references to emotional dysregulation and internalizing symptoms (53.0% vs 47.3%, false discovery rate [FDR]-adjusted p = 0.025) and hormonal and life cycle influences (3.6% vs 0.4%, FDR-adjusted p < 0.001). The overall frequencies of the coping strategy subcategories did not differ significantly between the groups (all FDR-adjusted p > 0.05). The use of medication was the most frequently mentioned coping strategy followed by executive function support. Additionally, pairwise association analysis identified several recurrent coping combinations within each community. Across both subreddits, significant associations were consistently observed for executive function support combined with environmental structuring, digital tools, and social support. In r/adhdwomen, unique associations of psychotherapy with social support and mindfulness and emotion regulation with lifestyle emerged.

CONCLUSION

The women-focused ADHD community (r/adhdwomen) more frequently discussed emotional dysregulation and internalizing symptoms as well as hormonal and life cycle influences than the general ADHD community (r/ADHD). Although the two communities showed similar overall frequencies of coping strategy categories, they partly differed in the recurring combinations of strategies discussed within posts. These findings should be interpreted as community-level discourse patterns rather than direct differences between women and men with ADHD because r/ADHD is a mixed-gender general ADHD community rather than a male comparison group. Social media text can be used as a supplementary source for understanding how ADHD-related experiences and coping strategies are discussed in everyday peer contexts.