What Is the Difference Between ADD and ADHD? 3 Powerful Realizations From My Late Diagnosis Story

At 24, I sat nervously in front of a screen, pouring my heart out to a stranger I’d never met. It was my first telehealth session, and almost instantly, the therapist replied, ‘You sound like you may have adult ADHD.’ I chuckled in disbelief. What she said didn’t match what I thought I knew. Maybe I had ADD instead, because I certainly wasn’t hyperactive. It had me second-guessing, what is the difference between ADD and ADHD? I was exhausted most of the time, overwhelmed, and scatterbrained.

For years, I thought I was just bad at adulting, but I had to consider what if there was actually a reason everything took so much more effort? The exhaustion, overwhelm, and scattered focus that hung over me like a cloud didn’t feel like random failures anymore; they lined up as symptoms, and in that moment, 24 years of feeling wrong finally clicked into place.

The Short Answer

ADD and ADHD are the same condition. Attention Deficit Disorder was the diagnosis provided before doctors realized that hyperactivity can be completely invisible. What we used to call ADD is now a subtype classified as inattentive type ADHD.

This means you might seem totally put together from the outside, but internally, your brain is running ten different conversations at once or feeling like there’s a constant mental buzz even when you’re sitting perfectly still.

Why ADD Is Not Used Anymore

In 1987, the American Psychiatric Association made the change official when it updated the DSM, which is basically the book doctors use to identify and categorize mental health conditions.

The broader definition now includes people who don’t fit the stereotypical picture of “hyperactive”, meaning more people have started receiving recognition and diagnosis under the term ADHD.

That old delineation of ADHD vs ADD captured attention problems, but overlooked the restlessness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity that many of us experience differently than those stereotypical portrayals of a “kid bouncing off the walls.”​

As a late-diagnosed Black woman, this history resonates deeply with my own experience. Growing up, ADHD simply wasn’t recognized as something that affected kids who looked like me.

In my community, struggles with attention and focus were often attributed to laziness, defiance, or inadequate discipline at home. Well-meaning parents and teachers lacked the framework to understand what was actually happening because of the stigma impacting how mental disorders were viewed. Although these lessons born of survival stifled me in certain areas, they also taught me resilience and strength that helped me survive those undiagnosed years.

Now, as mental health advocacy grows stronger in Black communities, conversations about neurodivergence are increasingly becoming more accepted. More Black families are recognizing that these conditions are real and treatable, rather than character flaws or parenting failures.

Medical establishments trained to identify and address these impairments weren’t much better. The prevailing image of ADHD was narrowly defined and pictured as high-strung white boys who disrupted classrooms. If your symptoms manifested differently, perhaps as daydreaming rather than interrupting, or if you were female or a person of color, more likely than not, you fell outside of the traditional diagnostic radar entirely.

Receiving this diagnosis as an adult brought a complex mix of validation and grief. While having answers was profoundly relieving, there was also mourning for all those years of internalized shame. I spent decades believing I was fundamentally flawed, that my struggles reflected personal failings rather than neurological differences.

This experience isn’t unique to me. Countless women and girls have been overlooked by systems that failed to recognize how ADHD presents across different demographics. According to the CDC, women are significantly underdiagnosed due to these historical biases.

Is ADHD a Mental Illness or Neurological Disorder?

After my diagnosis, I kept wondering if there was something ‘wrong’ with me. Here’s what I learned: ADHD is classified as a neurodevelopmental condition, which means it’s how your brain developed from birth rather than something that developed later in life.

There are real structural and chemical differences in the brain that shape how information is processed, how attention is managed, and how impulses are controlled. Those cycles of paralyzing perfectionism, unfinished work, and the shame that follows are rooted in neurological differences that can be supported with the right tools and understanding.

This is what people mean when they use the term neurodivergent – essentially, it means different brain, which doesn’t mean worse or better (although I can make a few arguments for each lol). That shift in perspective was life-changing. Instead of carrying shame for not being able to function like everyone else, I started to reframe my experience through the lens of neurodiversity rather than deficiency.

The Three Types of ADHD: Inattentive, Hyperactive, Combined

ADHD doesn’t show up the same way for everyone. For some people, it’s the classic restlessness, for others it’s getting lost in their own head, and for plenty of us, it’s both at once.

Inattentive Type (The “ADD” We Still Hear About)

Women tend to get diagnosed with ADHD-Primarily Inattentive (ADHD-PI), exhibiting symptoms such as distraction, disorganization, and forgetfulness. This is me, and maybe you, too. We’re the “daydreamers” who

• Lose track of time constantly.
• Start ten projects and finish none
• Walk into rooms and forget why
• Zone out during important conversations
• Feel overwhelmed by simple tasks like grocery shopping

Hyperactive-Impulsive Type

This isn’t just kids climbing furniture. As adults, it appears as that restless energy you can’t switch off. Adults with this type might:

• Feel fidgety or “on edge” even when sitting still
• Interrupt conversations without meaning to
• Make impulsive purchases or decisions
• Talk fast or think out loud constantly
• Struggle with waiting (in lines, for responses, for anything)

Combined Type

You get symptoms from both categories: the attention struggles AND the hyperactivity/impulsivity. It’s like your brain is simultaneously foggy and racing.

Takeaway

If you’ve been struggling with something your whole life and the obvious explanations don’t fit, maybe the explanations are wrong, not you. I spent 24 years living with a disability that severely impacted my ability to function day to day because I didn’t match the stereotypical presentations of ADHD, but it turned out the definition was just too narrow.

This happens more than we think. We get stuck believing we’re flawed or lazy because we don’t match the textbook version of whatever we’re dealing with, but medical understanding evolves, stereotypes get challenged, and sometimes what feels “wrong” with you is actually just a different way of being human that hasn’t been properly recognized yet.

The shift from ADD to ADHD shows how expanding definitions can suddenly make visible all the people who were there all along. If something about your daily struggles feels familiar but doesn’t match what you’ve been told to look for, trust that feeling. The categories might need updating, not you.