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Renowned actress Busy Philipps shared a personal journey alongside her 15-year-old daughter, revealing that they have both been diagnosed with ADHD.
In a candid interview with PEOPLE on May 2, 2024, the Cougar Town actress revealed that it was not until she was seeking treatment for her daughter, Birdie, that she began to consider the possibility that she might have ADHD.
"Wait, that's me. 100% me. So I went to my own doctor, and sure enough, I very much have ADHD." she said.
Busy Philipps and her now 15-year-old daughter were diagnosed with ADHD four years ago.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in childhood.
Major Symptoms of ADHD
As per the CDC, ADHD is a disorder that builds neurologically. Children with ADHD can experience difficulty in focusing on details and be hyperactive and impulsive. The disorder can carry to adulthood with common symptoms, including trouble holding attention, making careless mistakes, talking a lot, forgetting, and daydreaming.
According to the DSM Library, a child with ADHD will have either predominantly inattentive presentation/predominantly hyperactive/impulsive presentation, or both. Both presentations have complied with nine significant symptoms, out of which the presence of six behavioral symptoms posing daily routine can be alarming.
In a predominantly inattentive presentation, the symptoms are trouble paying attention, following instructions, focusing, difficulty listening, organizing skills, forgetfulness, being easily distracted, losing things, or avoiding tasks that require continuous mental work.
The nine significant symptoms in the second presentation of ADHD include squirming hands/feet, less seating tolerance, restless behavior, talking a lot, impulse speaking, patience issues, interrupting behavior, always in constant motion, and engaged in inappropriate activities.
In short, the symptoms of ADHD, ranging from impulsivity to inattention, significantly impact daily functioning and warrant comprehensive evaluation and support.
Seeking professional opinion is advised.
Busy Philipps and her daughter were diagnosed with ADHD
Elizabeth Jean Busy Philipps is an American actress best known for her roles on the television series Freaks and Geeks, Dawson's Creek, and ER. On Thursday, the 44-year-old actress opened up about her daughter and herself being diagnosed with ADHD.
Busy revealed when she went to a doctor for her daughter, Birdie, along with her ex-husband, Marc Silverstein. While going through the checklist, she felt like experiencing the same signs —
"It wasn't until we were sitting there with my daughter's doctor and he was going through the checklist that my ex-husband and I started looking at each other, and I had all of them."
Busy Philipps further revealed that her brain was working "four times" as hard as everybody else to do tasks and bring things in order —
"My personal experience was it wasn't an external chaos. It was an internal chaos that I was managing constantly, and my brain was working four times as hard as everybody else's to try to make order and sense of a thing. It was just honestly impossible for me to do."
Busy Philipps once expressed the opportunity to speak about her diagnosis on her podcast, Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best, saying that many women reached out to her with the same feelings and signs.
Philipps shared with the publication, showing gratitude for speaking "louder" on ADHD at an event and suggested that sharing her experience can encourage others to seek help.
"The more that we can have these conversations, the more people maybe see themselves or their own experience reflected and then can go take the appropriate steps go to your own doctor. Find out what treatment works for you. Obviously, I'm not a doctor. I'm just a person who has an experience." Busy said at May Mental Health Awareness Month.
The American actress shared an incident with PEOPLE where she, instead of focusing on the primary task, became fixated on other activities, which is a common symptom of ADHD, as per CBC. She revealed instead of preparing for the trip, she found herself drawn toward creating a playlist —
"I would be needing to pack for a trip that I'm going on. I would know also that I needed to make a playlist to listen to on the plane, too, and I'd have to download [it]. So then instead of packing, I'm like, 'I have to make this playlist' — like that's the most important thing, which is not the most important thing for me to do."
She added—
"The order should be that you get the things you need to get done first, right? But those kinds of things would pop into my brain, and I'd be like, 'Oh, I need snacks,' and then, I'm at my work trip, and I'm, like, 'I don't have any underwear."
The Girls5eva actress said that she is now managing her ADHD with a non-stimulant medication, Qelbree. Busy said she likes this medicine because it can be taken at any time of the day.
