Is It Burnout or ADHD? Why You Might Be Feeling Both
If you’ve ever stared at your to-do list for two hours, then frantically tried to catch up at 10 p.m., wondering if you’re just overwhelmed or if something deeper is going on, you’re not alone.
More and more professionals are asking themselves: Is this burnout, or is this ADHD? And the real answer? It could be both.
Especially for high-achieving women of colour, ADHD often goes unrecognized, misdiagnosed, or is brushed off as simply being "too busy" or "just tired." Add in years of pressure, perfectionism, and systemic inequity, and burnout becomes part of the landscape. But teasing out the difference is important… not just for clarity, but for healing.
What Is Burnout?
Burnout is a chronic state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress, especially work-related stress (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). It’s characterized by:
Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization or cynicism
Reduced professional efficacy
For many BIPOC professionals, burnout is not just about workload. It’s about navigating microaggressions, overperforming to prove competence, and carrying invisible emotional labour, daily.
What Is ADHD in Adults?
ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) is a neurodevelopmental condition that doesn’t disappear after childhood. In fact, it often goes undiagnosed in women, especially racialized women, due to the way symptoms present (Hinshaw et al. 2022).
ADHD is not just about being “hyper” or forgetful. It involves challenges with:
Executive functioning (planning, prioritizing, time management)
Focus and sustained attention
Emotional regulation
Working memory and task initiation
Many adults with ADHD are also perfectionists, not because they’re type A, but because they’ve developed intense coping strategies to mask their struggles.
How the Two Overlap
Here’s where things get tricky: ADHD and burnout can look incredibly similar. Fatigue, forgetfulness, irritability, brain fog, trouble concentrating, all can show up in both.
And in fact, ADHD increases your risk for burnout. A 2021 study found that adults with ADHD experience higher emotional exhaustion and are more likely to struggle with work-life balance (Gomez et al. 2021).
Why? Tasks that require sustained attention, organization, and delayed gratification are especially draining for neurodivergent brains. If you’ve been pushing through with grit and hustle for years, your nervous system might be waving a white flag.
Cultural Factors and Missed Diagnoses
Many Black and racialized women are taught to push through, be strong, and work twice as hard to get half as far. That "strong Black woman" narrative can make it difficult to identify when something is off. ADHD symptoms might be misread as laziness or disinterest, and burnout may be normalized.
The truth is, you can be high-achieving, self-disciplined, and still have ADHD. You can be exhausted by success. And you’re allowed to question it.
Signs You May Be Experiencing ADHD, Not Just Burnout:
You’ve struggled with focus and time management since childhood
Your energy fluctuates between hyperfocus and total shutdown
You forget deadlines despite caring deeply about your work
You rely heavily on crisis-mode to get things done
You feel shame or guilt about your productivity
You’ve always felt “different” but couldn’t explain why
If these patterns have followed you across jobs, projects, and life stages, it might be worth exploring further with a trained professional.
So What Can You Do?
Get curious, not critical. Whether it’s burnout, ADHD, or both, you are not broken. You’re likely operating in a system that was never designed for your brain or your wellness.
Talk to a professional. A therapist familiar with ADHD in racialized populations can help you untangle the signs, process the emotional weight, and build a plan for support.
Name your needs. Burnout recovery often involves boundaries. ADHD support often involves accommodations. You deserve both.
Rest without guilt. Rest is not earned. It’s necessary. Especially for nervous systems running on overdrive.
A Final Word
Whether you're burned out, neurodivergent, or somewhere in between, the truth is this: your symptoms are not a personal failure. They’re a signal.
At Balens Therapy, we support high-achieving women of colour navigating complex mental health experiences, including late-diagnosed ADHD, chronic burnout, and everything in between.
You’re not too much. You’re just enough. And you deserve care that sees all of you.
Works Cited
Gomez, R., et al. “Adult ADHD Symptoms and Burnout: A Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Attention Disorders, vol. 25, no. 6, 2021, pp. 786–794.
Hinshaw, S. P., et al. “Developmental Trajectories of Girls with ADHD: Longitudinal Evidence from Childhood to Early Adulthood.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 90, no. 1, 2022, pp. 43–56.
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. “Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry.” World Psychiatry, vol. 15, no. 2, 2016, pp. 103–111.
