Pay attention

Like many adult women struggling to find answers in the medical system, Kristen Einarson was first “diagnosed” with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, by TikTok.

The Winnipeg comedian and improviser’s social-media algorithm “knew her a little too well,” she says. But she brushed off the idea that her struggles might be related to ADHD. A lot of people have trouble with being late or being emotional or being overstimulated or being very interested in something for a little while and then finding a new interest, she reasoned.

But then, Einarson received an official ADHD diagnosis from her doctor at the age of 29, and everything — from childhood hyperfixations to adult overwhelm — clicked into place.

Now, she’s telling all in Oversharer, the solo standup-meets-storytelling show she’s remounting at the Park Theatre Wednesday after a successful run at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival in July. Einarson sold out five of her seven shows, and received a four-star review from the Free Press praising Oversharer as funny and sincere.

“It was more than I ever expected,” she says of the reception. “I thought, I’m gonna do this and I hope some people like it and good for me if I break even. I didn’t have very high expectations going in, and I was blown away by the response.”

Like all good comedians, however, Einarson, now 30, knows good material when she sees it. A long-term comedy goal of hers has been to put together an hour, and her journey to a diagnosis — and all the “unhinged” stories that came with it — was fertile ground to mine.

Some of the stories in Oversharer come from revisiting her childhood journals, which Einarson says are both hilarious and heartbreaking through the lens of her later-in-life diagnosis.

“It was validating, but it was also like, OK, how did this get missed?”

Adult diagnoses of ADHD are an increasingly common experience for women who are often misdiagnosed — or go completely undiagnosed — as children, in part because the disorder is still closely associated with the stereotype of rowdy boys who can’t sit still.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, boys are three times more likely to receive a diagnosis of ADHD than girls.

Those girls grow up into women who then continue to struggle with untreated ADHD — the symptoms of which can look like everything from distraction to impulsivity to racing thoughts to trouble with staying organized and on task — which can impact everything from employment to interpersonal relationships.

And further research suggests that women’s ADHD symptoms can worsen during menopause, owing to hormone changes.

As it happens, Einarson’s mother also obtained an ADHD diagnosis around the same time she did, which is what made her take her own seriously.

“(Getting a diagnosis) was ultimately one of the best things that ever happened to me, but there’s a grief that comes with that, for sure.”

Einarson now manages her ADHD with medication — “that has been a huge, life-changing thing” — as well as implementing lifestyle changes and strategies to help her be on time, for example.

She also says she beats herself up less about asking for the accommodations she needs.

Einarson says her favourite kind of comedy is comedy that gets people to see things differently, which is what she hopes to accomplish with Oversharer.

“My goal in writing the show was, if someone has ADHD, especially if it’s a woman who got diagnosed when she was older, I wanted them to feel seen, like their experience was represented somewhere. And then if someone doesn’t have ADHD, but knows people who are getting diagnosed, or knows people who do have it, then I wanted them to have a little bit more empathy.

“And also to be able to laugh, because a lot of stuff is very funny.”

Following every show at the fringe, people would approach Einarson — “‘I got diagnosed at 55, at 35, at seven…’” — but it was an interaction with two people after her final show that stands out.

“One was someone who received a diagnosis in childhood, and she thanked me for the show and said it was so relatable.”

And the other person was her mother, who said, ‘Thank you for helping me understand my kids better.’ And that was like … I cried. I went to my friend’s car and wept.

“People feeling like they can share their stories with me is really special.”

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca