Kate Moryoussef and ADHD, self-understanding and women’s wellbeing

Kate Moryoussef will speak at the Gibraltar Literary Festival 2026 on Monday, November 9, about her book The ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Toolkit. She spoke to Gibraltar Chronicle reporter Manar Ben Tahayekt about the challenges faced by women with ADHD, the importance of diagnosis and how greater understanding can help women support themselves.

What inspired you to write The ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Toolkit, and what gap did you hope it would fill for women with ADHD?

I’d been recording the podcast for several years and had gathered insights from experts, doctors and the thousands of women I’d connected with through their lived experiences.

I wanted to bring that learning together into something accessible and validating to help women understand their brains, behaviour and life experiences. 

That’s why I wanted it to be a toolkit rather than a book you must read from beginning to end. You can open a chapter depending on what you’re struggling with that day. 

A huge part of the book is about validation and psychoeducation. When women understand themselves, they can advocate for their needs and often recognise similar experiences in their daughters. 

Ultimately, I wanted women to move from asking “what’s wrong with me?” to understand “oh, this is how my brain works. So, what might help me?”

Why have women’s experiences of ADHD taken so long to enter mainstream conversation, and what have been the consequences?

This is part of a much bigger story about women’s health, which has historically been under-researched, with symptoms often dismissed or misunderstood.

For decades, our understanding of ADHD was heavily influenced by how it was presented in boys, particularly through visible, disruptive or hyperactive traits. Many girls and women whose difficulties looked different were therefore overlooked. 

Society has also conditioned women to keep going, cope and organise everyone else. Many become skilled at compensating and masking their difficulties. 

Without understanding ADHD, women may assume everyone finds life equally difficult and blame themselves for struggling. 

Hormonal fluctuations, particularly around menstruation, pregnancy and perimenopause, can add another layer. Many women have spent decades blaming themselves for things they never properly understood. That’s why awareness matters so much.

What conversations are you hoping to spark within the Gibraltar community through your book and your appearance at the Literary Festival?

I’d love to spark conversations between generations, where women recognise similar experiences in their mothers and daughters.

I also want these conversations to reach beyond people with ADHD. Doctors, educators, therapists, partners, and family members need to understand how neurodivergence can present differently in different people. 

We need to look at the whole person rather than isolated difficulties, while ensuring that co-occurring physical and mental health conditions receive proper assessment and treatment. 

Ultimately, I want women to understand how their brains, bodies, hormones and energy affect them so they can make choices that genuinely support them. 

This isn’t about giving women another label that makes their lives smaller. It’s about helping them live well, enjoying relationships, and feeling more like themselves.

Is this your first visit to Gibraltar, and what are you most looking forward to at the Literary Festival?

Yes, it’s my first time in Gibraltar, and I’m really excited to experience it.

My daughter is coming with me, which makes the visit particularly special. In many ways, she’s the reason this journey started. We were diagnosed with ADHD within a few weeks of each other in 2020, changing the direction of my life and ultimately leading to the work I do today. 

There’s something very full circle about travelling together and talking about the book and everything that has grown from those early conversations. 

I’m also looking forward to meeting people, hearing from other speakers, and experiencing the festival.

What are the most common stigmas and misconceptions about ADHD, and how do they affect people?

One of the biggest misconceptions is that ADHD has a particular “look” – messy, chaotic, hyperactive, disorganized or struggling academically. That’s a very surface-level understanding.

Some women I’ve met are extremely organised and successful, but this can come from years of overcompensating or relying on anxiety to keep everything together. Someone can appear capable while using enormous amounts of energy simply to function. 

ADHD can affect executive functioning, emotional regulation, time perception, working memory, and motivation. People can also have co-occurring physical and mental health conditions that need proper investigation rather than anything being attributed to ADHD. 

We need greater understanding across healthcare, education, and society so that people can receive appropriate support.

Should ADHD be viewed as a ‘superpower’ or structural disability, and how can we balance its strengths with its challenges?

I don’t think ADHD can be reduced to either ‘superpower’ or ‘disability’. Both descriptions can apply to different people and even to the same person at different stages of life.

Some people harness their creativity, curiosity, and enthusiasm to achieve extraordinary things while needing significant support in other areas. For others, ADHD can be profoundly disabling, even when they have good support and structure. 

I’m wary of romanticizing ADHD as a superpower because that can invalidate people who are genuinely struggling. But I’m equally wary of focusing only on deficits. 

The important question is what helps each person live well. That might include medication, therapy, coaching, practical support, movement, sleep, nutrition, or changes to their environment and expectations. 

Understanding ADHD is about having better information, accessing appropriate support, and creating lives that work better for our individual brains.

For a woman newly diagnosed with ADHD who feels overwhelmed, what practical tool would you recommend first?

I don’t think there’s one tool that works for everyone, and I don’t want this to become another thing women feel they have to get ‘right’.

I’d suggest opening the book and asking yourself, “what do I need today?” Then find the chapter that reflects what you’re experiencing. 

You might be struggling with burnout, rejection of sensitivity or anxiety, or simply need to feel calmer. Regulation doesn’t have to mean meditating or sitting quietly in a bath. It might mean going for a run, dancing around the kitchen, attending a yoga class, or giving yourself permission to stop. 

Our capacity can fluctuate enormously, particularly when hormones are involved. Some days we feel on top of the world; on others, we struggle to work out what we need. 

I hope the book can become a form of outsourced support, offering validation, connection and guidance when women feel exhausted or vulnerable. 

Perhaps the first practice is simply to stop and ask, “what do I need today?” and start there.