Busy Philipps Reflects on Struggle to Be Diagnosed With ADHD

Busy Philipps is getting vulnerable about her health journey.

The Cougar Town actress recently shared that before she was diagnosed with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), her symptoms manifested in a variety of different ways that impacted her daily life.

"If you listen to the pod, you know i've had the same realization in recent years as @trevornoah," Busy captioned an Aug. 12 Instagram Story of a clip from Trevor Noah's 2022 60 Minutes interview, which showed the comedian describing his own struggles with the disorder. "My adhd presented as depression/anxiety/low self esteem for YEARS before i was properly diagnosed."

As for the one remedy that help control the issue? "Medication for adhd is the only thing that has EVER helped alleviate those feelings for me," she wrote, "which is why the drug shortage caused by government regulation on production of it has been so truly devastating to me and so many other people."

Empathizing with those in the same boat, Busy added, "I know people have thoughts about stimulants but if your brain needs them, you understand—it makes a huge difference in my ability to simply exist daily without feeling like an actual garbage human."

And Busy is no stranger to openly talking about her mental health. Back in 2018, the Freaks and Geeks alum got candid about struggling with postpartum after the birth of her first child Birdie, 13. (She is also mom to Cricket, 8, with ex-husband Mark Silverstein.)

"I didn't want anyone else touching her," she told People. "I felt like I was the only one that could help or soothe her. That was a hard time."

However, her friend Courteney Cox suggested she seek help. As Busy recalled, "Courteney was like, 'I think you should talk to a doctor about medication.'"

A month after her interview, she partnered with the Child Mind Institute and released a video with a message to those going through similar issues.

"Once you have the realization that what you're going through is something that a lot of people struggle with, it feels kind of incredible to know that you're not alone," Busy said. "So, you're not alone."

It was also advice she took to heart herself.

"It turns out that there's nothing wrong with me," she added. "Once I was able to start talking about it, it relieved a lot of the anxiety and I was able to get help, therapy and sometimes medication, which there's nothing wrong with that either."