'ADHD made sense of difficulties I'd had my entire life'

Suzanne Shaw opens up on her recent diagnosis and the impact it has had in the hope she can help others suffering in silence

- SOPHIE BARTON

She’s a talented actress and singer who has spent more than 30 years starring on stage, but Suzanne Shaw has also spent a lifetime beating herself up over what she saw as a series of personal failures. From suffering “dark spells” to having an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and feeling overwhelmed by tasks, like getting dressed in the morning, she criticised herself for what she saw as her own “inadequacies”.

Things came to a head at the end of last year, when Suzanne, 42, found herself suddenly struggling to learn her scripts. “I’ve been auditioning for roles since I was a child, and I’ve got learning my lines down to a fine art,” she says. “But during panto season, the words just wouldn’t stick. I was terrified, because all it would take was for someone to shout out or for the lights to distract me, and I’d be stopped in my tracks. My anxiety was sky-high. I even started worrying it could be early onset dementia.”

Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case. Earlier this year, Suzanne learnt she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, otherwise known as ADHD. It’s a diagnosis that has shed a light on lifelong challenges, and she now believes her symptoms have recently been heightened by the hormonal changes that come with the perimenopause.