Thank you to guest Amy Knott Parrish for sharing about her unusual journey with sobriety. When she realized what her future was going to look like, she... stopped drinking. Because it wasn't about the drinking, it was about the problem that the drinking was self-medicating.

After nine years of continuous sobriety, her therapist insisted that she try AA, but it wasn't the right fit.

As with many institutions, it wasn't built for her!

The giftedness/intensity piece adds another layer—we talk about how we sometimes just need the psychoeducation on certain topics, not necessarily the emotional excavation approach. (I could talk about that for hours.)

Find Amy:

1. https://www.rebelling.me/
2. Sobriety blog

Resources:

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter: Nothing Wrong With Us
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(Part 2 of 2. Part 1 here)

Being AuDHD + gifted is being an outlier of outliers. I'd guess most of us feel like aliens.

And even when we start to understand the shape of our experiences, it can feel overwhelming to even begin to order our understanding in a satisfying way. (Autoethnography, anyone?)

Our depth and intensity needs can be quite challenging to meet, especially if we have lower physiological capacity due to trauma/CPTSD, and other intersectional identities that are often marginalized/mistreated.

Mentioned in episode:

1. Some giftedness models:

• Rainforest mind
• Ruf's 5 levels
• InterGifted & HEPG
• "Dabrowski’s Theory and Existential Depression in Gifted Children and Adults"

2. Living With Intensity book*

3. Neurocomplexity & PDA as existential intelligence

4. Autism/ADHD/Gifted Venn Diagram

5. Overexcitabilities & being "too much"

6. Ember Green's quick IQ doesn't exist overview + Aspie Supremacy deep dive (p.s. this video is 2 hrs long and made me cry a LOT bc of historical horrors... still worth it if/when you have the spoons)

Resources:

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter: Nothing Wrong With Us
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon)

*affiliate link

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Being AuDHD + gifted is being an outlier of outliers. I'd guess most of us feel like aliens.

And even when we start to understand the shape of our experiences, it can feel overwhelming to even begin to order our understanding in a satisfying way. (Autoethnography, anyone?)

Our depth and intensity needs can be quite challenging to meet, especially if we have lower physiological capacity due to trauma/CPTSD, and other intersectional identities that are often marginalized/mistreated.

This became part one of two!

Mentioned in episode:

1. Some giftedness models:

• Rainforest mind
• Ruf's 5 levels
• InterGifted & HEPG

2. Neurocomplexity & PDA as existential intelligence

3. Autism/ADHD/Gifted Venn Diagram

4. Overexcitabilities & being "too much"

5. Ember Green's quick IQ doesn't exist overview + Aspie Supremacy deep dive (p.s. this video is 2 hrs long and made me cry a LOT bc of historical horrors... still worth it if/when you have the spoons)

Resources:

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter: Nothing Wrong With Us
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Kircher-Morris is the host of the long-running and popular podcast, The Neurodiversity Podcast. (And she interviewed me last year.)

She's a compassionate, incisive, and important voice in 2e and neurodivergent-affirming education. Also a delight to talk to!

Building on what we talked about, she shared some additional resource links below.

Connect with Emily & mentioned in episode:

1. Emily Kircher-Morris, LPC
2. The Neurodiversity Podcast
3. Connect with Emily on Facebook or LinkedIn
4. Neurodiversity University
5. Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools (new book)
6. Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools: Transforming Practices So All Students Feel Accepted and Supported
7. Teaching Twice-Exceptional Learners in Today’s Classroom
8. Raising Twice-Exceptional Children: A Handbook for Parents of Neurodivergent Gifted Kids

Resources:

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Chris Wells speaks & teaches about positive disintegration, Dabrowski's theory that (among other things) provides an alternate explanation for some mental illness. While the theory is not entirely about giftedness, it helps many gifted people make sense of their experiences.

Dr Wells also talks about their journey, which included being on disability for many years. It's a reminder that while labels can change, they can also hold an enormous amount of power!

Learn more about Chris & positive disintegration: 

1. Dr Chris Wells Instagram
2. Positive Disintegration.org
3. The Dabrowski Center & their Instagram
4. Positive Disintegration Podcast Instagram

Living With Intensity book (affiliate link)

Resources:

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sheldon Gay shares about giftedness, in particular the intersections of being late-identified as a Black man. He hosts the I Must Be BUG'N podcast (Black, Underrepresented/Unidentified, Gifted and otherwise Neurodivergent).

I absolutely love his term of having a sparkly mind! We weave through many topics, including education and melanated & marginalized kids not having their needs met.

This is the first of 5-6 upcoming episodes on gifted neurodivergent experiences.

p.s. that "or, but anyway" that I didn't finish was that people experience my intensity as seeming like mental illness.

Mentioned in episode & connect with Sheldon:

1. Sheldon's website
2. I Must Be BUG'N podcast
3. Our Wild Minds (community for Black gifted adults)
4. Dr. Joy Lawson Davis is a friend & mentor whom Sheldon would like to mention & point toward her website for her work with Black/BIPOC gifted advocacy: https://drjoylawsondavis.com/
5. Living With Intensity book (affiliate link)

Resources:

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

24:23 to skip specific American politics

In this episode:

• Mutual aid
• Local connections
• Surveillance & privacy considerations for devices
• Resistance is working
• General strike & Mar 15 shutdown (#Shutdown315)
• Emotional survival: monotropic reset, alpha brain waves
• Being careful whom you listen to (accompanying Emily Science Journalism ep 82)

Links mentioned:

1. Surveillance guide for devices
2. How to change Meta settings to limit tracking (note there is no way to make Messenger app safe)
3. Ad-blocking guide (note that I haven't vetted all their recommendations, though I do use one of them already)
4. General Strike USA
5. March 15 2025 general shutdown in US #Shutdown315
6. The Open-Focus Brain by Les Fehmi is the book I don't automatically recommend bc of offensive disability language, plus I personally didn't find the exercises as helpful as when another ND person led me. That said, the book may still be helpful to you. There are hundreds of open focus exercises on YouTube, and I may try to find one that I like and link it here at some point.
7. Article, "My problems with the Constructed Theory of Emotions," (the critique of How Emotions Are Made) 
8. Andrew Huberman is a liar article

Not in episode, but I adore this takedown of Matthew Walker's book Why We Sleep

De-Googling

Other links shared on the Discord recently:

• Article: sabotaging DOGE
• Simple Sabotage Field Manual from above article
• Helping trans people leave the US
• MI, MN, NY, VE, WA EDL (drivers license for land & sea entry)
• Actions for protecting disability rights
• Small actions to take now

Resources:

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mini episode on my experience with intrusive thoughts and how/when they stopped being distressing.

Monotropic brains tend toward thought loops and thus can make intrusive thoughts pretty easily.

In my case, I think my brain was in part trying to generate interest when my needs were not being met. Dopamine is also a learning chemical that tells the brain to pay attention right now.

This is just my experience... Please seek professional help if you're having distressing intrusive thoughts!

Crisis Resources:

• USA-based anonymous crisis chat
• International crisis lines
• Various types of crisis resources in about 10 countries

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week I was interviewed on WHYY, Philly's PBS/NPR radio station, about the rising diagnosis rates of Autism & ADHD. Here are a few additional thoughts and my favorite moments, and you can find the full interview below

Mentioned in episode:

1. YouTube PBS interview (& Patreon post about it)
2. WHYY.org page with the audio only version
3. Public Patreon post w YouTube link if you'd prefer to comment there (link coming soon)
4. Readwise/Reader tool (affiliate link gives you 60 days free)

Resources:

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Matt Zakreski is 2e (ADHD & gifted) and also a clinical psychologist supporting neurodivergent folks.

His recent book, The Neurodivergent Playbook, aims to meet that social gap in which we often feel we missed the "instruction manual" for how to approach people.

Connect with Dr Matt: 

1. The Neurodiversity Collective for therapy & assessments
2. Dr Matt's website for speaking engagements
3. Facebook
4. Instagram @drmattzakreski

Resources:

1. Like Your Brain community space
2. Transcript Doc
3. Email Newsletter

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.