Hidden in Plain Sight - ADHD, ASD, OCD & OCPD - The Often Missed Diagnoses Driving Overthinking, People Pleasing, Perfectionism, Self-Doubt, and Burnout

Hidden in Plain Sight - ADHD, ASD, OCD & OCPD - The Often Missed Diagnoses Driving Overthinking, People Pleasing, Perfectionism, Self-Doubt, and Burnout

By Dr. Lauren SchaeferScienceSocial SciencesHealth & FitnessMental HealthEducationSelf-Improvement
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Hidden in Plain Sight - ADHD, ASD, OCD & OCPD - The Often Missed Diagnoses Driving Overthinking, People Pleasing, Perfectionism, Self-Doubt, and Burnout episodes

  • Why the Strongest People Are Often the Loneliest: Understanding Overcontrolled Coping

    You hold it together when everyone else falls apart. You plan ahead, stay steady, and rarely ask for help. People rely on you and you show up, every time. So why does life still feel so exhausting, so distant, and quietly empty?

    In this episode, we explore the concept of overcontrolled coping through the lens of Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT), a framework designed for people who are highly disciplined, reliable, and self-controlled… but often feel emotionally disconnected, exhausted, or alone.


    Overcontrol isn’t a flaw, it’s a coping style that likely helped you succeed. If you’ve always been the responsible one, the planner, the person others depend on, this episode will help you understand why those strengths can start to cost you more than they give back.


    You’ll learn how overcontrol shows up in everyday life: like shutting down emotionally, minimizing your needs, working harder instead of asking for help, or striving to be “perfect” to stay safe. While these strategies can bring short-term relief, they often lead to long-term loneliness, anxiety, and burnout.


    We walk through the ten clinical signs of overcontrol, introduce a simple self-assessment to help you identify your own coping style, and explore why the very qualities that make you so capable can also leave you feeling disconnected, exhausted, and alone.


    We’ll also introduce a simple self-reflection exercise to help you identify your coping style, and explore how overcontrol often develops early in life as a way to stay stable, reliable, and safe.


    Most importantly, we talk about what RO-DBT is really about: Not losing your control, but expanding your flexibility.

    This approach helps you recognize:

    • When control is working for you
    • When it’s quietly hurting you
    • And how small moments of openness can lead to deeper connection, ease, and a more fulfilling life


    If you’ve ever found yourself shutting down emotionally, avoiding conflict, or working harder instead of asking for help…If you’ve ever been told you’re “too serious,” struggled to ask for help, or felt different from everyone around you, this episode was made for you.


    This isn’t about taking away your strengths. It’s about helping you find more flexibility, more ease, and more genuine connection, without losing your values or your integrity.

    Because life isn’t just about staying in control, it’s about feeling alive within it.

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    54 min
  • Not Unloved, Just Unheld: For the One Who Holds Everyone Else

    In this episode, I’m sharing a love letter for the ones who always show up. 

    The steady ones.

    The thoughtful ones.

    The people who anticipate needs before they’re spoken and feel the shift in a room before anyone names it.

    If you’ve spent your life being the reliable one — the helper, the fixer, the over-giver, the emotional translator — this episode is for you.


    We talk about what happens when you’re the person who loves deeply, protects fiercely, and pours yourself into others… but rarely feel held in return.

    This conversation explores:

    • why people pleasers and deep feelers often experience connection differently

    • the quiet loneliness of being the one everyone relies on

    • how overgiving becomes a survival strategy

    • the moment we realize not everyone loves with the same depth

    • and the shift from overgiving to discernment


    This is not an episode about becoming colder or caring less.

    It’s about learning to protect your heart without hardening it.


    If you’ve ever felt like the one who holds everyone else together — but secretly wishes someone would hold you — this episode is for you.


    You’re not too much.

    You’re not naive for loving deeply.

    You’re just learning where your love belongs


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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    14 min
  • When Your Mind Doesn't Stop: A Gentle Reset for Racing Thoughts and Restless Bodies

    Learning to Settle Busy Minds with Somatic Tools

    This guided practice is designed for overactive minds and over-activated nervous systems. Instead of trying to quiet your thoughts, we use simple body-based regulation tools to help your nervous system settle from the outside in. 

    This practice isn’t about forcing calm or clearing your head. It’s about supporting a nervous system that’s been working hard. The guided meditation includes strategies that have modifications specifically for minds that are never quiet. 

    You’ll be guided through:
     • Cold temperature on the chest to interrupt overactivation
     • Visual grounding to help the nervous system orient to safety
     • Gentle neck tracing and deep pressure through a containment hold 
     • Structured breathing options for busy minds (box breathing or longer exhales) that give the mind something to follow and  stay occupied 
     • A calming cranial hold to close the practice

    I encourage you to pick 2-3 of these mini practices to build your own nervous system reset, which you can practice daily and easily access during future states of stress and overwhelm. Bonus points for listening before bed to help you fall asleep or before eating to aid in digestion. 

    There’s nothing to get right here. If your thoughts keep moving, that’s okay. This practice is about giving your nervous system support so your mind doesn’t have to do all the work.

    You can return to this practice anytime your mind feels like it won’t slow down.

    Listen sitting, lying down, or wherever you are.

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    21 min
  • Learn to Breathe With Me - Guided Practice for Anxious Minds and Bodies

    If breathing exercises have ever felt uncomfortable, overwhelming, or hard to follow, you’re not alone. We’ll keep this simple, slow, and flexible. This practice includes tactile and visual strategies to help you better engage the diaphragm and, in turn, activate the vagus nerve and signal safety to the body. 

    As we go, you may notice thoughts, distractions, or a desire to do it correctly. That’s okay. Nothing needs to be fixed or pushed away. You can come back to the sound of my voice whenever it feels helpful.

    This practice is for general wellness and education, not medical or mental health treatment. If you have a medical condition that affects your breathing, or if anything here feels uncomfortable, you can pause or stop at any time. You’re always in control of how you participate. 

    Here is a written tutorial for future practice: 

    Step 1. Set your position

    You can do this sitting upright, reclining, or lying on your side. Choose a position where your ribs and belly can move freely. There is no single correct posture.

    Step 2. Begin with a soft nasal inhale

    Breathe in through your nose for a slow count of three. The inhale should feel soft and gentle, not deep or forced. Imagine someone handing you flowers. You pause, notice them, and gently smell them. Repeat this a few times until the inhale feels easy and unstrained.

    Step 3. Add the diaphragm and belly

    Once the gentle inhale feels comfortable, begin picturing a flower blooming as you breathe in. As the flower opens, imagine the air traveling down into your belly and lower ribs. The image helps cue your diaphragm to move downward, allowing space for the lungs to fill without lifting your shoulders or tightening your chest.

    Step 4. Slow, controlled exhale through the mouth

    Exhale through pursed lips with slow, steady pressure. This should not be forced. Imagine blowing gently on hot coffee so it cools without splashing, or blowing bubbles through a wand. The exhale is calm, quiet, and controlled.

    Aim for the exhale to be about twice as long as the inhale. If you inhaled for three, exhale for six. If six feels like too much at first, shorten it. This improves with practice.

    Step 5. Use your hands to guide the breath

    Hands provide feedback to help your brain understand where the breath is going. This allows us to practice rib expansion: forwards, backwards, and to the sides. 

    First placement

    Place both hands on your left side ribs. Breathe for about 30 seconds, directing the air into your hands. Your job is simply to raise your hands with the breath. It is okay if other areas move too.

    Second placement

    Move both hands to the center front of your ribs and upper belly. Repeat the same gentle breathing, allowing the ribs and belly to expand forward.

    Third placement

    Move both hands to the right side ribs and repeat.

    Fourth placement

    Place your hands on your back ribs. Many people find this easiest while lying on their side or bending slightly forward while seated. Focus on sending the breath outward into your hands, as if gently inflating the back of the ribcage.

    Step 6. Timing and practice

    Practice this breathing for short periods rather than long sessions. Even one to two minutes is effective. 

    Helpful times to practice include before eating, before bed, or during transitions when your body tends to hold tension.

    Important reminders

    This skill takes time. Most people do not “get it” right away. That is normal.

    If you feel lightheaded, return to normal breathing and try again later.

    The breath should always feel gentle, never forced or strained.

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    15 min
  • Part Two: The Cost of Caring Too Much - Coming Home to Yourself

    TL/DR Episode Summary:  This episode explores the tender line between empathy and emotional fusion, and why so many sensitive, overgiving women lose themselves while trying to care for others. If you’ve ever felt responsible for someone else’s feelings, this one will feel like coming home to yourself. 

    Welcome Back!

    In this second part of the series, we step into one of the most tender, defining truths of the overgiving pattern: the difference between empathy and fusion. This is the moment in therapy where clients usually go quiet, or cry, or exhale in that way that tells me something finally landed.

    Because most people who care “too much” aren’t struggling with empathy at all. They’re struggling with over-identification. Emotional merging. Becoming a one-person sponge for everyone else’s feelings while slowly disappearing inside their own life.

    In this episode, we explore how fusion feels in the body, why it masquerades as kindness, and how it forms in childhood, long before you had words for any of this. 

    We look at the nervous system mechanics behind over-attunement, the praise that rewarded your self-erasure, and the subtle ways fusion shapes your posture, your breath, your sense of self, and your relationships.

    You’ll hear real-world examples that make the pattern unmistakable, the heavy-text spiral, the relationship “pause,” the emotional weather system that turns someone else’s storm into your climate. And you’ll learn why this reflex isn’t a flaw; it’s a survival strategy your body learned to keep you safe.

    Most importantly, we talk about what healthy empathy actually looks like, and the sentence that becomes a turning point for so many sensitive, intuitive women:

    You can care… without carrying.

    If you’ve ever felt like you know everyone else’s feelings but not your own, if you’ve ever lost yourself in someone’s silence, if you’ve ever confused hyper-attunement with love, this episode is a homecoming.

    Let’s walk it slowly, together.

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    36 min
  • Part 1: The Cost of Caring Too Much - When Caring Turns Into Self-Abandonment

    Dr. Lauren Schaefer unpacks the psychology of overgiving and explores the quiet slide from compassion into self-erasure. We explore when empathy becomes vigilance, when connection becomes labor, and when our nervous system mistakes intensity for intimacy. Through attachment, trauma bonding, and neurodivergent wiring, we’ll look at why these patterns form and the addictive push-pull that keeps so many deep feelers stuck in relationships that drain them. 

    We’ll learn why “caring harder” becomes a reflex, and why certain patterns feel magnetic even when they’re painful. A validating exploration of overgiving, for anyone who feels like they’re always managing the emotional weather around them. 

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    33 min
  • From Triggered to Grounded: Why Calm Feels So Hard (and How to Find It Anyway)

    Ever feel like you know you’re overreacting but can’t stop? Dr. Lauren Schaefer breaks down why frustration hits harder for sensitive, high-alert nervous systems, and how small shifts in thought, breath, and rhythm can rebuild your frustration tolerance from the inside out. 

    What if your frustration isn’t a flaw but a signal? In this episode, Dr. Lauren Schaefer unpacks the science and psychology behind an overactive alert system: the blend of hormones, beliefs, and attachment that turns small stress into big emotion. You’ll learn how to spot your body’s “I can’t stand this” loop and rewire it into calm, compassion, and trust. This episode bridges cognitive therapy and body-based regulation to help you move from reactive to resilient. 

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    40 min
  • When Control Becomes the Cage: Letting Go of Anxious Safety Behaviors

    In this episode, we dig into the quiet habits that masquerade as “self-care” but actually keep us trapped in anxiety, what therapists call safety behaviors. A safety behavior is anything you do to try to feel less anxious, uncertain, or uncomfortable in the moment. From mental reassurance loops to over-planning every possible outcome, these small acts are our brain’s way of begging for certainty. The trouble is, they work against us in the fight to manage anxiety.

    We’ll explore how these patterns show up in everyday life (e.g., checking, avoiding, asking for validation) and how each one reinforces the belief that we can’t handle discomfort or uncertainty. We will explore how to respond more effectively. 

    This is an invitation to meet uncertainty differently. To stop negotiating with fear and start experimenting with trust. If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “I just need to make sure,” this episode is for you.

    See my companion substack (When Control Becomes the Cage) for a written copy of what we review in this episode. 

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    24 min
  • Why I Created the Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    This brief episode explores the purpose of this podcast and why it was created. 

    So many women look fine on the outside, capable, kind, accomplished, while quietly suffering on the inside. Hidden in Plain Sight is for the ones who hold it all together, the ones who care too much, the the high-functioning, deeply feeling women who have been dismissed for their anxiety, while all along may have been dealing with something else (e.g., ADHD, ASD, OCD). In this podcast, Psychologist Dr. Lauren Schaefer invites listeners to understand what is behind the over-thinking, to unmask the roles of helper, fixer, good girl, and emotional manager, and begin coming home to who they really are.

    Each episode explores the intersection of neurodivergence, trauma, perfectionism, and emotional burnout with honesty and compassion. This is not a self-improvement show. It’s a self-seeing one.

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    9 min
  • Is It Anxiety or OCD? Understanding Overthinking

    If you’ve ever found yourself thinking and thinking and thinking, turning a situation over in your mind like a Rubik’s cube, trying to find the right feeling, the right explanation, the right evidence that you’re safe or good or okay—this episode is for you.

    Today on the podcast, we’re exploring one of the more confusing overlaps in mental health: the difference between anxiety and OCD, especially when it’s fueled by attachment wounds, a hyperactive mind, perfectionism, and a deeply wired need to feel “good enough” in your relationships.

    This isn’t your typical diagnostic breakdown. Instead, we’re gently unpacking the function of your thoughts, because in many cases, what looks like anxiety is actually mental compulsions.

    And when your nervous system has been shaped by early inconsistency, emotional attunement gaps, or rejection sensitivity, it makes sense that your brain might latch on to intrusive thoughts about:

    • Whether you upset someone
    • If you were “too much”
    • If your motives were pure enough
    • What a past interaction really meant

    In this episode, I’ll walk you through:

    • How OCD hijacks your brain’s natural meaning-making system
    • Why high-functioning women with anxious or disorganized attachment often go undiagnosed
    • The difference between emotional processing vs compulsive rumination
    • What mental compulsions sound like (spoiler: they’re often praised as "self-awareness" or "empathy")
    • The science-backed treatment approaches that actually work: including ERP and compassion-based strategies

    Plus, I’ll guide you through a closing reflection to help you practice sitting with uncertainty, the thing OCD tells you is unsafe, but your body needs to slowly learn to trust.

    If this episode resonates, I hope it helps you feel seen. I created Hidden in Plain Sight for people like you. For those who’ve always cared deeply, thought too much, and tried too hard… without realizing how much of that effort was rooted in survival, not self.

    You don’t need to keep earning your safety. You’re allowed to rest, to trust yourself, and to feel uncertain without needing to fix it.

    I’m so glad you’re here.

    Recommendations, Feedback, Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

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    With Care,

    Dr. Lauren Schaefer - Hidden in Plain Sight Podcast

    15 min

About Hidden in Plain Sight - ADHD, ASD, OCD & OCPD - The Often Missed Diagnoses Driving Overthinking, People Pleasing, Perfectionism, Self-Doubt, and Burnout

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You’re overwhelmed and tired, mentally, emotionally, maybe even physically. You overthink everything, feel like you're never doing enough, and constantly worry about what others think of you.…