If you like this show, consider making a donation this holiday season. 100% of your donation will go towards helping us create more podcasts (like this one!). Click here to make a gift today.

If you have ADHD, the science says you’re much more likely to have a substance use disorder in your life than someone who’s neurotypical. 

ADHD brains often lack dopamine. Drugs and alcohol can provide a hit of dopamine, albeit a temporary one. That’s why it’s so common for people with untreated ADHD to self-medicate. 

Elaine O’Brien used to fit that ADHD archetype to a tee. Eventually, though, she entered recovery and also started practicing Ashtanga yoga, a style that she describes as “very rigorous and very codified.”

She fell for the physicality of the practice and the routine it demands. “It got me in my body and I started to feel good,” she says. “I really started to feel good.”

For years, Elaine had struggled with substance issues and untreated ADHD. She’s been in recovery for almost two decades but recently began to wonder if the ADHD diagnosis she’d rejected in high school might actually be right.

How did her journey take this path? Listen to this week’s Hyperfocus episode to find out. 

Related resources

• Elaine’s studio: Second Story Pilates and Yoga
• Study: Medication reduces risk of drug abuse for people with ADHD
• ADHD and addiction: Knowledge is power
• Does exercise help ADHD?

Timestamps

(3:04) Elaine’s diagnosis story

(7:09) ADHD and substance use

(13:52) Exercise and sobriety

(19:28) “Isn’t your job to help people calm down?”

To get a transcript of this show and check out more episodes, visit the Hyperfocus podcast page at Understood.org

We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at [email protected].

Introducing “MissUnderstood,” the first-ever podcast channel for women with ADHD. Listen now: lnk.to/missunderstood

Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

If you like this show, consider making a donation this holiday season. 100% of your donation will go towards helping us create more podcasts (like this one!). Click here to make a gift today.

*Note: This episode includes discussion of suicide and self-harm. Please take care when listening and skip this one if you need to.*

Dr. Stephen Hinshaw is one of the leading voices when it comes to ADHD in women and girls.  

That’s in large part due to his work on The Berkeley Girls study. (Its full name is The Berkeley Girls with ADHD Longitudinal Study, but most people know it by that shorthand or acronym: The BGALs study.)

Under Steve’s leadership, researchers began studying 140 girls with ADHD and a control group of nearly 90 girls without it. They’ve been following these girls into their adulthood, producing a reams of information that has helped shape current understanding of ADHD in women and girls.  

That said, Rae Jacobson had plenty of questions for Steve: Why did you want to study ADHD in girls at a time when it was typically seen as a boys’ disorder? Why is it that one type of ADHD seems to lead to such negative outcomes? What do we do about the stigma that still surrounds the disorder?  

Related resources

• Steve’s books
• The 3 types of ADHD
• How ADHD can affect your mental health

Timestamps

(2:20) The beginnings of The Berkeley Girls study

(4:26) Combined-type ADHD and negative outcomes

(9:18) Self-esteem, ADHD, and girlhood

(16:20) ADHD as a “trend”

(20:40) What to do about ADHD stigma   

To get a transcript of this show and check out more episodes, visit the Hyperfocus podcast page at Understood.org

We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at [email protected].

Introducing “MissUnderstood,” the first-ever podcast channel for women with ADHD. Listen now: lnk.to/missunderstood

Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

If you like this show, consider making a donation this holiday season. 100% of your donation will go towards helping us create more podcasts (like this one!). Click here to make a gift today.

At work, neurodivergent people face a bunch of different hurdles — stigma, burnout, firings, higher unemployment rates, and more. 

In recent years, all kinds of businesses have begun various types of neurodiversity initiatives. On the surface, these initiatives are supposed to foster inclusion and make working better for everyone.

But host Rae Jacobson wondered: Do these initiatives actually do anything, or are they just good marketing? 

She put the question to Rachel Lowenstein, a brand consultant and content creator whose job involves working with business leaders to make workplaces more inclusive.

Rachel explains how these efforts can create positive change and aren’t just neurowashing (think greenwashing, but for neurodiversity inclusion). And she also shares why these efforts are personal for her as a woman with autism. 

Related resources

• 5 ways you can help your workplace be more inclusive
• Survey reveals workplace stigma for neurodivergent employees
• What is neurodiversity?

Timestamps

(4:11) How to make people relate to neurodiversity

(11:18) The curb-cut effect: What helps me can help everyone

(14:50) What does a neuroinclusive retail job look like?

(20:39) Why a larger community is a stronger one

To get a transcript of this show and check out more episodes, visit the Hyperfocus podcast page at Understood.org

We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at [email protected].

Introducing “MissUnderstood,” the first-ever podcast channel for women with ADHD. Listen now: lnk.to/missunderstood

Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

If you like this show, consider making a donation this holiday season. 100% of your donation will go towards helping us create more podcasts (like this one!). Click here to make a gift today.

ADHD can create all kinds of challenges in the workplace. Like a list of infinite things to do and to remember. A busy, ever-changing schedule. And co-workers who don’t always know what’s going on in your mind. 

There’s a lot to figure out. But recently, Rae Jacobson found herself wondering what it's like on the other side — to manage someone who’s neurodivergent and still figuring it out. 

So, Rae called her former boss, Caroline Miller, the editorial director of the Child Mind Institute. 

On this episode of Hyperfocus, Rae and Caroline go over this question and Caroline shares some advice on ADHD at work — for employees and managers alike. 

To get a transcript of this show and check out more episodes, visit the Hyperfocus podcast page at Understood.org

We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at [email protected].

Related resources

• “Masking my ADHD at work was exhausting, so I stopped”
• Workplace supports: A guide for employees 
• 3 big myths (and truths) about workplace accommodations
• How to ask for a workplace accommodation  

Timestamps

(03:49) Caroline’s first thoughts on working with Rae

(09:16) Neurodiversity initiatives: Trends vs. real support

(17:04) “Hope is not a plan”

(22:05) Caroline’s keys for hiring 

Introducing “MissUnderstood,” the first-ever podcast channel for women with ADHD. Listen now: lnk.to/missunderstood

Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

If you like this show, consider making a donation this holiday season. 100% of your donation will go towards helping us create more podcasts (like this one!). Click here to make a gift today.

Rae Jacobson has been friends with Katherine Martinelli since they were 6. In the classroom, they were polar opposites: Katherine, a star student; Rae, scrambling and struggling with then-undiagnosed ADHD and dyscalculia. 

As they grew older, they both became mothers and professional writers and editors. Rae got diagnosed and found the support and systems that worked for her. 

When, well into their 30s, Katherine called to say she'd been diagnosed with ADHD, Rae was shocked: “My queen of competence has ADHD?”

On this episode of Hyperfocus, Rae digs into what made her and Katherine’s ADHD experiences so vastly different. 

Related resources

• ADHD and women: The essentials
• “Understood Explains” podcast: ADHD diagnosis in adults
• How ADHD is diagnosed in adults
• “In It” podcast: When your child’s diagnosis leads to your own (podcast)

Timestamps

• (03:56) Martinelli’s diagnosis
• (07:27) Memories of Rae in school
• (11:39) Hyperfocusing and other early signs
• (15:39) “Am I an ADHD imposter?”

To get a transcript of this show and check out more episodes, visit the Hyperfocus podcast page at Understood.org

We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at [email protected].

Introducing “MissUnderstood,” the first-ever podcast channel for women with ADHD. Listen now: lnk.to/missunderstood

Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

If you like this show, consider making a donation this holiday season. 100% of your donation will go towards helping us create more podcasts (like this one!). Click here to make a gift today.

Rae had heard that there was a link between ADHD and postpartum depression. But with a tiny baby to care for and a life to navigate, she had more pressing things to deal with. 

But the question kept bugging her: Does ADHD make you more likely to have postpartum depression?

This week on Hyperfocus, Rae finally gets some answers to questions she has had for years. Her guest is Dr. Catherine Birndorf, an expert on postpartum mood disorders and co-founder, CEO, and medical director of The Motherhood Center of New York.

Related resources

• Catherine’s book: What No One Tells You
• 3 things I’m learning as a new mom with ADHD
• 72 hours in the life of a working mom with ADHD
• Parenting tips when you and your child have ADHD

Timestamps

(02:55) ADHD as a postpartum concern

(09:47) PMADs: Not just the ‘baby blues’

(14:21) What can struggling parents do?

(21:07) Medication and pregnancy

To get a transcript of this show and check out more episodes, visit the Hyperfocus podcast page at Understood.org

We love hearing from our listeners. Email us at [email protected].

Introducing “MissUnderstood,” the first-ever podcast channel for women with ADHD. Listen now: lnk.to/missunderstood

Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Hyperfocus is a show that zeroes in on what fascinates us about ADHD, learning, and mental health. Join journalist Rae Jacobson as she tackles big questions like, “Why can’t I get my ADHD meds? Who exactly gets to define a diagnosis? And can ADHD make postpartum depression worse?”

New episodes launch every other Thursday wherever you get your podcasts.

Introducing “MissUnderstood,” the first-ever podcast channel for women with ADHD. Listen now: lnk.to/missunderstood

Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give