It’s just AuDHD

So you've watched the documentary You Can See Everything, and you picked up on a few potentially autistic traits from Elizabeth Holmes. Or maybe you've seen the internet fights about this topic and you're here for a conclusive answer.

You've come to the right place! Buckle up for a nearly 2 hour monologue full of side plots and, as usual, packed with lots of important studies and research on autism.

Sources:

• 25% of incels are diagnosed autistic: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10732311/
• Why Theranos could never work: https://youtu.be/d9EaqyoA29E
• Autistic Culture Podcast: https://www.autisticculturepodcast.com/p/autistic-cultural-archive-elizabeth
• Psychofarm Podcast: https://psychofarm.substack.com/p/you-can-see-everything-psychological
• Autism vs BPD: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11861065/
• BPD De-Diagnosis in Autism: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39258830/
• Tyler Schultz Interview: https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/19/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-whistleblower-tyler-shultz-insider-review/
• Texas is suing Sam Altman: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-openai-and-ceo-sam-altman-lying-users-and-harming-texans
• Autism Abusive Relationship Stats: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-025-06836-x
• Abuse Risk Factors: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/its-not-a-physical-prison-but-you-cant-get-out-how-autistic-adult/
• Abuse of Autistic Women: https://www.attwoodandgarnettevents.com/blogs/news/autistic-women-in-couple-relationships
• Autistic Relationship Guide: https://www.durham.ac.uk/media/durham-university/central-news-and-events-images/Autistic-Guide-to-Healthy-Relationships.pdf

Burnout. We've all been there. But what actually causes your brain to feel this way?

The bad news is that burnout in ADHD and autism is relatively new, but the good news is that we have tons of studies looking at burnout in neurotypical brains. In this episode, we look at the brain changes noted in these studies, and * spoiler alert *, there's a lot of overlap with the known differences n ADHD and autistic brains. Do we basically just exist with a perpetual, baseline level of burnout? Tune in to find out!

Presentation

Sources:

• ADHD burnout overview
• ADHD burnout rates
• Study correlating ADHD burnout severity with severity of executive functioning deficits
• Systematic review of autistic burnout research
• Neuroimaging study of burnout
• Glutamate imbalance literature review in autism
• Study proposing a different sequence of medication trialing for autistic patients with anxiety and depression
• Lifecycle of a neurotransmitter
• How transporters work in the brain
• How SSRIs work
• How partial agonists like Buspirone work
• How Wellbutrin works

Amy Arnsten is a powerhouse in the world of neuroscience. She's a professor at Yale, she runs her own lab (aptly called the Arnsten Lab), and she's responsible for discovering guanfacine. This medication is an absolute gamechanger for rejection sensitivity and working memory for everyone with ADHD. 

We were lucky enough to chat with her and ask all our most burning brain related questions. In this episode, you can expect a lot of mythbusting as Amy corrects the record on common ADHD tropes that don't stand up to scrutiny when you're an internationally recognized expert on neuroscience.

Is it possible to know that someone has ADHD or autism just by looking at them? It turns out, people do seem to have a sixth sense that consistently detects ADHD and autism. In this episode, we explore the physical “tells” that might be giving us away and how this impacts the lives of ADHD and autistic people.

Due to character limits, we couldn't paste all the source links, but you can find them in this doc: Sources doc (with all links)

Below is a guide covering how local anesthesia is ineffective with hypermobility. Please use this and show it to your doctors. It's scary stuff, and you deserve to not feel pain during procedures.

***IMPORTANT!!! Guide to local anesthesia and surgery for hypermobility***

Dearest Gentle Reader, rarely is society faced with such a vexing debate over a member of “The Ton”. Could it be that Miss Francesca Bridgerton is autistic? This author will humbly endeavor to set the record straight, not through gossip and speculation, but through science and fact. It is our greatest wish that in your journey to understand Miss Francesca, you discover yourself, for this, dear reader, would make the fruits of our labor worthwhile, indeed.

Sources:

• Tony Attwood
• Francesca Autistic Compilation
• Francesca Compilation
• Autistic adult brains name recognition
• Different emotional facial expressions
• Double empathy problem
• Eye contact triggers amygdala
• GABA and Glutamate
• The theory of monotropism
• Most common special interests
• What causes special interests?
• Autistic women more vulnerable
• Thalamus explains sensory issues
• Autistic people have weaker autobiographical memory
• Fear of being perceived
• Debunking the Empathy/Systemizing Quotient in autism
• Autistic adults enjoy being in the same space without direct interaction
• Study on autistic special interests
• CAT-Q Autism Assessment

You know that “new crush” feeling where your heart is pounding and you've got butterflies in your stomach? It can feel exhilarating! But imagine if you got stuck in a loop where you experience it every single day for years. Suddenly, it becomes a little less fun. This is the plight of people suffering from limerence, where you become addicted to your own fantasies of being in a relationship with someone who is unavailable in real life. 

So how do you know if it's love or limerence? In today's episode, we'll break down all the ways you can tell the difference. Curious what causes limerence? We dive into the neuroscience behind it in our previous episode “Why do ADHDers get addicted?”

Sources:

• What causes limerence?
• Dr. Kirk Honda's limerence deep-dive
• Dr. Tom Bellamy's limerence introduction
• Dr. Tom Bellamy’s YouTube channel about limerence 
• Limerence meta analysis
• Dr. Kirk Honda's borderline personality disorder deep-dive
• Dr. Kirk Honda's Baby Reindeer deep-dive
• OCD vs ADHD and Autism

We all know people with ADHD are more prone to addictions like gambling, alcoholism, and substance abuse. But what if you could be addicted to your own fantasies? And how do addictions form in the first place? In this two part episode, we’re examining limerence, a condition where you become addicted to compulsive, consuming fantasies about a romantic relationship with someone who does not express interest in you.

In order to truly grasp limerence, you need to understand the neuroscience behind addiction, which is the topic of this episode. We take an in-depth look at the brain changes that occur when you become addicted to something, and we explore why ADHD brains are exceptionally vulnerable. This episode will help you understand ADHD struggles on a whole new level! Give us a listen, and be sure to come back for the second part of this special, where we tackle the precise symptoms of limerence and the conditions it's commonly mistaken for. 

Sources:

• Dr. Kirk Honda's deep dive on limerence
• Addiction neuroscience research with Professor Kent Berridge
• Understanding addiction and how it's treated
• Statistics about ADHD and addiction 
• The overlapping neurobiology of addiction in ADHD
• Research on ADHD and low hedonic tone
• Research on ADHD and attachment styles 
• General information about attachment style
• ADHD and divorce rates

Diagnosis rates are rising, and people everywhere are being prescribed medications with major side effects. But what if it's actually a misdiagnosis? We're talking, of course, about dementia.

Although dementia can look similar to ADHD and autism in older populations, treatment options are wildly different, and very few clinics perform ample screening to distinguish between these conditions. In this episode, we'll break down the similarities and differences. We'll also talk about the pitfalls of aging gracefully with ADHD and autism, so you and your loved ones can navigate the complexities armed with knowledge.

Sources

• Survey about menopause with ADHD
• Stories about aging with autism 
• Meta-analysis about aging well with autism
• Video about aging with ADHD by Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D. 
• Clinics rarely screen for ADHD in older populations
• Study on ADHD and dementia risk
• Common conditions that look like dementia
• Up to 13% of diagnosed dementia cases are actually liver failure
• ADHDers have poor autobiographical memory
• ADHD memories don't have context about time or location 
• Dementia side effects reported by pharmacists and caretakers
• Severe side effects to dementia anti-psychotic drugs
• Severe side effects from anti-amyloid monoclonal antibody medications for dementia 
• Only 31% of ADHDers would be eligible for a randomized controlled trial about ADHD meds

Have you ever been completely obsessed with a video game and you can't pull yourself away? Video games have a nuanced and important role in the lives of AuDHDers. In this episode, we'll dig into the good, the bad, and the ugly side of video games. In the right context, they serve as a powerful, therapeutic tool for self regulating and even improving challenges associated with ADHD and autism. Unfortunately, they can also be addictive and drain your time, money, and willpower.

Sources:

• Basic stats about video games
• Using Dungeons and Dragons as a therapeutic technique for autism
• Meta analysis on using games for ADHD treatment
• CogCubed ADHD assessment game
• Research on EndeavorRX to treat ADHD
• EndeavorRX gameplay demo
• Using Tetris to prevent PTSD after traumatic experiences
• ADHD and video game addiction
• Autism and video game addiction 
• Autistic people are less likely to purchase loot boxes
• Loot boxes increase gambling addiction risk in adolescents by 3.7x to 6.0x
• 32% of children regret their online purchases and 41% don't understand what they purchased 
• Adolescents who purchase loot boxes are at 1.87x higher risk of severe psychological distress
• Blind boxes increase suicide risk in children
• Australia automatically classifies games with loot boxes as Mature

What do computers, music, and nature have in common? They are some of the top special interests for autistic people! In today's episode, we look at the research behind special interests to separate the truth from the stereotypes. We also look at some of the possible reasons why so many autistic people have special interests. Join us for this very special episode where we get to talk about our favorite things!

Chapters

00:00 Welcome & why special interests matter

02:54 Myth-busting: hyperfocus vs. special interests

03:24 The research problem (ask adults, not just caregivers)

05:16 Strengths, coping, and pride

07:04 When treatment targets the wrong thing

08:48 Special interest study

11:20 “Current” interests vs. lifelong ones

11:46 Disney special interests

18:16 Burnout and the 80% finish line

20:21 INCUP attention model (ADHD)

22:32 Work friction & making novelty

23:10 Top special interests by gender

27:08 What makes an interest “special”

32:56 When intensity hurts well-being

34:21 Monotropism 101

40:36 Hyperfocus & mental health

44:06 Systemizing vs. empathy—why that binary fails

50:01 Temple Grandin’s thinking styles

54:32 Special interest stigma

59:15 Our special interests

1:01:52 Conclusion

References: Grove et al., 2018; SAGE 2024 hyperfocus study; Autism Understood (Monotropism); Temple Grandin on thinking styles.

Special Interests Study (Grove et al., 2018)

👉 https://research.vu.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/72579810/Grove_et_al_2018_Autism_Research.pdf

Monotropism Overview (Autism Understood)

👉 https://autismunderstood.co.uk/autistic-differences/monotropism/

Hyperfocus Study (SAGE Journals, 2024)

👉 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/27546330241237883

Systemizing Quotient – Revised (Embrace Autism)

👉 https://embrace-autism.com/systemizing-quotient-revised/

Thinking Styles in Autistic People – Temple Grandin Framework (Embrace Autism)

👉 https://embrace-autism.com/thinking-styles-in-autistic-people

Keywords: autism, ADHD, AuDHD, special interests, hyperfocus, monotropism, Temple Grandin, systemizing quotient, Simon Baron-Cohen, Disney Imagineering, Pixar, pattern thinking, executive function, INCUP, attention regulation