What happens when the thing you believe is helping your ADHD brain is actually making things harder?

In Part 2 of our ADHD & THC series, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith move beyond the research and into the deeply personal side of cannabis use, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and recovery. Stephen shares his own journey through daily THC use, self-medication, emotional struggles, Dry January experiments, and the difficult process of recognizing when a coping mechanism is no longer helping.

In this deeply personal and vulnerable episode, Stephen and Aaron explore the complicated relationship many ADHD adults have with cannabis. This is not a conversation about judgment, morality, or telling people what to do. Rather, it’s an honest discussion about self-awareness, mental health, substance use, and the courage it takes to reevaluate habits that no longer serve us.

✨ Highlights ✨

✔️ How loneliness, anxiety, and major life changes can increase reliance on THC

✔️ The surprising ways cannabis affected Stephen's focus, emotions, and relationships

✔️ How ADHD symptoms can make substance use patterns harder to recognize

✔️ The difference between use, abuse, dependency, and addiction

✔️ Aaron's clinical perspective on the Stages of Change model

✔️ What Dry January taught Stephen about emotional regulation and recovery

✔️ Why community, accountability, and support systems matter when making difficult changes

✔️ The role of harm reduction, self-compassion, and realistic behavior change

"It is beautiful and it is tragic. It is beautiful because your desperate brain is trying to regulate. It is tragic because the choice we're making is making the problem more severe." — Stephen Tonti 

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We are Attention DIFFERENT not DEFICIT An advocacy and edutainment podcast centered on radical acceptance and neurodiveristy. Attention Different aims to de-stigmatize and build community by exploring the intricacies of living life and "adulting" with ADHD in the modern world. We periodically feature experts, special guests and influencers in the ADHD community.

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