This Is How My Brain Works

This Is How My Brain Works

By ThisIsHowMyBrainWorksHealth & FitnessMental Health
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This Is How My Brain Works episodes

  • 5. “Don’t Cut My Slime” - The Important Relationship between ADHD and Hyperfocus

    Episode 5: “Don’t Cut My Slime” - The Important Relationship between ADHD and Hyperfocus

    In today's episode, Krista shows Michael and Sarah a video from ADHD_Love, an account run by a couple, Rich and Roxanne Pink. Rox has ADHD and Rich is her supportive partner.
    In this clip, Rox explains the profound impact of "interruptions" to the ADHD brain. And boy does this ring true for our hosts. Krista jokes that this could be her and her husband and describes ways that they have found to balance their neurodivergent needs as a couple.
    Michael declares it's unfair that neurotypical folks can be interrupted and get right back into their train of thought, explaining that for us ADHDers an interruption can rock the body and leave us physically incapacitated. And how sometimes this leads to an outsized response. In those instances, it's important to revisit and repair the relationship.
    Sarah recounts how long it takes to build focus and how an interruption can put us back to the starting line. She also recommends a wristwatch for kids who might struggle with time blindness. Michael counters that there may not be enough watches.
    Recorded on 1/19/24
    Link to clip: https://www.tiktok.com/@adhd_love/video/7313165771943808289
    Thanks to our sources:
    ADHD_Love can be found on Instagram, TikTok, in bookstores ("Dirty Laundry" and "Small Talk"), and in your App Store (@DubbiiApp - the body doubling app!)
    https://www.instagram.com/adhd_love_/
    https://www.tiktok.com/@UCI7FAn9t-xxugYmX8w84PTw
    https://www.instagram.com/dubbii.app/
    #ADHD #Relationships #ADHDRelationships #ADHDCouple #ADHDInterruptions #Interruptions #ADHDWife #ADHDTikTok #ADHDInstagram #TimeBlindness #SnipTheSlime #ADHDGolfAnalogy #CatchingRainbows #ADHDHyperFocus #NeuralNetwork #Endorphins #FeelingAWay #ADHDGuilt #ADHDRage #ADHDExplosiveReactions #cPTSD

    29 min
  • 4. "Neurodiversity, a Dirty Word!" – The Importance of Feeling Understood & Having a Fierce Advocate

    Episode 4: "Neurodiversity Used To Be a Dirty Word" – The Importance of Feeling Understood & Having a Fierce Advocate

    Michael comes to the group with a clip from a longer video by @5NewsUK on J Grange and how misunderstood he felt before he was diagnosed with ADHD. In the clip, J Grange says, “I got so frustrated. My parents would always side with the teachers.” Speaking to his father, he remembers how it felt like his father and the teachers were on the same team and “there was me just all on my own, being misunderstood by everyone.” His father also struggled, “We just thought he was playing up. Feeling that you couldn’t understand your son or daughter is a terrible position to be in.”
    Michael got emotional the first time he saw it, and this viewing was different only in that the rest of the group also was strongly moved by J’s story of feeling alone. Michael describes how parents feel lost, they don’t know about neurodiversity and often the teachers don’t know either. "This is how those bad narratives begin," Michael says.
    The team talks about how the stigma is not there like it used to be. Rudy remarks that being neurodiverse used to be like having cancer, no one talked about it, no one wanted to have a child labeled as neurodivergent.
    Krista, who’s open about her kid being neurodivergent, shares her role as FIERCE advocate for her child, and says quite possibly it’s because there wasn’t an advocate for her. Though her mother is now an autism specialist who went back to school later in life, she knows her mother would have been a fierce advocate if she’d known -- but girls present differently -- and now her mother has helped her advocate for her kid.
    Rudy shares that his stepkids have various types of neurodivergence, like misophonia (trouble with sound). He then talks about one of his kids who is deaf and how that compounds the struggle for that kid.
    When Sarah saw the video she kept hearing her bad narrative, “What is wrong with you?” about herself and about her children, “What is wrong with you that you can’t parent your kid, what is going on at your house that this is happening.” She opens up that one of her neurodivergent kids is also trans. Rudy has been through something similar with his stepdaughter, April, who is deaf and was assigned male at birth.
    The team geeks out on the correlations between autism and trans-identities, and ADHD and hypermobility. Rudy wonders about correlations with deafness and neurodiversity. Krista responds that misdiagnosis is common for these communities and can contribute to the frustration. Holistic treatment is needed for people who contain multitudes. Though all these differences make diagnosis complicated, Krista says, "how boring life would be if we were all the same." Sarah conjures a Buck Rogers episode where everyone on a planet wore masks because they all looked the same. The binary made everyone there unhappy. Michael unilaterally decides that we should have a GenX reference in every episode.
    Michael sums up how everyone identified with the teen who didn’t feel understood and how transformative it can be to have the trust of their parents and teachers.
    Recorded 2/23/24
    Link to clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdXN0Dct4Ck&t=24s
    (To watch full news story on J Grange - I just played an excerpt)
    Thanks to our sources
    @5NewsUK
    https://jgrangeofficial.com/
    J is an International Public Speaker, Musician and Neurodiversity Advocate born in East London. After facing many mental health challenges during his time in education such as depression, a lack of support, suicidal thoughts, being permanently excluded from two schools, going to court and being diagnosed with ADHD and Dyspraxia, J finally found his passions in music and advocacy.
    #ADHD #ADHDMisunderstood #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #transgender #autism #autismawareness #autismacceptance #adhdcoaching #adhdhumor #NeurodiversityWasABadWord #BuckRogers #DiversityIsASuperPower

    27 min
  • 3. Bingo Balls in the Brain, ADHD & Hyperfocus vs. Inattention

    Episode 3: "Bingo Balls in the Brain" - ADHD & Hyperfocus vs. Inattention

    Jason "Rudy" comes prepared with a video from Olivia Lutfallah (@olivialutfallah) that sums up exactly how he operates in situations where he overfocuses. In this video, we see a woman who wants to start the dishes and is derailed by unfinished tasks in the way. In essence, she needs to do seven tasks to do one. Add to that her underlying voice talking to her saying things like, you're so irresponsible and your voice sounds prissy.
    Rudy talks about his own internal voice and how much his thoughts are like the bingo ball machine, bouncing around even after one ball has been called. Later on, they explore how that chaotic brain can hyperfocus on one ball when they're under a deadline. He also discusses how his wife likes to reorganize the kitchen. And then how hard it is for him to admit that he can't remember where she said she put stuff.
    Krista goes into detail about how hard it is for her to deal with the ADHD inattention to instructions or information. Krista also experiences this kind of mental distraction, though for her it isn't a voice in her head. Instead, it arises when she is online or trying to work on one thing and an email pops up that pulls her attention away.
    Sarah too has the mental voice that derides or delights in her past self who either did -- or didn't -- remember to buy the garbage bags or that other essential item. She describes, too, how it's an internal cacophany of competing goals and when there are too many bouncing around in her head, she malfunctions and simply stops all activity.
    Recorded on 1/26/24
    Link to Olivia's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fYg5hSgtug
    Olivia is in the cool kids club and talks about the good, the bad and the ugly of ADHD. She loves golf, cookies, and YOU. You can find her on snap, insta, and tiktok @olivialutfallah
    She also recommends www.DoneFirst.com for specialized ADHD Mental Health Care... her link is: get.donefirst.com/olivialutfallah

    Or:

    https://www.donefirst.com/?utm_campaign=SPECIAL99&utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_content=olivialutfallah

    #ADHD #ADHDHyperfocus #ADHDInattention #Always #Never #Just #NeurodivergentPackage #JudgingOurselves #ADHDImpulsivity #ADHDDefensiveness #ADHDSimulator #ConstantHumOfVoices #DoWeNeedToDoThatNow #ConsultingWithADHD #BreatheBeforeWeSpeak #TwoEarsOneMouth #ItMe #WhenInRome #ADHDDailyPlanner #ADHDPressure #ADHDProcrastination #ZeroToSixty #ImListening #ADHDRage #ADHDInattention

    29 min
  • 2. "Skills aren't coming from pills." Thoughts on medication and skill building for ADHD

    Episode 2: "Skills aren't coming from pills" Thoughts on medication and skill building for ADHD

    Michael shares a conversation between  @CoachingWithBrooke  and @AudreyStimpson hosted by ADHDoers. Brooke Schnittman, who coaches people with ADHD, says clients come to her all the time and ask, Should I start medication or work on behavioral skills first? She responds, Obviously, it's personal; while medication can help you focus, it won't tell you what to focus on.
    Michael dives in to explain that he chose this clip because he related with the false assumption that the diagnosis and the medication will be a cure-all. He acknowledges the need to build self-awareness and education around the diagnosis. The medication can help slow down the response to flooding or emotional disregulation but skills are needed to manage these symptoms effectively.
    Rudy jumps in to talk about how important it was to learn how the medication affected him personally. For example, he never overmedicates -- staying under his daily dose -- and he doesn't medicate after a certain time. Sometimes his emotional state is heightened and, because Adderall is a type of speed, it can make him feel like he is going too fast. He appreciates the people around him reminding him to slow down.
    Krista tends to the other side of the debate because she is one of those people "who gets every side effect." She is chronically the 1% who gets the rarest side effects so she thinks long and hard about if she wants to medicate, "Do I really need it?" or is there another way to manage these symptoms with a skill or hack. Krista also shares how important it is to reassess our medication regimen when we hit our 50s because our chemistry changes as we get older.
    Sarah launches into how medication (psychiatric or learning difference ones) can be used to help people overcome ingrained habits. She describes medication on our brain like smoothing out the deep grooves in a zen sand garden where our thoughts are like water flowing to the deepest part. Medication can allow our thoughts to take a new path.
    Recorded on 2/1/24
    Link to clip: https://www.instagram.com/adhdoers/p/C1u0K_iMLcF/?img_index=2
    #ADHD #ADHDSkills #ADHDMedication #ADHDHumor #ADHDSkillBuilding #Instagram #InstagramRecipes #ADHDTimeBlindness #LittleDebbie #TheWillies #FeelGood #ADHDSquirrel #ADHDPriorities #Priorities #SelfAwareness #ADHDEducation #IndividualTherapy #PeerSupport #ADHDPeerSupport #ADHDCoaching #ADHDFamily #ADHD #SideEffects #TooStimulated #Special #ZenGarden #NewPathways
    Thanks to the following people/Instagram accounts:
    Brooke Schnittman @CoachingWithBrooke - Brooke is a certified ADHD/EF Coach.
    Audrey Stimpson @AudreyStimpson - Audrey is a Functional Nutrition Counselor who helps others heal chronic disease through root cause.
    @ADHDoers is building the biggest ADHD community in the world and offers health and wellness education bundles

    31 min
  • 1. So Much To Do! Our Experience with To Do Lists and Listening to Your Wise Self

    Episode 1: So Much To Do! Our Experience with To Do Lists and Listening to Your Wise Self

    Krista came ready to share a clip from Jenna Free that she feels all the time. The clip explores how people with ADHD always feel like they have so much to do. Maybe this relates to time blindness and perfectionism, two common ADHD traits. ADHD folks are trying to do everything at too high of a level.

    Michael jumps in with, as an older parent of little kids, he is trying to reframe this thinking so he can be present in the moment, though he acknowledges that it takes effort not to think about the things he "should" be doing. "Maybe my to-do lists are too ambitious."
    Krista says that if you ask her community they would say that she's so busy. Does this come from the false idea that to-do lists can be completed? Or maybe because she runs 5 businesses? Krista goes on to explain that her flavor of ADHD, which she now recognizes is common in women, is that she has to chew on at least two things at once.
    Sarah asks if this idea of needing to chew on two things is akin to how Newton discovered gravity while sitting under an apple tree. Yes, Krista says, squeeze one idea real hard and then shift focus to something else so her brain can relax and spit out an answer to the first thing. The ladies then talk about how they put a problem on the back burner before sleep or while in the shower and the answer is there when they reboot. Sarah also shares how she recognized this in herself and has consciously worked to value herself whether busy or not. She explains that she heard someone say that sometimes we make ourselves busy to prove to the world that we are important.
    Rudy jumps in and does a deep dive on his to-do list while his partner was out of town for two weeks. 12 hours before her return he jumped into overdrive to get it done. He finds he has the most success with lists when he listens to the voice in his head: "it's a man," he thinks "it's probably me." Michael responds that this sounds like what his therapist calls his "Wise Self." Rudy likens it to a coach or a spotter at the gym reminding him to focus on the next step, not the finished product. "Don't do anything else, don't go outside and look at your golf clubs, just go upstairs and start on the bedroom." This Rational Rudy says, calm down just finish "this."
    The team briefly talks about doing a superficial job to get thru the list and Krista jokes, "If you don't have time to do it right, you must have time to do it again."

    Recorded on 2/23/24

    #ADHDListMaking #ToDoLists #ADHDTimeBlindness #TimeBlindness #ADHDPerfectionism #Coaching #ADHDSelfCoaching #Spectrum #ADHDInWomen #Multitasking #Patience #ADHDMultitasking #ProcessingSpeed #ADHDProcessingSpeed #ADHDCompletionAnxiety #CompletionAnxiety #Complete #ADHDHumor #ADHDTypeA #TypeA #LetItGo #ADHDStayAtHomeParents #PrinceHumperdinck #ImSwamped #WiseSelf #ADHDExcuses #BingBingBing #ADHDShowerThoughts #IfYouHaventGotYourHealthThenYouHaventGotAnything #GetSomeRest #HotGuyBlowDryingMyHair #OptimalTimeForADHDers
    Link to clip
    Jenna Free - ADHDers always have so much to do!

    @adhdwithjennafree

    28 min

About This Is How My Brain Works

From the publisher's feed

We're a group of GenXers learning about our ADHD and neurodiversity later in life. Join us as we discuss interesting clips we find online and how they relate to our own life experiences. Welcome to…