Jen talks about Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria. RSD affects 98% people with ADHD and is an intense emotional response caused by the perception that we’ve disappointed others in our life and will now be rejected, abandoned, unloved as a consequence. Jen talks about how RSD feels in her body and reads lots of comments from her listeners about they experience RSD. This episode will help you feel less alone!

Jen talks about scientific studies on the links between ADHD and trauma. ADHD is not caused by childhood trauma but having ADHD in childhood can cause trauma which changes the chemistry of the brain. It’s complex, nuanced, and a great example of “correlation does not equal causation.”

Jen talks and provides some expert methods to handle intense emotions. Topics include - building emotional resiliency, naming feelings, how to interrupt a possible blowup, and working with your ADHD nervous system.

Jen talks about her personal experience with being emotionally intense and lashing out without understanding what was going on in her brain. Jen explains the science behind the ADHD brain and how/why neurodivergent brains get flooded, experience meltdowns, shutdowns, sadness, low self-esteem, get carried away with emotion and not being able to tolerate feeling many emotions at once. Also explained: how emotions filter through a neurotypical brain and how they get jammed up in a filterless ADHD brain.

Jen gives her thoughts on what to do once you think you might have ADHD from how to get a diagnosis, shop for a therapist or psychiatrist or coach, and how to advocate for yourself when supposed professionals aren’t that up-to-speed on the most current ADHD findings.

Jen talks about how New Year’s Resolutions don’t work with her ADHD, gives advice on how NOT to make resolutions, how not to set yourself up to fail, get out of fantasy and accept yourself, and rethinking how to see your year ahead.

Jen imparts wisdom from her research written by ADHD experts about the ADHD Iceberg, symptoms and types of ADHD, the definition of executive functions, what it looks like for an ADHD person with executive dysfunction, why ADHD is known as the “invisible disorder” and not functioning well in a neurotypical world.

Jen talks about how she was a chronic plans canceler until she realized that this came from her lack of executive functioning around keeping a schedule and with some simple (but not easy for the ADHD person) readjustments to how she organizes her time - she’s become someone who builds in time for the ADHD collapse ad avoids canceling on friends.

Jen talks about those weird things that she always thought were personality quirks or flaws but are actually very common ADHD traits like sitting on the floor, re-heating coffee all day long, sitting in strange positions in chairs, an existential dread about laundry, and more!

Jen talks about how the nagging feeling of being overwhelmed brought her to an ADHD diagnosis. Jen also discusses the difference between actually having too much to do and the phantom feeling of being overwhelmed which can’t be solved with a to-do list and how to cope with overwhelm.