AI, ADHD, And Humanness with Dr. Tracy Dennis Tiwary

Nov 18, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, a psychology and neuroscience professor and co-founder of Arcade Therapeutics, delves into the nuances of AI anxiety and its varied manifestations. She critiques our tendency to anthropomorphize AI and highlights the lessons we should learn from the mental health impacts of social media. Tracy also explores the medicalization of mental health, advocating for a more holistic view and emphasizing that anxiety can actually signal creativity and proactive care. Tune in for insightful strategies on managing AI's role in our lives without losing our humanity.

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INSIGHT

Anthropomorphism Obscures Practical AI Choices

Anthropomorphizing AI hides its true nature and blocks practical choices about its use.
Remember humans' intuition is the gift and AI should be treated as a servant-like tool.

insights

INSIGHT

LLMs As A Modern Form Of Mediumship

Large language models act like a form of modern 'mediumship', surfacing collective human content in a mystical-seeming way.
They require a human interpreter to make outputs meaningful and responsible.

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ADVICE

Set Mindset And Values Before Using AI

Decide your mindset about AI (tool vs. something else) and set clear personal boundaries for its use.
Define the human values you want technology to support before adopting it into daily life.

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Why AI Anxiety Manifests Differently

02:41 • 3min

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Seeing AI as Tool Versus Threat

05:21 • 4min

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Can AI Be Turned Off or Controlled?

09:25 • 5min

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Lessons from Social Media for AI Preparation

Experimenting with Therapeutic Chatbots

20:31 • 2min

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ADHD: Beyond a Single Binary

22:20 • 1min

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What Medicalizing Mental Health Costs Us

23:36 • 4min

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Diagnoses Help but Can Become Cages

28:01 • 2min

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What Is a Mental Illness If Not Just Biology?

30:16 • 4min

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Balancing Diagnosis, Identity, and Resilience

34:00 • 6min

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Reframing Anxiety as Hopeful Motive

40:10 • 5min

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Distinguishing Stress, Anxiety, and Fear

45:00 • 4min

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How to Manage AI Anxiety Practically

• Mentioned in 9 episodes

Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Charles Darwin

This book, published in 1872, is Charles Darwin's third major work on evolutionary theory. It delves into the biological aspects of emotional behavior, arguing that human emotional expressions have their origins in animal behavior. Darwin introduces principles such as 'the principle of serviceable associated Habits', 'the principle of Antithesis', and 'the principle of actions due to the constitution of the Nervous System'. He analyzes various emotions and their expressions, highlighting the universal nature of these expressions across different species and cultures. The book was illustrated with photographs, drawings, and woodblock prints, making it one of the first scientific works to use photographs extensively. Darwin's work challenged the prevailing view that human facial muscles were divinely created for unique emotional expressions, instead linking them to evolutionary heritage.

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The descent of man

Charles Darwin

In 'The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex', Darwin extends his theory of evolution to humans, discussing how humans evolved from pre-existing forms and the role of sexual selection in this process. The book compares human physical and psychological characteristics to those of other animals, arguing that humans and other species share a common ancestry. It also explores the differences between human races and sexes, and the evolutionary basis of human behaviors and moral qualities. The work challenges the idea of special creation and argues for the continuity between humans and other animals in both anatomy and mental faculties.

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How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart

Nicholas Carr

Superbloom provides a panoramic view of how media shapes society and an intimate examination of the fate of the self in a time of radical dislocation. Nicholas Carr challenges cherished beliefs about self-expression, free speech, and media democratization, revealing how messaging apps strip nuance from conversation, 'digital crowding' erodes empathy and triggers aggression, and online political debates narrow minds and distort perceptions. The book also discusses how advances in AI blur the line between fantasy and reality, forcing readers to confront inconvenient truths about human nature and the impact of technology.

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Future Tense, Why Anxiety is Good for You Even Though It Feels Bad

Tracy Dennis-Tiwary

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• Mentioned in 59 episodes

The Shallows

Nicholas Carr

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• Mentioned in 81 episodes

On the Origin of Species

Charles Darwin

Published on November 24, 1859, 'On the Origin of Species' by Charles Darwin is a seminal work in scientific literature. The book presents a comprehensive theory of evolution, arguing that species evolve over generations through the process of natural selection. Darwin supported his theory with evidence collected during his voyage on the HMS Beagle, as well as from subsequent research, correspondence, and experimentation. The book addresses the struggle for existence, the variability of species, and the principle of divergence, explaining how natural selection leads to the adaptation and diversification of life on Earth. It has been a cornerstone of evolutionary biology and has had significant impacts on both scientific and public discourse.

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• Mentioned in 324 episodes

The Anxious Generation

Jonathan Haidt

In 'The Anxious Generation', Jonathan Haidt examines the sudden decline in the mental health of adolescents starting in the early 2010s. He attributes this decline to the shift from a 'play-based childhood' to a 'phone-based childhood', highlighting mechanisms such as sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, and perfectionism that interfere with children’s social and neurological development. Haidt proposes four simple rules to address this issue: no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16, phone-free schools, and more opportunities for independence, free play, and responsibility. The book offers a clear call to action for parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments to restore a more humane childhood and end the epidemic of mental illness among youth.

Is your anxiety about AI actually trying to help you? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Tracy Dennis Tiwary to talk about AI anxiety, overdiagnosis, ADHD, and why we’ve medicalized so much of our emotional life that we’ve lost sight of what it means to be human. Tracy shares why we were unprepared for the mental health fallout of social media, why we’re just as unprepared for AI, and how leaders can support teams through technological uncertainty without collapsing into fear or false certainty. Tune in to learn how to engage with AI without losing your humanity and how to work with your anxiety instead of treating it like an enemy.

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In this Episode, You Will Learn

00:00 Why AI anxiety is showing up differently for each of us.

06:45 Is AI an intelligence or just a (very powerful) tool?

10:45 How calling AI “smart” and human-like hides what it actually does.

14:00 Why we weren’t prepared for social media’s mental health impact.

15:15 Ways to use chatbots and therapeutic AI without getting lost in them.

21:00 ADHD, dichotomies, and how medicalizing mental health distorts what diagnoses can do.

26:00 Why treating symptoms isn’t the same as healing.

29:00 If mental illness isn’t just a broken brain, what is it?

30:30 Why there is no single biomarker for conditions like bipolar disorder or ADHD.

38:45 Why anxiety is tied to uncertainty, hope, and creativity.

43:30 Where does stress fit alongside anxiety and fear?

48:15 Advice to someone who has AI anxiety.

Resources + Links

Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever

Watch the podcast on YouTube

Find more resources on our website morraam.com

Follow

Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam

Follow Tracy: @tracydennistiwary

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