Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast

Like any good superhero, we all have our origin stories. Unlike those same superheroes, we sometimes struggle to save the day if we’re distracted by shiny door knobs. This week, we’re sharing the stories our listener’s submitted about their diagnoses. Where were you? How old where you? What do you remember about the time and how you were treated? Whether you were six years old and super confused, or 36 years old and … well… super confused, your story matters. And we think that these stories have something teach, too. Just hearing how others were first diagnosed offers each of us a chance to reflect on our own path. If nothing else, certainly, they’re a reminder that we are not alone. Stories of shiny door knobs this week on The ADHD Podcast. (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (05:27) - Help Grow the Show • Become a Patron! (07:41) - Where were you when... ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Why are some tasks harder than others? Is that task itself suddenly that much more challenging that everything else you're doing? Likely not. What's different? The way our brains are triggering as a result of it. This week on the show we're pulling apart the things that allow us to make some tasks a bigger deal than others. What is it that makes one task evolve into a monstrous clogging task while others breeze by? We pull apart "brain distortions" that impact our thinking and assess our executive functioning challenges that impact our time and process management. From there, it's all about attitude — can we really take a step back and approach tasks from the perspective of growth and accomplishment even as we're struggling to grow and accomplish it? We'll see this week! (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (01:27) - Support the Show! Join on Patreon. (04:16) - ADHD Awareness Updates! (07:13) - Let's talk about tasks... (14:27) - Thought Distortions (20:39) - But when do you eat the frog tho? (23:33) - Emotional Self-Regulation ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Coupled with distraction, negative ADHD self-talk is scrawled on the box describing ADHD. If we were in a global competition, we'd gold medal in it. When your ADHD is on lock, that voice can be destructive. This week: how do you manage that little voice when ADHD is having a very good day?How often do you hear it in your own voice? I’m always late. I can never stop when I need to. I can never get started. This is a symptom of ADHD and we all have it in some fashion or another. And as this is a conversation that is part of our transitions series, we have to remind you that when you are struggling with making context shifts, you're likely celebrating with negative self language. You're not broken. You're not doing anything wrong. It is... exactly what it is.This week on the show, Nikki and Pete are talking about this negative self-talk and ADHD and how you can start reprogramming your brain toward self-kindness and compassion.Oh, and if you have any trouble with that, you should take some advice from Nikki and listen to a little of her favorite music. (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (01:27) - Support the Show • Become a Patron! (03:41) - Negative Self-Talk ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The last year has been traumatic. For all of us. In some way or another, we've been impacted by COVID and it's upended our lives. We're talking about transitions on the show in this series and coming to terms with the change we've endured in the last 18 months will be important in defining what we want the coming years to look like. As inspiration, Nikki started with an article by Sari Solden, Imagining Life After the Pandemic: Helping Women with ADHD Move Forward with Purpose. In it, Solden outlines her ADHD-friendly blueprint for re-imagining life in a post-pandemic world. But she wrote the article just a few months ago and we're already shaken by the changes in the world since. As rapidly as events evolve around is, we're challenged to adapt more quickly than ever. Feeling guilty about the things you didn't get done? Loving that you don't have to say "no" so much these days simply because you've been invited to do so much less? Worried about your rituals and losing what you've gained in the last year? You're not alone. All that and our own reflections on our collective return to a new world, one in which we exist with a new kind of pandemic, and adapt our behaviors to whatever that may bring us and those we love. (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (00:58) - Support the Show • Become a Patron! (03:25) - Transitions ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Changing gears is hard with ADHD. Moving from one thing to the next can feel like a chore and the range of emotions is wide. Distracted by too many options and moving too quickly? Stuck in hyperfocus and angry or frustrated that you're being shocked into a transition too soon? That's the point today. Moving from one state to the next, one activity to the next, is enough to throw the world into disarray. But this is the world we live in. So how can we learn to adapt?Dr. Thomas Brown has some terrific insights when it comes to this subject and we talk about his work a bit as a framing device: Activation, Focus, and Effort. These are the three executive functions that help us understand why our transition skills might be lacking, and giving ourselves a bit more care and feeding in these areas can pay big dividends. Pete does mention his love of big clocks that set themselves. He has La Crosse Technology Atomic Clocks all over his house. From planning to setting the right expectations, if you have trouble with transitions, this show is for you. (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (01:52) - Support the Show • Become a Patron! (03:36) - Task Switching with ADHD (19:27) - Make Task Switching Easier ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We're continuing our family series on the podcast with our dear friends Elaine Taylor-Klaus and Diane Dempster of Impact Parents. Together, they have taken their ADHD coaching and evolved their work into an incredible resource for parents raising complex kids. Independence starts todayThe rock-climbing metaphor is striking. Every move toward independence and confidence happens in the smallest of movements, not giant stretches. It is only with the gift of hindsight that we're able to see the great strides we've made. But if that's the case, how do we know what to do here and now? Through an assessment of two parenting experiences this week from your fair hosts, Diane and Elaine walk us through the things we can celebrate, and the steps we might take to redirect in an effort to implement the tools we can learn to help our complex kids to be independent and successful. Take a minute to browse Impact Parents and learn more about the work Diane and Elaine are doing for parents. (01:07) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We're continuing our conversations on ADHD and family relationships on The ADHD Podcast with a discussion on teens. "But wait," you might be thinking, "I'm no teen... what do I need with this episode?" Just hang with us a bit.We're talking to the authors of Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Teen ADHD, Drs. Karen Bluth and Mark Bertin, a book not written about teens and ADHD, but too them. It's one of the rare experiences that asks teens directly and personally to think about their ADHD, their relationship with others and their experience at school and work.A Teen ADHD Book for AllWe've read the book and agree: it's an approachable read, not lingering in the complexities of neuro-diversity, but not shying away from the way the brain works. The main focus, however, is around building a healthy social life, independence, good grades, all in a voice that lets the reader know they're not alone when they get frustrated or feel isolated along the way.The authors join us on the show to talk about the tools that help on the way, mindfulness and self-compassion. And this is where we come back around to you all, likely adults, likely not expecting to be introduced so favorably to a book on ADHD and teens. Well, as we hope you'll hear today, our guests are presenting a mindfulness and self-compassion practice as a tool for all of us, as "the engine for change" in our lives. We live with ADHD, we're parents of ADHD kids, our ADHD lives contain multitudes. Giving ourselves a compassionate pat on the back can go far in helping us approach the world with confidence and kindness to others.About Karen Bluth, Ph.D.Karen Bluth is on faculty in the department of psychiatry and a research fellow at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is founder of the Frank Porter Graham Program on Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Families (https://selfcompassion.web.unc.edu). She is a certified instructor of Mindful Self-Compassion, an internationally acclaimed eight-week course created by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer; and is a codeveloper of Self-Compassion for Educators, a self-compassion program offered through Mindful Schools.Bluth is also cocreator of the curriculum Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens, the teen adaptation of Mindful Self-Compassion; and Embracing Your Life, the young adult adaptation. She is also author of The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens and The Self-Compassionate Teen. As a mindfulness practitioner for more than forty years, a mindfulness teacher, and an educator with eighteen years of classroom teaching experience, Bluth frequently gives talks, conducts workshops, and teaches classes in self-compassion and mindfulness in educational and community settings. In addition, she trains teachers in Making Friends with Yourself internationally.About Mark Bertin, MDMark Bertin is a developmental pediatrician in private practice in Pleasantville, NY. He is author of How Children Thriveand Mindful Parenting for ADHD, which integrate mindfulness into the rest of evidence-based pediatric care; and a contributing author for Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens. He is on faculty at New York Medical College and The Windward Institute, on advisory boards for Common Sense Media and Reach Out and Read, and on the board of directors for APSARD (the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders). His blog covering topics in child development, mindfulness, and family is available through PsychologyToday.com, Mindful.org, and elsewhere. For information about his online mindfulness classes and other resources, visit https://developmentaldoctor.com. (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (04:10) - Support The ADHD Podcast • Become A Patron at patreon.com/theadhdpodcast (07:52) - Introducing Mark Bertin and Karen Bluth (15:46) - Starting a conversation about self-compassion (20:21) - Parental modeling of negative behavior (21:23) - Meditation and Mindfulness (25:39) - You are not your ADHD (27:52) - How do you expect teens to engage in the material? (31:15) - Teen emotions and ADHD ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We started our conversation with Dr. Norrine Russell with a plan in mind. We wanted to talk with her about the systems and processes she uses with her clients at Russell Coaching to support frustrated kids and families living with ADHD. She told us she'd be fine with that, but then said, "can I tell you what's on my mind?"What was on her mind is something on our minds, too. In our search for process perfection, we risk putting up walls for communication those we're trying to support. We're great at systems, too, but time and project management comes with a cost: we risk losing compassion and empathy, hardening ourselves to the things that give us the joy and support to move on. Thinking Fast and SlowIt's easy, living with ADHD, to imagine that thinking fast is the solution to distraction. If you think fast, after all, you might just finish a project before you're distracted by something else. Thinking slowly, on the other hand, gives your mind and body the time and space required to integrate new views, concepts, and experiences. The act of thinking about thinking is metacognition, and Dr. Russell gives us a series of terrific examples this week as we think through our experience overcoming stress and anxiety in the process of living with ADHD. And while we're at it, check out this story on CBS Sunday Morning, 'Helping Students Cope with the Pressure to Succeed' on our highest achievers and their ability to manufacture stress and anxiety to a damaging point.About Dr. Norrine RussellDr. Norrine Russell began Russell Coaching in 2009. Her passion for providing support to frustrated students and weary parents is fueled by her own experience of raising two complex children who are both neurologically atypical (her children’s diagnoses include autism, mood disorders, ADHD, giftedness, and learning differences). Dr. Russell knows firsthand the exhaustion parents face as they day in and day out seek solutions for their out-of-the-box children. She is committed to supporting the psychological well-being, education, and family life of all her clients.Dr. Russell has a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University with a focus on psychology and education. She consults with and trains at both public and private schools across the Tampa Bay area. She has taught psychology and education courses at Sweet Briar College, University of Minnesota-Morris, and a number of other colleges. (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (08:43) - Welcome Dr. Norrine Russell (17:05) - Empathy and Compassion (27:28) - Thinking Fast and Slow (32:59) - Metacognition (45:55) - Manufacturing anxiety and stress ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Today on the show we're talking to the kids. Ok, not all the kids. We're starting with our kids, because they're ours, they live with ADHD, and they're pretty astute humans.There are some things they want the rest of us to know about their experience with ADHD that might just surprise you. What the Kids can Teach about ADHDThere are a few things that surprised us as we embarked on this journey to interview our kids about their experience with ADHD. First, they're usually ahead of us in their thinking. They've already done their own research, they understand modeling behavior and have started to pick up tips and tricks by simply observing other kids who have their skills on lock, and they aren't afraid to try new things. Like most of us, they don't appreciate being criticized, and they don't always understand the scrutiny. Most important, they can see when they're falling behind and they — again, like the rest of us — are frustrated. We talk about the study skills and habits that the kids most appreciate, and the support systems they prefer when trying to be productive at home. We share their enthusiasm for the systems and opportunities set up by their teachers and support staff at school, and how their social groups see their ADHD. Finally, we have a few words on medication to report. The bottom line, from the kids: "I wish people would be more understanding about my movement," and "Be gentle. I know how my brain works. I don't need you to tell me anymore. Just give me a little time to catch up."We did a little research after this exploration with the kids and found a stunning parallel of reports from others around ADHD communities. There seems to be no time better than right in the middle of our family series to sit back and listen. Links & NotesThriving with ADHD Workbook for Teens: Improve Focus, Get Organized, and Succeed (00:00) - Welcome to The ADHD Podcast (02:08) - Support the Show • Become a Patron! (04:04) - What the Kids Want You to Know ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Listeners share their strategies for managing ADHD in the family, including the use of alarms, planning routines, and meal planning. The hosts discuss the upcoming content and promote their website and Patreon page. They also provide tips for using alarms effectively, using launch pads for organization, maintaining a tidy home, and strategies for meal planning and grocery shopping.