AuDHD Flourishing

Dr Megan Anna Neff is a neurodivergent therapist and thought leader, who became popular in 2022 with their "Misdiagnosis Monday" series. Their thoughtful content has helped many thousands of AuDHDers and other neurodivergent folks feel seen and understood. Today we talk about having a small business as a neurodivergent person (including PDA at the end) the questions and concerns we have about creating helpful content, and not causing harm how weird it is to be perceived Connect with Megan Anna & Neurodivergent Insights: Free Help Me Stay Plan (for SI) Website: neurodivergentinsights.com Divergent Conversations Podcast: www.divergentpod.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/neurodivergent_insights/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NeurodivergentInsightsTV Do Less program for 2026 (starts Jan 15) AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc (often a few weeks behind, but we do catch up!) Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doing less of what's harming you opens up time and energy. You can enjoy that as rest, and if desired, eventually fill it in with what you do want. AuDHDers often need to move at a slower pace, in many ways. Sometimes we then have creative bursts that move fast... but the space comes FIRST! Mentioned in episode: Do Less program for 2026 (starts Jan 15) book, Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison (affiliate link) AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc (often a few weeks behind, but we do catch up!) Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pasha joins again to talk about what they've learned in the past two years since last being on the show! We talk about belonging, triggers in relationships, and much more. She also shares the ableism behind the scenes of an autism training from a large (unnamed) org. Mentioned in episode: Pasha's website & LinkedIn Instagram @neuroqueercoach TikTok @neuroqueercoach Pasha's YouTube AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc (often a few weeks behind, but we do catch up!) Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Decluttering, organizing, and cleaning my home in a more routine way is having some interesting effects on my perfectionist tendencies! (Plus, perfectionism comes up in the decision-making process; more on that in my interview on A Slob Comes Clean, which I'll link here when it's out.) Specifically, a cleaner space = less decision fatigue = lower cognitive load = more executive function resources for ME! If you want support with that: Decluttering Days free 5-day event (Nov 17-21 2025) Mentioned in episode (Dana K White resources): Free 5-Step Decluttering Process (note it's /five, not /5 at aslobcomesclean.com ) A Slob Comes Clean podcast & YouTube channel Organizing for the Rest of Us Decluttering at the Speed of Life How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind (book links are affiliate links) AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc (often a few weeks behind, but we do catch up!) Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dana K White, like me, couldn't find advice that worked for her. So she made it up! And it turns out, it was helpful for many other people too. After writing an anonymous blog about cleaning her overwhelmingly cluttered home, Dana "came out" and started helping others too. Also, many of those people let her know she seems to have ADHD ;) Her explanations have already helped me a lot, and given me hope about a clean home for the first time in ages. We talk about many of the overarching themes/tips in her books (which are linked below) Decluttering Days free 5-day event (Nov 17-21 2025) Connect/Learn more from Dana: Free 5-Step Decluttering Process (note it's /five, not /5 at aslobcomesclean.com ) A Slob Comes Clean podcast & YouTube channel Organizing for the Rest of Us Decluttering at the Speed of Life How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind (book links are affiliate links) AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc (often a few weeks behind, but we do catch up!) Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transitions are one of THE things that support the way that productivity shows up for AuDHDers! Transitions don't have to be all about work: play and rest can be transitions too. And sometimes we need transition time into and out of work, play, AND rest! Today I talk in more detail about how long transitions can take for me (routinely 30-60 minutes). If that's true for you, a 20-minute chunk of work (or getting interrupted) isn't going to feel that good compared to the transition time required. (That said, anything goes in burnout recovery!) Anecdotally: AuDHD folks may need more transition time than ADHD or Autistic folks (even though it's often talked about as an autism trait or need). If that's true, it's possible that it's monotropism that leads to higher transition time needs. Note: I misspoke when I said "dares and challenges." They're actually dares and commitments :) Decluttering Days free 5-day event (Nov 17-21 2025) AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc (often a few weeks behind, but we do catch up!) Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PDA is the Persistent Drive for Autonomy (community term), or pathological demand avoidance (clinical & pathologizing term). What happens when PDA, ADHD, and autism all overlap? Well... stress and relationship challenges! Thankfully, everything that helped me feel more safe has also made my PDA more manageable. There are many approaches to build that safety. This episode is a follow-up to the interview on PDA last week Mentioned in episode: Book Low-Demand Parenting by Amanda Diekman (affiliate link) Last week's interview on PDA , and the podcast PDA: Resistance and Resilience Mattia's bday (or whenever) wish list AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc (often a few weeks behind, but we do catch up!) Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a running joke (that wasn't initially a joke) that I'm totally going to do a PDA episode very soon ... since the very first episode of AuDHD Flourishing. Now we have one, thanks to Chris Wells and Marni Kammersell for interviewing me on PDA: Resistance and Resilience , and letting me cross-post the episode here! Mentioned in episode: Full show notes AuDHD Flourishing Episode 87: Giftedness & the Sparkly Mind with Sheldon Gay AuDHD Flourishing Episode 88 : Gifted Development & Positive Disintegration with Chris Wells AuDHD Flourishing Episode 108 : Using Intuition Practically Robert Chapman’s book Empire of Normality Connect with Chris, Marni, PDA pod: Wandering Brightly with Marni Kammersell Positive Disintegration and cosmic cheer squad with Chris Wells PDA: Resistance and Resilience on Substack Follow us on Instagram AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About two years ago, I started ADHD stimulant medication as a regular (most days) thing. I've mentioned it here and there on the podcast. This is my most concentrated "review" of the main things I've noticed over the past two years. To be clear, when I mention a factor that might make stimulant meds more of a burnout risk, I'm not saying those folks shouldn't try it! Just to be very careful not to push through the body's capacity. Mentioned in episode: Mattia interviewed on Chris Wells' & Marni Kammersell's new podcast, PDA: Resistance and Resilience. Ep 7: Creative Resistance (I'll be posting this episode in the feed next week) AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One reason most advice doesn't work for us is that it's backwards. It's telling us to do/have the end result, rather than showing us how to get there. In the case of safety or shame, it's pretty clear that we can't just leap to the end of the process (if there even is one with a traumatized body). Mentioned in episode: Toxic Shame: What it is and How to Heal From it (YouTube, Heidi Priebe. Her take is overall better/more accessible than the book she's referencing, which is shockingly triggering all over the place) AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TQ (they/them) is a queer, trans, physically disabled, AuDHD Chinese-Singaporean artist, author/host of the upcoming book/podcast Queer! AuDHD! BIPOC! , and community facilitator for other queer neurodivergent BIPOC. In true ND fashion, we range over many topics, including the importance of community and hearing your own stories as a person with multiple intersecting identities. You can pre-order a copy of their upcoming book for behind-the-scenes/early access to the interviews and writing! TQ's links & mentioned in episode: Support the Queer! AuDHD! BIPOC! book and podcast All the incredible neurodivergent, Autistic, and AuDHD creators of color TQ learns from Lovette Jallow on the history/use of the term "intersectionality" The Autastic Community AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Also on YouTube for some visuals My urge for minimalism is partly to provide myself with the visual cues I desperately need, without overwhelming myself with visual clutter. And, there has been a specifically classist push for minimalism that sometimes causes me to get rid of too much. Here's an excellent thread about minimalism , class, and why you're probably not a hoarder I especially loved the idea that you may just need better organization, because I really love lining things up. Now I'm focusing on organizing based on my interests, rather than what I think is the most practical or obvious! Mentioned in episode: Mastodon thread about minimalism The exact iPad cover I showed that looks like a Composition notebook (still going strong almost four years in), affiliate link AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thanks to Hyperfocus with Rae Jacobson for letting me cross-post this important discussion about one of the first longitudinal studies of ADHD in women and girls! Full show notes, timestamps, and Transcript available on Hyperfocus' site (Ep 5, The “devastating” findings of a decades-long ADHD study, Dec 5, 2024 has the full version; it was reposted Aug 28 2025 with more brief notes) Show notes: Dr. Stephen Hinshaw is one of the leading voices when it comes to ADHD in women and girls. That’s in large part due to his work on The Berkeley Girls Study. (Its full name is The Berkeley Girls with ADHD Longitudinal Study, but most people know it by that shorthand or acronym: The BGALs Study.) Under Steve’s leadership, researchers began studying 140 girls with ADHD and a control group of nearly 90 girls without it. They’ve been following these girls into their adulthood, producing a reams of information that has helped shape current understanding of ADHD in women and girls. That said, Rae Jacobson had plenty of questions for Steve: Why did you want to study ADHD in girls at a time when it was typically seen as a boys’ disorder? Why is it that one type of ADHD seems to lead to such negative outcomes? What do we do about the stigma that still surrounds the disorder? note: This episode includes discussion of suicide and self-harm. Please take care when listening and skip this one if you need to. Listen to more episodes of Hyperfocus here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chronic shame makes us feel all kinds of terrible things that often are the triggers that send people to therapy. It's caused in part by relational rupture without repair, especially as an infant and child. While there's no quick fix, recognizing the signs and beginning to gently work with it does help over time. This is episode 10 of a series of 10 that started with 102 AuDHD Therapy That Works with Joe Sosta I'm working on some more materials to pull all these episodes together in a useful way and will add that here when they're done! Crisis Resources: USA-based anonymous crisis chat International crisis lines Various types of crisis resources in about 10 countries My Medium article, "Please Stay, We Need You" Mentioned in episode: Book Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame: Healing Right Brain Relational Trauma (I recommend this 2nd edition, affiliate link) Whack-a-Mole Workshop slides/notes and recordings (latter is free & requires free login; a downloadable PDF is also available there on Patreon) AuDHD Flourishing resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Darren Glencross was diagnosed near the beginning of 2025, and since then has written multiple books and come up with a new framework for people to explore outside of the medical model. It includes: Pattern Language, Inner Orbit with 12 satellites (and Their Orbit), and the Carry Kit It's exciting to explore community-led models! Connect with Darren: Message on Instagram @beaconwithin Darren Glencross on LinkedIn Mentioned in episode: Love Your Brain course (& Sep-Oct live round details ) Free workshops already concluded, and will be available most likely in the Patreon soon (I'll update this when they're somewhere!) You may also email questions about Love Your Brain to [email protected] Resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AuDHD brains face many challenges when it comes to projects. It's something I've put a great deal of time and learning into, both personally and professionally. This episode covers many ideas and approaches that tend to work for us. Key Takeaways: We usually learn to use what I call the Adrenaline-Anxiety Approach. While effective short-term, it can lead to burnout and other issues. A monotropic approach is more sustainable and individualized... and it can feel slow at first. Experimentation as a core tool Creating just enough structure and safety to get going, without getting bogged down (loose planning) Working with the brain states you have Managing interruptions, inputs, and daily life Finding the balance that works for you The episode also walks through the Love Your Brain course, designed to help AuDHDers understand their mind-body system, work with brain states, and navigate project challenges. The course emphasizes self-compassion, experimentation, and building processes tailored to individual needs. Repost - originally posted July 12th 2024 Note: not strictly in the current 10-episode series, but still relevant! Links mentioned: Devon Price's Laziness Does Not Exist article, and a PDF if you're not on Medium The transcript may be especially useful for this episode! (It'll take a few seconds for the link to fully load to this episode) Love Your Brain course (and the Sep/Oct 2025 live round info ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This ep also available on YouTube "use more lube:" do what you need to do to make life easier, more comfortable, and more pleasurable for you in the moment. This goes beyond sensory needs, though that's often where we start. You may not be sure what you want on the grand scale (or it feels impossible to get there). But being kind to yourself, and meeting your needs moment-to-moment, helps create a communication feedback loop with the body. Better communication and care for the body makes everything easier. ep. 8 in an interconnected 10-episode series Mentioned in episode: Free Workshops registration link Love Your Brain course (& Sep-Oct live round details ) Resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Intuition has been a way to interface with my body, even when the relationship with my body was contentious. While I won't share the trauma stories that led to the subtitle (Intuition Saved My Life), I have a variety of examples of how unconscious information can surface in a useful way. ep. 7 in an interconnected 10-episode series Mentioned in episode: Free Workshops registration link Love Your Brain course (& Sep-Oct live round details ) Resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It often feels easiest to do what's right in front of us. And that's lovely, a lot of the time, and uses our strengths! And... it starts to feel bad if we're in whack-a-mole mode almost all of the time, and don't have spacious time to comprehend the whole of our experience. This ties into our sensory needs and leans more into the psychological side of these needs. Mentioned in episode: Free Workshops registration link Love Your Brain course (& Sep-Oct live round details ) Resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maria Bowler recently published the book Making Time : A New Vision for Crafting a Life beyond Productivity. It's a relaxing take on doing what you want to do, and feeling okay while doing it. One of the main themes is being present, and being true to yourself even if you're doing boring stuff you don't want to do. Finding those moments of resonance that turn the entire activity into building self-trust. If you already read the book and found it resonant even though it doesn't mention AuDHD... that's because Maria is AuDHD and snuck all that good neurodivergent content in! Connect with Maria: Maria's website, MariaBowler.com Maria's Substack the book Making Time (affiliate link) Resources: Transcript Doc Mattia's Newsletter Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Autistic community has taken many approaches to reframing what the diagnostic criteria calls "Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts." There's the double-empathy problem, for example, in which Autistic people have an easier time understanding each other where allistics struggle and vice versa. Childhood Emotional Neglect, while a relatively new idea from 2012, aligns remarkably with autistic social "deficits." While I'm by no means trying to draw a single causal line, I also wonder in this episode if maybe some of our social difficulties are actually signs of CEN. Even if our parents were quite well-meaning, we were more likely to experience CEN via a lack of appropriate mirroring of our internal responses, especially if our internal world was especially intense or complex. This episode covers the effects of CEN primarily. To learn more about examples of how it can develop, or how to address it, you can read the books below, or search for articles about them. Books mentioned: Running On Empty Running On Empty No More Both are affiliate links Resources: Transcript Doc Email Newsletter : Nothing Wrong With Us Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is also on YouTube If our sensory needs are not met, even an otherwise okay day will still feel... off somehow. And then that gap between how we feel and how we think we "should" feel can make it even worse (that one's not a topic in this episode, just a thing that happens). If our sensory needs ARE met, sometimes even tough circumstances can feel not that bad. To be clear, this is not about avoiding bad days, which are bound to happen sometimes! But meeting both our comfort and mental sensory needs makes everything easier. It's a big part of feeling better first. Resources: Transcript Doc Email Newsletter : Nothing Wrong With Us Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) How Can I Help (request coaching support) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lessons learned from ~17 years of therapy over the last 20 years. How I'd approach therapy now based on that. What to look for in therapists, goal-setting in therapy, and reasons to quit your current therapist. Also connects back to last week's interview with Joe about AuDHD therapy . Links mentioned: Book Decolonizing Therapy (also mentioned last week, affiliate link) Blog post on finding a neurodivergent-affirming therapist (with links) More resources suggested by a community member: Dueling Minds , AuDHD Support Autistic Girls Network in-person support groups for adults ADHD Support Groups in Canada (CADDAC) ADDA Virtual Support for ADHD Resources: Transcript Doc Email Newsletter : Nothing Wrong With Us Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Sosta is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and late-realized AuDHDer. He shares some of our questions about therapy as an AuDHD adult, and we talk about the ups and downs of therapy and modalities. Note: "The Discord" mentioned is part of the Like Your Brain (Patreon) community space This is the first of 7 interconnected episodes Connect with Joe: https://www.therapywithjoe.com https://barnliferecovery.com Resources: Transcript Doc Email Newsletter : Nothing Wrong With Us Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reposting popular episodes June 2025. Back atcha in July with some spicy takes! Original show notes: Pasha Marlowe speaks brilliantly about how to navigate trauma, triggers, and sensory needs in relationships as an AuDHD person. Making it concrete, we both talk about a recent meltdown with our respective partners, and how we navigated those during and after. This is a deeply un-shaming episode—we still struggle with relational trauma despite all the "work" we've done. It's okay to have a lot of needs in relationships. And we talk about how hard it can be to figure out what those are and communicate them effectively. If your neurodivergent relationship needs extra support, Pasha is one of the rare practitioners who's ND, trained in family therapy, and works with couples! Resources mentioned: Pasha's website Neuroqueering podcast and Mattia's guest episode @neuroqueercoach on TikTok @neuroqueercoach on Instagram Neuroqueer Heresies book Full Transcript here AuDHD Flourishing Newsletter signup Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.