Hey team!

In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Valerie McIntyre, a Licensed Professional Counselor, an ADHD-Certified Clinical Services Provider, and the author of A Journey to a Valiant Mind, a book that dives into navigating ADHD with resilience and self-compassion.

In our conversation, we dive into how ADHD isn’t just about task management, but how, more often than not, it's also about emotional regulation. Valerie talks about the complex emotions that come with ADHD, especially for late-diagnosed individuals, and how those feelings often get tangled up with shame and self-judgment. We also touch on how perfectionism, rejection sensitivity, and even seemingly small tasks can build up into emotional barriers. Valerie’s approach emphasizes compassion, and this episode is filled with tools to help you break free from self-doubt and cultivate a more positive, empowered relationship with your ADHD.

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/231

https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube

https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

This Episode's Top Tips

1. It’s important to recognize that emotional struggles are often rooted in our internalized beliefs about our ADHD symptoms. These beliefs shape how we perceive ourselves and what we’re able to accomplish, and our emotional responses.

2. Often, there can be a struggle when shifting from one task to another. If we can acknowledge that there may be a delay in how your brain transitions between tasks and give ourselves time to adapt, we can make those transitions easier.

3. We can use reflective exercises, like journaling or discussion questions, to gain insight into our emotional triggers. This can help us identify better coping mechanisms that actually address the underlying issues we’re trying to overcome.

Hey team welcome to another episode of Hacking Your ADHD

Im your host, William Curb and this week we’re starting a new series on the show, Research Recaps with Skye Waterson. In this series we’re going to be taking a look at a single research paper and diving into what the paper says, how it was conducted and any practical take aways.

In this first episode of the series we’re going to be exploring a paper called Emotional regulation as a core symptom of ADHD.

As this is a new series we’re going to be figuring out what works and what doesn’t and I’d love to hear what y’all think of it, so if you have thoughts head on over to Hackingyouradhd.com/contact and let me know.

New episodes of research recap will be coming out every other Friday.

All right, let’s get on with the show.

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/230

https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link

https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube

https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

Hey team!

This week we’ve got a returning guest - Skye Waterson, founder of Unconventional Organisation and host of the ADHD Skills Lab podcast. Skye’s background includes studies in Psychology, Sociology, and Public Health, and she’s spent over seven years helping late-diagnosed adults create sustainable ADHD strategies.

And one of the exciting things that has come from this episode is that Skye and I are going to be doing a spin-off series of the show that focuses exclusively on the research side of ADHD. In these new episodes, we’ll be taking a look at a single research paper and discussing the ins and outs of what the paper says and how it was conducted, as well as trying to give any practical takeaways that will can drum up. Episode lengths are going right back to the origins of this podcast, so we’re aiming for something 15-20 minutes long, but packed with information.

Right now, we’re just going with the name Research Recap with Skye, so we’ll see if we come up with anything a bit more clever than that. Now, if that sounds like something you’re interested in, good news, you don’t have to do anything; these episodes are going to be coming out on the Hacking Your ADHD feed, so they’ll come up right along with all your other podcast downloads. These episodes are going to be coming out every other Friday starting this Friday, July 11th - and as a little preview  we're gonna be talking about a paper called “Evidence of Emotion Dysregulation as a Core Symptom of Adult ADHD: A systematic review” - I know, it sounds riveting, and actually, I think we do a pretty good job with it.

But enough on that, let’s jump into what this episode you’re listening to right now is about. In this episode, we’re talking about dopamine and dopamine transfer deficit theory, and Skye lays out her concept of the dopamine dial. We cover everything from how our brains misfire on rewards to fidget toys, and why doom-scrolling on your third screen might not be giving you the kind of stimulation you think it is. This episode is all about dialing it in instead of shutting it all down.

https://tinyurl.com/4u4av4s4 - An ADHD Academic's Answer to the Dopamine Detox by Skye Waterson

https://tinyurl.com/56rvt9fr - Unconventional Organisation Affiliate link

If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at https://HackingYourADHD.com/229

https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk - YouTube

https://www.patreon.com/HackingYourADHD - Patreon

This Episode's Top Tips

1. The dopamine dial is a mental model that helps you modulate your level of stimulation, rather than flipping an on/off switch. Instead of quitting stimulating activities all at once (e.g., trying a dopamine detox), you dial down your stimulation in steps.

2. Doing the hard thing now and waiting for the reward later often doesn’t land. Instead, we often need to feel a reward during the process, not just at the end. We can use the dopamine dial to reward ourselves with just enough stimulation to stay engaged without pushing our brain into full-blown distraction or burnout mode. It’s not about denying ourselves stimulation, it’s about using it intentionally and dialing it to the right level.

3. Try negotiating with your brain when you're feeling emotionally overwhelmed or hyper-focused on a desire, such as feeling like you just need to play a video game right now. Try taking a 10-minute breather to reassess those feelings rather than trying to force or deny that urge outright.