Understood.org

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Channel • 13 Shows

Mental Health

Mental Health

Updated Biweekly
Mental Health

Mental Health

Updated Biweekly
Mental Health

Mental Health

Updated Biweekly
Mental Health

Mental Health

Updated Biweekly
Parenting

Parenting

Updated Biweekly
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Weekly Series
Parenting

Parenting

Updated Semimonthly

2d ago

PJ Vogt’s decades-long quest to understand his own brain

Podcaster PJ Vogt has talked about his ADHD for years. Casually. Almost cheerfully. Then things changed. He decided to go off his ADHD medication, and he found the neuropsych report from when he was 13. It didn’t say what he thought. On this episode of Hyperfocus, PJ, who’s spent his entire career making some of the most popular podcasts around – like Reply All and Search Engine — talks about his journey to understand his own brain. And how when he reread that old assessment, he found something messier than the story he’d been telling himself. Host Rae Jacobson follows him through that reckoning and the big question: What happens when the label that shaped your identity turns out to be blurrier than you imagined? They talk through the trade-offs he’s still sorting out now that he’s stopped taking medication, and the advice he’d give younger people with a brain like his. For more on this topic Search Engine: Why’d I take speed for twenty years? - Part 1Search Engine: Why’d I take speed for twenty years? (Part 2)Watch: The brain is the last frontier of privacy. And you’re the target | HyperfocusFor a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at hyperfocus@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
3d ago

The ADHD safety net hiding inside a kink power dynamic

Kink isn’t required to get something real out of a power dynamic. And for ADHD brains, it might be more than you’d expect Sex and relationship coach Amanda Dames — The Kink Consultant — joins the show to talk about power dynamics and what dominance and submission can actually offer neurodivergent relationships once the stigma gets stripped away. Amanda and Cate start with the basics: what a power dynamic is, why it’s a negotiated role-play and not a real transfer of power, and how submission can function as agency rather than its opposite. From there, the conversation moves into what this looks like day to day — including a partner who quietly set household rules that ended up calming years of ADHD-driven chaos. And then into harder territory: the difference between structure that helps and control that doesn’t, how to tell the two apart, and what aftercare (a kink community staple) can offer any couple, kinky or not, after a hard moment. For more on this topic Watch: Kink, BDSM, and ADHD | Sorry, I Missed ThisWatch: Why neurodivergent women can’t stop reading smut and romantasy | Sorry, I Missed ThisWatch: Why good sex can make your ADHD brain spiral | Sorry, I Missed ThisFor a transcript and more resources, visit Sorry, I Missed This on Understood.org. You can also email us at podcast@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
4d ago

ADHD and PMDD: why symptoms spike before your period (and what helps)

Some weeks you can handle anything. Then, seemingly overnight, everything feels impossible. Your mood. Your focus. Your patience with yourself. If that shift keeps landing the same week of your cycle, it might not just be PMS. In this episode, Dr. J — a licensed psychologist who works with people with ADHD — breaks down premenstrual dysphoric disorder. PMDD, a diagnosis recognized in the DSM-5-TR, goes well beyond typical PMS and shows up disproportionately in women with ADHD. Research suggests that 31–46% of women with ADHD also meet criteria for PMDD. And the overlap isn’t a coincidence. Both ADHD and PMDD are tied to dopamine regulation and sensitivity to hormonal shifts. Dr. J walks through what actually separates PMDD from PMS and why it so often goes undiagnosed. She also looks at what’s happening in the brain during the luteal phase — including why your ADHD symptoms, and even your medication, can feel different that week. And she offers practical, evidence-based strategies to make PMDD more manageable, like: Symptom trackingAdjusting diet and exerciseTalking to your provider about medication timingPlanning your schedule around your cyclePlus building the kind of self-compassion that makes hard weeks survivable instead of shameful. If you’ve ever felt like you lose yourself for a week every month, this one’s for you. For more on this topic Listen: ADHD and hormones Read: A guide to hormones and ADHD Watch: PMDD: Why women with ADHD are 4x more likely to struggle | HyperfocusFor a transcript and more resources, visit The ADHD Channel for Women on Understood.org. You can also email us at podcast@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sep 15

Calm saving lives, paralyzed by a pasta recipe: ADHD and executive function (Jim Leitch’s story)

Jim Leitch could intubate a patient in the middle of the night — alone, short-staffed, smiling — and feel completely calm. Ask him to follow a pasta recipe? That’s where things got hard: Everyday tasks and executive function challenges. Jim is a former critical care respiratory therapist and current VP who was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. In this episode, he talks about the exhausting gap between knowing where you want to go and not being able to get started, growing up with perfectionism and a fear of mistakes, and how he quietly created pressure-cooker situations just to get things done. Also: a Christmas pageant in second grade that left a mark he’s never forgotten. For more on this topic Listen: ADHD and the fear of failureRead: ADHD and perfectionismWatch: Executive dysfunction explained: Why ADHD makes everything so hardFor a transcript and more resources, visit ADHD Aha! on Understood.org. You can also email us at adhdaha@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
2d ago

The ADHD safety net hiding inside a kink power dynamic | Sorry, I Missed This

Kink isn’t required to get something real out of a power dynamic. And for ADHD brains, it might be more than you’d expect Sex and relationship coach Amanda Dames — The Kink Consultant — joins the show to talk about power dynamics and what dominance and submission can actually offer neurodivergent relationships once the stigma gets stripped away. Amanda and Cate start with the basics: what a power dynamic is, why it’s a negotiated role-play and not a real transfer of power, and how submission can function as agency rather than its opposite. From there, the conversation moves into what this looks like day to day — including a partner who quietly set household rules that ended up calming years of ADHD-driven chaos. And then into harder territory: the difference between structure that helps and control that doesn’t, how to tell the two apart, and what aftercare (a kink community staple) can offer any couple, kinky or not, after a hard moment. For more on this topic Watch: Kink, BDSM, and ADHD | Sorry, I Missed ThisWatch: Why neurodivergent women can’t stop reading smut and romantasy | Sorry, I Missed ThisWatch: Why good sex can make your ADHD brain spiral | Sorry, I Missed ThisFor a transcript and more resources, visit Sorry, I Missed This on Understood.org. You can also email us at podcast@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sep 17

I disciplined my ADHD daughter all wrong. This saved our relationship.

Psychotherapist and ADHD expert Merriam Saunders spent years locked in daily battles with her strong-willed daughter. No form of discipline worked. Then one ordinary blowup led to an unexpected realization: The problem wasn’t defiance, it was an ADHD skills gap. And, crucially, she realized it wasn’t her daughter’s job to fix it. Merriam shares what happened the moment she chose connection over control, and how that choice reshaped their relationship for good. For more on this topic Watch: Why I stopped hiding my kid’s neurodivergence Read: 7 discipline tips when your child has ADHDFor a transcript and more resources, visit Everyone Gets a Juice Box on Understood.org. You can also email us at podcast@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sep 10

I’ve never felt like a good woman: ADHD and femininity | Sorry, I Missed This

In this episode, a complex conversation about ADHD, femininity, gender, and why talking about the hard stuff is important. Cate sits down with Rae Jacobson, host of Understood.org’s Hyperfocus podcast, journalist, and a producer on this show. They talk about something they’ve both struggled to name: the collision between ADHD, femininity, and gender expression. They dig into what it felt like to watch other girls “get it.” The tidiness. The calm. The effortlessness. All things that executive dysfunction made feel out of reach. They talk about the pressure to be nurturing, organized, and endlessly available — and what happens when your brain doesn’t cooperate with any of it. And they look at the research on outcomes for women and girls with ADHD. For more on this topic Watch: The “devastating” findings of a decades-long ADHD studyWatch: Head, heart, hormones: Why women’s ADHD care should treat the whole person For a transcript and more resources, visit Sorry, I Missed This on Understood.org. You can also email us at sorryimissedthis@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sep 9

I’ve never felt like a good woman: ADHD and femininity

In this episode, a complex conversation about ADHD, femininity, gender, and why talking about the hard stuff is important. Cate sits down with Rae Jacobson, host of Understood.org’s Hyperfocus podcast, journalist, and a producer on this show. They talk about something they’ve both struggled to name: the collision between ADHD, femininity, and gender expression. They dig into what it felt like to watch other girls “get it.” The tidiness. The calm. The effortlessness. All things that executive dysfunction made feel out of reach. They talk about the pressure to be nurturing, organized, and endlessly available — and what happens when your brain doesn’t cooperate with any of it. And they look at the research on outcomes for women and girls with ADHD. For more on this topic Watch: The “devastating” findings of a decades-long ADHD studyWatch: Head, heart, hormones: Why women’s ADHD care should treat the whole person For a transcript and more resources, visit Sorry, I Missed This on Understood.org. You can also email us at sorryimissedthis@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sep 10

I’ve never felt like a good woman: ADHD and femininity

How does ADHD collide with femininity and gender expression? This has been a big question on Rae’s mind. So recently, she sat down with her friend and colleague Cate Osborn for a chat on her podcast, Sorry I Missed This. We’re sharing that episode with you today. Cate and Rae dig into what it felt like to watch other girls “get it.” The tidiness. The calm. The effortlessness. All things that executive dysfunction made feel out of reach. They talk about the pressure to be nurturing, organized, and endlessly available — and what happens when your brain doesn’t cooperate with any of it. And they look at the research on outcomes for women and girls with ADHD. For more on this topic Watch: The “devastating” findings of a decades-long ADHD studyWatch: Head, heart, hormones: Why women’s ADHD care should treat the whole personFor a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at hyperfocus@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sep 8

ADHD and autism: Do I have AuDHD?

If you’ve been seeing AuDHD everywhere online and wondering if it might describe you, you’ve come to the right place. What does it actually mean to have both ADHD and autism? Dr. J breaks down where these two conditions overlap, where they diverge, and why so many people are recognizing themselves in this label for the first time. We cover shared traits, what AuDHD can feel like day to day, and how to know when it’s time to talk to a professional about diagnosis. For more on this topic Read: What is AuDHD?Watch: ADHD and justice sensitivity: Why you can’t just “let it go”For a transcript and more resources, visit The ADHD Channel for Women on Understood.org. You can also email us at podcast@understood.org. As kids head back to school, it's a good time to remember: not every student experiences the classroom the same way. Through My Eyes, a free interactive experience from Understood, lets you step into a day in the life of a kid with ADHD, dyslexia, or dyscalculia. See their strengths and challenges in a whole new way. Try it out here. Understood is a nonprofit where millions of people who are navigating neurodivergence find clear guidance, practical tools, and people who get it. To help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Real talk and personal stories for and from neurodivergent people. Together, we'll cover a wide range of topics related to ADHD, dyslexia, and other forms of neurodivergence. We'll hear from individuals, families, educators, advocates, and experts in the field — and we hope that their stories will inspire and support our listeners. Understood.org is a nonprofit that helps people who are navigating neurodivergence find clarity and take the next step. We translate trusted knowledge about ADHD, dyslexia, and other forms of neurodivergence into clear guidance, practical tools, and community support for over 20 million people each year. Learn more about all our podcasts at u.org/podcasts.

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