The ADHD Cringe Lab

The ADHD Cringe Lab
  • 5.0 (13)
  • Comedy
  • Updated Weekly

You know that feeling when someone describes an ADHD moment so accurately you want to laugh and cry at the same time? That's every episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab. The ADHD Cringe Lab is the ADHD comedy podcast where two credentialed ADHD coaches act out the cringe moments we all recognize — then actually explain why our brains do that. Every episode, hosts Stephanie and Faelyne perform a skit dramatizing a real ADHD experience — hyperfocus spirals, planner fails, time blindness disasters, shame spirals, task paralysis, and every flavor of neurodivergent cringe — then break down the science, validate the struggle, and offer real coaching perspective. No toxic positivity. No empty superpower talk. Just honest, funny, evidence-based ADHD content from people who live it and coach it. Whether you're newly diagnosed, late-diagnosed, finally figuring out why your whole life suddenly makes sense, or just done pretending your brain works like everyone else's — you're going to hear yourself in every episode. Featuring: the ADHD Spaghetti Bear, the Cringe Mailbag, the Validation Station, and Prescription Protocols that actually make sense for ADHD brains. Because if you can laugh at it, you can learn from it. Email us: TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com

  1. 2d ago

    ADHD Unfinished Projects | The House That Couldn't Stop Starting

    The Winchester Mystery House books an ADHD coaching intake: 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, and a staircase that only got as far as "2." In this Halloween episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab, two certified ADHD coaches dissect ADHD unfinished projects, the fresh start effect, and the interest-based nervous system. Key Concepts The Fresh Lumber Start The House's name for the rush of a brand new project: the aroma of new wood, the smell of possibility. The Fresh Start Effect Behavioural scientist Dr. Katy Milkman and her colleagues found that new beginnings give people a measurable bump in motivation to go after their goals. The Interest-Based Nervous System Dr. William Dodson describes the ADHD nervous system as interest-based rather than importance-based. Engagement comes from interest, novelty, challenge, and urgency. The Hobby Graveyard The collection of started-and-stopped projects that most ADHDers will recognize. Boarded-Up Decisions and Decision Paralysis A postponed decision doesn't go away. It just gets a wall. Unfinished Is Not Failed The House survived a major earthquake and is still standing. Still interesting, still getting visitors, still mysterious. Prescription Protocol: Close A Door Just one prescription this week. Pick one unfinished project and give it an official ending. Photo Attributions https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ca0959.photos.018660phttps://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ca0959.photos.018666p/ (Jane Lidz, 1980) https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ca0959.photos.018662p https://www.https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ca0959/https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ca0959/https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ca0959/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Winchester_Mystery_House#/map/0/17/37.31823/-121.95114https://digitalcollections.sjlibrary.org/digital/collection/sjplpc/id/199https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/Share/od741fncd2k5527n1r1m7utltp26l5feColour Photo by Harsh-Light, used under Commons License with attribution: https://www.flickr.com/photos/harshlight/WinchesterConnect with us Email : TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com Cringe-fession Form: https://forms.gle/nua66LxRdVNvQVkt5 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-adhd-cringe-lab/id6783463372 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Dv5DunVldSWGRWvGDgq YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheADHDCringeLab Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/614e9f5c-4132-40b7-8174-e73c0c51fbcc/the-adhd-cringe-lab

  2. Oct 7

    ADHD Horror Stories | We Didn't Ask. The Internet Delivered

    SHOW NOTES EPISODE DESCRIPTION Have you ever done something so ADHD that you had to leave the building, the city, or possibly the country? You're not alone. The internet has receipts. In this episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab, your ADHD comedy podcast hosted by two certified ADHD coaches, we open the Cringe Archives: real ADHD horror stories from Reddit and beyond. There's a stranger in the wrong hostel bed, a work lunch that took a turn into high school biology, a donut that never made it home, and a traffic moment that ended in eye contact with exactly the wrong person. Faelyne faces "Has Faelyne Done This?", a Lightning Round tests how fast two coaches can name the ADHD pattern, and one story takes the crown for Most Cringe. Faelyne also confesses something about her grandparents. Along the way we name what's really going on: social autopilot, working memory, object permanence, impulsivity and emotional dysregulation. None of it means you're broken. All credit goes to the brave souls who posted these. Links to the original posts are below. New episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com Episode summary A Lab Lite episode with no skit. Stephanie dug up real ADHD horror stories from the internet, Faelyne reacted to them cold, and the two of them named the ADHD pattern behind each one. What we cover "Has Faelyne Done This?" Final tally: two out of three.The Hostel: autopilot on the way in, avoidance on the way outThe Fetal Pig: blurting and the Unfiltered BroadcastTim Hortons: working memory, and a very helpful Canadian honkThe Therapist: impulsivity and emotional dysregulationA five-story Lightning RoundValidation moment Sometimes the cringiest story is the one that finally gets you answers. Most Cringe Specimen Four, the Therapist. Send us your ADHD horror story Email TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com (remember the THE) or use the cringefession form:  https://forms.gle/nua66LxRdVNvQVkt5 YouTube -Join our Community:  https://youtube.com/@theadhdcringelab/community?si=qC8FXuIoUTdwGTi5  SOURCES & FURTHER READING Russell A. Barkley, Ph.D., Taking Charge of Adult ADHD (Guilford Press). Working memory, impulsivity and emotional regulation in adult ADHD.  Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., and John J. Ratey, M.D., ADHD 2.0 (Ballantine Books). How the ADHD brain handles attention, distraction and autopilot moments.  William Dodson, M.D., "How ADHD Ignites Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria," ADDitude. https://www.additudemag.com/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-and-adhd/ Rejection sensitivity, mentioned in the Hostel story.

  3. Sep 30

    ADHD RSD | The Evil Twin Attack

    Same signal. Same name. Close enough that you connect without even checking. We're still in spooky season on The ADHD Cringe Lab, the ADHD comedy podcast hosted by two certified ADHD coaches. Last episode, something disappeared on you. This time, something impersonates you. Alice finally opens the family trip-to-Salem email thread. Search bar only, blinders on. She's doing great: responding, accountable, enthusiastic. Then Mallory lights up in the corner. Mallory is Alice's Evil Twin, and she sounds exactly like Alice's own common sense. Alice's name is almost last on the To line. The question about room preferences is really about Alice's snoring. Cousin Jessie's sweet memory is a humble brag. And Auntie's "haha, love you" about the veggie option? Case closed. We use real cybersecurity to explain Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD): the evil twin WiFi attack, plus the cryptography characters Alice, Bob, Eve and Mallory. We cover negative intent attribution, confirmation bias, and the physical tells that show up before you ever catch the thought. We also explain why RSD doesn't mean your feelings are wrong. It means the volume is turned up louder than the moment calls for. This episode draws on the work of Dr. William Dodson. Then three Prescription Protocols from the cybersecurity playbook: The Sandbox Protocol, Clear the Cache, and Two-Factor Authentication. Plus a Cringe Mailbag letter from Rizzabeth in Hawkins, Indiana, about an elevator ride that lasted exactly 18 floors too long. Alice didn't need to delete Mallory. She just stopped giving her admin access. New episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon Music. 📧 TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com Key Takeaway RSD isn't your feelings being wrong. It's the volume turned up louder than the moment calls for. You don't have to silence your Evil Twin forever. You just have to stop letting her run the whole system unsupervised. The Prescription Protocols: Your Cybersecurity Stack Protocol 1, The Sandbox Protocol. Contain it in the moment. Notice the effect, not the thought: the headache, the scroll urge, the autocorrect rage. Don't argue with Mallory and don't agree with her. Say "sandboxed," note what she said in a couple of words, and move on. Protocol 2, Clear the Cache. Investigate later, once you have some space. Verify the source: would you trust this claim from a random sender? Check the timestamp: is this about who you are today, or a cached page from years ago? If it's expired, change the password. The memory happened, but it doesn't get admin privileges over your present. Protocol 3, Two-Factor Authentication. Don't trust a single factor. Before a spiraling read becomes settled fact, get a second source. Text a friend, or ask directly: "Hey, when you said X, what did you mean?" Sources and Research Dr. William Dodson: Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) in adult ADHD; rejection and perceived failure Hostile attribution bias: research on assigning hostile intent to ambiguous social cues Confirmation bias: selective search for evidence supporting an existing belief Cryptography naming conventions (Alice, Bob, Eve, Mallory) and the evil twin wireless attack Connect With Us Email us your cringe: TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com Cringe-fession Form: https://forms.gle/nua66LxRdVNvQVkt5 Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music

  4. Sep 23

    ADHD Ghosting | Wait... Am I the Ghost?

    Episode summary In this episode we take on ADHD ghosting, the very real, very neurological pattern where an ADHD brain goes quiet on someone it loves, not from a lack of caring, but from an overload of it. Our skit follows a paranormal investigator working a haunted house case who slowly realizes every "anomaly" she's investigating traces back to her own unanswered voicemails, missed plans, and a hyperfocus rabbit hole she never meant to disappear into. What we cover What ADHD ghosting actually is, and why it's different from ordinary ghostingThe neuroscience behind the guilt and shame spiral that keeps a message unanswered longer and longerHow rejection sensitivity hijacks conversations and sends the brain looking for any tangent that isn't the real questionWhy hyperfocus and time blindness work together, and how a few minutes of research can quietly become weeksThe GHOST framework: Guilt, Hiding, Overwhelm, Shame, and Time blindness, a quick memory hack for spotting the pattern in yourselfPrescription Protocols Protocol 1: Check for a Pulse, including the Search and Desist Method. A thirty second scan of your messages, not a full excavation, just checking for anything urgent. If you're hunting one specific message, use the search bar and nothing else. Blinders on, box only. Protocol 2: Send the Static. You don't owe anyone a full explanation in the moment. A single line, or even a ghost emoji, is proof of life and it's enough. Protocol 3: Know Your Ignition Triggers. Learn your personal hyperfocus triggers ahead of time (take our hyperfocus ignition quiz, linked below) and flag them to someone before you disappear into a project, not after. Protocol 4: The Contact Attempt. Skip the apology tour. One honest sentence, "I went quiet, that's on me, and I'm back now," does more than a perfect explanation ever could. Sources & research Dr. Edward Hallowell, on the distinction between guilt and shameDr. John Ratey, on ADHD brain activation and overwhelm response to social inputDr. Russell Barkley, on ADHD as fundamentally a time blindness conditionTake the Unscientific Hyperfocus trigger quiz:    https://adhdfcringelab-hyperfocus.netlify.app/ Connect with us Email us your cringe: TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com Or fill out the Cringefession form: https://forms.gle/nua66LxRdVNvQVkt5 Find us on: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-adhd-cringe-lab/id6783463372 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Dv5DunVldSWGRWvGDgq?si=211d152487804001 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheADHDCringeLab Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/614e9f5c-4132-40b7-8174-e73c0c51fbcc/the-adhd-cringe-lab YouTube Community: https://youtube.com/@theadhdcringelab/community?si=qC8FXuIoUTdwGTi5   Because if you can laugh at it, you can learn from it.

  5. Sep 16

    ADHD Financial Avoidance | I See Dead Bills

    Have you ever bought a planner, an app, or a system that felt like real progress on your finances, and somehow still haven't opened your mail? In this episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab, your ADHD comedy podcast hosted by two certified ADHD coaches, we're putting ADHD financial avoidance under the microscope. Andi is back with the Wizard of Whenever, this time carrying a brand new planner, a beautiful new bag, and a whole lot of research. What she's not carrying is a single opened bill. Then we break it down. Why buying the solution can feel like solving the problem even when nothing's actually solved, the real difference between motion and action, and why executive function and emotional memory work together, unintentionally, to keep you stuck in the exact same place. We're prescribing three protocols, built with real backup from ADHD coach Christina O'Neill, for turning financial intentions into something that actually sticks. New episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com SHOW NOTESEpisode summary In this episode we take on ADHD and financial avoidance, specifically the magical purchase, the belief that buying a new system, planner, or product will finally fix the problem it was meant to help you face. Andi returns to the Wizard of Wheneever with a beautiful new planner and zero opened bills, and gets caught buying progress instead of making it. What we cover Why buying a planner, app, or system can feel like real progress on a problem you still haven't touchedThe difference between motion and action, and why motion still feels like real workHow executive function and emotional memory work together, unintentionally, to keep you stuckWhy ADHD financial struggles are often assumed to be about impulse spending, and the real economic cost data says otherwiseChristine Hargrove's concept of invisible barriers to financial well-being Prescription Protocols Protocol 1: Bribe the Brain, build the reward in ahead of time instead of waiting for motivation to show up Protocol 2: Offload the Remembering, autopay what you can and pick one set day instead of scattering financial attention all week Protocol 3: Name the Treasure, vague goals stay invisible, naming a goal specifically breaks the spell Validation Station moment If you've only ever heard one explanation for why you avoid your finances, usually some version of "you need to be more disciplined," there isn't just one reason. Sometimes it's executive function. Sometimes it's old emotional memory you've never even connected to money before. Sometimes it's both, at once. Sources and research Christine Hargrove, PhD, LMFT, financial therapist, Love and Money Center, University of Georgia, "invisible barriers" framework Christina O'Neill, ADHD Coaching LLC, PCAC and AAMC, ADHD and money coaching framework, "The ADHD Tax on Finances"

  6. Sep 9

    ADHD Avoidance: "A Lie for a Lie"

    This week we're putting an ancient tenet on trial: the belief that if you don't look at something, it isn't real yet. Our skit sends Andi to see her fortune teller, the Wizard From Whenever, about a string of recurring nightmares, rent, failing a class, that turn out to be something Ruby's aura logs already have on file. Turns out they're not nightmares at all. They're just Tuesday. What we cover Why "avoidance" isn't laziness, it's a nervous system responding to a threat it doesn't have a plan forFight, Flight, Freeze, or Fib: the fourth stress response researchers and ADHD coaches have identified beyond the classic threeWhy it's often easier to hear a softer version of the truth from someone else than to face it yourselfThree protocols for breaking the pattern: Break the Spell, Peek at the Dragon, and Call a Real Messenger Prescription Protocols Protocol 1: Break the Spell: The moment you catch yourself reaching for a softer story instead of the real one, stop and say so, plainly, to yourself, before it takes hold. Protocol 2: Peek at the Dragon: Pick the single most avoided item and give it two minutes. Not a plan, not a solution, just look. Tell your brain it can do anything for two minutes. Protocol 3: Call a Real Messenger: Trade the horoscope, the reassurance-fishing text, or the app you never check, for one real person who deals in facts and is actually in your corner. Validation Station moment If a phone alert sends you into full text anxiety, or your inbox has thousands of unread emails staring back at you, there's nothing weak about that. Your threat system doesn't have a lower setting. It just throws everything, a biology exam and a literal house fire, into the same pile. Cringe rating 8/10 - high enough to sting, since the skit hits real, quiet, internal cringe (paying someone else to hear a softer lie) rather than loud, public cringe. Sources & research Hassall, M., R.N., & Hunter, B., M.Ed. - "Fight, Flight, Freeze... or Fib?" ADDitude Magazine, April 2019. additudemag.com/why-lie-adhd-fight-flight-freeze/ - also published as "Beyond Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Fib," Attention Magazine (CHADD), June 2019. Introduces "Fib" as a fourth stress response; frames fibbing as a self-preservation strategy rooted in poor inhibition, emotional regulation, working memory, and attention, not a character flaw. Oltmanns, T., & Emery, R. - Abnormal Psychology, 8th ed. Pearson Education, 2015, p. 231. Foundational Fight/Flight framing cited within the Fib research. Jarvik, L. F., & Russell, D. - "Anxiety, Aging, and the Third Emergency Reaction." Journal of Gerontology, 34(2), March 1979. Origin of "Freeze" as a third recognized stress response, later extended to a fourth ("Fib") by Hassall and Hunter. Barkley, R. - Taking Charge of Adult ADHD. Guilford Press, 2010, pp. 7-12. Executive function and self-regulation framework underlying the Fib mechanism. Connect with us Email us your cringe: TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube Because if you can laugh at it, you can learn from it. 🐻🍝

  7. Sep 2

    ADHD Let It Go: Same Brain, Different Choices

    Four episodes ago we opened an experiment. Today we close it. This is the final installment of the BAIL communication series on The ADHD Cringe Lab, your ADHD comedy podcast hosted by two certified ADHD coaches. B — blurting. A — arguing. I — interrupting. L — let it go. And let it go is not about suppression. Not about shrinking. Not about making your brain smaller or quieter or more palatable. It is about releasing the outcome. Entering a conversation as a scientist rather than a defendant. Curious about what actually happens instead of terrified of what might. Dakota is at HAX. Raven is on her way. The coach has done her work and left the building. And for the first time in four episodes Dakota is running the experiment on her own — catching the broadcasts before they go live, holding frequency, choosing curiosity over outcome — and finding out what connection actually feels like when the ADHD brain gets out of its own way. We break down the neuroscience of letting go, the brain chemistry of connection, the science of ADHD self-acceptance, and why "just let it go" has never worked and what to do instead. We draw on the research of Dr. Russell Barkley, Dr. John Ratey, Dr. Edward Hallowell, and Dr. Ari Tuckman. Then the complete BAIL toolkit — all twelve protocols from all four episodes — in one place. For your working memory. Because we know. This is the series finale. The data is in. The findings are ready. Scientists don't fail experiments. They collect data. The Complete BAIL Toolkit All twelve protocols. All four episodes. One place. B — Blurting (Episode 10) Protocol 1: Name the Broadcast — feel the pre-transmission signal before it goes live Protocol 2: Drop the Script — release the rehearsed response and receive what's actually being said Protocol 3: The One Beat Rule — one beat of receiving before transmitting Protocol 4: Run the Experiment — form a hypothesis, collect data, debrief. Scientists don't fail experiments. They collect data. A — Arguing (Episode 11) Protocol 1: Hold the Launch — feel the signal, name it internally, run the Go or No Go check Protocol 2: QB4S — Question Before Statement. One genuine question before you offer your version Protocol 3: Lock and Locate the Launchpad's Nearest Exit — name the lock, find the one true thing, abort. Stop talking. Let the silence do its job. I — Interrupting (Episode 12) Protocol 1: Name the Broadcast — same foundation, different signal Protocol 2: Hold Frequency — one genuine question before you switch from receiving to sending Protocol 3: Clear Transmission — one clean repair sentence, then stop transmitting. The repair lives in the sentence. L — Let It Go (Episode 13) Release the outcome. Enter the conversation as a scientist not a defendant. Curious about what actually happens instead of terrified of what might. Form a hypothesis. Run the experiment. Collect the data. Debrief. Adjust the next hypothesis. Hypothesis by hypothesis. Data point by data point. One experiment at a time. New episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon Music. 📧 Connect with us: TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com

  8. Aug 26

    ADHD INTERRUPTING: OVER, OVER AND OUT

    Have you ever been mid-apology and interrupted yourself three times before you got to the actual sorry? Or watched someone's eyes shift and known your signal had already gone somewhere they couldn't follow? In this episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab, your ADHD comedy podcast hosted by two certified ADHD coaches, we put ADHD interrupting under the microscope. Not the aggressive kind. Not the dismissive kind. The kind that comes from a brain so activated, so full of signal, that it simply cannot wait for a gap in the transmission. Dakota calls Raven to apologize for how she was at HAX — and proceeds to interrupt the apology, redirect it, relitigate the parking lot, and deliver a full character analysis of the Blend Visionary before the sorry actually lands. It's a split screen phone call, a messy transmission, and one of the most relatable ADHD social moments we've put in the Lab. Then we break it down. We cover the neuroscience of ADHD interrupting, ADHD inhibitory control, ADHD working memory, and the gap between what an ADHD brain intends to broadcast and what the person on the other end actually receives. We draw on the research of Dr. Russell Barkley, the late Dr. Thomas Brown — this episode is dedicated to him — Dr. Edward Hallowell, and Dr. Ari Tuckman. Then three Prescription Protocols: Name the Broadcast, Hold Frequency, and Clear Transmission. Practical, ADHD-brain-compatible, and road tested on ourselves and on people who love us and have signed no liability waiver. This is episode three of the BAIL series. B — blurting. A — arguing. I — interrupting. The talk button was already down. Let's get into it. Connect With UsEmail us your cringe: TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.comCringe-fession Form: https://forms.gle/nua66LxRdVNvQVkt5Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music

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About

You know that feeling when someone describes an ADHD moment so accurately you want to laugh and cry at the same time? That's every episode of The ADHD Cringe Lab. The ADHD Cringe Lab is the ADHD comedy podcast where two credentialed ADHD coaches act out the cringe moments we all recognize — then actually explain why our brains do that. Every episode, hosts Stephanie and Faelyne perform a skit dramatizing a real ADHD experience — hyperfocus spirals, planner fails, time blindness disasters, shame spirals, task paralysis, and every flavor of neurodivergent cringe — then break down the science, validate the struggle, and offer real coaching perspective. No toxic positivity. No empty superpower talk. Just honest, funny, evidence-based ADHD content from people who live it and coach it. Whether you're newly diagnosed, late-diagnosed, finally figuring out why your whole life suddenly makes sense, or just done pretending your brain works like everyone else's — you're going to hear yourself in every episode. Featuring: the ADHD Spaghetti Bear, the Cringe Mailbag, the Validation Station, and Prescription Protocols that actually make sense for ADHD brains. Because if you can laugh at it, you can learn from it. Email us: TheADHDSpaghettiBear@gmail.com

Information

  • Creator
    The ADHD Cringe Lab
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The ADHD Cringe Lab
  • Show Website
    The ADHD Cringe Lab