Brainworx with Alma Galvan and Bob Dietrich

Hey team, This week, we’re diving into the innovative world of digital therapeutics with Dr. Scott Kollins, exploring the potential of a unique game-based treatment for ADHD. Dr. Kollins works for a company called Akili that has been developing a video game that is designed to help treat the symptoms of ADHD. The game EndevorOTC was only available for iOS, but they also just recently launched an Android version. In our conversation today, we discuss the challenges, successes, and future of this pioneering approach to managing ADHD. Check out Endeavor OTC Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/150 This Episode's Top Tips We should consider EndevorOTC as a supplement rather than a replacement for traditional treatments. While the research does show it’s benefits, we often want to approach our ADHD treatment from multiple angles. As with anything we do for our ADHD, consistency is key. Just like exercise or going to the gym, the game's benefits come with regular and consistent use. Although designed as a game, this treatment should be approached with the understanding that it's a medical product aiming to assist and that sometimes it’s going to be hard.

25 Sep 202327min

Hey team, This week I’m talking with Rachel Scanlon, a stand-up comedian, actress, writer and co-host to the podcast Two Dykes and a Mic. Seen on Don't Tell Comedy, JFL’s Straight Up Stand Up, and Comedy Central, Rachel is a high-energy comic that buzzes with positivity. In our conversation, we hear about Rachel’s journey with ADHD and her decisions to manage it. We also explore the intertwining worlds of ADHD and queer identity. From the challenges of school to the joys of podcasting, our conversation ranges and highlights the power of embracing your own unique experiences. Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/149 This Episode's Top Tips People with ADHD are often labeled with stereotypes like being "scatterbrained" or "lazy." It's essential to challenge these misconceptions and highlight the strengths, such as drive, engagement, and compassion, that many individuals with ADHD possess. Recognizing and understanding one's neurodivergence can be liberating. Instead of attempting to fit into a neurotypical mold, individuals with ADHD should embrace and celebrate their unique traits and abilities. There can be intersections in the experiences of being queer and being neurodivergence. It's beneficial for people to question and engage in some introspection, even if it leads to the reaffirmation of your own initial understanding. With ADHD it’s important to find creative outlets that let you truly be yourself. By tapping into your own self-expression you can lean into your strengths and find fulfillment with what you do.

18 Sep 202328min

This week I’m talking with Star Hansen, a Certified Professional Organizer (CPO©) and Clutter Whisperer on a mission to help you banish your personal Clutter Monster. Her methodology focuses on helping you take control of your stuff and create a life you’re truly proud of. Star looks at the deeper meaning of your stuff to help you figure out why you feel overwhelmed by your clutter in the first place. Star’s best-selling book, “Why the F*#@ Am I Still Not Organized?”, has inspired countless individuals to tackle their clutter head-on and find lasting solutions. In our conversation, we discuss the significance of having clutter-free spaces and the impact it has on mental and emotional well-being - how clutter can create stress, affect decision-making, and hinder productivity. We also delve into the emotional attachment people often have to their belongings, how clutter can impact relationships, and how clutter can highlight personal values and emotional struggles. Check out Star's Freebies (including a copy of her book) Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/148 This Episode's Top Tips Fresh starts can help us let go of our past performance and embrace our new self. We can effectively create motivation with financial incentives, but often that isn't enough for us to follow through on some of the things that we really do want to do. We also need to create reminders and a plan on how we want to accomplish our goals. Don't try and do all the new things at once - pace yourself and create a plan on what you want to do first. Try and focus on doing the things that by doing them will make everything else easier. We need to be flexible with our plans because we are going to hit speed bumps - while we can't plan for everything we can work on ways to help us get back up when we get knocked down.

11 Sep 202335min

Hey team! This week I’m talking with Dr. Jessica Stern about ADHD, mental health, and trauma. Dr. Stern is a licensed clinical psychologist, consultant, and clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Health. Her areas of specialty are depression, anxiety, ADHD in adults, and trauma, as well as burnout, productivity, and corporate wellness. In our conversation today we discuss the intersection of ADHD and trauma, the need for routine and structure while still maintaining our need for spontaneity. We also get into the importance of support networks and how we can also check in with ourselves. Additionally, we also talked about Wondermind, a mental fitness company that Dr. Stern is serving as an advisor. Wondermind was co-founded by Selena Gomez and Mandy Teefey and just launched their own podcast Baggage Drop which features short 10-minute episodes to help with mental health and build habits. Be sure to check out my interview with Skye Rapson on her podcast The ADHD Skills Lab Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/147 This Episode's Top Tips Fresh starts can help us let go of our past performance and embrace our new self. We can effectively create motivation with financial incentives, but often that isn't enough for us to follow through on some of the things that we really do want to do. We also need to create reminders and a plan on how we want to accomplish our goals. Don't try and do all the new things at once - pace yourself and create a plan on what you want to do first. Try and focus on doing the things that by doing them will make everything else easier. We need to be flexible with our plans because we are going to hit speed bumps - while we can't plan for everything we can work on ways to help us get back up when we get knocked down.

4 Sep 202328min

In just one more month we're going to be coming up on the halfway point of 2021 — I know, I have no idea how it got here either. But with this mark in time we're starting to see a shift going on - while COVID certainly isn't a thing of the past, the vaccine role out has opened up a lot of possibilities for what we want our future to look like. At the end of 2020, I did some planning for 2021, but I knew that a lot of it was going to be uncertain so I didn't make too many specific plans. But now that I'm getting a better grasp of what the future might hold — although let's be honest, with ADHD we're always going to have a lot of uncertainty — I felt like it was time to go over those plans again and maybe give myself a fresh start. In this episode, we're going to be talking about the fresh start effect, go over some stuff on planning, and how we can work on sticking to those plans. Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/76 This Episode's Top Tips Fresh starts can help us let go of our past performance and embrace our new self. We can effectively create motivation with financial incentives, but often that isn't enough for us to follow through on some of the things that we really do want to do. We also need to create reminders and a plan on how we want to accomplish our goals. Don't try and do all the new things at once - pace yourself and create a plan on what you want to do first. Try and focus on doing the things that by doing them will make everything else easier. We need to be flexible with our plans because we are going to hit speed bumps - while we can't plan for everything we can work on ways to help us get back up when we get knocked down.

28 Aug 202317min

As we've been working on goals one place I want us to take a step back on and think about is meeting ourselves where we are. As we get going with our planning we tend to decide that well we want to do all of the things. And I mean why not, there are a lot of things that I want to do, if I don't start now, when am I going to start? I can't tell you how many ill-fated adventures I've started because of that whole "if not now, when?" line - there are so many things that I should be investing my time in now. I need to be meditating and exercising more and eating healthier and saving money and work on business and building my relationships and learning new skills and on and on and on. I'm sure everyone listening has that list of things they know that they should be starting on now because the sooner the better results you'll see down the line. But we're not starting on them... or when we do we don't stick with the changes. Today we're going to be looking at what it means to meet ourselves where we're at and then some of the ways that we can work on making that happen.\ Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the full show note at HackingYourADHD.com/80 This Episode's Top Tips We only have so much time and energy we can put into any given day - giving ourselves the self-compassion to accept this is our first step in meeting ourselves where we're at. When we're trying to add things back into our life that we've previously done it can feel like we picked up the wrong puzzle pieces and this is because we often don't think about how our circumstances have changed. Just because we did something before doesn't mean it will be necessarily easy for us to just pick right back up. After we approach what we're capable of with self-compassion we need to decide on some of the things that we're not going to do. This gives us the mental space to focus on the things we can do right now. Celebrate your small wins because they are the stepping stones to reaching your goals.

21 Aug 202317min

Trimethylxanthine is the world's most popular psychoactive drug - for many caffeine is such a ubiquitous substance that calling it a drug seems like a misnomer. How could something so widely used that has so few regulations around it be a drug? But a drug is simply a chemical substance that affects our nervous system function and can result in changes to our perception, mood, cognition, and behavior. I feel like caffeine ticks the box pretty well on all those accounts. In today's episode, we'll be exploring how caffeine works - some of its benefits and negatives and then we'll be looking at what we know about how caffeine and ADHD mix. Support me on Patreon Ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at hackingyouradhd.com/caffeine This Episode's Top Tips Caffeine is a psychoactive drug whose primary mechanism is binding to adenosine receptors in the brain. The buildup of adenosine in our system is what makes us sleepy, so by binding to these receptors caffeine is able to keep us awake. Caffeine has a host of benefits but having too much caffeine near bedtime can affect our slow-wave sleep and reduce our total amount of sleep. There is still a lot of research that needs to be done on the interaction between caffeine and ADHD but it is clear that many people with ADHD attempt to self-medicate with caffeine.

14 Aug 202316min

Over the last few weeks, I have hit a number of points where it all just felt like too much - now there are a number of things that have contributed to this, but one of the keys always behind when I get overwhelmed is doing too much. This is despite the fact that even when I have too much on my plate it always feels like I should be doing more. That I could squeeze in just a few more things and then… well then I’d probably also still be trying to add more things to do. In today’s episode, we’re going to be exploring why doing more isn’t usually the best thing for us to pursue and how doing less can actually help us actually accomplish the things we really want to do. Support me on Patreon Feel free to ask me a question on my Contact Page Find the show note at HackingYourADHD.com/111 This Episode's Top Tips Prioritizing with ADHD can be difficult and that is only made more difficult as we add more and more to what we’re doing. When we’re able to pare down the amount we’re doing we can then better prioritize all the things that actually need to get done. We don’t have to do everything that ends up on our to-do lists - it’s okay to cross things out even if we haven’t completed them. We only have so much cognitive capacity to focus on any given thing and the more open loops we the more we are going to be drawing on that cognitive capacity. Our best bet for dealing with open loops is to work on simply opening fewer of them by taking less on.

7 Aug 202314min