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  ADHD Assessment: What Actually Happens in a Psychiatrist's Appointment (with Dr Brendan Daugherty) 04.08.2026 34Min.

  **This episode is general information only and is not medical advice. If any of it applies to you, please talk it through with your own GP or psychiatrist**Have you ever walked out of a psychiatrist's office more confused than when you walked in? Not sure what just happened, whether you got a diagnosis, what you were supposed to ask, or whether the thing you were terrified of — coming across like you were just there for the stimulants — is exactly what you did. For a lot of women getting an ADHD assessment at 40, the appointment itself is the black box. Nobody tells you the order to see a GP, psychologist and psychiatrist in, what happens if your school reports are gone and your parents have died, why they start you on one medication and not another, or what a drug holiday actually is.So this week Jane sat a psychiatrist down and asked him to open the box. Dr Brendan Daugherty walks through the whole thing — the pathway, the assessment, how they choose your first medication, and the one thing that makes these appointments go better. Bring the questions you've been too embarrassed to ask.CHAPTERS00:00 — Walking out more confused than when you walked in02:36 — GP, psychologist, psychiatrist — the actual order, and when to skip a step04:38 — Have the waitlists really improved? A straight answer05:44 — The two kinds of women who book an assessment — which one are you?09:50 — 'ADHD is a bit like a shield' — and what's underneath when the medication lifts it13:19 — 'I'm scared I'll look like I'm drug seeking' — the post Jane sees every week15:26 — How a psychiatrist spots the woman who's masked her whole life and looks fine16:56 — No school reports, parents gone — how do you even get diagnosed? (evidence before 12)19:15 — The squat-rack phone call that diagnosed Jane's ADHD in real time23:23 — How they actually choose your first medication — first-line vs second-line25:28 — Long-acting or short-acting, and why it's not one-size-fits-all26:18 — Drug holidays: why they're prescribed, and why the evidence is weaker than you think29:34 — What's changing in psychiatry for women — hormones, the cycle, and menopauseWhat We CoverWhy so many women walk out of the appointment with no idea what just happened — and the questions nobody tells you to bringThe actual order to see a GP, psychologist and psychiatrist in, when you can skip a step, and when doubling up is a waste of your moneyThe two completely different reasons women book an assessment — and why knowing which one you are changes where you should bookWhat Brendan means when he says attention problems aren't always ADHD — the medical and hormonal things a rushed assessment misses'ADHD is a bit like a shield' — the conversation about what surfaces when the medication lifts it, and why Jane went back to short-actingThe post Jane sees in the Facebook group every single week — 'I'm terrified I'll look like I'm drug seeking' — and exactly how a psychiatrist actually hears thatHow a psychiatrist recognises the woman who's held it all together on the outside and is burnt out underneathWhat happens when you don't have school reports and your parents have died — how the 'evidence before 12' rule actually works in practiceHow they choose which medication to start you on, first-line versus second-line, long-acting versus short — in plain EnglishDrug holidays — why they get prescribed, why the evidence is weaker than it sounds, and what that means for your Saturday sport chaosWhat's genuinely changing for women in ADHD care — the hormonal picture, the menstrual cycle, and menopauseFree ResourcesPreparing for Diagnosis — for the mum wondering if it's ADHD and what to do next — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/preparing-for-diagnosis/Paid ResourcesPre-Diagnosis Workbook — the deeper version of 'get clear before you spend the money on an assessment' — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/prediagnosisworkbook/Related EpisodesHow to Get a Diagnosis in Australia (Part 1) — S1 EP7, with Dr Jacinta Thomson — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/s1-ep7-how-to-get-a-diagnosis-in-australia-part-1/ADHD Medication: Stimulants vs Non-Stimulants — S2 EP40, Jane solo — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-40-adhd-medication-stimulants-vs-non-stimulants-solo-episode-with-jane-mcfadden/About the GuestDr Brendan Daugherty is a child, adolescent, adult and forensic psychiatrist and a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. He's the co-founder of Pandion Health, an Australian telehealth platform providing specialist-led ADHD assessment and ongoing care for adults and children.You can find Brendan here:Website: https://www.pandionhealth.com.auInstagram: @itsdrbrendan (and the clinic, @pandionhealth)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendandaugherty/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group👥 Receive the episodes in your inbox References & Further ReadingOn dexamphetamine vs methylphenidate (Brendan's 'a little bit better' point, ~24:24):Cortese, S. et al. (2018). Comparative efficacy and tolerability of medications for ADHD in children, adolescents, and adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 5(9), 727–738. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30269-4On stimulant 'drug holidays' and growth (~26:18):Drug holidays and the ~2cm growth question are genuinely contested in the literature. The most-cited long-term data is the MTA follow-up (Swanson et al., 2017, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry), which found a small average height reduction associated with consistent stimulant use. Brendan's framing — that it's 'a bit overblown' and the adult evidence for weekend breaks is weak — matches the current consensus.On combined medication + non-medication treatment (~23:23):The MTA Cooperative Group studies remain the reference point for Brendan's 'they work best in combination' statement.
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  Mental Load: 'I'm Just Tired of Being the Only Adult.' When the Kids Start Paying For It. 03.08.2026 24Min.

  The mental load starts as the thing you can laugh about — the admin, the medal for mowing the lawn. And then, somewhere underneath it, it stops being funny. It's the sentence that comes out of your mouth before you can stop it: 'would you mind having the kids on Saturday so I can get a haircut' — asking the other parent for their own children like you're lodging annual leave with HR. It's 'they were so good while you were gone,' and knowing 'good' meant nobody got fed. It's being so tired of being the only adult in the building that you stop being angry and just go quiet.This is Part 3, the last in the series, and it's the heavy one. It begins with a laugh and then it lets that laugh go. This one is for you, on your own, with your headphones in — and if you're right on the edge of exasperation today, Jane's honest recommendation is that you save this one for another day. Built entirely from what you wrote in. Support links are in the notes below.CHAPTERS00:00 — The last one. It starts funny, then it doesn't.00:44 — 'I shouldn't have to book my own kids in like it's annual leave'01:37 — Watch where the school emails go — and the 11-day anaphylaxis email03:37 — 'It was so easy while you were gone.' Was it though?05:41 — The 7am text from Cassie, and what Jane wrote back without thinking07:32 — 'I'm not even angry anymore. I'm just so tired of being the only adult.'07:46 — The nine-year-old asked to regulate himself while the 39-year-old isn't11:33 — The question underneath all of it: are these women still with them?12:37 — 'Supportive of what?' — when the pat on the back keeps you carrying it14:39 — The economy of gratitude — his effort is a gift, yours is the weather15:03 — 'He's cheaper than hiring someone' — the accounting that holds women in place16:58 — Why this lands twice as hard on an ADHD mum — the load that has no gender, and the one that does20:52 — Why leaving isn't the easy answer, and the thing nobody says about single-mother poverty22:38 — This series was never mine. It was yours.What We CoverThe sentence so many women said comes out of their mouths and they don't know how they got there — asking the other parent to mind their own kidsWhere the pattern hides in plain sight — whose inbox the school actually emails, and the 11-day reply to an anaphylaxis email that says everything'It was so easy while you were gone' — what 'good' actually meant, and where the bar for care got leftThe 7am text from a friend that Jane laughed at before she worried, and the moment it turned from a joke into something realThe messages about children being asked to manage their emotions while a grown adult in the same house isn't — and what it costs the kid who gives up on a parentThe question that started sitting under every message — are these women still with their partners, and if it's this hard, why do we stay?'Supportive of what?' — the uncomfortable idea that the comfort itself might be the thing keeping you carrying all of itA sociologist's phrase you can't unhear — why his effort gets thanked and yours becomes the weatherWhy this exact load lands twice as hard on an ADHD mum — the part that has no gender, and the part that absolutely doesThe honest, un-tidy truth about why leaving isn't a clean answer — and the structural thing nobody wants to name🆘 SupportIf anything in this episode landed close to home, you don't have to sit with it alone.1800RESPECT — national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling — 1800 737 732, or 1800respect.org.au (24/7, free, confidential).Lifeline — 13 11 14, or lifeline.org.au (24/7 crisis support).If you're not sure whether what you're experiencing 'counts,' you can still call. They will talk it through with you.Free ResourcesHousehold Family Meeting Template — for the 'hand over a whole job, not a favour' conversation this episode is really about — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Related EpisodesThe Admin Husband: 'Do We Have Parmesan?' — Part 1 —https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/mental-load-do-we-have-parmesan-cheese-he-was-standing/id1686843092?i=1000777917338The Gold Medal Husband: 'Did You See the Lawn?' — Part 2https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/mental-load-he-mowed-the-lawn-once-and-wanted-to-know-if-you-saw-it/I Love My Family… But I'm So F**king Angry (Mum Rage Part 1) — S2 EP84 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-84-i-love-my-family-but-im-so-fking-angry-mum-rage-part-1/What We Wish Our Partners Knew About the Mental Load — And How to Truly Support Us — S2 EP75 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-75-what-we-wish-our-partners-knew-about-the-mental-load-and-how-to-truly-support-us/References & Further ReadingHochschild, A. R. (1989). The Second Shift: Working Families and the Revolution at Home. Viking.(The 'economy of gratitude' Jane cites — whose effort reads as a gift to be thanked, and whose reads as the background running of the house.)Also relevant — the cognitive/mental load framework underpinning the whole series:Daminger, A. (2019). The Cognitive Dimension of Household Labor. American Sociological Review, 84(4), 609–633. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419859007📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group👥 Receive the episodes in your inbox
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  Mental Load: He Mowed the Lawn Once and Wanted to Know If You Saw It. 30.07.2026 24Min.

  The mental load is not the doing. Everyone thinks it's the doing. It's the buy now, pay later maths you run when your partner tells you to rest — the hour you lie down and spend the whole hour calculating what this hour is costing you tomorrow. It's being the default parent, the one whose invisible labour only gets noticed the second it stops. And then, into that, walks the one who did the single most visible job in the house and needs you to see it. He mowed the lawn. He unpacked the dishwasher. Once. And he's standing in the middle of the kitchen, glowing, waiting for the medal.CHAPTERS00:00 — 'You rest, take a load off' — and why every woman's shoulders just went up01:35 — Buy now, pay later: what an hour of rest actually costs you02:39 — Dani, patron saint of this episode, and her four voice memos03:19 — Kat's dishwasher, the border collie, and the dead bird at your feet04:06 — 'Did you see the lawn?' The line that named the whole episode06:37 — The barbecue vasectomy story (you'll want to sit down)08:31 — The 3am texts, where it stops being funny — the wet bed, his one turn09:42 — 'I'm stressed about the mess. What are you going to do about it?'11:04 — The head lice question that broke everyone: 'or did you just decide that?'12:15 — Why is it always her? Susan Walzer, 1996, and thinking vs doing12:38 — He doesn't just do less. He's reading a different ledger.13:33 — Why this isn't gaslighting — and why that makes it harder to fix15:31 — What doesn't work: the chart, the PowerPoint, the tagging him in articles15:50 — What actually works: handing over whole domains, not tasks17:20 — How same-sex couples split it, and why they had to do it out loud19:55 — 'You're a bit of a perfectionist' — what he actually means when he says itWhat We CoverWhy 'you rest, I've got it' makes every woman's shoulders climb up around her ears — and the brutal maths hiding inside that hour of 'rest'The border collie, the dead bird, and the exact face a partner makes when he's unpacked the dishwasher once and needs you to noticeThe listener line that named this whole episode — and what she really wanted to say backThe barbecue vasectomy story, which has to be heard to be believed, and what six women two metres away were actually doing while he told itThe 3am texts, where the funny runs out — the wet bed and the one night it was his turn, and what he suggested instead of changing the sheetsThe head lice question that undid everyone — three little words that turned a job she'd been doing for three months into something she'd apparently inventedWhy it's her doing the tracking, the meds, the mattress — a piece of 1996 research, and a newer one that's sharper and more unsettlingWhy he isn't lying and isn't gaslighting when he says the house is fine — he's genuinely reading a different ledger, and that's the bit that's hard to fixThe three things that don't work (you've tried all three), and the one thing that does — and it isn't a better chore chartWhat a man actually means when he calls you a perfectionist — this one's going on a tea towelFree ResourcesHousehold Family Meeting Template — the closest thing to the 'hand over whole domains' conversation this episode is really about — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Paid ResourcesPre-Diagnosis Workbook — for the mum who's listening to this and starting to wonder about herself — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/prediagnosisworkbook/ADHD Mums Shop — https://adhdmums.com.au/shop/Related EpisodesThe Admin Husband: 'Do We Have Parmesan?' — Part 1 of this series —https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/adhd-invisible-load/ What We Wish Our Partners Knew About the Mental Load — And How to Truly Support Us — S2 EP75 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-75-what-we-wish-our-partners-knew-about-the-mental-load-and-how-to-truly-support-us/Making the Invisible Mental Load Visible: How to Share the Load Without the Stress (Part 3) — S2 EP73 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-73-making-the-invisible-mental-load-visible-how-to-share-the-load-without-the-stress-part-3/The Invisible Job: Being the One Who Holds Everything Together — S3 — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-invisible-job-being-the-one-who-holds-everything-together/References & Further ReadingWalzer, S. (1996). Thinking About the Baby: Gender and Divisions of Infant Care. Social Problems, 43(2), 219–234. https://doi.org/10.2307/3096999(The 1996 study Jane cites — women do the thinking, men do the doing.)Daminger, A. (2019). The Cognitive Dimension of Household Labor. American Sociological Review, 84(4), 609–633. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419859007(The four stages: anticipate, identify, decide, monitor — decision-making is shared, everything else falls on women.)On same-sex couples splitting cognitive labour more evenly:Pinho, M. & Gaunt, R. (2023). The management of cognitive labour in same-gender couples. PLoS ONE. (Same-gender couples negotiate the division explicitly rather than defaulting.)On the newer 'different perceptions of the same household' research:Weeks, A. C. & Ruppanner, L. (2024). A typology of US parents' mental loads: Core and episodic cognitive labor. Journal of Marriage and Family. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.13057📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group👥 Receive the episodes in your inbox
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  Is Daycare Causing ADHD? Debunking the Diary of a CEO Episode. (with Amanda Moses) 28.07.2026 40Min.

  Someone sent you the clip. Or your friend messaged about it. Or your mother-in-law forwarded it without comment and you sat there for a minute knowing exactly what she meant by that. The Diary of a CEO episode with Erica Komisar — the one saying ADHD isn't real, it's a stress response, and if your child has it the inconvenient truth is that you caused it. Two and a half hours long. Fifteen million subscribers. Ranked second on Spotify globally. So it doesn't stay in the episode — it gets clipped and reposted and lands in your DMs.This is the debunk. Senior psychologist and ADHD assessor Amanda Moses is back — the actual person who spends her days doing the assessments. Fourteen years in the field, Australia and the UK. Amanda pulls the clips apart word by word. The genetics. The 'malpractice' claim about medication. The 1950s theory this whole episode is quietly rebuilding under a new name.CHAPTERS00:00 — The email from a listener that made me pick up the phone to Amanda01:00 — What Erica Komisar is, and what she isn't02:30 — Clip 1: 'ADHD isn't a disorder. It's a stress response.'03:20 — Why the drop-the-D movement isn't about stress — and the heritability she's leaving out06:03 — Clip 2: 'There is no genetic precursor to ADHD.'07:30 — One minute there's no gene. The next minute there is. Which is it?13:37 — Clip 3: 'The way we treat ADHD is malpractice.'14:35 — Amanda on her own medication, and 'what do you mean people walk around like this for free?'23:37 — Clip 4: 'When your child gets an ADHD diagnosis, the first thing you should do is see a therapist.'25:17 — Refrigerator mother. 1950s. Same architecture. New diagnosis.29:07 — Where Erica raised her children. And what she could afford to sacrifice.33:17 — The economics that make her advice a fantasy for anyone under fifty36:31 — Amanda's take-home: you did not cause thisWhat We CoverThe email from a listener that made Jane stop what she was doing and pick up the phone to AmandaWhat Erica Komisar is not — three qualifications she doesn't hold, one of which will surprise youThe exact quote from clip one that Amanda says has nothing to do with the actual conversation the field is havingThe number Steven Bartlett read out to Erica that she then argued didn't existThe 1950s theory about mothers that was dismantled decades ago — and the sentence in this podcast that revives it word for wordWhat Amanda said about her own medication that Jane says she wishes someone had said to her three years earlierThe scaffolding Erica had that made her parenting choices possible — and why no woman under fifty has that same scaffolding nowThe one sentence Jane wanted on the record because she couldn't say it professionally — Amanda's response is why you love herAmanda's one take-home if your stomach dropped listening to that clip and you don't know where to go with the guiltFree ResourcesHousehold Family Meeting Template — for the load this episode is really talking about — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Explaining ADHD to Kids Guide — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/explaining-adhd-to-kids-parents-guide/Paid ResourcesADHD Mums Shop — https://adhdmums.com.au/shop/Related EpisodesADHD or PTSD? Why So Many Women Are Misdiagnosed — S2 EP82, with Amanda Moses — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-82-adhd-or-ptsd-why-so-many-women-are-misdiagnosed-with-amanda-moses/Is It Social Anxiety — or Is It Autism? — S3 EP34, with Amanda Moses — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-34-is-it-social-anxiety-or-is-it-autism-with-amanda-moses/References & Further ReadingOn ADHD heritability (the 74–80% figure):Faraone, S. V. & Larsson, H. (2019). Genetics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Molecular Psychiatry, 24(4), 562–575. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0070-0On the polygenic architecture Amanda references (many genes, small individual effect):Demontis, D. et al. (2019). Discovery of the first genome-wide significant risk loci for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Nature Genetics, 51(1), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0269-7On the 'refrigerator mother' theory Amanda names:The term originated with Leo Kanner in the 1940s and was popularised through the 1950s and 60s (most notably by Bruno Bettelheim). It was dismantled from the 1960s onward as autism's biological and genetic basis was established.About Amanda MosesAmanda Moses is a senior psychologist, board-approved supervisor, and ADHD and autism assessor with over 14 years of clinical experience across Australia and the UK. She specialises in complex assessments — the ones that don't fit neatly inside the box.Amanda offers clinical training and accessible resources for community members looking to understand autism and ADHD more holistically. Amanda's 'Understanding Neurodivergence Series' combine research, lived experience and practical reflection tools in a way that is clear and easy to follow. In 2026, the series was fully redesigned in collaboration with a professional designer and accessibility expert to improve visual accessibility and overall usability, while maintaining clinical depth. They are written for both therapists and neurodivergent people who want to better understand autistic and ADHD experiences. Each guide includes structured explanations and worksheets that can be used in therapy or independently. The focus is on supporting learning, self-understanding and strengths-based reflection in a way that is respectful and genuinely neurodiversity-affirming.Understanding Neurodivergence Series: https://www.amandamosespsychology.com.au/clinicalresources/?categories[]=understanding-neurodivergence-series#category-tilesAmanda's Instagram📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group👥 Receive the episodes in your inbox
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  Mental Load: 'Do We Have Parmesan Cheese?' He Was Standing at the Fridge. I Was Interstate 23.07.2026 28Min.

  The mental load is the thing you couldn't name for years — the invisible mental load that means one adult in the house knows when library day is and one adult keeps asking. The one who anticipates, identifies, decides, and monitors, and the one who stands next to the dishwasher and shouts through to the lounge room to ask if it's clean. You've known the pattern for years. You've done the therapy. You've read the book. You've made the 1.2-metre colour-coded family planner. And he still texts you from home, from within arm's reach of the fridge, to ask about the Parmesan.This week the ADHD Mums Facebook group broke open. So many messages, voice notes, and 4am DMs from women hiding in their own ensuites that Jane's had to split it into three episodes. This is Part 1 — the Admin Husband. Part 2 is the Gold Medal Husband next week. Part 3 is coming.CHAPTERS00:00 — The Facebook post that broke the internet00:27 — Lisa. 4am. From inside her own ensuite. Husband asleep in the next room.01:23 — Please stop asking us what time school pickup is02:03 — Renee: 'I made the calendar. I bought the calendar. I put it up. I synced it to your phone.'03:32 — Do men use Siri? A serious question.04:59 — The 1.2-metre colour-coded family planner he walks past every single day06:47 — He texts her the address of the program she set up, booked, paid for and drives to every week09:26 — Parmesan. He's at the fridge. She's in Adelaide.10:55 — The T-shirt drawer that hasn't moved in three years12:20 — The 36-minute toilet holiday, and what he's actually doing in there14:18 — Alison Daminger's four stages of the mental load — and which one he only turns up for16:35 — Affordance perception: he isn't ignoring the crumbs. He genuinely can't see them.19:16 — Same-sex couples don't do this. Which tells you something.21:53 — 'Accidentally, lovingly raising the next man to look at a bench and just see a bench.'22:36 — 'Just ask me if you need help.' Why that sentence is worse than no help.What We CoverThe Facebook post that unleashed more DMs and voice notes than anything else on the show — including one from a woman messaging at 4am from inside her own ensuite while her husband slept in the next roomWhat Renee has done to try and stop her husband asking her what's on today for the seventh time before 9am — and why none of it workedThe 1.2-metre colour-coded family planner one member has installed on her wall. Her husband walks past it every single day. He hasn't looked at it once. She's been tracking.Why he can find the remote. Why he can conduct a full detective investigation into a missing beer. And why the billboard is invisible.The Parmesan text. From another state. Not a rhetorical device — a real message.A sociologist who broke the mental load into four stages, and the one stage he actually turns up forTwo philosophers on why your partner isn't lying when he says he doesn't see the bench. He's not seeing it the way you're seeing it — and this is the bit that stopped Jane in her tracksWhat the research on same-sex households is actually telling us — and it's not that men's brains are differentThe 36-minute toilet holiday. The medical event. What he's really doing in there.Why answering him when he shouts through from the kitchen is the exact thing that keeps you SiriThe sentence a Facebook group member said out loud that Jane hasn't been able to stop thinking about since — 'I'm accidentally, lovingly raising the next man to look at a bench and just see a bench'Free ResourcesHousehold Family Meeting Template — for moving off stage-three-only and onto shared stages one and two — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/The ADHD Mums Facebook Group — where this whole episode came from, and where Part 2 and 3 are being built right now — https://facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastPaid ResourcesADHD Mums Shop — https://adhdmums.com.au/shop/Related Episodes (the mental load / invisible labour series)The Invisible Job: Being the One Who Holds Everything Together — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-invisible-job-being-the-one-who-holds-everything-together/The Invisible Coordination Load: Why ADHD Mums Carry the Work Systems Won't — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-invisible-coordination-load-why-adhd-mums-carry-the-work-systems-wont/The Hidden Cost of Being the Good Girl — How the Mental Load Became Ours — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-hidden-cost-of-being-the-good-girl-how-the-mental-load-became-ours/References & Further ReadingDaminger, A. (2019). The Cognitive Dimension of Household Labor. American Sociological Review, 84(4), 609–633. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419859007Affordance perception — a framework from ecological philosophy (originating with James J. Gibson, developed further in gender and household-labour applications). This is a philosophical framework, not a clinical psychology finding. Cited as one lens that fits the pattern, not as a settled explanation.📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook Group👥 Receive the episodes in your inbox
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  Good Girl Conditioning: Breaking the Pattern Before It Reaches Our Daughters — with Rachel Seiler 21.07.2026 30Min.

  You know good girl conditioning because you've lived it. The self-editing. The 'whatever you want.' The 'I don't mind.' You spent your twenties in the wrong careers and your thirties in therapy, and you're still catching yourself doing it in your forties. And now you're watching your neurodivergent daughter start — the compliant one, the helpful one — and you don't know how to name it, let alone stop it.CHAPTERS00:00 — What the good girl actually loses (and nobody in the room notices)02:16 — Interoception: the missing piece for a whole generation of mums03:52 — Why you picked the worst careers and environments for you06:35 — The nervous system cost nobody counts — going to the toilet on a bell09:50 — The moment you edited yourself out before anyone even noticed10:47 — Rachel's grade one birthday party, and what her mum saw12:32 — The mum rage that arrived when it was her daughter's turn15:14 — The four scripts that work better than any book or worksheet19:17 — What we're actually reinforcing when we praise 'easy' behaviour19:52 — The girls who look calm in the front row and panic on the inside22:00 — The pool. The water slide. The moment Jane couldn't watch it anymore28:03 — 'I don't mind' — the one thing every mum needs to understand about itWhat We CoverThe one thing every good girl loses first, and it's not confidence — it's the ability to feel what's happening inside her own bodyWhy you picked the worst possible jobs, cities and relationships in your twenties, and never once asked yourself the question that would have saved youWhat Rachel's mum watched her do at her own sixth birthday party — and the template it set for the next thirty yearsThe moment Rachel had to physically walk out of her own daughter's bedroom before she said something she couldn't take backWhy the kids who need therapy aren't always the ones throwing chairs — sometimes they're the ones with their hand up in the front rowThe scene at the pool that Jane couldn't unsee, and what she did about it that nobody in the group was going to likeWhat we're actually rewarding when we praise the easy child, and what it costs her by fourteenThe four short scripts Rachel uses with her own kids that work better than any worksheet — and why role play beats reading a book every time'I don't mind.' The one thing you need to understand about what's happening inside her when she says itFree ResourcesHousehold Family Meeting Template — the mental load, and getting things off one shoulder — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Explaining ADHD to Kids Guide — for the identity work with your daughter — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/explaining-adhd-to-kids-parents-guide/Guest LinksRachel Seiler — Play therapist and counsellor, All Kids Counselling (Queensland). Sessions available Australia-wide via Zoom.All Kids CounsellingRelated Episodes (start here if the good girl language is new to you)You Were the Good Girl. That's Why You're Falling Apart Now. — S3 EP35 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-35-you-were-the-good-girl-thats-why-youre-falling-apart-now/The Hidden Cost of Being the Good Girl — How the Mental Load Became Ours — S3 — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-hidden-cost-of-being-the-good-girl-how-the-mental-load-became-ours/Stop People-Pleasing: The ADHD Mum's Guide to Boundaries, Balance, and Breaking Free — S2 EP50 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-50-stop-people-pleasing-the-adhd-mums-guide-to-boundaries-balance-and-breaking-free/The Emotional Load of Raising Neurodivergent Girls and How to Lighten It — S3, with Katie Koullas — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-25-the-emotional-load-of-raising-neurodivergent-girls-and-how-to-lighten-it/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
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  Anxiety or ADHD? Understanding the Two Types of Racing Thoughts and what to do about them 15.07.2026 21Min.

  It's 10:15 on a Sunday night. You've come out to the kitchen to rinse one pot. One. And now you're just standing there, not touching it — because the second you stopped moving, it started. The permission slip. The referral. Was it orange day. The group chat you didn't answer. The dog bowl. And underneath all of it, the thought that always turns up: what's wrong with you, everyone else can do this.So you do the breathing. Four in, hold four, four out. Name it. I'm feeling anxious.And nothing happens.What We CoverThe Sunday-night sink — 40 thoughts arriving at once, none of them actually dangerousWhy the breathing didn't work, and why that isn't a you-problem — even I've been paid to teach this and still couldn't breathe it downThe two kinds of racing thoughts, and how to tell them apart in about four secondsThe shelf — why yours is smaller, why it won't file, and why the dog bowl and the electricity bill are screaming at exactly the same volumeWhat the friend who 'just handles everything' actually has that you don'tThe fire blanket problem — what happens when the whole wellness industry hands you one tool and tells you it works on everythingThe one question to ask instead: is something actually wrong, or is it everything at once?Why the too-much kind doesn't want calming — it wants emptyingWhat you're really doing when you keep the TV on, scroll till your eyes shut, and say you 'just can't switch your brain off'Free ResourcesThe Energy Accounting Guide — mentioned in the episode — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/Household Family Meeting Template — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Paid ResourcesADHD Mums Shop — https://adhdmums.com.au/shop/Related EpisodesQUICK RESET: No, I Can't Meditate. I'm Too Busy Disassociating. — S3 EP47 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-47-quick-reset-no-i-cant-meditate-im-too-busy-disassociating/When You Can't Relax Even When It's Quiet — What Your Body Is Doing and Why — S3 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/why-adhd-mums-cant-relax/Anxiety & ADHD — S1 EP37, with Jessica Burgess — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-37-anxiety-and-adhd-with-jessica-burgess/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
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  Give Your Auntie a Kiss. He Said No With His Face. You Handed Him Over Anyway 14.07.2026 24Min.

  Have you ever stood at the sink at nine o'clock at night, kids asleep, house finally quiet, and had a friend text you how are you going? — and found nothing there? Not sad. Not fine. Just nothing. You could have told her exactly how the kids were, what's on tomorrow, what your hubby's up to, what's happening with the school term. But you, the actual person underneath running all of it — you went looking for her and she wasn't in.There's a name for that. It's not the exhaustion everyone talks about. It's the other one.What We CoverWhat I found on my phone when I watched the video back — and why my first thought was who let me out like thatWhy standing at the edge of the handball court at seven and standing at the edge of the room at thirty-eight are the same thing wearing a different outfitThe reason nobody taught you to mask, and nobody had toWhat it actually costs you — not the tiredness, the other thing, the one that has a researcher's name on itWhy 'good girl' was the best deal you were ever offered, and the worst oneWhat's actually happening the moment you say go on, give your auntie a hug — and why you say it even though you'd fight anyone who tried it on youThe two things that decide what a mask really costs you — and why most neurotypical mums are paying almost nothing for theirsWhy staying in burnout can feel safer than being looked after, and what that has to do with lunchtime at schoolWhere I'm starting, given that taking it off for myself is still too hardFree ResourcesEnergy Accounting Guide —https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/Paid ResourcesMeltdown & Shutdown Guidehttps://adhdmums.com.au/product/navigating-meltdowns-strategies-for-parents/Related EpisodesYou Were the Good Girl. That's Why You're Falling Apart Now. — S3 EP35 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-35-you-were-the-good-girl-thats-why-youre-falling-apart-now/What Is Underneath the Mask? Uncovering Who You Are After Diagnosis — S2 EP17, with Tanya Hicks — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-17-underneath-the-mask-uncovering-who-you-are-after-diagnosis/References & Further ReadingCage, E. & Troxell-Whitman, Z. (2019). Understanding the Reasons, Contexts and Costs of Camouflaging for Autistic Adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(5), 1899–1911. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-03878-xCage, E., Di Monaco, J. & Newell, V. (2018). Experiences of Autism Acceptance and Mental Health in Autistic Adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(2), 473–484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3342-7📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
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  Why Are You Always So Stressed Out? My Eight-Year-Old Asked Me That an Hour After I Called Myself Organised 09.07.2026 16Min.

  You did the envelope early. You had the cash inside. You booked the babysitter. You had three adults on deck for one soccer game. And by the time you got to the car park, you were at 3% battery, panting, holding someone else's dog, and your son had his shirt over his head pretending to be a turtle.You'd done everything right. And it still looked like you hadn't done anything at all.What We CoverThe pride that hits when you do something early — and what happens the second you let yourself relax because of itWhat your eight-year-old is actually asking when he says 'why are you always so stressed out' — and why the real answer isn't one you can give him in a car parkThe thing that runs quietly in the background for neurotypical brains that yours is doing by hand, every day, and why no one can see the costWhy 'me too, I lost my keys once' will never land the way they think it does — and what makes theirs a story and yours a SaturdayWhat happens when two ADHD parents are both losing things in the same house on the same morning — and neither of them knows the other one hasWhy the woman who filled out the form a week early is the same woman who wrote the wrong email address — and which one people rememberFree ResourcesHousehold Family Meeting Template — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Energy Accounting Guide — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/Paid ResourcesNavigating School Pick-Up & Social Settings — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/surviving-school-pick-up/Related EpisodesS3: I'm Not Lazy — My House Just Doesn't Have a Memory — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-49-quick-reset-im-not-lazy-my-house-just-doesnt-have-a-memory//S2: Executive Function Challenges in ADHD (with Claire Britton) — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-31-executive-function-challenges-in-adhd-strategies-for-success-with-claire-britton/S3: The Advanced ADHD + Neurodivergence Myths Busted — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-4-the-advanced-adhd-neurodivergence-myths-busted/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
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  At Least Dad Did a Load of Washing... Her 9-Year-Old Said It Mid-Fight. That Was the Bar. 07.07.2026 28Min.

  Have you ever made a deal with yourself at the end of a really bad week — that's it, I'm not doing it anymore, I'm only doing what he does — and then washed up three times by Tuesday without noticing? Have you ever bought him something mid-fight when you were supposed to be on strike? Have you ever lost it because your nine-year-old defended his dad by pointing out he did one load of washing, as if that was the bar?I couldn't stop thinking about a listener who did all three in one week. I texted a friend about her. I went for coffee and talked about her. I followed up to find out what happened. What she said next, I genuinely did not see coming.What we coverHave you ever declared you're done, you're not doing it anymore, and then found yourself doing it anyway — and genuinely not noticed until it was doneThe thing your body does mid-fight that looks like making up but isn't — and why it fires even when you're the one who's angryWhy your hands win the war three times before lunch — and the one-second move that interrupts itWhy the guilt fires when you stop, not when you're drowning — and what guilt is actually doing in your houseWhat your daughter learns watching a 40-year trained adult put something down — no speech neededThe slam tour — passive-aggressive cleaning, the self-cleaning oven moment, and what we're really hoping he'll seeWhy your body won't sleep even when everything is fine — and the scientific name for itThe question to ask yourself the next time your hands move before your brain does: am I doing this because I want to, or am I scared of what'll happen if I don'tFree resourcesHousehold Family Meeting Template — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Energy Accounting Guide — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/Paid resourcesADHD Reset Workbook — Values, Energy & Planning — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-planner-and-values/Related episodesEP81 — The Hidden Cost of Being the 'Good Girl' — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-hidden-cost-of-being-the-good-girl-how-the-mental-load-became-ours/S2 EP84 — Mum Rage Part 1 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-84-i-love-my-family-but-im-so-fking-angry-mum-rage-part-1/S2 EP85 — Mum Rage Part 2 — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-85-real-tools-for-real-rage-mum-rage-part-2real-tools-for-real-rage-mum-rage-part-2/S4 EP1 — Who Am I If I Stop Being in Service — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/1-season-4-launch-who-am-i-if-i-stop-being-in-service-to-everyone-in-my-life/S3 EP35 — You Were the Good Girl. That's Why You're Falling Apart Now — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-35-you-were-the-good-girl-thats-why-youre-falling-apart-now/S3 — Can't Sit Down Until Kitchen's Done — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/cant-sit-down-ktichen/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastReferences:Baumeister, R. F., Stillwell, A. M., & Heatherton, T. F. (1994). Guilt: An interpersonal approach. Psychological Bulletin, 115(2), 243–267.Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2016). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2007). A new look at habits and the habit–goal interface. Psychological Review, 114(4), 843–863.
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  MUM RAGE #4: 3 Reasons Your ADHD Medication Isn't Touching Mum Rage. 02.07.2026 16Min.

  Have you ever been on medication, done all the things, prepped, pre-scheduled, and still lost the plot completely — and then spent the drive home wondering if the medication is even working? Have you ever gone back to your GP and said 'I'm still losing it' and walked out with a higher dose, a different script, or a referral — and none of it touched the actual problem? Have you ever thought maybe I'm just broken in a way that medication can't reach?You're not. But nobody told you there were two layers — and this episode is the one that explains why no dose adjustment has ever closed that gap.What we coverThe layer that medication actually works on — and the layer it was never built to touchWhy you can be on the right dose of the right stimulant and still slam the car door for forty-five minutesWhat happens in a 10-minute GP appointment when you say 'I'm still struggling' — and why the answer you keep getting might be solving the wrong problemWhy chasing this gap with more medication can mean you end up on too much of the right thing because you're asking it to do the wrong jobThe question to sit with for a week before you go back to your specialistWho actually benefits from the story that medication is the whole answer — and who doesn'tQuick note — I share my own experience here, not medical advice. For anything about your medication or dose, your GP or specialist is the right person to askFree resourcesEnergy Accounting Guide — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/Paid resourcesADHD Reset Workbook — Values, Energy & Planning — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-planner-and-values/Related episodesThis is Part 4 of the Mum Rage series. Start at Part 1.Mum Rage EP1 — 3 Reasons ADHD Mum Rage Feels Like It Came Out of Nowhere — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/3-reasons-adhd-mum-rage-feels-like-it-came-out-of-nowhere-it-didnt/Mum Rage EP2 — Why the advice doesn't work — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/mum-rage-2/Mum Rage EP3 — The delayed version (sunburn/interoception) — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/mum-rage-3/S2 EP84 — Mum Rage Part 1 (Jacinta Thomson) — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-84-i-love-my-family-but-im-so-fking-angry-mum-rage-part-1/S2 EP85 — Mum Rage Part 2: Real Tools for Real Rage — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-85-real-tools-for-real-rage-mum-rage-part-2real-tools-for-real-rage-mum-rage-part-2/EP23 — ADHD Meds Won't Fix Everything — Now What? — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-23-adhd-meds-wont-fix-everything-now-what/EP71 — When You Can't Relax Even When It's Quiet — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/why-adhd-mums-cant-relax/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastReferencesRösler, M., Retz, W., Fischer, R., Ose, C., Alm, B., Deckert, J., Philipsen, A., Herpertz, S., & Ammer, R. (2010). Twenty-four-week treatment with extended release methylphenidate improves emotional symptoms in adult ADHD. World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 11(5), 709–718. https://doi.org/10.3109/15622975.2010.482986Moukhtarian, T. R., Cooper, R. E., Vassos, E., Moran, P., & Asherson, P. (2017). Effects of stimulants and atomoxetine on emotional lability in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Psychiatry, 44, 198–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.05.021Garfinkel, S. N., Seth, A. K., Barrett, A. B., Suzuki, K., & Critchley, H. D. (2015). Knowing your own heart: Distinguishing interoceptive accuracy from interoceptive awareness. Biological Psychology, 104, 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.11.004
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  I Planned the Day Off to Finally Get Things Done. By 11am I'd Done Nothing and Hated Myself for It 30.06.2026 14Min.

  Have you ever told yourself you'll finally do the thing when it's quiet — and then the quiet came and you reorganised a drawer? Have you ever promised yourself the school holidays would be different, stacked up everything you were going to get done, and then spent the first Monday back staring at the wall and doing everyone's admin except your own? Have you ever been the most productive you've been all year on the last week of term, and then wondered why that woman never shows up any other time?What we coverWhy your brain flies at the end of term and falls off a cliff the second the kids go back — and what's actually happening underneath itThe list in your phone called 'Monday' and the woman you've been promising people is coming — who has never once turned upWhy avoidance on a quiet day isn't laziness — and what your brain is actually doing when it picks the wrong task on purposeWhat happens when high arousal creates a debt — and why the free day might be the worst time to do the hard thingWhy 'I just need a quiet day with no interruptions' might be the trap you've been apologising for your whole lifeThe one thing that actually works — and why it involves finding a human and making them mildly expect something from youFree resourcesEnergy Accounting Guide — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/Related episodesS3 — Sorry I'm Late, I Have ADHD. My Friend Has ADHD Too. She's Never Late — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/sorry-im-late-i-have-adhd-my-friend-has-adhd-too-shes-never-late/EP93 — When You Remove the Stress — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-you-remove-the-stress-and-start-wondering-whats-wrong-with-you/EP71 — When You Can't Relax Even When It's Quiet — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/why-adhd-mums-cant-relax/EP24 — QUICK RESET: The ADHD Myth of 'Just Try Harder' — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-24-quick-reset-the-adhd-myth-of-just-try-harder/EP49 — QUICK RESET: I'm Not Lazy — My House Doesn't Have a Memory — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-49-quick-reset-im-not-lazy-my-house-just-doesnt-have-a-memory/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastReferencesBarkley, R. A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin, 121(1), 65–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.65Volkow, N. D., Wang, G.-J., Newcorn, J. H., Kollins, S. H., Wigal, T. L., Telang, F., Fowler, J. S., Goldstein, R. Z., Klein, N., Logan, J., Wong, C., & Swanson, J. M. (2011). Motivation deficit in ADHD is associated with dysfunction of the dopamine reward pathway. Molecular Psychiatry, 16(11), 1147–1154. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2010.97Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S. (2003). The dual pathway model of AD/HD: An elaboration of neuro-developmental characteristics. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 27(7), 593–604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2003.08.005
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  MUM RAGE #3: 3 Reasons Rage Hits Hours After the Thing That Set It Off. 25.06.2026 19Min.

  It's 11:00 PM. You sit up in bed with your chest tight and your heart going. Nothing happened. You went to sleep fine. You lie there trying to work out what's wrong with you, and the answer is nothing — except your body has been running a two-hour delayed reaction to a school email you read, closed, and forgot about at 9:02 PM.What We CoverThe 9:02 PM email, the 11:00 PM panic, and why the two never show up in the same room at the same timeWhy a neurotypical mum who gets the same email feels it right then — and what that looks like when Jane asks one about it directlyThe five stages your body moves through between the trigger and the moment you finally register it — and how long you can spend in each one without knowingWhy the quiet moment you've been waiting for all day is exactly when the queue decides it's your turnThe misdiagnosis cost: when a doctor treats the reaction as the whole story, what gets written on your medical file — and what keeps walking through the door every day unmanagedWhy both can be true — the SSRI doing real work, and an interoceptive delay nobody's ever named for youFree ResourcesEnergy Accounting Guide — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/Related EpisodesStart with the rest of this series:MUM RAGE #1: 3 Reasons It Feels Like It Came Out of Nowhere. (It Didn't.) — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/3-reasons-adhd-mum-rage-feels-like-it-came-out-of-nowhere-it-didnt/MUM RAGE #2: 3 Reasons 'Just Breathe' Has Never Worked for ADHD Mums. (And What Actually Does.) — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/mum-rage-2/Also from the archive:S2 EP84 — I Love My Family But I'm So F*cking Angry: Mum Rage Part 1 (with Jacinta Thomson) — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-84-i-love-my-family-but-im-so-fking-angry-mum-rage-part-1/EP71 — When You Can't Relax Even When It's Quiet — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/why-adhd-mums-cant-relax/EP93 — When You Remove the Stress — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-you-remove-the-stress-and-start-wondering-whats-wrong-with-you/S3 — I'm Gentle With My Daughter for Ten Minutes. Then I Tell Myself to Stop Being Such a F*cking Embarrassment. — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/im-gentle-with-my-daughter-for-ten-minutes-then-i-tell-myself-to-stop-being-such-a-fcking-embarrassment/EP81 — The Hidden Cost of Being the 'Good Girl' — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-hidden-cost-of-being-the-good-girl-how-the-mental-load-became-ours/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastReferences & Further ReadingSeli, P., Risko, E. F., Smilek, D., & Schacter, D. L. (2016). Mind-wandering with and without intention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(8), 605–617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.05.010Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2015). The science of mind wandering: Empirically navigating the stream of consciousness. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 487–518. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015331Murphy, J., Brewer, R., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2017). Interoception and psychopathology: A developmental neuroscience perspective. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 45–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2016.12.006Taylor, G. J., Bagby, R. M., & Parker, J. D. A. (1997). Disorders of affect regulation: Alexithymia in medical and psychiatric illness. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511526831
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  Just 'Find a Good Stopping Place on the Ipad' It's 5:45pm on a Wednesday. He's in a Minecraft Cave. The Dog Needs a Bone. 23.06.2026 29Min.

  📬 Listener Questions & CommunityIt's 5:45 PM. I'm cooking three separate dinners on not enough burners. My six-year-old is crying about the green spoon. My eight-year-old is in a Minecraft cave with a dog that needs a bone. My ten-year-old has found paint.'Find a good stopping place' is good advice.It just assumes conditions that don't exist in this house.What We CoverThe 5:45 PM scenario in full — three kids, three meals, three headphones, zero spare burners, and what it actually costs to transition one child off a screen while managing the restCompliance depletion — why your child has run out of yeses by dinner time, and why that's not defiance or addictionSelf-determination theory and autonomy — why the iPad might be the only thing your child got to choose all day, and what happens when you take itWhy 'find a good stopping place' works on Saturday morning and collapses on Wednesday night — and what's actually different between those two momentsThe working memory piece — why your child isn't defying the boundary, they just can't hold it without you standing thereTask-switching costs for the ADHD brain — what every transition actually costs you at the end of the dayWhy you're not managing the transitions. You are the transition.The Saturday morning benchmark — why one good morning doesn't set the standard, and why comparing Wednesday night to it is destroying youWhat the parenting advice doesn't account for: one adult, multiple kids, depleted executive function, and no supportFree ResourcesSurviving the Mental Load of the School Year (Free)👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-school-year-mental-load-kit/Household Family Meeting Template (Free)👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Paid ResourceMeltdown & Shutdown Guide for Mums & Children👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/product/navigating-meltdowns-strategies-for-parents/Related EpisodesWhen a Neuroscientist Says iPads Cause ADHD — And You Wonder if You've Damaged Your Kids | Listen hereS3 EP44 — Why Bad Behaviour Is Rarely Bad at All (and How to Respond Instead) | Listen hereS3 EP12 — Quick Reset: I Can't Stop Snapping When My Child Does This One Thing | Listen hereS2 EP84 — I Love My Family… But I'm So F**king Angry (Mum Rage Part 1) | Listen hereS2 EP27 — Quick Tip: I Have an Antagonist in My House | Listen here🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastReferencesArnsten, A. F. T., & Li, B.-M. (2005). Neurobiology of executive functions: Catecholamine influences on prefrontal cortical functions. Biological Psychiatry, 57(11), 1377–1384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.08.019Arnsten, A. F. T. (2011). Catecholamine influences on dorsolateral prefrontal cortical networks. Biological Psychiatry, 69(12), e89–e99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.01.027Barkley, R. A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin, 121(1), 65–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.65Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1252–1265. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1252Hagger, M. S., Chatzisarantis, N. L. D., Alberts, H., Anggono, C. O., Batailler, C., Birt, A. R., Brand, R., Brandt, M. J., Brewer, G., Bruyneel, S., Calvillo, D. P., Campbell, W. K., Cannon, P. R., Carlucci, M., Carruth, N. P., Cheung, T., Crowell, A., De Ridder, D. T. D., Dewitte, S., . . . Zwienenberg, M. (2016). A multilab preregistered replication of the ego-depletion effect. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(4), 546–573. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616652873Herwig, U., Bräuer, K., Connemann, B., Spitzer, M., & Jakobs, O. (2018). Selective impairment of attentional set shifting in adults with ADHD. BMC Psychiatry, 18, Article 334. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1912-5Monsell, S. (2003). Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(3), 134–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00028-7Rubinstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E., & Evans, J. E. (2001). Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27(4), 763–797. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.27.4.763Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
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  MUM RAGE #2: 3 Reasons 'Just Breathe' Has Never Worked (and what does) 18.06.2026 28Min.

  A psychologist told me to do a body scan. I was lying on hard yellow grass in 38-degree heat with three kids screaming inside and ants on my arms, trying to feel my body. I felt nothing. Or I felt everything and couldn't name any of it.She concluded the problem was me.It wasn't.What We CoverWhy 'just breathe' and body scans keep failing ADHD mums — and why that failure isn't yoursThe difference between early and late emotional intervention, and why the tools you've been given are timed wrong for your brainWhat alexithymia and interoceptive gaps actually mean when you're trying to regulate — and why you can't feel the water warming until the lid's already blownWhy some of us start every single day with near-boiling water, and what that does to a nervous system that's been running like that for yearsThe scheduled check-in — not a mindfulness practice, just a moment to know where you are before the day makes that impossibleWhat to say to your partner when they ask if you're okay and you genuinely don't knowThe James Gross emotional regulation model — 40 years of research — and what it says about the moment you're being told to interveneWhat's coming next episode: delayed mum rage, the lid that blows after the stove's already off, and why 11pm panic isn't coming from nowhereFree ResourcesEnergy Accounting Guide — mentioned in the episode. Helps you see your actual baseline and where the energy is going before you hit empty.👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/ADHD Physical Health & Emotional Wellbeing Kit (Free)👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-physical-health-emotional-wellbeing-kit/Related EpisodesS2 EP84 — I Love My Family… But I'm So F**king Angry (Mum Rage Part 1)S2 EP85 — Real Tools for Real Rage (Mum Rage Part 2) S3 EP52 — When HRT Isn't Enough: Mum Rage & Perimenopause Explained ReferencesEdel, M.-A., Rudel, A., Hubert, C., Scheele, D., Brüne, M., Juckel, G., & Assion, H.-J. (2010). Alexithymia, emotion processing and social anxiety in adults with ADHD. European Journal of Medical Research, 15(9), 403–409. https://doi.org/10.1186/2047-783X-15-9-403Fischer, D., Messner, M., & Pollatos, O. (2017). Improvement of interoceptive processes after an 8-week body scan intervention. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 452. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00452Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781Quadt, L., Garfinkel, S. N., Mulcahy, J. S., Larsson, D. E. O., Silva, M., Jones, A.-M., Strauss, C., & Critchley, H. D. (2021). Interoceptive training to target anxiety in autistic adults (ADIE): A single-center, superiority randomized controlled trial. EClinicalMedicine, 39, 101042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101042Shaw, P., Stringaris, A., Nigg, J., & Leibenluft, E. (2014). Emotion dysregulation in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171(3), 276–293. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13070966Webb, T. L., Miles, E., & Sheeran, P. (2012). Dealing with feeling: A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of strategies derived from the process model of emotion regulation. Psychological Bulletin, 138(4), 775–808. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027600📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
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  4. What Do I Do When Being Reasonable Hasn't Worked? The School Escalation Pathway Schools Don't Tell You About - with Sara Hocking 16.06.2026 47Min.

  The principal told you to contact region. Region told you to contact the principal. You're sitting in your car wondering if you're going quietly insane. You're not — and neither is the principal. The system is built to do exactly this, to everyone inside it. Sara Hocking is back to map a way out, and the news isn't what you think.What We Cover The one subject line that forces an official response — and why most schools have been waiting for someone to send itThe institutional rule that makes principals back their staff publicly even when they're moving things behind the scenes — and how to read the quiet changesThe escalation pathway nobody hands you, and the exact point where 95% of parents tap outThe strategic reason to keep going past that point even when it feels pointlessWhy teachers aren't ignoring you — Sara's frame for what's actually happening in the staffroom, and what they're being asked to triage every dayThe paper-trail trick you can do in 30 seconds on your phone after every conversationWhy you arrive at every school meeting already at a ten, and what the other parents in the room don't realise about themselvesWhat restraint, expulsion and catchment actually mean — and the policy vacuum that hands one principal the call when there should be a system holding itStop waiting for an apology. Sara explains why it isn't coming from individuals, and what to watch for from the structure instead.Free ResourcesSchool Complaint & Escalation Guide: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/school-complaint-escalation-guide/Quiet Exclusion Kit: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/quiet-exclusion-kit/More from SaraSara Hocking runs See Beyond — neuroaffirming, nervous-system-informed resources for parents and schools, including free printables you can send straight to your child's teacher: https://seebeyondau.org/Paid ResourcesMaking School Work — Parent Guide: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/making-school-work-parent-guide/School Burnout — When School Can't Cope: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-school-burnout-when-school-cant-cope/Related EpisodesSara's Part 1 — When You Stay Calm at School and Leave Feeling Like You Didn't Do Enough — Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6LrYWX3eDU3LeoC12kMw4A?si=5OwOPF0oQcGjiXhwzL69zQ | Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/adhd-mums/id1686843092?i=1000753099488S3 EP8: Advocating for Your Child Shouldn't Break You — But It Often Does — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-8-quick-reset-advocating-for-your-child-shouldnt-break-you-but-it-often-does/S3 EP7: The Great Gaslighting — When Schools Say 'We Don't See It' — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-7-school-series-the-great-gaslighting-when-schools-say-we-dont-see-it/S3 EP9: When the IEP Meeting Feels Like a Battle You Didn't Ask For — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-9-when-the-iep-meeting-feels-like-a-battle-you-didnt-ask-for/S3: When School Decides Your Child Is the Problem — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-school-decides-your-child-is-the-problem/S3: Is the Problem the Child — Or the Learning Plan? — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/is-the-problem-the-child-or-the-learning-plan/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
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  4. They Took Away the Village and Handed Us the iPad. Then They Told Us Not to Use It. 11.06.2026 23Min.

  A friend came over the other day. She'd just done a week on the Sunshine Coast with her three kids, the whole pack-up by herself. We were sitting at my kitchen table doing that thing where you're laughing and crying at the same time. She couldn't get her kids to put the bins out because they were glued to their iPads. I said yep, same. The deeper problem isn't just the iPad. It's that someone pulled every single support structure out from under us, handed us a screen, and then put the guilt on top.What We CoverThe Sunshine Coast kitchen table moment — the bins, the iPads, the laughing-cryingThe Christmas holidays Minecraft trap — how the rules got relaxed in December and what's still happening in MayThree things that have completely changed about parenting in the last 40 years that nobody updated us onWhy mums in 1990 weren't negotiating screen time — and what they had for free that we just don'tThe anticipatory regulation load — why parenting an ADHD child is three jobs stacked on top of each other, not oneThe dopamine input the world used to supply — and what happens when you take the iPad without replacing itWhy every screen time recommendation contradicts every other one, and the researchers fight each other publiclyWe are the first generation parenting through this. There is no generational wisdom on iPads. Nobody knows the right amount. Not the paediatricians, not your mother-in-law, not the friend down the road.Free ResourcesSurviving the Mental Load of the School Year: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-school-year-mental-load-kit/Household Family Meeting Template: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-household-family-meeting-template/Related EpisodesS3 EP12 QUICK RESET: I Can't Stop Snapping When My Child Does This One Thing — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-12-quick-reset-i-cant-stop-snapping-when-my-child-does-this-one-thing/S3: When a Neuroscientist Says iPads Cause ADHD — And You Wonder if You've Damaged Your Kids — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-a-neuroscientist-says-ipads-cause-adhd-and-you-wonder-if-youve-damaged-your-kids/S2 EP22: Is It ADHD or Motherhood? — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-22-is-it-adhd-or-motherhood-solo-episode/S3 EP22 QUICK RESET: Why Self-Care Feels Like Another F*cking Task — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-22-quick-reset-why-self-care-feels-like-another-fcking-task/S3 EP45 QUICK RESET: The Biggest Lie Parents Believe During School Holidays — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-45-quick-reset-the-biggest-lie-parents-believe-during-school-holidays-this-is-what-everyone-does/References & Further ReadingParent–child interaction load in ADHD households: Barkley, R. A., Anastopoulos, A. D., Guevremont, D. C., & Fletcher, K. E. (1992). Adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Mother–adolescent interactions, family beliefs and conflicts, and maternal psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 20(3), 263–288. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00916692The collapse of unsupervised childhood: Skenazy, L. (2021). Free-Range Kids: How Parents and Teachers Can Let Go and Let Grow (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass. Movement: https://letgrow.orgThe case that screens are driving a youth mental health crisis: Haidt, J. (2024). The Anxious Generation. Penguin Press.The case that the panic is overblown: Etchells, P. (2024). Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time. Piatkus. (Named alongside Haidt because the two contradict each other — which is the point.)No strong causal evidence that screens cause ADHD: Levelink, B., et al. (2021). Association between recreational screen time and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. JAMA Pediatrics. Via: https://www.adhdevidence.org/blog/pair-of-large-u-s-cohort-studies-find-little-to-no-evidence-of-association-between-child-and-adolescent-adhd-and-digital-media-screen-timeInsufficient evidence for hard screen-time limits (2019 guidance): Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. (2019). The health impacts of screen time: A guide for clinicians and parents. (Note: this guidance was withdrawn in February 2024 — the position above is as of their 2019 publication.)📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
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  MUM RAGE #1: 3 Reasons ADHD Mum Rage Feels Like It Came Out of Nowhere. (It Didn't.) 09.06.2026 25Min.

  I picked up the kids in my husband's car the other day. The youngest said something. The next one waited until they finished, then said something back. There was a pause. I turned around and looked at three kids not even fighting and thought, is this how pickup goes? In my car, it's on the second they get in. Someone's interrupting, someone's yelling, I'm turning the music up to drown them out, ready to throw myself onto the driveway while it's moving. Same kids. Same school. Different mum.What We CoverThe hubby-car pickup vs my-car pickup — same kids, same school, completely different rideWhat happens to your nervous system when you're already at a rolling boil before the kids even get in the carInteroception — why the signals your body's been sending all afternoon don't land in real time for an ADHD brainAlexithymia — the clinical inability to name a feeling in the moment, and the 42–51% of ADHD adults living inside itWhy mum rage feels like it came out of nowhere when it didn't, and why 'try harder, breathe more, be more like other mums at pickup' was never the answerThe dinner-time cheese moment — the fan, the dog, the kid in the shower, the TV, the iPad — and why it was never about the cheeseWho actually benefits when the rage gets called your temperament instead of your load — and why the lavender oil keeps not workingPart 1 of 2 — what's happening underneath. Part 2 is what to do about it.Related EpisodesS2 EP84: Mum Rage Part 1 (Jacinta Thomson) — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-84-i-love-my-family-but-im-so-fking-angry-mum-rage-part-1/S2 EP85: Mum Rage Part 2 — Real Tools for Real Rage — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-85-real-tools-for-real-rage-mum-rage-part-2real-tools-for-real-rage-mum-rage-part-2/EP52 HORMONES: When HRT Isn't Enough — Mum Rage & Perimenopause Explained (Dr Sunita Chelva) — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-52-hormones-when-hrt-isnt-enough-mum-rage-perimenopause-explained/EP82: Overstimulated Before 7am (Rachel Few) — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/rachel-few/EP12 QUICK RESET: I Can't Stop Snapping When My Child Does This — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-12-quick-reset-i-cant-stop-snapping-when-my-child-does-this-one-thing/S3: I'm Gentle With My Daughter for Ten Minutes, Then I Tell Myself to Stop Being Such a F*cking Embarrassment — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/im-gentle-with-my-daughter-for-ten-minutes-then-i-tell-myself-to-stop-being-such-a-fcking-embarrassment/References:Bruton, M., Hall, S. S., & Pollock, M. (2025). Diminished interoceptive accuracy in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review. Psychophysiology, 62(2), e14750. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14750Edel, M.-A., Rudel, A., Hubert, C., Scheele, D., Brüne, M., Juckel, G., & Assion, H.-J. (2010). Alexithymia, emotion processing and social anxiety in adults with ADHD. European Journal of Medical Research, 15(9), 403–409. — Found 22% of ADHD adults met TAS-20 cutoff (≥61).Donfrancesco, R., Di Trani, M., Gregori, P., Auguanno, G., Melegari, M. G., Zaninotto, S., & Luby, J. (2013). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and alexithymia: A pilot study. ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 5(4), 361–367.📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcast
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  3. It's 11:40pm. I'm Not on My Phone for Fun. I'm on the Password Reset Page for the Third Time 04.06.2026 23Min.

  You're at the dinner table you fought to make happen. Your phone lights up — school app, swimming's been moved, the bag has to be packed tonight. You know in your bones that if you don't write it down right now, it's gone by morning. You pick up your phone. Your kid says, you said no phones at dinner, I'm getting my iPad then. The parenting advice has told you you've just damaged everyone. The research says you've just used the exact tool your brain needs.What We CoverThe dinner table, the school app, the swimming change, the kid line — and the impossible decision in the middle of itWhy 'phones down at dinner' advice was written for a woman who doesn't need the adviceCognitive offloading — the research-backed reason your phone is your external hard drive, not your hobbyThe 11:40pm password reset window — the unpaid admin job nobody sees, and the morning question from your kid (why were you up so late?) you can't answerThe co-regulation gap — what happens when the advice assumes a regulated parent and a regulated child, and neither one is in your house at 5pmThe flip — your daughter isn't watching you on a phone. She's watching you teach her how to externalise her working memory before her brain needs to do it too.Why the most important thing she sees you do is recover from being overwhelmed, not put down a deviceRelated EpisodesEP49 QUICK RESET: I'm Not Lazy — My House Doesn't Have a Memory — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-49-quick-reset-im-not-lazy-my-house-just-doesnt-have-a-memory/S3: When a Neuroscientist Says iPads Cause ADHD — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-a-neuroscientist-says-ipads-cause-adhd-and-you-wonder-if-youve-damaged-your-kids/EP80: The Invisible Coordination Load — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-invisible-coordination-load-why-adhd-mums-carry-the-work-systems-wont/S3: I'm Gentle With My Daughter for Ten Minutes, Then I Tell Myself to Stop Being Such a F*cking Embarrassment — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/im-gentle-with-my-daughter-for-ten-minutes-then-i-tell-myself-to-stop-being-such-a-fcking-embarrassment/EP71: When You Can't Relax Even When It's Quiet — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/why-adhd-mums-cant-relax/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastReferencesRisko, E. F., & Gilbert, S. J. (2016). Cognitive offloading. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(9), 676–688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.07.002Alderson, R. M., Kasper, L. J., Hudec, K. L., & Patros, C. H. G. (2013). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and working memory in adults: A meta-analytic review. Neuropsychology, 27(3), 287–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032371Feldman, R. (2007). Parent–infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(3–4), 329–354. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01701.x
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  4 Reasons You Can't Eat Breakfast Until the Kitchen's Clean. Why Most Advice Won't Work — and the One Thing That Will. 02.06.2026 45Min.

  Listener Question Episode: Bec drops the kids at school, the kitchen's a mess, and she can't let herself eat breakfast until it's clean. Loads the washing on too — wouldn't want to waste time. She finally sits down at 11am. She's wondering if it's an ADHD thing or if she's just weird. She's not weird. She's been trying the wrong strategy on the wrong problem for years.What We CoverBec's voicemail, the kitchen, the load of washing on while she eats, 11am breakfastWhy "you deserve rest, mama" advice slides right off — and why feeling worse after reading it isn't a personal failureThe four different drivers underneath one behaviour — same cry on the surface, completely different things going on insideA four-question audio quiz to figure out which one is the loudest in youWhy every behaviour you're stuck in is meeting a need — and you can't change it until you know which oneWhy my dad and my 80-year-old grandma chainsawing down a tree while telling each other to sit down haunts me — and why I'm watching my daughter start to do it tooThe advice isn't wrong. It's just for the wrong problem.Free ResourcesFacebook Group — come tell me and join the fun: https://facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastEnergy Accounting Guide — https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/Breaking Free from Unhealthy Habits Kit — for the loops you can't seem to break: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/breaking-unhealthy-habits-adhd-mums-kit/Paid ResourceADHD Reset Workbook — Values, Energy & Planning: https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-planner-and-values/Related EpisodesS3 EP35: You Were the Good Girl. That's Why You're Falling Apart Now — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-35-you-were-the-good-girl-thats-why-youre-falling-apart-now/EP49 QUICK RESET: I'm Not Lazy, My House Doesn't Have a Memory — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-49-quick-reset-im-not-lazy-my-house-just-doesnt-have-a-memory/EP71: When You Can't Relax Even When It's Quiet — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/why-adhd-mums-cant-relax/S3 EP59: The Red Pen Christmas — Stop Editing Yourself for Everyone Else — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-59-stop-editing-yourself-red-pen-christmas/EP72: You're Not Behind — You Learned to Carry Responsibility Too Early — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/youre-not-behind-you-learned-to-carry-responsibility-too-earlyEP81: The Hidden Cost of Being the 'Good Girl' — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-hidden-cost-of-being-the-good-girl-how-the-mental-load-became-ours/EP80: The Invisible Coordination Load — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/the-invisible-coordination-load-why-adhd-mums-carry-the-work-systems-wont/EP93: When You Remove the Stress and Start Wondering What's Wrong With You — https://adhdmums.com.au/adhd-podcast-episodes/when-you-remove-the-stress-and-start-wondering-whats-wrong-with-you/EP53 QUICK RESET: Self-Care Feels Nice. Self-Regulation Keeps You Alive — https://adhdmums.com.au/podcast_episode/episode-53-quick-reset-self-care-feels-nice-self-regulation-keeps-you-alive/📬 Listener Questions & Community🎙️ Ask a Listener Question (voice)Voice notes are preferred when possible — hearing your voice helps add context — but you’re very welcome to submit a written question instead.Send a WhatsApp voice or written on 0403 457 313Send a SMS voice or written on 0403 457 313👥 Join the ADHD Mums Facebook GroupFor community, shared language, and conversations with other mums who get it.https://www.facebook.com/groups/adhdmumspodcastReferencesVolkow et al. — Deficits in the brain's reward system in ADHD. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090908193432.htmFurukawa et al. — Abnormal striatal BOLD responses to reward anticipation and reward delivery in ADHD. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3935853/Aarts et al. — Reward modulation of cognitive function in adult ADHD: the role of striatal dopamine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25485641/Panagiotidi et al. — Altered somatosensory processing in adult ADHD. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11323665/Neurodivergent Insights — Sensory Overload in ADHD (cites Miller et al. 2017). https://neurodivergentinsights.com/sensory-overload-in-adhd/Attachment Project — Unrelenting Standards / Hypercriticalness Schema. https://www.attachmentproject.com/early-maladaptive-schemas/unrealiting-standards/Bay Area CBT Center — Unpacking the Unrelenting Standards Schema. https://bayareacbtcenter.com/unpacking-the-unrelenting-standards-schema/IFS Institute — Internal Family Systems Model Outline. https://ifs-institute.com/resources/articles/internal-family-systems-model-outlinePositive Psychology — Internal Family Systems Therapy: 8 Worksheets and Exercises. https://positivepsychology.com/internal-family-systems-therapy/