Alex Partridge

That looks like working tirelessly through the night

And that's all people see.

They just see the brilliance.

They see you handing in that assignment and you might get a great mark or you might get a promotion, but they don't see you getting home at the end of the day, the door slams, you fall to the floor and burst into tears or you have a huge row with your partner.

It's that invisible behind-the-scenes struggle that is invisible to so many people and it's completely overwhelming.

The topic of overwhelm for me in the ADHD space is huge.

I think it's those highly caffeinated squirrels I mentioned.

That's how I describe my brain.

And it's such a soft word for, I think, incredibly serious topic.

What exactly is ADHD overwhelm?

What can it look like?

Can there be quite a fast spiral downwards?

Because if you are so overwhelmed, and you alluded to, I think, a paralysis, a body shutdown, and you might not be able to do anything in that moment, despite the fact that you know you've got 10 million things to do, but you can't...

put them into any order in your mind so you don't know where to start so you end up doing nothing and i suppose the optics like that can expose you to comments from perhaps a partner who might not understand adhd like oh why can't you just start the task why can't you just empty the dishwasher like you said earlier why are you so lazy and that perpetuates that internal critic that is constantly shouting at you you're useless you're a pos why can't you just do stuff

How fast can that spiral take someone down to a dark place?

What can that look like if someone does have alexithymia and they are also in that moment triggered and they feel these intense emotions, sadness, rage, but they don't know how to articulate it and let off some steam in a safe, communicative way?

What can that look like?

Can that be quite explosive?

Can that be violent?

What would you say, Dr. Asad, to the undiagnosed or the late diagnosed women listening who might have felt forgotten about?