Sometimes, our brains spiral and it seems like there’s nothing we can do about it. This can happen to anyone. Maybe you have an awkward social interaction and can’t stop thinking about it — then your mind jumps to worse and worse scenarios, far from what actually happened. And for those of us with ADHD, it can be extra difficult to exit that spiral. A situation like this happened to Rae Jacobson recently. Thankfully, she had an interview on the books with Dr. Jodi Gold, a psychiatrist who also has ADHD. Jodi specializes in psychotherapy of anxiety and mood disorders — perfect. On this episode of Hyperfocus, Rae and Jodi have an impromptu therapy session featuring a discussion of automatic thoughts, mood dysregulation, and rejection sensitivity. And, yes, “ADHD rabbit holes.”Related resourcesThe influence of ADHD on social skillsAnxiety, imposter syndrome, and ADHD (Mallory’s story)What is perseveration?Timestamps(2:23) Rae’s situation(6:56) What do we really mean by “rabbit hole?”(13:00) On automatic thoughts(17:53) Masking and people-pleasingWe love hearing from our listeners. Email us at [email protected] a transcript and more resources, visit the Hyperfocus page on Understood. Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.