Hyperfocus with Rae Jacobson

Rae puts on her most uncomfortable pants (on purpose!) to ask a fashion designer and former special ed teacher whether adults can actually get over sensory issues. Julia DeNey, founder of sensory clothing brand Sense-ational You, breaks down why tactile sensitivity doesn’t disappear at 18, what adaptive fashion can (and can’t) fix, and why telling yourself “today’s the day I get over it” is the worst possible strategy.

For more on this topic

Listen: ADHD and sensory overwhelm: Itchy tags and tight clothes

Read: ADHD and sensory overload

Watch: Is “ring of fire” ADHD real?

For a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected].

Listen to Everyone Gets a Juice Box, a new podcast from Understood.org where host Jessica Shaw has honest talks with parents raising kids who learn and think differently.
Understood 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.

Hyperfocus listener Jenna Plonsky opens a raw conversation about ADHD, late diagnosis, and the mental health struggles many women face in silence. 

From postpartum depression to PMDD, this episode explores how hormonal shifts intersect with neurodivergence — and why so many go undiagnosed for decades. It’s an honest look at shame, self-perception, and the turning point that comes with finally understanding your brain.

For more on this topic

Watch: Did my ADHD make me more likely to have postpartum depression?

Listen: ADHD and: Hormones

For a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]

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Listen to Everyone Gets a Juice Box, a new podcast from Understood.org where host Jessica Shaw has honest talks with parents raising kids who learn and think differently.
Understood 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.

Our team has been seeing something called “ring of fire” ADHD spreading across the internet. It’s a supposed subtype of ADHD promoted by Daniel Amen, a celebrity psychiatrist with clinics in multiple states and a huge online following.

But in reporting this episode, we found that “ring of fire” ADHD isn’t recognized by mainstream science. Nor are brain scans approved by the FDA as a diagnostic tool for ADHD.

Our guest today, clinical psychologist Roberto Olivardia, PhD, explains why he believes Dr. Amen’s approach is unethical — and how it may lead to real harm for patients seeking answers.

For more on this topic

Listen: Why there’s no “gold standard” for adult ADHD tests

Listen: The ADHD content economy: How algorithms and incentives turn help into grift

For a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected].

Listen to Everyone Gets a Juice Box, a new podcast from Understood.org where host Jessica Shaw has honest talks with parents raising kids who learn and think differently.
Understood 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.

Rae has a lifelong misconception about her dyscalculia turned on its head. And she learns why labels don’t mean limits.

For more on this topic

Listen: Kids are at a breaking point, and school policies might be to blame

Listen: The uncertain future of special education in the United States

The discrepancy model: What you need to know

For a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]

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Listen to Everyone Gets a Juice Box, a new podcast from Understood.org where host Jessica Shaw has honest talks with parents raising kids who learn and think differently.
Understood 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.

Last fall, I heard something that floored me: The tests we have for ADHD in adults don’t work very well.

As an adult with ADHD, I think about this all the time because our diagnosis is so stigmatized and so misunderstood. It’s overdiagnosed. It’s underdiagnosed. Everybody has it. Nobody has it.

If only there were a silver bullet or some test that could definitively say yes or no.

So, I asked the two Chicago School faculty members who got me thinking about this after their presentation at the CHADD conference last year: Jessica Rosenfeld, a clinical psychologist, and Reneh Karamians, a  neurorehabilitation psychologist.

They explained why adult ADHD diagnosis is so difficult, and how new scan technology holds promise for spotting ADHD in the brain. 

For more on this topic

Listen: Is ADHD genetic? We asked a Harvard scientist

Listen: Understood Explains: ADHD in adults

For a transcript and more resources, visit Hyperfocus on Understood.org. You can also email us at [email protected]

.

Listen to Everyone Gets a Juice Box, a new podcast from Understood.org where host Jessica Shaw has honest talks with parents raising kids who learn and think differently.
Understood 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.