More and more women are getting diagnosed with ADHD later in life, often after becoming parents, and it’s not because ADHD is “trending.” It’s because we’ve missed it for decades.

In this conversation, I talk with psychiatrist and author Dr. Sasha Hamdani about why ADHD in girls and women often goes unnoticed, how hormones and motherhood reveal hidden symptoms, and why self-understanding can be so freeing. We discuss stigma, emotional regulation, anxiety, and how parenting can bring clarity to our own neurodiversity.

If you’ve ever wondered why things got harder after kids, or why your child’s diagnosis suddenly made your own life make more sense, this episode will feel like a deep exhale.

We discuss:

• Why ADHD in girls and women often gets overlooked

• How hormonal shifts during puberty, postpartum, and perimenopause can unmask ADHD

• The difference between anxiety-driven distraction and true ADHD

• How parenting adds new executive function challenges that make symptoms more visible

• The role of emotional regulation in ADHD—and why it’s missing from the diagnostic criteria

• How a late diagnosis can change the way you see yourself and parent your kids

To connect with Dr. Sasha Hamdani follow her on Instagram @thepsychdoctormd and

 check out all her resources at ⁠https://www.drhamdanimd.com/.⁠

00:00 – Intro 01:55 – Meet Dr. Sasha Hamdani: psychiatrist, ADHD specialist, and creator
04:00 – Rediscovering ADHD during medical school
06:00 – From burnout to advocacy: how social media changed her work
06:45 – Getting diagnosed as an adult woman and the emotions that followed
10:30 – How ADHD was misunderstood in the 90s—and still is for many girls
12:00 – Why diagnoses often appear after motherhood and hormonal shifts
16:30 – Parenting stress, executive function overload, and ADHD symptoms
18:20 – How girls are taught to mask and why that delays diagnosis
22:00 – ADHD, anxiety, and the “chicken or egg” challenge
27:00 – How self-understanding reshapes parenting and connection
35:15 – Why “superpower” isn’t the right framing—but awareness is powerful
41:20 – The missing piece: emotional regulation in ADHD and Sasha’s upcoming book
47:16 – Dr. Mona’s reflections on self-awareness, parenting, and compassion

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00;00;00;03 – 00;00;25;10

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Maybe they have never thought about these kind of symptoms in their life, but then they’re seeing their kid. They’re seeing all the symptoms that quite frankly, irritate them the most because it’s so similar. And then, you know, at now they’re seeing all of those symptoms that are so difficult for them to cope with are being addressed. They have a name, they have a treatment strategy.

 

00;00;25;10 – 00;00;43;11

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

They have. And so now they’re like, oh wait, got no, I actually have all of those things too. And I just didn’t know that number one, they went together. Number two, that there was an answer for it.

 

00;00;43;13 – 00;01;09;23

Dr. Mona

Welcome back to the PedsDocTalk podcast. I’m Doctor Mona, your online pediatrician and mom friend. And lately I’ve noticed something fascinating. And I think you’ve noticed it too. More and more adults, especially moms, are being diagnosed with ADHD, autism, or neurodivergent after becoming parents. In fact, autism diagnoses among adults age 26 to 34 have increased by more than 450% in the last decade.

 

00;01;09;26 – 00;01;33;24

Dr. Mona

And it got me thinking what is it about adulthood? What is it about motherhood that unmasks neurodiversity? For me, it started when I began seeing certain patterns in my own family. My son has a sensory processing disorder, and through understanding him, I started recognizing those same traits in myself. After my second child, my own sensory sensitivities became impossible to ignore.

 

00;01;34;00 – 00;01;55;16

Dr. Mona

Sounds felt louder, textures bothered me more, and chaos that I used to handle fine suddenly felt like too much. That’s when I realized that this wasn’t just being overwhelmed. It was my nervous system talking. So I wanted to dig deeper into why this happens, and how understanding our own brains can change how we parent and care for ourselves at the same time.

 

00;01;55;18 – 00;02;24;01

Dr. Mona

To explore this, I’m joined by Doctor Sasha Hamdani, psychiatrist, ADHD specialist, and author of Self-care for people with ADHD. You may know her for her relatable, myth busting, humorous videos on social media at the Psych Doctor MD, where she makes ADHD and neurodiversity both understandable and human. It’s a fascinating conversation, one that might make you question your own neurotypical brain, or at least think differently about how we show up as parents and people.

 

00;02;24;08 – 00;02;47;02

Dr. Mona

We break down why neurodiversity diagnoses may increase after motherhood. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe. Download and share it. I cannot express this enough. Downloading it really helps the show grow. And at pedes Doc talk at the Pedes Doc Talk podcast and at the Psych Doctor MD so we can keep this conversation going on social media.

 

00;02;47;10 – 00;02;53;16

Dr. Mona

Let’s get into this amazing conversation.

 

00;02;53;18 – 00;02;56;26

Dr. Mona

Thank you, Sasha, for joining me today. I’m so glad you’re here.

 

00;02;56;28 – 00;03;00;05

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited.

 

00;03;00;07 – 00;03;17;05

Dr. Mona

Well, I guess I get excited when especially I like, watch so many videos of a creator online and then I finally get them on my show. Or even better, when we finally meet in person and I’m like, you are who I thought you would be like, that is the best thing. And I feel that already. We chatted before we started recording, but I’m like, oh, this is my girlfriend.

 

00;03;17;05 – 00;03;34;18

Dr. Mona

Like, we’re like friends. Like, and every time I watch you, I mean, of course, like, just the way you speak and just like you’re also seemed like to be a very sensitive person like myself. Like, things move you deeply. And I’m like, the same way. And I’m like, we will be besties. Like, this is my bestie girl. I know she’s on my show today, so thank you.

 

00;03;34;20 – 00;03;42;22

Dr. Mona

Yeah, I love it. So for anyone who’s not familiar, tell us just a little bit more about yourself and what got you doing the work that you do.

 

00;03;42;24 – 00;04;07;27

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah. So I mean, start going all the way back, I, I was born and raised in Southern California. I was interested in medicine at a pretty young age. I got into a program in Kansas City where I could do a combined undergrad and graduate program in six years, which is kind of where the wheels fell off because I had left home.

 

00;04;07;29 – 00;04;31;20

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And that’s kind of when I rediscovered being rediscovered because I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. But I wasn’t quite leaded on that conversation. So this is the first time I kind of explored and found out about ADHD in my medical school training. And, you know, I had to recalibrate and figure out, quite literally, how do you eat?

 

00;04;31;23 – 00;04;56;02

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

How do you sleep? Do you study, how do you manage medications, all while kind of doing that whole process. And that’s a part of what got me more interested in in psychiatry as a field. I entered my psychiatry residency. I felt like they rebuilt me from the ground up and gave me that good training. I got so much exposure to therapy.

 

00;04;56;02 – 00;05;26;10

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And I mean, honestly, just like kindness. And it was just a wonderful experience. And then I entered private, practice, where I was seeing both, inpatient people in the hospital and watching outpatient people just in a office setting. And then the pandemic happened. And that’s kind of when I started to branch out. And honestly, this was, you know, after my second child, I was just very, very bored.

 

00;05;26;15 – 00;06;07;20

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

There was nothing to do. Yeah. I was, you know, at home, I really couldn’t, I couldn’t watch any more television, like, I was not. And I had completed it. So I, I started getting on to social media initially just to debunk some bad information out there. And as I started to get on social media more and actually explore that field more, I started to realize like how powerful it was as a tool, especially during that time where we were in shutdown, to dispel good evidence based clinical medicine, especially to underserved areas and people that wouldn’t be able to seek out care.

 

00;06;07;23 – 00;06;09;06

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And that’s just continued.

 

00;06;09;09 – 00;06;28;25

Dr. Mona

And I love what you’ve done. I mean, I already introduced all the things that you’re doing, not only, you know, obviously the Ted talk, which is awesome. And then the book and obviously just being on social and all the, you know, speaking engagements and advocacy that you do, you do. And I love what you had mentioned. You said that obviously you had a diagnosis when you were, like a child, but it was never divulged to you.

 

00;06;28;28 – 00;06;42;20

Dr. Mona

But then when you went through training is when you’re like, oh, shit, like, this is me. Did did that light bulb moment, how did that impact you in a positive or negative way, like having that official diagnosis as a adult, of your ADHD.

 

00;06;42;23 – 00;07;06;09

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So the way it kind of unfolded. So I was diagnosed in fourth grade. Yeah. And at the time, like it just like it for especially for girls ADHD just wasn’t talked about. And so I you know, it I guess the conversation just never happened. And I was put on medication and I was I mean, I just kind of went through and I just assumed they were vitamins and I just I just didn’t know.

 

00;07;06;16 – 00;07;25;16

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah. It’s like it was just this is going to make your brain work better. And it did like the medication itself did make my brain work better. And then when I got to medical school, that was the first time I had been without my parents. I mean, I literally within probably 15 minutes of showing up to school, I had lost my medication on.

 

00;07;25;16 – 00;07;47;01

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So, like, I don’t know where it was at, don’t know where my vitamins are. And so, like, it became a huge struggle. And it became really apparent because at my first neuroanatomy test, I mean, I studied and I studied and I studied and like I went through all these extra steps to like, go to Kinko’s, make, like color.

 

00;07;47;03 – 00;08;10;10

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I paid so much money to make color index cards, it cross sections of the brain like I knew that thing inside out. I was so confident. And then I took my test. I like hand in the test. I’m like, way before anybody else. I was so confident. And then when the grades were posted, I got a 32% and I was like, what?

 

00;08;10;12 – 00;08;14;07

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

What the hell happened? And it’s because I forgot to flip over the page.

 

00;08;14;09 – 00;08;16;16

Dr. Mona

So, my gosh, yeah.

 

00;08;16;18 – 00;08;31;03

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

That was wasn’t I want to retake the test. And I wasn’t into like it became something that I was like, I will never climb out of this hole. This is so disheartening. I don’t understand what happened here. And that’s when my parents were like, okay, heads up.

 

00;08;31;05 – 00;08;33;17

Dr. Mona

This is something.

 

00;08;33;19 – 00;09;00;10

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah. It is. This is and so I, I initially on the negative side, I think number one, I didn’t really believe it. I thought it was only in boys. Number two, I felt very betrayed. I felt like I should have known that this was part of my health care and that it was part of my journey. And I, I just I really didn’t understand at that point, especially since, you know, I wasn’t being a parent has kind of changed my lens on that.

 

00;09;00;10 – 00;09;21;16

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

But like, I just didn’t understand why I didn’t know about it up until that moment. So I refused to be on medication again. I refused to get help. I just was like, I’m going to prove to you that I don’t have it. Spoiler alert, I do have it. Yeah, I work, and then the rest of my med school training was kind of.

 

00;09;21;16 – 00;09;41;07

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I think my parents actually handled it very beautifully. Then my dad just told me, like, you know, I don’t even worry about studying for school or doing anything, like, come home and let’s just go through and try to understand your brain. And if it’s ADHD, cool, we’ll get information or something else cool. We’ll figure out what else it is.

 

00;09;41;12 – 00;10;00;18

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So we went and like for the next like four days, I like I flew home to California and we went, I mean, it wasn’t even an internet search. We went to the library and we were sitting like on the floor, going through books, going. And like we were pointing out different areas of books like, well, this sounds like me or this sounds like me.

 

00;10;00;18 – 00;10;20;15

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And with him he was like, that does not sound like me and like it. So we were both discovering parts of our brain, and I felt number one, I felt so seen. I felt like they handled it so beautifully in that moment, because I felt like it was just like a time for them to show, like we handled it poorly.

 

00;10;20;15 – 00;10;30;04

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And but, I mean, I can’t even say that they handled it poorly because the time was so different. Like, I think everybody was handling it like that.

 

00;10;30;07 – 00;10;49;18

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show. Oh. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think about in Pediatrics how it was handled in the 90s and how many of those kids were, you know, deemed class clowns or problems in school. But like, you know, you never really put a label, a label on it.

 

00;10;49;18 – 00;11;17;09

Dr. Mona

And I, you know, and when it comes to nerd, like, there’s an interesting thing happens because I don’t like labels for personality, like, oh, strong willed or shy, but I feel like having the label of neurodiversity to me has been helpful as a mother. Like knowing that my son had a sensory processing disorder versus that, why the heck is he like this when he’s melting down, when he’s in a crowded, noisy place was very redeeming of like, oh, sensory processing.

 

00;11;17;09 – 00;11;42;19

Dr. Mona

He is very his brain is very filled and and that’s why I was asking you like when you got that diagnosis, like, how did it help? Because we’ve been seeing like a trend of women in their 20s, 30s, especially after having children, you know, get diagnosed, whether it’s with ADHD or autism. And this happened for me. You know, I, I realized I had the sensory processing disorder because I saw the same patterns in my son growing up.

 

00;11;42;19 – 00;12;00;20

Dr. Mona

I still remember not liking to wear stockings to the point where I would hide ripped them off. It was very uncomfortable. I didn’t like tags, I didn’t like noise, and people would call me quirky. Oh, look at Mona. And now I’m like, oh shit, like that makes sense because now my son is standing in front of me, hates all of these things, and this is wild to me.

 

00;12;00;20 – 00;12;19;26

Dr. Mona

So I went into this rabbit hole of like looking at like, wow, there’s so many people reporting that they have, you know, ADHD, autism, sensory processing. A lot of creators on social media, especially women, were sharing their stories about getting diagnosed later in life. Some people, like critics would say, oh, it’s just trendy, like to be diagnosed. I’m like, it’s not trendy.

 

00;12;19;26 – 00;12;33;14

Dr. Mona

It’s actually a real thing. And I want to know, like, are you seeing that same trend in your practice and what do you think drives it, the sort of post motherhood, post fatherhood sort of realization that, wow, I might be neurodiverse myself.

 

00;12;33;16 – 00;12;54;10

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So it’s I think it’s very multifaceted. So number one, just circling back times are different. And like in the 90s, no one was talking about this. The scope even for physicians was so limited. Like, if you’re not causing problems in the class, you weren’t picked up. And the reason I was picked up in fourth grade is because I pretended like a boy.

 

00;12;54;11 – 00;13;22;17

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I was hyperactive, I was extremely disruptive. And so I just like that. And frankly, not much has changed. I’m also a still, but it’s just like it was. That’s why it was picked up at and grateful it was picked up because I think it gave me, a chance at continuing to do things rather than being just kind of pigeonholed as a problem and, and not have anything come out of that.

 

00;13;22;19 – 00;13;41;02

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So the times were very different. No one was talking about it. No one knew how to pick it up. No one knew how to correctly assess it, especially for women. Just because all of the emphasis and this is like a whole secondary thing. But I think the DSM is kind of stupid in this regard. It’s really behind it doesn’t talk to personal regulation.

 

00;13;41;02 – 00;14;08;22

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

It doesn’t it really prioritizes observable symptoms and and instead of lived experience. And yes, there has to be some sort of, emphasis on I’m sorry, but I think you also need to include that because girls aren’t going to show for many, many reasons. A lot of these symptoms, of hyperactivity or, being disruptive or instead they’re just like quietly suffering and being passed on from plastic class.

 

00;14;08;25 – 00;14;39;08

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So that’s one thing. Number two, there is such a strong hormonal variation that happens with ADHD as your hormones are changing, you get your ADHD symptoms worsen. And so, you know, you first start to see that around puberty. And for women, you start to see those changes happening. And everyone’s like there are hormonal. This is normal, whatever. And really, you know, that is your body’s first chance at being like, no, there’s something going on here.

 

00;14;39;10 – 00;15;02;16

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Then you get into like your early 20s and you start to, you know, if you haven’t had already, you haven’t had issues with highs in junior high or high school and things like that. You get into college and you’re by yourself. That’s when a lot of other difficulty starts to unfold. But if it’s not academic, maybe the structured, loose structure of college really suits you.

 

00;15;02;19 – 00;15;43;08

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

This is when you start seeing, you know, relationship issues and interpersonal issues and things like that. And so, you know, everyone’s like, oh, it’s quirky or she’s different or she’s flighty or she’s flaky. And so you that gets ignored is like a personality trait. And then once you get into this time where you’re starting to have these conversations about having kids, you know, pregnancy might go well because your estrogen is a little bit higher, but then postpartum happens and things your estrogen crashes down and it’s much, much harder to mask your symptoms.

 

00;15;43;11 – 00;15;50;21

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And so that’s part of the reason why sometimes you start to see it. And then your kid grows up and they are exactly like you want.

 

00;15;50;24 – 00;15;52;14

Dr. Mona

You’re that’s a big one. Yeah.

 

00;15;52;21 – 00;16;12;09

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And now we’re entering a time where people are having I mean, it’s more part of the cultural discourse to talk about ADHD. It was being picked up more. And usually now your kid gets a diagnosis and you’re like, oh, wait, this is exactly me. And now you’re getting that diagnosis. So there’s there’s a lot of different reasons that things were skipped.

 

00;16;12;11 – 00;16;30;01

Dr. Mona

Oh, I love the hormonal discussion. I know you’ve discussed that on your page as well. And I think that’s something that people often, you know, there’s a there’s sort of like a, gaslighting of like women, especially when we know that there’s hormone that. Oh, she’s just being, you know, hormonal. But we, we know that it can impact so much.

 

00;16;30;01 – 00;16;48;02

Dr. Mona

And so I really appreciate you saying that to validate a little bit of like, what we’re saying here, that, hey, something changed in you. And that’s going to change your brain a little bit here. So don’t be alarmed. And you know I’m sure this is part of it. But parenting piles on huge executive functioning demands, right? Like schedules, multitasking, constant decision making.

 

00;16;48;08 – 00;17;12;08

Dr. Mona

And I used to pride myself on doing a lot of those things, and I’m still very good on that. I personally don’t have ADHD, but my husband does, and he struggles a lot after having kids, to the point where he’s now thinking of medication when he never used to. And so I’m sure you see that as well, that you add more kids to the mix or even add one and you’re like, whoa, like, I can’t mass myself out of this anymore because there’s a lot.

 

00;17;12;08 – 00;17;22;04

Dr. Mona

So is there a component of like those demands or stress that makes it harder to mask or manage your ADHD symptoms that finally you’re like, wow, something needs to give here.

 

00;17;22;06 – 00;17;36;07

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I think it’s just the consistent grind of it. You know, like with a job, you can still separate to some degree, but with parenting you are in it constantly, like you don’t really have a break. Even if your kid goes.

 

00;17;36;11 – 00;17;37;06

Dr. Mona

Into.

 

00;17;37;09 – 00;18;02;13

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

School, you’re still thinking about it. You’re still doing tasks involving like you’re still on. You are parenting at all times. And so I think for for people who are entering this parenting journey where like already executive function to get your own life and order has been difficult, now all of a sudden you’re dealing with not only your brain, but your child’s brain, or maybe multiple children’s brains and schedules and planning.

 

00;18;02;13 – 00;18;20;08

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And they quite literally don’t have of developed frontal lobe. It’s not like they can help you now all of a sudden those needs are exponentially more so. Yes, it’s it is simply, you know, there’s just more to work through.

 

00;18;20;11 – 00;18;41;02

Dr. Mona

Yeah, I agree and I see, you know, we talked about women getting later diagnoses. And you alluded to it already that, you know, girls won’t always show symptoms. Is it that I have I guess a couple questions and we can take it part by part. Is it that girls tend to be more inattentive and more of the more of the understanding is that ADHD is hyperactive?

 

00;18;41;02 – 00;18;53;01

Dr. Mona

Or is it that? What is it about the girl? Is it something about societal norms? Is it about their hormonal like their, you know, pre puberty hormones? What is it that is making these girls not get diagnosed until later in life?

 

00;18;53;03 – 00;19;10;26

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Oh, so number one, girls are more likely to present as an inattentive type. So they are the teenage girls, whereas you know, combined type or hyperactive type, you know, they’re the people that typically are more physically and verbally impulsive, which tends to be more disruptive to that or daydreaming. That’s not going to be a problem for the teen.

 

00;19;10;26 – 00;19;32;18

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I mean, occasionally it’s a problem for the teacher, but they’re, you know, the fire that the teacher is going to put out is the person who’s getting up in the middle of class and standing on their yes, that’s what they’re going to, they more often the kid who’s daydreaming is a pleasure to have in class is the, you know, the the kid who never causes problem and really enjoys this year.

 

00;19;32;20 – 00;20;01;13

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

But really, they’re not, like, absorbing much of what’s going on in the classroom because they’re they’re internally distracted. Number two, this like just as an overarching theme, women even at very young ages, for girls, the way we are treated in society is that we’re just supposed to take it like we’re supposed to, not cause trouble and toe the line and do all these things and not be disruptive.

 

00;20;01;15 – 00;20;19;28

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And that’s just a more global kind of thing that has happened. And I think you definitely see it more in certain, cultural groups as well. So there’s like an additional kind of layer of complexity that comes with that. So it’s, you know, it’s it’s all interconnected.

 

00;20;20;00 – 00;20;40;05

Dr. Mona

Yeah. I’ve always found it to be very fascinating because, you know, of course, like you said, and I, I assumed a lot of it was the inattentive type as well. And then the, you know, social norms of a girl, to be more well-behaved. And then they’re just forced to mask at a very young age because of that societal expectation, like of the, you know, you’re just going to be a nice, sweet girl and polite.

 

00;20;40;10 – 00;20;55;24

Dr. Mona

And I think that’s what happened to me with my, you know, I think a lot about like, again, I know we’re talking about ADHD, but I’m bringing up the sensory processing disorder that is not I there’s no code for it, which I, I’ve already gone through my own feelings about why I wish there would be a code so that it’s more recognized.

 

00;20;55;26 – 00;21;16;20

Dr. Mona

But like, I think about how my parents approach it. And just to be quite frank, when I was having those meltdowns, which were largely related to being sensory overloaded, when I think back about it, my parents did a very common thing of slapping me that was corporal punishment, and I learned to suppress it because I learned that if I’m acting this way, I’m going to get slapped, right?

 

00;21;16;27 – 00;21;41;16

Dr. Mona

And then I grew up masking, and I grew up with really bad anxiety. And interestingly, when I found out that I had SPD through learning about my son and I had my appointment with my therapist, who’s not, you know, an ADHD specialist or neurodiversity specialist. But I told her and I’m like, just having this awareness that knowing that I’m not, that something’s wrong with me, that I just it’s a it’s a very stimulating world for me and that I need to figure out a coping skills.

 

00;21;41;16 – 00;22;05;23

Dr. Mona

When the world gets too stimulating, may my anxiety get better. And that’s what you know. And that’s when we talk about the comorbidities. I guess this other sort of nuanced question is we know that a lot of neurodiverse individuals have other comorbidities, right? So maybe a ADHD and anxiety, ADHD, autism and anxiety, the anxiety piece, do we feel from a chemical level that that’s existing?

 

00;22;05;23 – 00;22;21;24

Dr. Mona

Or do we feel that when a person can’t be themselves, how of course that’s going to lead to more friction and anxiety. Like, I’m wondering where that anxiety is coming from, because for me, once I got more, I’m like this and I’m going to learn how to deal with it. That got better. And I thought that was a fascinating feel for me.

 

00;22;21;24 – 00;22;23;16

Dr. Mona

And I’m just curious what your thoughts are.

 

00;22;23;18 – 00;22;48;17

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So it it could be both, right? Yeah. So yeah, there is a high likelihood that if you have ADHD you also have anxiety. That’s that’s tagged along has it as a completely separate diagnosis. There’s a there is a high chance that you carry depression that’s that’s tacked along it completely independently. I think when you get and you boil it down, you can get a lot of answers.

 

00;22;48;17 – 00;22;59;12

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

We’re trying to figure out like, like for ADHD and anxiety, are you anxious? And that’s what’s preventing you from focusing.

 

00;22;59;15 – 00;22;59;26

Dr. Mona

Right.

 

00;23;00;06 – 00;23;03;22

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Or can you not focus. And that’s what’s making you anxious.

 

00;23;03;24 – 00;23;04;14

Dr. Mona

 

00;23;04;16 – 00;23;35;24

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So trying to figure out like a chicken and egg kind of thing. Because you know for a lot of people that old standard of treatment from a medicinal standpoint is stimulant. The stimulant is a there they are miserable for anxiety. They’re terrible. You give an anxious person right. They have more energy to be anxious. However, if you are treating someone with ADHD and their ADHD is causing tremendous anxiety, if you adequately treat their ADHD, their anxiety gets better.

 

00;23;35;26 – 00;23;57;26

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So it seems a little contradictory where it’s like I’m giving somebody a stimulant and expecting their anxiety to get better. But if there are anxieties, truly, because they quite literally can’t find the faculties and the executive function to get done with what they need to get done, and they’re drowning and getting overwhelmed by all of these escalating demands.

 

00;23;57;28 – 00;24;06;16

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And yeah, certain medications could help that in the general population might make people more anxious.

 

00;24;06;18 – 00;24;15;11

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;24;15;13 – 00;24;35;04

Dr. Mona

I love this. I had a patient once who they were seeing other other providers and again diagnosed with ADHD. It was a teenager and he kept coming to different doctors. I saw it in the chart, you know, flying to different doctors because of just availability, lack of continuity, whatever. I saw him and we were chatting and I’m like, he’s like, it’s not working data.

 

00;24;35;05 – 00;24;53;13

Dr. Mona

She medicines. And I’m like, interesting. You’ve been on it for like five years and you’ve tried many different kinds. He’s been on like ones that I usually feel work really well and then finally we had a long talk about what his symptoms were. And it’s exactly what you said he had. He had unmanaged anxiety. And I was like, this is so fascinating.

 

00;24;53;13 – 00;25;15;03

Dr. Mona

And once we got his anxiety under control, the ADHD got better. And I, I love that we’re talking about this because we do know that they’re connected. But it is a it can be a huge disservice if we don’t get the right diagnosis or what we’re treating. And like you said, it was probably making it worse. And it came up because he talked about how he’s a he mentioned how he’s afraid when his parents leave the house.

 

00;25;15;03 – 00;25;32;05

Dr. Mona

And I was like, why? Interesting. Let’s talk about that. What would your teenager like? What do you think? What’s going to happen? He’s like, I’m just afraid that someone’s going to come and break in. And then I was like, okay. And then we went down that rabbit hole of like, bring more out for me, you know? And I, I felt like a really good clinician there because it’s like, like you said, detective work.

 

00;25;32;05 – 00;25;51;09

Dr. Mona

It’s the chicken, the chicken or the egg. And we figured out which one was the chicken and which one was the egg, which is not always so easy. But thank you for saying that, because I hope our listeners know that, like if things aren’t working or if a clinician saying you have this, but your neurodiverse brain maybe has another comorbidity, are we addressing the other co-morbidities or are we missing something in a diagnosis?

 

00;25;51;09 – 00;25;53;01

Dr. Mona

I can serve you better.

 

00;25;53;04 – 00;26;13;15

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah, I have a lot of people that come in and they, you know, especially since I see so much ADHD, they’re coming to me with the expectation, like I have ADHD. But then once we actually distill it and get down to what it actually is, it could be anxiety, it could be depression, illness, it could be like so many different things that it could be.

 

00;26;13;17 – 00;26;26;13

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So there’s a lot of things that fragment folks that aren’t ADHD. So I think that’s important to kind of note, because everybody kind of assumes like if you can’t focus, it has to be ADHD. It’s not. It is just very distinct.

 

00;26;26;16 – 00;26;49;00

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And I think that’s that’s a huge disservice of how again maybe the DSM four criteria are clinician awareness. You know especially pediatricians. My own because of my own desire to understand neurodiversity better. And that includes it autism you it ADHD like all the different you know sensory processing disorders I’ve become like very interested which is why I wanted you on.

 

00;26;49;03 – 00;27;12;27

Dr. Mona

But many clinicians are like oh, okay, you’re hyper sounds like that. Or oh, okay, you’re worried about something, but you’re right. Like it’s it’s doing a huge disservice. And then it’s years, years, years like this child adolescent that was like oh snap. Like this is something different. So thank you. And I, I hope people listening, if they’re clinicians understand that pulling back a little bit if one things aren’t working or do we get the right diagnosis.

 

00;27;12;29 – 00;27;38;23

Dr. Mona

And for all you know, you mentioned a few of the things that we talked about on reasons, you know, obviously hormonal changes, finding, you know, your child being in front of you and you’re like, oh, wow, you’re exactly like me. Maybe, is there a reason, like when you see adult patients that may have had children, is there one that kind of precedes the other or you kind of see again, that multifactorial approach or is it that many are like, hey, my son or daughter has this, and now I’m realizing I do.

 

00;27;38;26 – 00;28;08;11

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

A lot of times it’s the latter. You know, I yeah, I have and it’s truly because maybe they have never thought about these kind of symptoms in their life, but then they’re seeing their kid. They’re seeing all the symptoms that quite frankly, irritate them the most similar. And then the and now they’re seeing all of those symptoms that are so, difficult for them to cope with are being addressed.

 

00;28;08;16 – 00;28;32;28

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

They have a name they have a treatment strategy. They have. And so now they’re like, oh, wait. Yeah. No, I actually have all of those things too. And I just didn’t know that number one, they went together. Number two, that there was an answer for it. And so I think I think it’s what I’m seeing right now. It’s it’s especially if you’re in your mid 30s or later, that’s what I’m seeing.

 

00;28;33;00 – 00;28;55;16

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I also see a huge secondary pocket like you know, with again following those hormonal changes with perimenopause like so when you’re thinking about those huge hormonal shifts that happen, you know, there’s a lot of people that kind of have to now are faced with, like, I cannot mask at this point. And then that’s when they’re kind of re exploring those symptoms.

 

00;28;55;18 – 00;29;10;07

Dr. Mona

I love I love the hormone discussion. I think this is so fast. This again is why I love the show so much, is that I learned so much from that. Obviously I didn’t know the nitty gritty behind that. And so you just taught me something fascinating and new and I feel nerding out right now. So thank you because I’m like loving this.

 

00;29;10;07 – 00;29;26;10

Dr. Mona

I’m like, that makes sense. And I’m also 39 getting into that pre, you know, perimenopause age. And I’m like I have no patience for this. And what you said beautifully is like the things that annoy them is then when you start to be like, wow, that’s real. And then you see them do it and then you’ve done that.

 

00;29;26;10 – 00;29;45;17

Dr. Mona

And then I turned to my husband and I’m like, oh, snap. Like, now I know how it sounds like when it’s not from me, I know or like my frustration when it’s too noisy and I start screaming, I’m like, can everyone just stop talking, please? And I’m like, oh, like, how come my husband doesn’t care as much? He’s just has a an ability to handle more noise than I do.

 

00;29;45;20 – 00;30;09;09

Dr. Mona

All fascinating stuff. And you know, we also see in terms of autism. Right. So the in between the ages of 26 to 34, the autism diagnosis increased by 450% between 2011 and 2022. I don’t think we have the same stats for ADHD, but correct me if I’m wrong, but do you see? I mean, you’ve been practicing. Do you see this sort of significant increase as well like in ADHD?

 

00;30;09;11 – 00;30;41;04

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah, I do, but I also think that that was due to a couple of things. Number one, I think honestly, I think I think the shutdown really, really, really, really amplified that because now we were all kind of all of those structures that people previously had built to kind of keep their lives in order. Were you away? We’re now forced to kind of be at home with like very loosey goosey structure.

 

00;30;41;04 – 00;31;05;07

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Things were changing every day. Everybody is like the only way they have any sort of social connection was they were on their phones. And that’s when people started sharing symptoms, and it became something that people were a lot more open about. Talking about and discovering together. And I think the, diagnostic rate really kind of shot up at that time.

 

00;31;05;10 – 00;31;14;19

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And, but I don’t necessarily think it’s because there’s more people with ADHD. I think there’s always been that same number of people with ADHD. It’s just we’re picking it up more.

 

00;31;14;21 – 00;31;36;06

Dr. Mona

Yeah. Like comparing to our childhood. Right? I mean, people I mean, we’ve had press conferences, as you know, for like autism and, you know, things like that. I know you’ve been well aware, talking about how this is an epidemic and this is a problem. And I’m like, from our side. I mean, you agree that it is absolutely awareness, better diagnostic criteria, people also having less stigma about coming forward with these things.

 

00;31;36;06 – 00;31;57;25

Dr. Mona

Right. Because like you said, when you’re going online and you see your favorite creator share their story about how, wow, like I am, I got my diagnosis of autism or ADHD, it it brings up curiosity in yourself. And I think, like I said, this ownership can can really change. You know, how you approach like for you and the patients you’ve worked with and also for yourself?

 

00;31;57;25 – 00;32;19;04

Dr. Mona

I know you, you had the if you know that diagnosis in when you’re in schooling, when adults finally get a diagnosis, it can completely shift how they view themselves and I think also how they parent. So how have you seen that self understanding about one’s own neurodiversity change the way moms and dads may approach their kids or their own lives?

 

00;32;19;06 – 00;32;33;24

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

You know, I think that it’s it’s an interesting phenomenon because I think a lot of it starts with once you understand your own patterns and your own brain, it gives you just a lot of grace with yourself.

 

00;32;33;24 – 00;32;34;12

Dr. Mona

Yes.

 

00;32;34;14 – 00;32;55;20

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Something I feel like parents don’t have enough of. Like I myself going through this parenting journey. I am constantly thinking about if what I did was wrong. I am constantly kind of going through and and triple checking with other people, like, what would you have done with that? You know, how is this different? I’m getting a little pieces of information.

 

00;32;55;22 – 00;33;15;13

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I shouldn’t have yelled so much. I shouldn’t have had such a big, robust response. I shouldn’t have shown them so much emotion, like if I was going through something heavy like, those are things that you think about, but then when you are able to kind of put this in the context of like, I am showing them that this is how my brain processes things.

 

00;33;15;13 – 00;33;33;05

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And as long as you’re doing it kind of in a healthy way, and you’re showing them and explaining them and giving them the vocabulary, I think that’s actually wonderful. I mean, it’s going to give them a wide berth of kind of this is the full spectrum of what a brain looks like. You see, this is what mom is like, this what dad is like.

 

00;33;33;07 – 00;34;03;08

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And you show them how to handle those kind of emotional ups and downs. I think that’s one of the best things you get from a diagnosis. The other thing is, I think it also gives you, especially if your child is going through something similar, it gives you that, an opportunity for a very close, bonding in that as you guys are both kind of discovering and, and just knowing your parent has something immediately de-stigmatize it immediately.

 

00;34;03;10 – 00;34;28;19

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah. You’re like, this is something that, you know, my mom has to and my mom is the closest person in my life. And, you know, you immediately shift how that person. Whereas, you know, I feel like had I known that everybody in my family operates in a very different brain spectrum. So, you know, knowing my mom doesn’t have the of my mom might, but not quite the same.

 

00;34;28;24 – 00;34;42;21

Dr. Mona

I was going to say I was like, I have now that I’m I become down this information rabbit hole. Mike I think my mom has inattentive ADHD. Makes sense. I used to get mad at her when she would not listen to me, but it was totally inattentive ADHD. But anyways, so I know.

 

00;34;42;23 – 00;35;03;05

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah, I feel like, I think that, if I had known about ADHD, and especially since it wasn’t being talked about, I would have felt kind of isolated in that way and I would have felt othered, kind of, which is, yeah, it’s hard because I already felt othered because I was the only brown kid in my school.

 

00;35;03;08 – 00;35;15;20

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I was, you know, it was just it was it was a weird way to kind of grow up. And I think my parents were very, very conscious of that. And they didn’t want yet another thing to make me feel different.

 

00;35;15;23 – 00;35;16;06

Dr. Mona

Yeah.

 

00;35;16;08 – 00;35;39;00

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

But I think what what now we’re seeing a shift towards is, you know, that that difference in how your brain is wired is not necessarily good or bad or, you know, because it comes with while, you know, you deal with some of those deficits, it does come with positives as well. So you can kind of see I’m never, ever, ever in a million years.

 

00;35;39;00 – 00;36;01;02

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Can I be that person who says it’s superpower? Because I think that’s dumb. I hate it so much. And I think it it really minimizes people that do struggle. But I do think that there are positives. And I look back at my own life and like even starting social media or writing a book or doing, a lot of the success I’ve had is directly related to my ATC.

 

00;36;01;03 – 00;36;15;13

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

I wouldn’t have, like, taken that leap or or hyperfocus to get something done. It is because of my ADHD. That is what that difference was. So and now I don’t remember what the question was. What?

 

00;36;15;16 – 00;36;30;20

Dr. Mona

Oh no, you you you answered it. I was asking about like how this can change, you know, of the when you had that diagnosis, how can it change how you parent? How can it change how you have self for for yourself? And you just answer that beautifully. And I love you know, you talked about the connection with the child.

 

00;36;30;20 – 00;36;49;00

Dr. Mona

And we know that a lot of this is genetic. And so when you see it in your child, when you’re also going through that in your brain, it’s it’s a phenomenal way to connect. And I I’ve done other episodes for anyone listening on if you are a mom, a parent of a neurodiverse child, but you yourself don’t have that, like it’s a one that I did with the Childhood Collective about ADHD.

 

00;36;49;05 – 00;37;11;04

Dr. Mona

Like if you yourself don’t have ADHD but have an ADHD child, how to approach. But no, you’re right. I mean, even with Ryan, like he has a auditory, his his, sensory is very much auditory like, meaning it’s noises and it’s also a little bit of light too. And once I started to understand this and knew the triggers and telling his brain, like, hey, we’re going to go like we’re going to go to Gaba.

 

00;37;11;04 – 00;37;26;21

Dr. Mona

So Gaba is like a very, traditional vent. It’s very loud and it’s an enclosed space. There’s drums. There’s a lot of things. It’s not going to be very ideal for him. And then when that happens, he meltdowns faster because his brain’s overloaded. So we bought him headphones and I this is the first time that I bought the headphones.

 

00;37;26;24 – 00;37;47;27

Dr. Mona

And I asked him before I bought them, I’m like, hey, you know, sometimes when it’s very noisy, your brain feels like it’s moving really fast. And he’s like, oh, mommy. And I’m like, do you think you would on headphones? And he’s like, oh, these are really cool. I got it. And now he’s so excited about it. I’m like, whenever you’re feeling like you need to be a little more quiet, we’re going to put those on and mommy will have them on her and we’ll put them on, and it’s going to help you.

 

00;37;47;27 – 00;38;09;28

Dr. Mona

And just being able to empower him, like, makes me feel like I can connect with him better versus what was happening before is my husband and I both getting frustrated with him? Like, come on Ryan, why are you melting down Viera in our head? Viera is not melting down and she’s too well, Viera doesn’t have a sensory processing disorder and she her cup can handle a lot more.

 

00;38;09;28 – 00;38;32;24

Dr. Mona

And so to your point, I think just having the the diagnosis and the label is not the sort of like, well, he has speed. We’re just going to do whatever the heck we want. It’s he has speed. And now I want to figure out how can he process this world where he’s not self some self combusting and that he’s not feeling like no one understands me, and that when he gets overstimulated, that he knows what he can do to cope.

 

00;38;32;24 – 00;38;49;22

Dr. Mona

And that’s what I think this is about, right? I think sometimes when people hear will, oh, they got the diagnosis, that’s just a cop out. I’m like, I disagree. I think we’re dealing with these beautiful children that, like you said, I don’t say it’s a superpower because it’s come with a lot of struggles parenting a, neurodiverse sensory processing child.

 

00;38;49;29 – 00;39;11;00

Dr. Mona

But it comes with this sort of, if I know it, what are the super tools that I can use to help him? Like what are the tools that will make it that this is special. This is his superpower for his speed that he can use that says, okay, now when things are overwhelming, I can put on my headphones, or I can go to mommy and we can leave the room, you know, and that is looking into self.

 

00;39;11;00 – 00;39;13;18

Dr. Mona

And that’s why I think it’s a conversation so important.

 

00;39;13;20 – 00;39;49;12

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah, I would agree. I think that having a diagnosis and actually critically looking at how your brain works, it gives you this incredible opportunity to build like a specialized toolkit. And I think that giving your kids that ability to create that toolkit for themselves and know how to use it, that not only is going to equip them and give them resilience as they’re going through, but it gives them a tremendous amount of agency in moments where, you know, they might feel like this is like, this is hopeless, I’m overwhelmed.

 

00;39;49;14 – 00;39;56;25

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

This isn’t going to get better. Everyone’s mad at me. Like, it’s just not happening at once.

 

00;39;56;27 – 00;40;13;23

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show. Oh yeah, and I know you’ve spoken about, like I think I’m getting the term like rejection. What’s the what’s the term of when like you, when you get rejected before.

 

00;40;13;23 – 00;40;14;11

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Yeah.

 

00;40;14;13 – 00;40;35;02

Dr. Mona

Yes okay. And I remember I learned that term from you and I was like wow. And I love learning again I love learning terms from you. And again just how feelings are. And again, in your content, the way you position it and the way you talk about it and how it can tie into how you feel, how you view the world, and how it’s not just you being this overly sensitive person, it’s that this is a thing.

 

00;40;35;02 – 00;40;52;28

Dr. Mona

And how am I now going to manage that? And you shared that story so beautifully. You know, I love that you are vulnerable and sharing how you approach the world having ADHD, because I think it helps so many of your followers feel so connected, whether they have ADHD or not. I’m looking at it as someone who doesn’t have ADHD and I’m like, wow, I love this.

 

00;40;52;28 – 00;41;11;10

Dr. Mona

I love learning because it’s going to help me with my patients. It’s going to help me with my husband who has ADHD. And it’s also going to help me with any sort of neurodiversity, respecting the differences of people’s brains. Thank you so much for going through, you know, the not good or bad, obviously, the terminology that you mentioned that it’s not a superpower.

 

00;41;11;10 – 00;41;22;08

Dr. Mona

I really appreciate that. Are there any other things that you would love to destigmatize about ADHD or neurodiversity? Maybe the way people frame it, how it’s talked about online or even by professionals.

 

00;41;22;11 – 00;41;44;06

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So here’s my here’s my honest take on this. I and I talked about this a little bit earlier. The DSM is narrow. I mean it’s about it should be it needs to be redone. We’re behind the US. I mean the the the diagnostic criteria was updated in 2019 in Europe and they included emotional regulation. I think that is a very key part of ADHD.

 

00;41;44;06 – 00;42;14;28

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And if you look at it and if you’re a clinician, if you are a parent, if you are. So yeah, I seriously you know, that that emotional regulation side of things, it can be so difficult to manage. I mean, and you see that with all sorts of things with, just neuro diversity in general. It’s not just this I talking about that internal experience of the emotional regulation, of emotional sensitivity, of difficulty kind of reading social cues and making the right response.

 

00;42;14;28 – 00;42;41;10

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And when you’re dealing with impulsivity or when you’re dealing with quite literally not processing those cues appropriately, I think it’s important that we add that and that that will that is the hill I’m willing to die on. And that’s actually what my, my next book is coming out in October of next year. Not. And it is about just the neuroscience of emotional sensitivity and emotional dysregulation.

 

00;42;41;13 – 00;43;09;27

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And like my, my hope, my hope and dream is that it is used. Number one help, help. Just the general population kind of understand that component because it’s never talked about because it’s not the diagnostic criteria, it’s not studied, it’s not researched. So my dream is to have enough momentum behind that that we can start to write that into diagnostic things, because there’s no reason it should not be.

 

00;43;10;00 – 00;43;24;26

Dr. Mona

Oh, I love this. And I felt the same way. You know, a lot of the screening tools that are being used not only for ADHD but for autism as well. You know, I even when parents are handed the mCAT, I’m like, okay, this thing is like I mean, is it a good starting point? Yes. But it’s not throw enough.

 

00;43;24;28 – 00;43;49;26

Dr. Mona

We need good conversation. We need better screening. And it’s better than what it used to be. But the DSM criteria for many things, obviously for autism included, even when they did their revamp, a lot of pediatricians didn’t even get the memo. And so, like, people were still an outdated, you know, diagnostic criteria. And so it’s it’s scary and concerning to me because as general pediatricians, we are the first line for a lot of these families concerns.

 

00;43;49;26 – 00;44;17;16

Dr. Mona

You know, they come to us for the ADHD, for autism, for the screening, for any sort of neurodiversity. And I believe, you know, there needs to be better neurodiversity training for pediatricians. I think we don’t everybody. Yeah. I mean, absolutely. And, you know, obviously, like when we see you, when we see how people portray it or the misinformation around it, but having more understanding and I think you did a really great job in this episode of like, just again, going back to how do we approach the world?

 

00;44;17;19 – 00;44;39;04

Dr. Mona

Here’s what it is. Here’s why it happens that maybe an adult woman may end up getting diagnosed later and that it’s not something that’s being faked, it’s real. It’s out there. And the more we understand it, the better we can serve all of our neurodiverse community. And I really, really appreciate you today coming on and chatting with me about this, this, this topic that I went down a deep hole on, on like, why tell me more?

 

00;44;39;04 – 00;45;02;04

Dr. Mona

So thanks for thanks for entertaining my curiosity. I really appreciate this. Yeah. And where can everyone go to stay connected with you? Obviously you have your book coming out next. Next, year in 2026. You’ll have to come on again if you’re willing to chat about that, because I would love to dig deeper into that area that obviously is underserved right now in terms of, education information.

 

00;45;02;11 – 00;45;06;25

Dr. Mona

But yeah, where can people go to stay connected for all the amazing resources you have?

 

00;45;06;27 – 00;45;42;19

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So, on my handles all across social media or this psych doctor MD so that’s on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube. I also have for my parents, of their divergent children or if they’re neurodivergent themselves. I, I have worked on, creating an app called Focus Genie and that was released in 2023. And I feel like that is one of my favorite, favorite, favorite resources just for like, burnt out parents.

 

00;45;42;22 – 00;45;43;14

Dr. Mona

I mean, love it.

 

00;45;43;15 – 00;46;07;25

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

Love is great for like anybody with ADHD because I think I’ve worked so hard to to create just, you know, little educational modules so that you can truly understand ADHD. We’ve worked on gamifying it to do list so you can go through a to do list. And if you feel like you are just tapped out or burnt out, I mean, there is I task breakout.

 

00;46;07;26 – 00;46;25;09

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So you can have this app, this tell me what to do, which I think is love it. There’s there’s timers where you can do it. And I actually with my kids, it’s especially if we’re doing things like transitioning between tasks like sometimes what I’ll do is I’ll be like, okay, well, let’s do this timer and we’ll do it together.

 

00;46;25;14 – 00;46;58;21

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

But it’s got like ADHD boosting audio. You can body double. It’s like everything that I needed to make my brain work throughout the shutdown that is available on that app and that’s on, Google Play and it’s on the App Store. And then specifically the other resource I use for parents that I really love, and it’s on my, Instagram page and it’s and I will give you the link to that is I created a 30 day, guide just for a just for parents to get started and understand their brains.

 

00;46;58;21 – 00;47;16;24

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

And this goes in terms of like, how do I explain ATC to my child? How do I how do what is actually happening in my brain? What do I tell how do I approach this with the teacher? So like understanding, I thought there was a huge gap in knowledge. Like what’s an IEP plan? What’s a 504 plan? What is all that.

 

00;47;16;27 – 00;47;37;19

Dr. Sasha Hamdani

So this at like having all of this stuff, including links, all being in the same page, I felt like this was just such a nice resource in terms of like getting information out that it’s all consolidated in one spot of like how to deal with your child’s brain and how to deal with your brain. Oh. What’s that?

 

00;47;37;21 – 00;47;54;27

Dr. Mona

Love that. Oh, okay. I’m going to attach all of that information. I’m also probably going to get the E guide because I just want to learn. Like I said, I’m a I’m a huge nerd and neurodiversity is something that I self like just on my own desire. I want to learn more. Like I said, I think just more clinicians and and the community needs to know.

 

00;47;54;29 – 00;48;20;27

Dr. Mona

Sasha, thank you so much for joining me today. This was amazing. My son has a sensory processing difference, and through parenting him, I’ve learned that so do I. My husband has ADHD and we are starting to see signs of ADHD in our own son. Being aware of our own child’s diagnoses, but also seeing it in ourselves has completely shifted how I approach both parenting and my own mental health.

 

00;48;21;00 – 00;48;43;23

Dr. Mona

For years, I thought my anxiety was just who I was, but learning about sensory processing and ADHD helped me realize so much of my anxiety came from not understanding my own brain. What over stimulates me, what grounds me, and what I actually needed to regulate. For someone with a sensory processing difference, that awareness has been powerful. It’s helped me show up calmer with more compassion for myself.

 

00;48;43;26 – 00;49;05;00

Dr. Mona

Others, including my own son with neurodivergent. I actually had a chat with a friend recently about whether having a diagnosis is helpful or for just overdrive noticing everything when it comes to neurodiversity and my take understanding your brain, whatever that looks like, is helpful. It’s not only about labels, it’s about knowing how your brain works and what tools it needs.

 

00;49;05;07 – 00;49;34;02

Dr. Mona

That kind of self-awareness can be life changing, and it’s what I want for children as well. So maybe you’re listening today and thinking, wow, that sounds like me. Get curious. Ask questions. Maybe your brain is neurotypical, maybe it’s neurodiverse, like ADHD, autism, or sensory processing differences. But either way, it deserves understanding and care. If today’s conversation resonated with you, please share your reflections on social media and tag at PedsDocTalk at the PedsDocTalk podcast and at the Psych Doctor MD.

 

00;49;34;05 – 00;49;55;01

Dr. Mona

So we can keep the discussion going. And please don’t forget to subscribe and download. That’s what really helps the show grow and share this episode with someone who might need to hear it. Because understanding ourselves isn’t about changing who we are, it’s about finally seeing ourselves clearly and our children more clearly as well. Thanks for joining me and I’ll chat with you all next week.