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This podcast is the audio version of a popular post at the ADHD Roller Coaster: Breaking Out of ADHD Relationship Dysfunction—After Not Breaking A Fall

In this story, I share with you some hard lessons learned. My hope is this might help you to smooth your roller coaster ride. More fun. Less whiplash!

[Please note; the first release of this podcast contained an error. I have fixed! Apologies!]

Here’s how ADHD couple conflicts typically develop —and become entrenched:

1. You’re several years into a relationship before discovering that one or both of you have ADHD.
2. By that time, you both have developed misinterpretations of the other’s behavior and counter-productive coping responses.
3. Not to forget: the lifelong misattributions and poor coping of the newly diagnosed ADHD partner, since childhood.
4. Entrenched assumptions and knee-jerk emotional reactions can perpetuate dysfunctional patterns—and exacerbate them over time.

Once there’s a diagnosis and maybe medication on board, it can still take enormous effort to overcome these automatic mindsets and reactions. Especially if you don’t know what they are or how to do it.

Moreover, how do you distinguish ADHD symptoms, which should respond to medication, from these entrenched poor coping responses? This is an often-overlooked essential challenge. In my long-held observation, it’s why even the best attempts at medication don’t create results folks are hoping for. It's also why therapy seldom works as well as it should.

I’ve tackled this and other essential topics for years, in my writing and in my presentations to the public and clinicians, from San Francisco to Turkey.

Now you can find ADHD couple interventions in my online training. For more information: Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle

The hard truth is this: The mental-health profession has not caught up to Adult ADHD. There are pockets of expertise but they are few and far between. Moreover, getting traction can take years, 50-minute session by session.

My program speeds your learning curve and gets you on solid ground.

In this podcast I mention another popular post/podcast:

ADHD, Empathy, and Dopamine: A Study, Book Excerpt, and Definition (blog post)

ADHD, Empathy, and Dopamine: A Study, Book Excerpt, and Definition (podcast)

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I love helping readers, listeners, and students understand the complexity of ADHD.

Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle — online training for Adults with ADHD and loved ones, with the option of joining regular Zoom Q&A meetings with your peers. Come join us and speed your learning curve!

Thanks for listening!

Gina Pera
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This podcast is the audio version of my latest blog post on:

1. What's happening with Concerta's authorized-generic (brand sold as a generic, by Janssen subsidiary Patriot)?
2. What about the general shortage of stimulants that started in fall 2022?
3. What can consumers do now?

To read the full post, find the links, and follow the conversation in the comments:

Janssen Quietly Ends Concerta Authorized-Generic

CLARIFICATION: Readers have asked if Janssen will continue to manufacture Concerta. This requires continuing to produce its patented delivery system, Alza's OROS.

I note in the podcast that Janssen reported plans in 2019 to continue phasing out production at its Vacaville, toward eventual closure.

Janssen continues to manufacture Concerta at its Puerto Rico plant. Perhaps it also makes the OROS capsules. I don't know. And I cannot find sources who will tell me. Consumers are always the last to know, it seems.

Now, back to this podcast content:

How is Medication Working for You or Your Loved One?

Got a feeling that your physician is missing something when it comes to prescribing or understanding your sleep challenges? You're probably right.

Therapy, tips, tricks, coaching, timers....typically go only so far. You might go further if you could first get better sleep—and better results from medication.

Take a deep dive into ADHD as a Physical Issue in Course 2 of my online program—one that is revolutionizing consumer knowledge and self-advocacy.

Sophisticated science and clinical concepts — made simple, not simplistic. And step-by-step practical.

Truly life-changing. Even life-saving. Essential. Original.

For Individuals, couples, professionals

Solve YOUR Adult ADHD Puzzle — Sleep & Medication (Course 2: Physical Strategies)

I can't wait to share this rare knowledge with you! Check out FREE Preview lessons as the course page!

Support the Show.

I love helping readers, listeners, and students understand the complexity of ADHD.

Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle — online training for Adults with ADHD and loved ones, with the option of joining regular Zoom Q&A meetings with your peers. Come join us and speed your learning curve!

Thanks for listening!

Gina Pera
About My Work
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What can a published study — and an excerpt from my first book — explain about ADHD, empathy, and the neurotransmitter dopamine? That’s what this post is all about.

I started noticing a remarkable phenomenon 20 years ago. That is, stimulant medication, which targets dopamine, enhances empathy (or at least the ability to act on empathy) for many adults with ADHD. How is this possible?

You can read this popular blogpost (and the comments!) here: ADHD, Empathy, & Dopamine: A Book Excerpt, Study, and Definition

Support the Show.

I love helping readers, listeners, and students understand the complexity of ADHD.

Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle — online training for Adults with ADHD and loved ones, with the option of joining regular Zoom Q&A meetings with your peers. Come join us and speed your learning curve!

Thanks for listening!

Gina Pera
About My Work
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For many obvious reasons, ADHD-challenged relationships tend to teem with arguments and conflicts. Especially when neither partner knows ADHD is in the mix!

Apart from that, why do some people with ADHD self-medicate with argument? What does that phrase even mean? I wrote about this in my first book, in 2008. Since then, we hear about it more online—but seldom in a useful context.

Simply, self-medicating with argument refers to the stimulation some folks get by provoking a conflict—consciously or not. It can spell disaster for your life and relationships.

Why does this happen? Case by case, we can only speculate. For one thing, getting angry and arguing can release adrenaline—and thus calming focus.

But we don’t have to know why it happens to know that it happens. Even when you do recognize the phenomenon, it’s no way to live. Rather, understanding paves the path to solutions.

In this podcast sharing one of my most popular blog posts, I delve into the complexities: Why Some Adults with ADHD with ADHD Self-Medicate with Argument

Support the Show.

I love helping readers, listeners, and students understand the complexity of ADHD.

Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle — online training for Adults with ADHD and loved ones, with the option of joining regular Zoom Q&A meetings with your peers. Come join us and speed your learning curve!

Thanks for listening!

Gina Pera
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This podcast draws from a blog post at ADHD Roller Coaster. You can read the full post (and comments) here:

Why A Support Group for the Partners of Adults with ADHD?

excerpt:

A support group for the partners of adults with ADHD? That struck many people as a strange concept in 2003, when I advanced it in the essay below.

A decade later, the need still remains puzzling to some—angering to others. That includes some mental-health professionals—even those with high-level adult ADHD expertise. That must change.

Whatever happens to the adults with ADHD also affects loved ones—spouses, parents, siblings, and so forth. They need validation and education on elevating their lives, too.

By the way, ADHD Partner Group is still going strong, internationally. After 20 years, I've moved it to a modestly price group with a lot more features, including access to Zoom meetings with your peers.

Support the Show.

I love helping readers, listeners, and students understand the complexity of ADHD.

Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle — online training for Adults with ADHD and loved ones, with the option of joining regular Zoom Q&A meetings with your peers. Come join us and speed your learning curve!

Thanks for listening!

Gina Pera
About My Work
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Adult ADHD-Focused Couple Therapy TM. Why create a special model for Adult ADHD-challenged couples? Why not just use standard couple therapy?

Great questions. I’ll answer them, at least in part, in this podcast.

· I first explained in 2008 why standard couple therapy is typically unhelpful in my book, Is It You, Me, or Adult ADHD, including a chapter called “Why the Wrong Therapy is Worse Than No Therapy.” This book is as relevant today as it was then.

· My second book is Adult ADHD-Focused Couple Therapy: Clinical Interventions, published in 2016.

· It is the first and only clinical guide presenting a couple-therapy model based on the evidence—that is, a careful and flexible merging of what works for Adult ADHD and what works for couple therapy.

About my co-author: Arthur L. Robin, PhD, has long helped individuals and couples affected by ADHD. His strategies are battle-tested. In his primary occupation, from which he is now retired, he trained psychologists working at a children’s hospital. Both his ADHD expertise and skill as an educator shine through our model’s interventions..

· To be notified of new posts, subscribe: ADHD Roller Coaster

· Read the original blog post of this podcast here: Q&A with the Experts: Adult ADHD-Focused Couple Therapy - TM

Support the Show.

I love helping readers, listeners, and students understand the complexity of ADHD.

Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle — online training for Adults with ADHD and loved ones, with the option of joining regular Zoom Q&A meetings with your peers. Come join us and speed your learning curve!

Thanks for listening!

Gina Pera
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• ADHD symptoms can interfere with innate empathy—not to mention empathic actions.
• When Taylor J had children, she vowed not to be like her parents: narcissistic.
• She and her husband—both late-diagnosed—had tried to "teach empathy" to their oldest child, but the lessons never took. Or did they? Listen and find out!
• In the discussion around "drugging children", what gets lost? Science and compassion.
• You can read the post here: ADHD and Lacking Empathy: Was I Raising A Narcissist?

In addition to elevating lives, my goal is elevating the standard of care, with therapy and prescribing. We just cannot accept the standard slap-dash approach one day longer.

As for online "research," that is just too risky—and scattershot. Not everyone who claims ADHD expertise has it. Seriously, this is your life. For 20 years, I've believed that you deserve better—and I work hard to bring it to you.

Support the Show.

I love helping readers, listeners, and students understand the complexity of ADHD.

Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle — online training for Adults with ADHD and loved ones, with the option of joining regular Zoom Q&A meetings with your peers. Come join us and speed your learning curve!

Thanks for listening!

Gina Pera
About My Work
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· How can you be blindsided by an ADHD diagnosis? It’s easy.

· Our culture has alternate explanations for virtually all ADHD-related challenges—e.g. depression, anxiety, and trauma. Even in this 21st Century, the mental health profession has not caught up to the science.

· When we finally learn, we are shocked: Why did we not know this before?

· How many relationships are imperiled by unrecognized ADHD? Maybe in the millions, just in North America.

· No matter how many “and then my spouse was finally diagnosed” stories I hear, each one moves me—and motivates me to keep beating the drum.

· This guest post comes from a woman named Claudia. I met her via a friend who is an Evangelical Christian—and who beats the Adult ADHD drum loudly in her community. Follow Christian Janeway on Twitter: @XianJaneway

· My friend tells me that many church friends have found themselves and their marriages in dire straits because 1) ADHD has gone undiagnosed, and 2) their church teachings call for wives to submit to and support their husbands.

· Cultural situations of all kinds can add another layer of invisibility to the presence of ADHD.

· You can read the post here: Blindsided by ADHD Diagnosis: One Wife’s Story

Support the Show.

I love helping readers, listeners, and students understand the complexity of ADHD.

Solving Your Adult ADHD Puzzle — online training for Adults with ADHD and loved ones, with the option of joining regular Zoom Q&A meetings with your peers. Come join us and speed your learning curve!

Thanks for listening!

Gina Pera
About My Work
Contact Me