Danielle Elliot was considering breaking up with her partner...and then he broke up with her first. Danielle had a “big, out of character” reaction: By 4am that night she was packed and ready to leave. The whole experience left her feeling unsettled. Why had she reacted that way? That sparked a deep dive into rejection sensitivity and ADHD.

Danielle is a health and science journalist who’s now asking a bigger question: Why are so many women being diagnosed with ADHD — and why now?

She explores this in Understood.org’s new limited-series podcast, Climbing the Walls. Listen to Danielle’s personal story here — then check out Climbing the Walls on your podcast platform of choice.

Related resources

• Listen to the Climbing the Walls podcast
• ADHD and rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD)
• ADHD breakups: Impulsive texts and overthinking regrets, from Sorry, I Missed This

Timestamps

(01:26) Danielle’s pandemic diagnosis after a strong reaction to a break up

(08:26) Danielle’s need to travel

(12:15) Danielle’s relationship with relationships, and rejection

(16:02) Hosting Understood.org’s Climbing the Walls podcast

For a transcript and more resources, visit the ADHD Aha! show page on Understood.org.

We love hearing from our listeners! Email us at adhdaha@understood.org, or record a message for us here.

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

In this bonus episode, we’re sharing the first episode of a new Understood.org podcast, Climbing the Walls.

Climbing the Walls is an investigative limited-series podcast that explores why women were historically underdiagnosed with ADHD — and how the recent surge in diagnoses is reshaping our understanding of ADHD.

In this episode, host Danielle Elliot finds herself among the many women diagnosed with ADHD during the pandemic, and she gets curious. Why women? And why now?

This question takes her to northern Michigan, to meet a friend’s mom.

For more on this topic:

• Listen to Climbing the Walls
• ADHD and rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD)
• Older women with ADHD: How the lost generation got found

For a transcript and more resources, visit the Climbing the Walls show page on Understood.org. We love hearing from our listeners! Email us at adhdaha@understood.org.

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

Join health and science journalist Danielle Elliot as she investigates the rise of women recently diagnosed with ADHD. Listen to Climbing the Walls now.

Emilia McGuckin was surprised when a teacher suggested her son might have ADHD. As a teacher herself, she thought she would have spotted the signs. But after diving into the research, an even bigger surprise hit her: Could she have ADHD too?

Emilia, a high school and college teacher, was hesitant to pursue an ADHD evaluation. She’d felt dismissed by medical providers in the past, an experience all too common for many women. But when she finally got diagnosed, everything started to make sense. What she once saw as “character flaws” or “personal failings” turned out to be overlooked symptoms of ADHD.

Related resources

• Is ADHD hereditary?
• ADHD iceberg

Timestamps

(01:10) Emilia’s son’s ADHD diagnosis

(04:42) Hyperfocusing on ADHD to help her son, and realizing she has symptoms too

(06:49) Apprehension about seeking an ADHD evaluation, after not being believed by doctors in the past

(09:20) Feelings and coping after diagnosis

(11:56) An “avalanche of ADHD” in the family

(17:02) How Emilia and her son’s diagnoses changed how she teaches

(20:29) Busting ADHD myths

For a transcript and more resources, visit the episode page on Understood.

We love hearing from our listeners! Email us at adhdaha@understood.org.

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