Executive Function is a Key Predictor of Life Success
But what happens, when you feel scattered, filled with ideas, but unable to find time to get it done?
In this podcast, I’ll be sharing a message on neurodiversity when it comes to not just being a woman, but being a mid-life woman.
First, let me explain what neurodiversity is:
Well, welcome to my brain - and this episode is meant to shine a light on the superpowers and neurodiverse strengths.
Neurodiversity is the belief that conditions labeled as ADD, Autism, Bipolar, Dyslexia etc are brand evolutions of homosapiens. Rather than a defect of the genome.
With this thought we must consider its values and benefits before considering its obstacles and complications.
If you are a woman with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you’ve probably known—all your life—that you’re different.
As girls, we learn which behaviors, thinking, learning, and working styles are preferred, which are accepted and tolerated, and which are frowned upon. These preferences are communicated in innumerable ways—from media and books to our first-grade classroom to conversations with our classmates and parents.
Over the course of a lifetime, women with ADHD learn through various channels that the way they think, work, speak, relate, and act does not match up with the preferred way of being in the world. In short, they learn that difference is bad. And, since these women know that they are different, they learn that they are bad.
It’s time for a change.
First, I’ll start with the energetic and spiritual. As a clinical hypnotherapist and quantum biofeedback practitioner, I spend a lot of time around the science of neuroplasticity. I often share that everything starts with an energetic input into the brain. Then, our psychology affects our physiology.
So often, when women are anxious, it can hijack the exectuive function, and you have too many thoughts at once, that can create “ADHD symptoms - but is truly overwhelm and anxiety.”
To share how overwhelm and anxiety is tied into our subconscious mind, to be effective in helping rewire the mind, my goal is to help shift the critical factor to the side - which is the barrier between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind so we can create unification and away from double mindedness.
This gives access to the belief system area, where our incongruent beliefs and thoughts that cause us to do maladaptive behaviors, anxiousness and “being stuck.”
And what I'm attempting to do is we’re attempting to overlay a new belief, if you will, or establish a new predominant belief in the belief system, in place of the belief that is there that’s driving the current behavior.
So What I want to do is actually get through the critical factor, which is the area of the belief systems, into the subconscious mind.
From there, I can reprogram those thoughts at that subconscious level, because the big driver in our subconscious mind because… there’s too many drivers there. The main driver though is the imagination.
And heres the ticket, most people are not familiar that we can amplify any thought in our subconscious mind imagination from zero to 2,500 times.
We’ve attached kind of a scale to it to have it make sense. And then, so people take a thought or a belief into their imagination, they amplify it from zero to 2,500 times. And so, we can make any thought, anything a really big deal. And then we have that statement in society we use, ”Well, this person always makes mountains out of molehills.”
What you can actually do when people understand how their spiritual mind works, they can actually be taught how to turn their imagination back down and get back into balance.
And what happens is, when you turn the imagination down and you come back into balance, you are also shutting down and collapsing the emotional content that’s been created around that thought.
Male and Female Differences
Over the past decade, researchers and clinicians have recognized that ADHD symptoms manifest differently between the sexes.
Most girls and women have the inattentive form of ADHD.
As a women that has a neurodiverse brain, I would describe myself as incredibly creative, a brain that runs at the speed of a ferrari, but has the breaks at the speed of a bicycle.
So jumping in, I celebrate the fact that we can really celebrate our brains as a superpower, especially when we are informed and have the supportive structure, rituals and consistency in our lives.
My first point here is driven from the profound Dr Hallowell around the proven fact that Is ADHD different in girls and women
He states that the diagnosis of ADHD gets missed all the time in females, as there are gender differences in ADHD symptoms. Women and girls tend not to exhibit disruptive or defiant symptoms, unlike men and boys.
They may not stand out. Rather, they sit in the back of the classroom lost in their thoughts, daydreaming, quite content to be in their own world.
As adults, they tend to underachieve, not due to lack of talent or hard work, but due to lack of focus and organization, the classic signs of ADHD. If they do seek help, they typically get diagnosed with depression or anxiety, because doctors tend not to think of ADHD in females.
They may well have depression and anxiety, but the depression and anxiety are caused by the untreated ADHD. Treating the ADHD often fixes the anxiety and depression because the woman will feel more in control, hence less anxious, and will perform up to potential, which takes away the so-called depression.
The Estrogen Effect
Women with ADHD, unlike men with the condition, must deal with the complicating factor of the effects estrogen has on the ADHD symptoms.
What I am going to share today is that when estrogen levels are low, you may experience increased feelings of irritability, moodiness, depression and more.
Potential Signs of ADHD in Adult Women
Some signs of potential ADHD in women may include:
Feeling overwhelmed in crowded or busy environments
Struggling to stay organized and on top of routine things
Experiencing large swings in energy and activity levels
Difficulty coping in social situations and missing routine social cues
Regularly experiencing feelings of low self-esteem
Unable to manage clutter and organize your household
Difficulty with routine money management
ADHD and ESTROGEN Deep Dive
In addition to the typical cognitive burden that ADHD can bring, women with ADHD also have to deal with an ever fluctuating hormone environment.
Changes in estrogen can intensify the symptoms of ADHD, particularly during the menstrual cycle, puberty and menopause. It is important for women diagnosed with ADHD to be aware of how estrogen affects their condition, and to take steps to lessen the impact.
The brain is one of the organs of the body targeted by estrogen. In addition to being one of the main hormones that is responsible for regulating the female reproductive system, estrogen also plays a role in cognitive function. It modulates the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters help with focus, concentration, mood, and memory.
When estrogen levels are low, you may experience increased feelings of irritability, moodiness, and depression, problems with sleep, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, fuzzy thinking, forgetfulness and memory problems, fatigue and loss of energy, as well as hot flashes.
Women with ADHD can be particularly sensitive to lower estrogen levels since ADHD is also associated with a dysfunction in the neurotransmitter systems in the brain.
Progesterone can also have an impact. Higher estrogen levels seem to aid the effectiveness of ADHD medications, while progesterone seems to decrease their effectiveness.
For many women with ADHD, fluctuating hormone levels can make managing the symptoms of the condition more challenging. The interplay between the effects of hormones and medication is ever changing.
However, there are things you can do to help during those times when the estrogen levels are fluctuating and ADHD worsens.
Work with your doctor to find an appropriate medication level.
Simplify your daily life in as many ways as possible to lower stress.
Get more sleep.
Get regular exercise.
Maintain a healthy diet.
And lastly there is a spiritual and energetic aspect of the mind and how it generates the like-minded symptoms of - ADHD, and that I can definitely help with.
I’d love to help you bring the spiritual, mental and lifestyle embodyment together so you can align with your true nature, free yourself from pain and to stop trying to fix yourself.
You’re brilliant. XO - Kassandra
Contact Email: Kassieannk@gmail.com