Understand
Putting words
on what you live.
Start with one of these 6 pillar pages. You'll come back for the rest when you want.
ADHD — what it actually is
The clinical basics of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder beyond the cliché of "a kid who won't sit still" — DSM-5-TR definition, adult symptoms, what is settled and what is still debated.
AuDHD — when ADHD and autism coexist
AuDHD is the co-occurrence of ADHD and ASD (autism). Considered impossible under the old DSM, recognised since 2013, with a qualitatively distinct lived experience. Here is what the research actually says in 2026.
RSD — rejection sensitive dysphoria
RSD describes an intense emotional reaction to real or perceived rejection. Very common in adults with ADHD, though its status as a distinct construct is still debated. Here is what is solid, and what is still hypothesis.
Time blindness — when the ADHD brain only has two times: now, or never
Time blindness describes the altered perception of time typical of ADHD: trouble estimating durations, sensing the future, preparing for deadlines. This is not negligence.
Hyperfocus — the ADHD time bubble
Hyperfocus describes a period of intense, extended engagement on a task, often accompanied by loss of time and forgetting of bodily needs. A precious capacity or a trap — depending on how it finds you.
Masking — the invisible effort of appearing neurotypical
Masking (social camouflaging) is the strategy of imitating neurotypical behaviours to fit in. Common in neurodivergent people, especially women and AuDHD adults. Costly, useful, sometimes toxic.
ADHD
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ADHD diagnosed in adulthood: grief and reconstruction
Between 30 and 50, millions of adults discover they live with an ADHD that was never named. This guide explores the triggers, the post-diagnostic grief, the anger for the child you were, and the stages of an honest identity reconstruction — without heroism, without fatalism.
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ADHD — what it actually is
The clinical basics of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder beyond the cliché of "a kid who won't sit still" — DSM-5-TR definition, adult symptoms, what is settled and what is still debated.
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ADHD in women: why so many are diagnosed so late
Historical underdiagnosis, inattentive presentation, gendered masking, the impact of hormonal cycles and perimenopause: understanding why ADHD in women has been made invisible — and what the research actually says today.
AuDHD
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AuDHD — when ADHD and autism coexist
AuDHD is the co-occurrence of ADHD and ASD (autism). Considered impossible under the old DSM, recognised since 2013, with a qualitatively distinct lived experience. Here is what the research actually says in 2026.
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AuDHD burnout — a composite collapse nobody sees coming
Autistic burnout is not professional burnout. When ADHD is added, the collapse becomes composite: executive, sensory and emotional. Recovery often takes months, sometimes years. What emerging research says in 2026.
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AuDHD women — the double underdiagnosis that hormones eventually expose
ADHD and autism were described on male bodies. AuDHD women are diagnosed late, often after a collapse: burnout, treatment-resistant depression, or perimenopause cracking decades of masking. Research in 2024–2026 is finally catching up.
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Sensory needs and AuDHD — the internal conflict between under-stim and over-stim
The ADHD brain seeks stimulation to get moving. The autistic system is often saturated by ambient input. AuDHD people live both logics at once. Here is what the research says about sensory profiles, stimming, and the accommodations that actually work.
Lived phenomena
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Emotional dysregulation — the symptom the DSM forgot
Emotional dysregulation (DESR) affects 30 to 70% of adults with ADHD. Recognised as a core feature by Barkley and the European consensus, it remains absent from DSM-5-TR criteria. What distinguishes it from bipolar and borderline.
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Hyperfocus — the ADHD time bubble
Hyperfocus describes a period of intense, extended engagement on a task, often accompanied by loss of time and forgetting of bodily needs. A precious capacity or a trap — depending on how it finds you.
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RSD — rejection sensitive dysphoria
RSD describes an intense emotional reaction to real or perceived rejection. Very common in adults with ADHD, though its status as a distinct construct is still debated. Here is what is solid, and what is still hypothesis.
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Time blindness — when the ADHD brain only has two times: now, or never
Time blindness describes the altered perception of time typical of ADHD: trouble estimating durations, sensing the future, preparing for deadlines. This is not negligence.
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Alexithymia — when the feelings are there but the words are not
Alexithymia describes the difficulty identifying, naming and describing one's own emotions. It affects roughly 50% of autistic people and 20–40% of adults with ADHD, vs ~5% in the general population. Not a personality trait: a documented phenomenon linked to interoception.
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Chronic shame in adults with ADHD: understanding and stepping out of the loop
Years of forgetting, lateness, broken promises leave chronic shame. This guide explores its mechanisms, its link to emotional dysregulation and RSD, and the validated approaches — ADHD-CBT, self-compassion — for stepping out without lying to yourself.
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Masking — the invisible effort of appearing neurotypical
Masking (social camouflaging) is the strategy of imitating neurotypical behaviours to fit in. Common in neurodivergent people, especially women and AuDHD adults. Costly, useful, sometimes toxic.
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Meltdown and shutdown — two faces of the same overload
Meltdown explodes, shutdown shuts off. Two involuntary responses to sensory, emotional or cognitive overload. Very common in autism and AuDHD, often confused with tantrums. What the literature says, what affected people describe.
Comorbidities
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ADHD and addictions — alcohol, cannabis, gambling, screens
Adults with ADHD have a 2 to 3 times higher risk of developing an addiction. Dopaminergic overlap, crossed diagnosis, and what changes when ADHD is finally treated.
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Anxiety and adult ADHD — the most frequent comorbidity
About 50% of adults with ADHD live with an anxiety disorder. Overlap mechanisms, differential diagnosis, evolution under treatment. What is solid, what remains unclear.
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Depression and adult ADHD — comorbidity, differential, treatment
About 1 in 3 adults with ADHD will experience a major depressive episode. Neurobiological overlap, diagnostic trap, what changes when the ADHD underneath is actually treated.
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BPD vs ADHD — how to tell borderline personality disorder and adult ADHD apart
BPD and ADHD share impulsivity and emotional dysregulation, which makes differential diagnosis very tricky. Mechanisms, distinguishing criteria, and real comorbidity.