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Happy Monday and welcome to your
mental health mini. 

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This week's guest is Kristen 
Carter, and we're talking all 

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things AD. 
HDI think that for most people, 

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we have a stereotypical stigma 
in our head of what ADHD looks 

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like, which is like a little 
white boy in the classroom kind 

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of bouncing off the walls, maybe
being a little, you know, loud 

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with the teacher and 
interrupting his classmates. 

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But really, ADHD is so much more
than that. 

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And so if someone in their teens
is struggling with 

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disorganization, chronic stress,
chronic overwhelm, inability to 

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manage things and be able to 
kind of like juggle all of the 

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balls, so to speak, those are 
really good things to look out 

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for because so much of what 
children have to go through, 

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their parents help them. 
It's very age appropriate. 

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It's very developmentally 
appropriate for a parent to help

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a kiddo remember their homework,
you know, make sure the forms 

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are filled out, all of that. 
But as the support system is 

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lessened because the person is 
aging out of it developmentally,

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that's when usually things start
to fall apart. 

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So a diagnosis is so helpful 
because it gives you 

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information. 
It just allows you to see 

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through a much clearer lens 
what's going on and the root 

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cause of all of the obnoxious 
symptoms that are coming up. 

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Because that's the thing with 
ADHD, is that the symptoms are 

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really just kind of annoying. 
And another thing about it that 

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is tricky is that every single 
human struggles with 

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organization from time to time. 
Every single human struggles 

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with emotional dysregulation 
from time to time. 

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So the things that are actual 
diagnostic criteria for ADHD are

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things that the majority of the 
human race struggle with from 

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time to time. 
But the difference is for an 

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ADHD are those symptoms are 
debilitating, Those symptoms are

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keeping them from reaching their
potential. 

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So if you can, I always, always,
always encourage people to get a

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diagnosis. 
Even if you don't plan to 

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medicate, it's still helpful to 
have the information because 

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information is power and it can 
show you where to give support. 

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As a very high functioning now 
adult with ADHD, I have so much 

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support in place. 
Doctor Russell Barkley calls it 

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scaffolding. 
We have to have that scaffolding

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of support so that we can really
forward without having to worry 

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about all of the organization, 
all of the problem solving, all 

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of the time management, all of 
those things that for the 

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typical brain it just comes 
naturally and for our brains it 

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doesn't. 
I think that we have so much 

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shame around our struggle that 
we think we should major air 

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quotes here. 
We should be able to do it 

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without help. 
My friends don't need the help, 

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so why should I have to use it? 
And it's just really a shameful 

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diagnosis in so many ways. 
And so cutting through that 

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shame and taking advantage of 
whatever support it is doesn't 

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give you a leg up. 
It just levels the playing field

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so that the starting line is 
where you're starting and not 

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way, way back. 
What I like to say to people is 

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no matter what you experience 
emotionally when you are 

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diagnosed, it's valid and your 
experience is valid. 

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So if you're relieved and happy,
perfect. 

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If you're angry and feeling tons
of regret, perfect. 

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It's supposed to feel this way 
and then the journey of 

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accepting it can really take a 
while. 

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You know, there's some flaws in 
our system when it comes to a 

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diagnosis because a lot of times
the clinicians diagnosing, they 

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don't even have a robust 
understanding of the diagnosis. 

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It often goes misdiagnosed or 
undiagnosed, especially in women

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and girls. 
And So what I would say is make 

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sure to be your own advocate and
do all kinds of research. 

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The statistics right now for the
percentage of the population 

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that's diagnosed with ADHDI 
think is around 3 to 4% of 

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children. 
I believe that that is most 

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likely an under diagnosis. 
I think there's a lot more 

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people with ADHD than have been 
diagnosed. 

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And I think that goes back to 
all of the symptoms of ADHD are 

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pesky symptoms or things that 
people struggle with, you know, 

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every now and again. 
But now that we have so much 

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access to information, there are
so many people saying, wait a 

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second, I don't think it's 
anxiety that I have or I don't 

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think it's depression that I 
have or I don't think it's 

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bipolar that I have. 
I think it's actually ADHD. 

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And so I think it's a result of 
self advocacy. 

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We're seeing an upswing in 
diagnosis because of access to 

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information that we haven't 
always had. 

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And one of the good things 
coming out of it is there's a 

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lot of coaches being trained to 
support people with ADHD. 

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And coaching changed my life. 
And it's changed, you know, 

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thousands of people that I've 
worked with. 

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I know that coaching can be an 
amazing medium for those who 

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have access to the funds for it.
It is so powerful to have 

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someone else kind of take your 
hand and lead you through a 

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journey. 
It's very, very validating.