Our last episode for a while... Max talks to Dr Blandine French, who not only found a problem (lack of knowledge in UK doctors about ADHD), she got up and did something about it! She's remarkable, and you can find out all about her at https://ndlab.org.uk/ Bye for now!

Max is joined by a brilliant double-act, Eve and Helena, who have explored the experience of late-diagnosed women, both from the inside and outside! The paper is here. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-04782-y]The additional data is here.  [https://osf.io/wrv46/?view_only=7112f2a8ff614b6aaa6a177654417ea5] The episode that Eve liked was with Callie Ginapp, and is here [https://zencastr.com/z/VGELTz0p] On Bluesky... Eve can be found at ‪@chimpanzeve.bsky.social  Helena is ‪@hkobayashiwood.bsky.social‬ Max is also on there somewhere...

Max and Tess are joined by Catherine Fava, Clinical Psychologist at Buckinghamshire CAMHS, to talk about her upcoming book about trauma and ADHD.  How does trauma manifest? How can it look like ADHD? Should we be flipping the way we approach assessment and treatment in these children? Tess tries to open the can of worms which is the whole 'what is ADHD?' question- we have covered that before: https://zencastr.com/z/Mc2qvzd5 Enjoy!

Delighted to welcome Robin Ince, legendary comedian  and lovely man, to the pod.  Robin's new book, Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, [https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/robin-ince/normally-weird-and-weirdly-normal/9781035036929] is out today!!

Max is joined by Stephen Becker, Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati, about the fascinating Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome, a condition that is both in some ways the opposite of ADHD, but also commonly co-exists.  If you want to know more, Stephen has made a lot of the work on this open access- here for example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36007816/  [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36007816/] Also, we discover what NFL team Tess supports....

Max is joined by Isabella Barclay to talk about what factors lead to children getting an earlier vs later diagnosis- or even a diagnosis at all. Isabella is a passionate advocate for ADHD, and needs to be listened to!

Max is joined by Julia McQuade from Amhurst College, USA.  Julia has published this paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10802-024-01237-2 She studied the regulation of positive emotion in adolescents with ADHD, and found that control of these emotions predicted social success. Max unpicks the implications of this and tries to to get too depressed about it!

Is ADHD a superpower? Is that a helpful way of talking about it. Our guest, once again Dr Tom Nicholson, has done actual research on the positives of ADHD, as experienced by ADHD people  ourselves! Catch up with Tom on social media or at https://www.drtomnicholson.com/

What is it like to battle the adversities of the diagnostic system? How does getting, or not getting, a diagnosis change the way parents see their children and themselves? Tom Nicholson is an amazing force of nature in the ADHD world, and has done a whole PhD on this! He has summarised it in this paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.13817 and joins Max to discuss it. There is also a Tess cameo! More Tom next week!

Max and Tess answer questions from our lovely facebook group about medication! We hope this is a helpful episode- please let us know! and join the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/403562932757284

We are joined by the excellent Dr Alessio from Southampton Uni. We all give treatments because we think they will help people- but do ADHD meds fit the bill?  Let's find out! Here is the paper: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Effects of Pharmacological Treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder on Quality of Life - PubMed [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38823477/] Alessio's details can be found here: Doctor Alessio Bellato | University of Southampton [https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/656xkv/doctor-alessio-bellato]

Another of our episodes which comes from Max reading a paper and going 'whoa...' this one is with the very charming Anders Rasmussen from Lund.  His paper is here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38066477/ I am aware that the audio isn't great at the moment- I broke our old microphone and am trying to sort out a new one. 

How can squiggly lines on a page reveal the secrets of attention, consciousness and ADHD? Follow Andrew Haigh, psychologist, and his willing sidekicks Max and Tess on a mindbending journey! Here's Andrew's paper: Rhythmic Attention and ADHD: A Narrative and Systematic Review - PubMed [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38198019/] And one about information integration and consciousness: An information integration theory of consciousness | BMC Neuroscience | Full Text [https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-5-42]

A very unique episode because we have two guests! Tamsin Crook is a career coach and researcher, who turned a coaching project into a piece of qualitative research.  Tamsin can be found here: About Tamsin Crook | Making Careers Work [https://www.makingcareerswork.com/about/faqs]

Another Q&A in which we cover food, laziness, reflexes, the gutbrain, food again, and medication breaks. It gets deep, it gets philosophical, and Max briefly sings. Check it out!

A Fascinating exploration of the idea that event segmentation may be fundamental to the ADHD brain. Prepare to have your mind blown! Link to the Red Ballloon film- put it on in the background while you listen: The Red Balloon / Le Ballon Rouge (1956) (youtube.com) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGzY9zp46KI] Christian's website: Startseite - Christian Beste (christian-beste.de) [https://christian-beste.de/]

The long-awaited second instalment of our Q&A epic! Relationships, decision making, memory, perfectionism, self-harm, hormones and sleep. Max and Tess cover it all in 45 action-packed minutes. Also, we have all the weather. 

We welcome Pete Etchells, one of the UK's foremost experts on the effects of screen time and screen-based activities, to talk about his new book, 'Unlocked'.  We talk about attention, screens, and take a few detours along the way.  Pete's book can be found here:  [https://www.waterstones.com/book/unlocked/pete-etchells/9780349432939]

Today we are joined by Giorgia Michelini [https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/staff/giorgia-michelini-.html], a researcher who has done so much great work on ADHD, but today talks to us about her study of EEG in the diagnosis of ADHD. The paper we discuss is here [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167876022000228]. email us as hello@adhduk.co.uk to let us know what we can do differently, or better. 

We have something a little different for you! We have asked the lovely followers of ADHDUK on social media to ask us questions and they have responded enough to fill 3 episodes! This is part 1 in which we break down the biology and neurology of ADHD, talk a lot about the hungry brain and why epigenetics may or may not be a breakthrough.