ADHD Chatter PodcastThe RSD Expert: This New Trick Will Stop RSD In 10 Seconds
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Polyvagal tools and boundaries for ADHD women facing RSD pain
- ADHD-related rejection sensitivity is framed as a nervous-system survival response that can misread social cues, predict worst-case outcomes, and damage health and relationships over time.
- Workplace stress often shows up as either emotional “overspill” (sudden blow-ups after invisible buildup) or collapse/withdrawal, both linked to belonging and safety needs.
- Regulation starts with self-awareness of nervous-system states (dorsal/sympathetic/ventral), then using quick somatic interventions to slow reactivity and bring the prefrontal cortex back online.
- People-pleasing is treated as a spectrum from connection-seeking to identity-performance, and lasting change comes from addressing root beliefs (shame, not-belonging schemas) rather than simply “saying no.”
- For ADHD women, societal expectations and workplace double standards intensify perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and the feeling of being “not enough,” making community, self-compassion, and values-based boundaries essential.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasRSD often reflects a body-level threat response, not just “overthinking.”
They describe ADHD nervous systems as scanning for danger (criticism/rejection) and then reacting as if the threat is real, which can create shame spirals and social rupture even when the evidence is ambiguous.
Chronic high alert can have real physical costs.
Sustained cortisol spikes and inflammatory responses are discussed as potential pathways to migraines and longer-term health risks, meaning the biggest harm may be internal even before relationship fallout appears.
At work, ADHD distress commonly presents as overspill or collapse.
The soda-bottle metaphor captures how stress accumulates invisibly until a small cue (a sigh, silence, eye roll) triggers a blow-up, while others may instead withdraw, disengage, and “turn up but no one’s there.”
Regulation improves when you can name your nervous-system state with nuance.
Mapping states (e.g., giving them colors and prompts like “When I’m in this state, the world is/people are/I am…”) reduces black-and-white thinking and helps distinguish threat from factors like hunger or fatigue.
A fast “brake” can be somatic—try the 10-second ‘voo’ vibration.
Bramwell suggests sounding “voo” with a hand on the chest for 5–10 rounds to calm arousal, aiming to reduce “fizz,” restore equilibrium, and bring the prefrontal cortex back online before responding.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIf you listen to some of the specialists and experts in sort of nervous system, they talk about something called neuroception, which is all about our nervous system is effectively a surveillance scanning, um, but that with ADHD, we may end up being oversensitive to certain things.
— Sam Bramwell
I always say that, um, having ADHD is a bit like being a bobblehead.
— Sam Bramwell
If you did the voo sound, like voo, that has a really calming impact on your nervous system.
— Sam Bramwell
Don't, don't beat yourself up if it's, if it's fizzed over because otherwise we just get into a, again, into a shame spiral that we don't deserve to be in.
— Sam Bramwell
Love yourself. Just love yourself. Honor and love yourself.
— Sam Bramwell
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
