What if the traits you spent years calling laziness, failure, awkwardness, or “too much” were actually signs of a brain you didn’t yet understand? In this candid conversation with Rich and Rox Pink from ADHD Love, Dr. Brighten explores late diagnosed ADHD and autism, the shame that can build before diagnosis, the cost of masking, why women are so often …
Brain inflammation and behavior are closely connected through the gut, immune system, nervous system, and the chemical signals that influence how we experience the world. In this episode of The Dr. Brighten Show, Dr. Jolene Brighten speaks with pediatrician Dr. Pejman Katiraei about neuroinflammation, sensory sensitivity, restrictive eating, PANS and PANDAS, ADHD, autism, environmental exposures, and why dramatic changes in …
Pregnancy is often described as exhausting, emotional, and physically demanding. But what happens when you feel your best during pregnancy—only to feel like you’ve completely lost yourself after giving birth? In this episode of The Dr. Brighten Show, Dr. Jolene Brighten sits down with ADHD advocate and entrepreneur Vanessa D’Souza to explore an experience that countless neurodivergent women recognize but …
Pre-order ADHD and Women by Dr. Jolene Brighten and discover how hormones shape focus, motivation, executive function, and emotional regulation http://drbrighten.com/adhdandwomen From the outside, success often looks effortless. A successful career. National television. Confidence under pressure. But for many autistic women, what looks like confidence is actually constant masking—the exhausting process of suppressing natural autistic traits to meet society’s expectations. In this episode of …
Pre-order ADHD and Women by Dr. Jolene Brighten and discover how hormones shape focus, motivation, executive function, and emotional regulation. If you’ve ever felt like your brain suddenly changed operating systems before your period, postpartum, or in perimenopause, this episode on estrogen and dopamine is going to help you understand why your focus, motivation, and emotional regulation can feel completely …
Before we get started, I want to share something I’ve been working on with you. My new book, ADHD and Women, was born out of years of seeing women struggle with symptoms that are often overlooked, misdiagnosed, or dismissed entirely. So much of the conversation around ADHD has been centered on men, and it leaves women without clear answers. In …
If you’ve ever wondered why you used to be able to hold it all together and now suddenly feel like your brain is working against you, this episode will hit home. In this conversation, Dr. Brighten unpacks the reality of ADHD masking, why so many women go decades without a diagnosis, and how perimenopause ADHD symptoms can make long-standing coping …
If you’ve ever wondered why your ADHD feels manageable one week and completely unhinged the next—why your medication suddenly feels useless, your focus evaporates, your emotions feel impossible to regulate, and even simple tasks like making dinner feel overwhelming—this episode was made for you. In this episode of The Dr. Brighten Show, Dr. Jolene Brighten breaks down what a major …
When your ADHD sex drive doesn’t match what you “think it should,” it’s easy to assume something is wrong with you—or that you’ve fallen out of love. But in this episode, Dr. Jolene Brighten sits down with Leann Borneman to unpack a radically different truth: for many women with ADHD (and many women in perimenopause), the problem often isn’t a …