ADHD

A brain wiring difference that affects attention, impulsivity, and activity levels — but it’s not a character flaw. Think of it as a brain that’s interest-based, not effort-based.

ADHD Tax

The hidden costs of living with ADHD — late fees, duplicate purchases, forgotten appointments, lost items. It’s not carelessness; it’s executive dysfunction showing up in daily life.

Body Doubling

Doing a task alongside someone else (virtually or in person) to keep you on track. Their presence acts like a gentle anchor for your focus.

Brain Rot (Reframed)

What TikTok calls endless scrolling — I call your brain’s way of saying it needs dopamine. Feed it something meaningful, not just mindless.

Co-escalation

The flip side of co-regulation. When one person’s stress response triggers the other’s, and both nervous systems spiral together. Calm is contagious — but so is chaos.

Co-regulation

When someone else’s calm nervous system helps yours settle. It’s what happens when a trusted person offers presence, safety, or empathy instead of judgment.

Dopamenu

A menu of quick, feel-good, brain-rewarding activities you can choose from when you need a boost. Things like music, movement, sunshine, snacks, or texting a friend.

Dopamine

The brain chemical that makes you feel motivated, interested and rewarded. ADHD brains don’t make or recycle it efficiently — which explains the endless scrolling, snacking, and 'just one more episode' behaviour.

Dopamine Chase

The constant search for stimulation or interest — new hobbies, shows, or projects. It’s your brain trying to stay engaged and rewarded.

Dopamining

The act of chasing dopamine through little hits of pleasure or novelty — checking notifications, snacking, scrolling, or starting new projects.

Emotional Dysregulation

Big feelings. Fast. Loud. Emotional regulation takes a lot of executive function fuel — and when the tank is low, it’s harder to stay calm.

Executive Function

The brain’s management system. Planning, organising, starting, remembering, focusing, finishing — all live here. When you struggle with these, it’s not laziness; it’s like having a dodgy Wi-Fi signal in your brain’s control centre.

Flow State

That sweet spot where interest, challenge and focus align — time disappears, energy feels natural, and you’re fully immersed.

High-Interest Interval Training (HIIT for ADHD)

Breaking work into short bursts of high-interest focus, then rest or switch tasks. It’s like interval training for your attention span.

Hyperfocus

That ADHD superpower where your brain locks onto something fascinating and you lose track of time, hunger, or sleep. It’s focus on turbo mode — but it usually only switches on for things that feel meaningful, interesting or urgent.

ICNU Framework

Stands for Interest, Challenge, Novelty, and Urgency — the four magic ingredients that switch an ADHD brain on. When something is interesting, a bit challenging, new, or has a deadline, your brain releases dopamine and focus follows.

Masking

When you hide or 'camouflage' your ADHD traits to fit in or avoid judgment. It’s exhausting — like running a marathon in a costume that doesn’t fit.

Monotropic Flow

A deep, single-channel focus common in both ADHD and autistic brains. It’s when your mind fully tunes into one thing and everything else fades out.

Neurodivergent

Someone whose brain works differently from what’s considered 'typical.' It’s not broken; it’s just running a different operating system.

Neurodiversity

The idea that brains come in all sorts of designs — ADHD, autism, dyslexia, giftedness, and more — and that this is a normal and valuable part of human diversity.

Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD)

That intense emotional pain when you think someone is disappointed, angry or rejecting you — even if they’re not.

Self-Regulation

The ability to manage your own emotions, energy and behaviour in different situations. Connection and compassion help more than discipline ever will.

Sensory Overload

When your brain can’t filter all the incoming sounds, lights, smells, and textures. Everything feels 'too much' all at once.

Spectrum

A way of understanding that traits like attention, emotion, and energy exist on a sliding scale — not as 'have it' or 'don’t.' ADHD, autism and other neurotypes aren’t separate boxes; they overlap and blend. Everyone sits somewhere on the spectrum of human thinking, feeling, and sensing — but neurodivergent brains just live a bit further along the edges (and the view from there can be pretty amazing).

Task Avoidance

When your brain dodges a task like it’s allergic to it. You want to do it — you just can’t get your nervous system to agree. Often tied to boredom, fear of failure, perfectionism, or low dopamine.

Task Initiation

The skill of getting started — which, for ADHD brains, can feel like pushing a car uphill in neutral. It’s not laziness; it’s your brain needing clarity, dopamine, or momentum to hit 'go.'

Task Paralysis

When you really want to start but your brain just won’t move. It’s not procrastination; it’s your nervous system hitting pause until motivation, clarity or dopamine shows up.

Time Blindness

When your internal clock has no batteries. Ten minutes and two hours can feel the same. You might always be 'five minutes away'… even when you haven’t left the house yet.

Working Memory

The brain’s 'sticky note.' It holds things in mind just long enough to use them — unless it blows away in the mental wind.