Cover of Authentically ADHD with Carmen

Authentically ADHD with Carmen

Authentically ADHD with Carmen

By: Where the chaos of ADHD meets self-acceptance growth and a whole lot of authenticity
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Summary
 Hi! I'm Carmen, a late-diagnosed ADHDer, ADHD life coach, and early childhood special education teacher who wants to spread awareness, relate to other ADHDers, and have fun while talking and learning about the difficulties, awesomeness, and new research behind the neurodiverse ADHD brain. ARE YOU READY?? Let's get started!

carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.comCarmen Irace Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
Episodes
  • Your Brain Didn’t Quit

    Your Brain Didn’t Quit
    1 Nov 2026

    Content note: discussion of depression, burnout, loss of function, and suicidal thoughts. This episode is educational, not a diagnosis or treatment plan.

    When motivation disappears, it’s easy to call yourself lazy and start the shame spiral. But what if getting started is only part of the story?

    In this episode of Authentically ADHD, we unpack how ADHD-related task initiation struggles, anhedonia, and autistic burnout can feel different—and how they can overlap. We explore the brain science behind reward, effort, anticipation, and capacity, without reducing everything to “you need more dopamine.”

    You’ll hear why a deadline can suddenly make your brain clock in, why a favorite hobby might stop feeling rewarding, and why sensory overload or lost capacity can be a sign that you’ve been running on fumes. Then we get practical: small ways to make starting easier, reduce the load, track what’s changed, and know when it’s time to ask for professional support.

    No shame. No miracle morning routine. Just research-informed insight, dark humor, and a gentler way to ask: Is this ADHD friction, anhedonia, burnout—or several things sharing one trench coat?

    Have a question you want Carmen to answer? Send it through the Ask Carmen Anything box. You can also find workbooks and other neurodivergent-friendly resources on Carmen’s Linktree.

    Call: ‪(331) 253-2438‬ for submissions/coaching inquiries

    https://linktr.ee/carmen_irace

    Your favorite things feel flat. Your to-do list feels radioactive. Even starting a task requires a committee meeting—and somehow the committee is also tired.

    Is it ADHD motivation, anhedonia, autistic burnout… or the deluxe combo nobody ordered? 🎧 In this episode, we unpack the brain science, ditch the “just try harder” nonsense, and talk practical next steps.

    Listen now to AuDHD and When Motivation Disappears—because “lazy” is a lousy diagnosis and an even worse podcast episode.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe
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    18 min
  • Stop Trying to Become a More Convenient Person

    Stop Trying to Become a More Convenient Person
    3 Oct 2026

    In this episode of Authentically ADHD with Carmen, we explore what it means to build an AuDHD-friendly life instead of constantly trying to “fix” yourself. We look at how executive-function differences, sensory needs, masking, and the demands of daily life can make routines, relationships, and workspaces feel harder than they seem for other people—and why that isn’t a character flaw.

    Carmen shares practical ways to reduce friction: make routines easier to start, communicate needs clearly, adjust your environment, and set expectations that reflect your real energy and capacity. The episode ends with a simple seven-day experiment to help you test one small change in your own life.

    You don’t need to become an imaginary person who loves fluorescent lights and remembers everything. You can start by building more support around the person you already are.

    LinkTree:

    Have a question or situation you’d like Carmen to respond to on the podcast or Substack? Send it to the Ask Carmen Anything advice box. Your question might help someone else feel understood, too. Share only what you’re comfortable making public, and listen to a future episode to hear Carmen’s response.

    https://tally.so/r/WOx05P

    Download the FREE BONUS GUIDE:

    Start writing today. Use the button below to create a Substack of your own



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carmenauthenticallyadhd.substack.com/subscribe
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    24 min
  • THE VERSION OF ME YOU MADE UP

    THE VERSION OF ME YOU MADE UP
    26 Sep 2026
    RESEARCH NOTES / SHOW-NOTES SOURCESIn this episode of Authentically ADHD with Carmen, we’re talking about what happens when people don’t just misunderstand you—they confidently decide what your behavior means, assign motives you never had, and then treat that interpretation like fact.For AuDHD adults, especially those diagnosed later in life, this can feel painfully familiar. A clarifying question becomes “attitude.” A pause becomes “ignoring.” Asking for help becomes proof you can’t handle adulthood. Intensity becomes aggression. Shutdown becomes manipulation. And suddenly, you’re not just trying to explain what happened—you’re trying to defend who you are.Carmen shares a deeply personal story from her second year of teaching, when a toxic medication combination led to a mental health crisis and psychiatric hospitalization. What followed was not just recovery, but the painful experience of being reduced to a distorted story by the people around her. Years later, through therapy, coaching, self-understanding, and late neurodivergent discovery, she began to understand why being confidently misread can hurt so much more than an ordinary misunderstanding.This episode explores the neuroscience behind ADHD executive functioning, autistic communication differences, masking, emotional regulation, the double empathy problem, late diagnosis, and the ways neurodivergent adults are often infantilized or treated as less capable simply because they need support.Most importantly, this is an episode about reclaiming your own narrative.You’ll learn how to separate observation from interpretation, communicate your needs more clearly, recognize when you’re over-explaining to someone committed to misunderstanding you, protect your autonomy while still accepting support, and stop letting other people’s assumptions become your identity.Because being misunderstood doesn’t mean you are unknowable.And needing clarification, support, processing time, or accommodation does not make you difficult, immature, or incapable.Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is:“Please ask me what I mean before deciding who I am.”The double-empathy and cross-neurotype communication research: Research by Crompton and colleagues found effective information transfer between autistic people and has also shown that neurotype matching can influence interpersonal rapport. This supports a more relational understanding of at least some autistic/non-autistic communication difficulties rather than automatically locating every breakdown within the autistic person.First impressions and social perception: Research has also found that non-autistic observers can form less favorable first impressions of autistic adults from brief social information, illustrating how judgments about an autistic person may arise rapidly and before meaningful interaction has even developed.ADHD and emotion regulation: A systematic review of adults with ADHD found meaningful associations among ADHD, emotion dysregulation and executive functioning, while noting that the underlying research remains heterogeneous. Emotion dysregulation is therefore well supported as an important associated feature for many adults with ADHD, although it is not itself one of the core DSM ADHD diagnostic criteria.Autistic camouflaging/masking: Systematic reviews describe camouflaging as masking, compensation and assimilation strategies used to navigate social environments. Research repeatedly associates greater camouflaging with poorer mental health, exhaustion, identity difficulties and feeling overlooked or unsupported, while also acknowledging that masking may serve pragmatic or protective functions in some environments.Late diagnosis and identity: Qualitative research with late-diagnosed autistic adults describes reinterpreting past experiences through a new lens, shifts from self-criticism toward greater self-understanding or compassion for some people, and an ongoing process of reconstructing identity after diagnosis. Research including people diagnosed with autism, ADHD or both similarly describes adult diagnosis as affecting relationships, mental well-being and self-understanding.Autonomy and infantilization: Autistic adults have described wanting opportunities to make their own decisions, receive pragmatic executive-function support, unmask safely and exercise autonomy rather than having assistance become unnecessary control. Research examining cultural representation also documents persistent problems with the infantilization and underrepresentation of autistic adulthood.Important research caveat: “AuDHD” is widely used to describe co-occurring autism and ADHD, but much of the scientific literature still studies autism and ADHD separately. Individual experiences vary enormously, and the mechanisms discussed in this episode should be understood as possible contributors to misunderstanding—not a claim that every communication conflict involving an ...
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    41 min
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