Mike and Chaya sit down with ADHD psychotherapist Ahmadreza Tadrisi to discuss how his own diagnosis sparked a desire to broaden the understanding of this neuro-type. In their talk, Ahmadreza debunks some harmful ADHD myths and highlights how the "ADHD as superpower" narrative can unintentionally marginalize those who face more significant struggles.

We Also Cover:

• Cultural differences in understanding ADHD, particularly in Iran
• Inattentiveness without hyperactivity
• Misconceptions and stereotypes fueled by pop culture
• Systemic failures in accommodating neurodiversity
• The dual nature of ADHD as strength and challenge
• Limiting Labels vs Empowering Labels
• How social media advice can lead to unrealistic expectations

Quotes:

• "If we are struggling, it's because of the system. So if the systems were set up in the right way, we would be completely fine."
• "When you are forming an identity for yourself, things need to make sense."
• "The problem that we are having today is that the ones that need the most help, their voices are the ones that we hear the less."
• "It's very charmed to educate the public only about the positive aspects. It's more appealing and it sells better. But does it actually change the reality?"
• "But the more and more you train yourself to listen to that intuition, that gut feeling and the way it shows up, everybody has a different way of tapping into that."

About Ahmadreza Tadrisi:

Ahmadreza Tadrisi is a psychotherapist with a master's in clinical psychology. Over the last four years, he has conducted over 3000 therapy and counseling sessions with more than 100 clients. His integrative, client-centered approach combines therapy and coaching, particularly focusing on Adult ADHD, inspired by his own diagnosis, and dedicated to creating a safe, inclusive space for all individuals.

Connect with Adhamreza:

• @Ahmadrezatadrisi_ on Instagram
• https://www.instagram.com/influential_therapy/
• @Therapyforreal on X
• Ahmadreza on YouTube
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmadrezatadrisi

Related Reading:

• Is ADHD a Superpower?
• Ahmadreza's Articles

As always, thanks for lending us your ears and keep igniting that spark!

Stay Connected:

• Website: https://sparklaunchpodcast.com/
• ADHD Coaching & Workshops: https://www.sparklaunch.org/
• Chaya on Instagram
• Mike on Instagram
• Want To Be a Guest? https://sparklaunchpodcast.com/booking

You've landed at Spark Launch, the Guide star for embracing what it means to be neurodiverse. I'm Mike Cornell, joined by CEO of Spark Launch, Chaya Mallavaram.

Here we navigate mental health triumphs and tribulations from all across the spectrum, charting a course of the shared experiences that unite us and discovering how to embody the unique strengths within neurodivergent and neurotypical alike, igniting your spark and launching it into a better tomorrow. Hello there. I'm Mike.

I'm Chaya.

And today we want to welcome onto the show Ahmadreza Tadrisi, a psychotherapist with a master's in clinical psychology. Over the last four years, he's conducted over 3,000 therapy and counseling sessions with more than 100 clients.

His integrative, client centered approach combines therapy and coaching, particularly focusing on adult adhd. And inspired by his own diagnosis, dedicated to creating a safe, inclusive space for all individuals. Welcome to the show.

Hello, guys. It's great to be here and thank you for having me.

So, Ahmed Reza, why don't you tell us about your background and where are you talking from today and where do you live and a little bit of your history and how you got here. We would love to hear.

Sure. So I'm talking from Tehran, the capital of Iran. And, well, the thing is that right Now I'm around 30 years old.

So right before, around five years ago, I actually didn't know anything about ADHD and I didn't even know that I would become a psychotherapist back in time. So all these turning of events and, you know, all that leading up to here was a very interesting turn of events for me in my life.

And before that I was studying sports sciences and I had a job in sports science and I was, you know, doing okay in life.

But there was always this cloud of, you know, uncertainties over in my head that there are things that I felt like they weren't clicking in my personal life and in my work and even my studies. And I always had this questions that couldn't find, you know, proper answers for.

So what happened in that moment was that I really got interested in psychology and to work as a therapist. So I made a decision back in the time that maybe this is the job that I want to do in my Life.

So I tried to, you know, start this transition, changing the field and studying psychology based on a route that was possible for me in my country. And a funny thing that happened was that we have an entrance exam for going into universities in Iraq.

So when you want to, you know, change the field and go into a new, it doesn't matter if it's a bachelor or master's or in a PhD, you have to prepare for an entrance exam. And I was in that transition period back in time when I made that decision.

And I was reading, you know, about all sorts of things about psychology, whether it was therapeutic or general things or neuroscience or other stuff. And there was a day that I was reading this book about psychopathology.

And the funny thing is that I had read this before, but there was a moment that I saw something in a text that was saying, in order to have adhd, you can't be either attention deficit or hyperactive.

So before that I thought that one, you know, in order to have adhd, they have to receive both diagnoses, you know, both sets of symptoms for a confirmed diagnosis.

And that's, you know, that was like the first click of my head that, oh, you can have, you know, one part of the condition and you don't have to be hyperactive at all. And the reason that clicked for me because I started reading about the symptoms and it kind of makes sense for myself.

Like I saw that I have all these, you know, inattention symptoms and their influences in my life, their representations in different areas in different settings. And I never really considered myself hyperactive in those sense. So I started reading more. I read a book about ADHD from Dr.

Hallowell, I think is quite famous for this arena.

And it was like the first moment in my life that all those questions, those, you know, clouds of different things that I had, they all, they will find an answer in a moment. And so eventually those kind of self diagnosis and then later on I went for the confirmation.

You know, it was very clear for me that even if I hadn't received the confirmation, I deep down I knew that this is the right answer. And really that changed everything. Like from that moment it kind of, I found a clear path for what I want to do after this.

So when I went to the field, and luckily enough that actually helps with that entrance exam too, because before that moment I wasn't really doing good in terms of studies, going through all the lessons.

But from the moment that I realized what was the problem actually helped with the exam and I went to university, I finished those masters and I actually recently got into a PhD. So I'm trying to further this studies in terms of psychology and all that besides my work.

And I'm trying to, you know, help as much as I can to the same people that have been going through the same things and you know, are experiencing the exact same things that I went through, like lacking information, lacking knowledge about, you know, about these problems, that what is happening with you when you're living like that and you have all these questions over your head and struggles. Nobody is really providing very clear answer for auto theme.

Although right now it's kind of getting better with all these especially social media informations like on Instagram or YouTube or other areas. But well, you know, I'm trying to do my part and I hope that I've been successful in that.

Isn't it fun understanding yourself? I think that is the journey that we should all take because there's so much information inside of us.

Understanding how our brains work and what works for us, what doesn't is amazing. I wish we all took time to do that and just honor ourselves and honor others for who they are. And you talked about hyperactive, right?

Hyperactive, I think, is a very misunderstood term. And if you just listen to the word hyperactive, you would think someone jumping off the walls and bouncing on the bed, right?

And I, with my own understanding of myself, I know that the way my hyperactive brain works is right now, like I'm excited about this conversation and I get a million thoughts I want to interrupt. And so that's one of my things that I always fight is not to interrupt people.

But it happens because I have a zillion thoughts and I know that I can take care of it with a book and a pen and I can write down the thoughts. And then the inattentive is when I'm not interested at all in the topic. So I think it's a very misunderstood.

And for you, I can imagine growing up in Iran, I don't know how it is out there, what the awareness is. And even here it's just beginning, right? People are just living not knowing whether they're neurodivergent.

Trying to fit in and be like the rest of them is challenging. I mean, people are going through that constantly. So tell us how it is in Iran.

Well, so I think during my childhood and adolescence, I never heard the word ADHD even once. So I can't really blame anybody for that because I think the word ADHD itself is not that old in terms of history and all that.

So if that's correct, that's, you know, very, very recent. So I never heard of it.

And I was one of those students that, you know, people were calling it, I don't know, some sort of gifted or exceptional in terms of, you know, being smart and always having the best grade in the class.

And I was doing fine till high school and you know, I was one of those students that everyone was talking about as one of those, you know, top guys in the class. But something, you know, suddenly changed. So I went into this school that was for exceptional talents in my country, it's, you know, nationwide.

And they collect these, all these students from all cities based on some IQ test, stuff like that.

So they, they're like trying to prepare you for top fields in the universities and colleges so that, you know, they can say that we have worked on that and then, you know, they will provide for the society. Something like. But when I went to that high school, like everything changed for me in terms of performance.

So my performance has started to decline massively in terms of grades and you know, doing the homeworks and all those things that they, they were asking from us and you know, everything promised it since first high school. And you know, that begs you the question, like, what's happening there and what is going on? You know, what is it?

That student that previously was one of the top ones in all the school, not in his class, suddenly, you know, is having grades that belongs to maybe the weakest students in the class or so. So you know, I was having all these questions and people were asking all of these questions.

I even remember that I was refer to different counselors, the school counselors. I went to a psychiatrist when I was around 18 and nobody really had any answer.

They were just pushing me that with messages like stop being lazy and just, you know, do whatever that you are ask, you know, you've been asked to do and do your studies and all these. And you know, we obviously know that those sorts of things don't work especially for, you know, young ones with adhd. So nobody really know anything.

And I even, I insist that I visited different counselors, I even visited psychiatrists, but they couldn't find the answers. And it kind of, you Know, you have to adapt in that kind of situation.

You can't find the answers, you can't find the reasons, but you try to, you know, find some sort of meaning in all that. And that's, I think, a little bit dangerous, because when you don't know the right answer, you just kind of make stories for yourselves.

And when the story is not right, you're going to struggle. Like, you try to, you know, make your performance better.

You try to get better in anything that you're trying to achieve, but the struggle is always continuing. And you're literally suffering in terms of, you know, psychological terms and sometimes even in terms of physical, you know, your body suffers.

You show symptoms that you don't, you know, have to experience in real, you know, life. And that was kind of my life during those days, especially before, you know, being training.

And it wasn't like I was doing that bad after the school was finished. But I think it matters that when you are forming an identity for yourself and you're going into things should make sense.

You know, you have to find a ground for yourself that you feel like, this is me and this is how I should live my life.

But I think when you don't know about your adhd, when you don't know that some of the things that you're experiencing are coming from where, then that identity is always, you know, it's like up in the air.

You're trying to try different things, you know, going through different remedies and therapies, but you never really, you know, find somewhere that you can truly feel peaceful. And that's why I think finding a name for your problems actually, you know, helps. And this is why I sometimes see that people say, oh, why should I?

Why should we have these categories? Why should we have these labels and doing this stuff with people?

I say, I think I've never had a client myself that, you know, they don't hear about their problems and the name, and they get. They get upset. Like, they are always, you know, finding a new meaning in their lives.

And I always see that it's actually helping them in terms of even finding a new community, that they see that there are people out there that are having the same struggles, are, you know, facing the same challenges, and they can share their feelings with each other. They can share these experiences with each other. And I think it's helpful for the community.

And all those people just like the way that we found each other, right? So that was the name that helped us, you know, find each other from two, I think, different Continents in this. In this earth.

And I think this is a fascinating thing and it's actually good that I think the information is circulating around. I know that not all of them are correct, but I think it's still better that you still hear the name.

Like when I was before 20, I never even heard what was Adji like, nobody knew anything about it. And this now people are talking about it.

I know that not all of them having the exact rights, you know, interpretation of different things about it, but even the fact that they're talking about it, I think it's a good thing. And I hope that after quite some time we can find many more people that are struggling, and I hope that they can help them go back.

What you're talking about with labels, you know, there is such a thing as limiting labels, but I think blanketing that all labels are bad. Especially I think there's a feeling, and it's not really with people with ADHD or autism or anything else. I don't think most feel this way.

But it's mostly the, like, allistics that feel like, well, calling them that is an insult in some way. When I think we approach it more from, like you said, an empowering community kind of way.

But we can find others and we can find some understanding with ourselves and who we can get along with a little bit better or other people that can help understand us. But it was so demonized by others as a negative, limiting label. And a lot of that also stems from pop culture.

I mean, it's crazy to think the amount of misinformation about ADHD that comes from pop culture. And that is where a lot of the misunderstanding of, like, what hyperactivity means. I didn't believe I had ADHD because of that.

And I was like, no, I'm constantly fatigued, I'm constantly tired. And then come to find out, no, that actually can also mean you have adhd. It's a misunderstanding.

And another, and it's a label that's been added on to a label that then limits what we are to ourselves. And it's crazy how recent it was that you could actually be autistic and have ADHD officially.

And if you really look at it, it's, well, you can only have one, not you can't have both stemmed from nothing. I mean, it just stemmed from assuming you could not have both.

That has been like the fight, I think all of us who live with this stuff had to put forward is like having other people understand.

Saying what we are seems like an odd way of putting it, but I think it's kind of appropriate, especially when they view us as something that's so different and alien to them sometimes. And talking a little bit more about ADHD perceived in society. I was reading some stuff that you had written, and you wrote something.

Is ADHD a superpower? And there was a quote that really, that really stuck with me that was, ADHD is not a superpower.

ADHD can lead to superpowers, but it can also lead to some serious incidents and disasters. It's very charmed to educate the public only about the positive aspects. It's more appealing and it sells better.

But does it actually change the reality? And it sells better is something that really stood out to me, because that is true.

And it's what a lot of this stuff, especially going back to talking about, well, if you have this, then, you know, go to more like advanced, like special school and things like that. But it's not necessarily always a proper fit.

So could you talk a little bit more about that and why it's important not to overly glamorize or fictionalize mental diversity, particularly how that can itself lead to stigma.

Yeah, of course. So I don't think we can, you know, force people to use, you know, very limited narrative when they're telling about their stories. Okay.

I can totally understand when people come out and say, like, I have ADHD and it's helping me a lot.

I don't know, it's helping me with my job or stuff like that, or I've been an entrepreneur or something like that, and, you know, I have all these superpowers. I can totally understand.

But I think when we are, you know, trying to extend that to everybody, like, damage control is very warranted here, because if we want to, if, you know, if we demand that kind of narrative from everyone, then we will kind of underestimate their struggles and their sufferings because of that condition. So one example that I always give is accidents, like just having ADHD yourself. This doesn't have anything with culture.

Your environment is completely internal. Just having ADHD kinda predisposes you to face more accidents in your life.

And some of these accidents can be fatal, like, and you can literally lose your lives because of that. So that accidents can happen in your shower. Sometimes, you know, people are working, like in factories and.

Or they're using their hands and stuff like that, and they're, you know, being exposed to dangerous situations in their work environment. Sometimes people are just driving, you know, there would be some moments that they might be exposed to a dangerous situation.

And in a grasp of second, they might just lose their life. And we can change the situation.

Like, if we say that you have superpower and this is all positive and stuff like that, then when people are suffering because of these things, we are kind of like, omitting that from the experience and our real lives and saying that, look, I don't want to have anything, you know, I don't want to have anything with that. And I just want to have this narrative. So that's why we should be careful. Like, we can say, we can look at it in another way.

Like, when people get the diagnosis, they come for help. They're not like, oh, I have this information. I now know that I have adhd.

So, you know, let's get on with it and let's go with my life and, you know, do whatever. Do whatever that I want with it and stuff like that. They actually come forward and asking for help.

They say that, oh, now that I have received this diagnosis, I am struggling with X, I'm struggling with Y, I'm struggling with Z, so what should I do about this? So this alone showing is showing that a lot of people are struggling with different things.

And whether it's about their academic performance, whether it's about their work performance, sometimes they're struggling with real emotional problems in their relationships, in their marriages, I don't know, in the relationship with their children and stuff like that. So all these things are showing us that it's all, you know, depends on every single person.

So if I have adhd, I learn about it, and I'm really deeply struggling. So I should be really be able to express that and seek help. Now, if I'm another person, I'm having adhd.

Like, I'm already an entrepreneur, and even having ADHD has actually helped me to become a successful entrepreneur. I should also be, you know, free to come forward and experience that, you know, this has happened because of that.

So what I'm trying to say here is that both things matter. So I can't come and say that, oh, only we should focus on the superpower thing and neglect the experience that.

The experience of people that are suffering.

And the problem that we are having today especially, is that those people are actually the ones that need the most help, and their voices are the ones that we hear the less. You know, for example, when you open up LinkedIn, what is. What is the narrative that you're seeing from adhd?

What's the, you know, the most narrative that is circulating around the social media like LinkedIn today? You see the super power thing. Like, everybody is saying that, yeah, I have ADHD and everything is flourishing.

And I'm doing this in my job and doing that in my relationship. And when I see that, it kind of always reminds me that, oh, just in this week I had like 10 clients that they were all suffering in their lives.

And if they come forward and, you know, put out a message out there and LinkedIn, they might, you know, feel ashamed for it, like, because they will make a comparison of their own lives with the lives of all these, you know, successful people out there, and they will, like, like, I have the same thing that they're having, so why they are so successful and I struggle. You know, we are like, leading to that a stigma and leading to that shame feeling and all that. And we should encourage both sets of growth.

I think if someone is successful is completely fine. But if someone is struggling and someone is deep pain because of that, like, they can't finish their university. They can't even find a job.

Like, I've had a lot of clients that they are massively struggling with just choosing their field. Like, what's the best field for me? Like, what should they do with my academics and stuff like that? Or what should I do with my job?

Or they have try different jobs and their students struggling to find something that they can find meaning and they can find a secure and stable income for their personal lives. And these things matter.

Like, they reach their 30s, they reach their 40s, and they're struggling, they're still struggling with these kind of problems.

And you should, you know, provide an atmosphere that everybody can find kind of security, that they can come forward and talk about this and share that they can even struggle and they can deceive pain and all should be fine. You know, I'm always for freedom of speech, and that's why I think just focusing on superpower narrative is dangerous. Because of this.

I think what you're asking for is to be more realistic, right? Just be real. We have. We have problems, we have strengths. But in my own personal journey, I feel just having an awareness.

For instance, you mentioned accident prone. Definitely. But once you have that awareness, then you can work with it. Once you know yourself, you can learn to use it in a way that helps you. Right.

The same energy. I see everything as energy can cause an accident or make you an entrepreneur because you have this hyperactivity, can get distracted. So.

So we can work with it. So it's really important to know who we are and. And what doesn't work and what works. And also Be fearless in vocalizing that.

A lot of times I see people are aware, but they, they don't want to speak it because of other problems.

That's true, but there is one other important point and that is there are massive individual differences. So for example, not even between two persons, we won't see the same adhd.

Like the person A has a different ADHD from the person B, and the person A has different capacities to cope with ADHD comparing to the person B.

So another dangerous thing that we see today, for example, again on LinkedIn, I mentioned LinkedIn a lot because that's the, that's where I see the communities the most. For example, people are trying to say that, yeah, I'm going drug free and everything is, you know, working perfectly and it's working fine.

I've been able to do this and that, and that's true, but the problem is that, that, that's not going to work for everybody. So not all people have the same capacity to deal with something. It's not just about adhd, just almost anything.

We would expect the same thing from them. So people will come and say, oh, for example, somebody is dealing with ADHD just with, I don't know, cold showers, for example.

And then that person would go on and try that and it won't work.

And then, you know, they would ask a question from themselves that if somebody else is trying that and it's working for them, then why shouldn't I be able in order to get the same result?

And that's why that sort of messaging is a little bit dangerous, because it would give people a sort of, you know, imagination that, oh, so there will be a very exact formula that if I, you know, implement that in my personal life, then everything will be fine. But that's not true.

And that's one of the main problems that we have today in terms of therapeutic things, because different things will work with different people.

So cold showers, for example, might work for me, but for a lot of other people that have ADHD and they are at the same age for, like me, it won't work for them. So we should just encourage everybody to find something that works for them personally.

So for one person it might be anything but drugs and I don't care what that thing is. So anything can work and they get real results in their life.

Or for some other people, they might actually need, I don't know, more help like giving from drugs or other form of therapy. Some people might need psychotherapy, some people might need coaching, some people might need even more support.

In their inner circles, from their environment. So I'm, you know, I always try to encourage these personal formulas that I think everybody should try to figure out what would work for them.

And I think it's another dangers that they are facing, especially in these social medias because everyone, when they see that what for what something, when they figure out something that's working for them, then they think that, oh, now it's time to come out and say to all the world, look guys, I have found the formula and this will remedy ADHD for everybody. But that's a little, you know, dangerous notion.

Yes. So thank you for saying it's dangerous because it goes over so many people's heads and even when they mean really well.

But it's important to always understand your power.

Whenever you're like giving that kind of advice, there needs to be caveats of it's just not going to work for everybody and there's nothing wrong with that.

And I think it's also dangerous because when it doesn't work for somebody and they see that it has for others, there's that feeling of what am I doing wrong or am I worse? It creates a shame spiral that only exacerbates things even more.

And even going even further, let's say there's a magical world where there were two people and their ADHD traits were one.

One like exactly this, practically clones of one another, but they had completely different socioeconomic status or lived in specific different environments that were completely different from one another. The how those traits help and hinder them are still going to be completely different based on that.

You have to take in everything about a person into account, not just the traits, not just, you know, what has been helpful to them like so far in the past.

There could be other instances where advice for employment for one person is completely unhelpful to the other person based on the location that they're in.

And I think a lot of times for certain people on, on social media, they unintentionally so misunderstand their own privilege when it comes to their environment or their like, particular status or what they're able to do.

And they dole out advice which they can still of course dull out but you have to do it with, you know, always put an asterisk at the end and always try to explain that these are things to explore and get you thinking about coping mechanisms or what could work for you. It's not always like a how to step one through step five, you know, equals profit at the end. Like I, it just, it doesn't realistically work that way.

Yeah, that's completely true.

And I see a lot of people are going through this sort of experience that are saying, look, this is not at any level an illness or disease or any sort of, you know, pathologizing condition. If we are struggling, it's because of the system.

So if the systems, environments, if they were set up in the right way, you know, we would be completely fine. And part of it, I think, has come from that book, I think from Mr. Hartzmann, the farmers and hunters of the world. So he's saying that.

So ADHD's are coming from the line of hunters of the past.

And I actually read that book, and it completely made sense to me because, you know, one of the things that hunters had was that they should be very alert towards any sort of, you know, cues in their environment. So they should. But they should have been simultaneously aware of everything and their, you know, visual fields and all the senses that they had.

So it kind of makes sense that evolutionary, it might have come from that sort of thing. But I try to, you know, remain very practical about this.

So, for example, when my clients come to me and say that, look, now that I have this diagnosis, what should I do with others? Like, should I go to my family members? Should.

Should I go to my co workers and tell them that I have this thing and they have to, you know, accommodate these problems or anything that I'm experiencing.

And I always tell them that, look, if you found anybody, any person that listened to your story and, you know, treated you very with acceptance and, you know, warm hearts and all that, then you should, you know, be very grateful for it and talk to them about it. But you shouldn't expect this kind of treatment from everybody out there. So not all systems are going to acknowledge that.

Not all individuals are going to acknowledge that.

And I don't think even it's possible for people that don't have ADHD to completely understand all of the, you know, aspects of somebody that is living with this, and all these aspects of this condition are like that.

So even if we say that that hypothesis is true, that radiation is not a disease, it's not an illness or medical condition, and it's just happening because systems are not accommodating for it. Even if we take that as true.

I have, you know, I always say people should ask this question that, okay, but that these systems will finally accommodate for everything that ADHD need to have in their environments in order to become successful.

Like, if you're going to an ordinary school in your town and for example, you have a child with adhd, if you go out to them and tell them that, you know, my child is struggling with adhd, will they actually listen to you or.

I don't know, if you go to your workplace and tell them that, for example, I have ADHD and I don't have to, you know, come at a certain hour, I don't want certain types of, you know, meetings and all that. Do they actually listen and accommodate for that? Because if they won't do that, then you don't have any other choice but make some inner adaptations.

Like if you're going to wait until all these systems and all these things that we have built basically all our civilizations based upon, then you have to wait forever. Because I don't think they're going to accommodate completely and you know, freely with all their open hearts, there will be always these struggles.

So the sooner that you realize it's okay that not everybody is going to accept my diagnosis and I have to make some adaptations in order to improve my current condition, I think the better will it be for you in terms of, you know, mentality and, you know, having more peace internally.

Because if you want to just see the accommodations from the systems and other people, I think you will always disappoint them because there will be somebody or some sort of in a workplace or I don't know any other thing that they will make you heavily disappointed. And then you sitting there with empty hands and asking yourself why this happened. Well, that's just a reality.

I don't think we can change that anytime soon.

Yeah, I think in any relationship, right, it's a two way street. You do your part, you show up as much as you can. I see that like the equator right here, you're on two sides of the pole.

You need to put an effort to go at least to the equator. And whether the other person shows up there is left up to them.

You can change that whether it's a work environment, if it's a boss, if it's a friend, spouse, whoever. But you could, you still have to do your part, right? I think that's what you're trying to say.

Yeah.

And also I wanted to talk about the hunter brain and how we could actually use that. Because for hunter, for being a hunter, instincts are really important and intuition is really important. And we all, I, we all have that. We.

But we don't use it enough because we are not taught. Who taught about tapping into that intuition in school? We were never, there was no class for that. There was no training for that.

But the more and more you train yourself to listen to that intuition, that gut feeling and the way it shows up for everybody, everybody has a different way of tapping into that. But once you learn what works for you, it's, it's magical where you make the move, where you're careful, where you want to make that strike.

It's, it's amazing actually. And for me it works with meditation. I do that every day. I couldn't do without it once I learn that secret.

But it's magical and I think we should do that. We should use our strengths.

I think like if we are going to, you know, find one of those superpowers actually is creativity. So even that haunts your mind. I think the most important thing it's giving you is that you can, well, think outside the box.

So when people are thinking, they usually find they're, they're finding a linear path in their thinking and in their structure so they won't go, you know, try to look like a third person or look from outside the structure. But when you are, you know, trying to simultaneously notice everything in the environment that would make you creative.

And I think especially for adults that have adhd, the best thing that they can do for themselves is that try to find something that they can utilize this creativity into life. Whether it's starting a job, a career, I don't know, academic field or something else.

Because if they find that and they can do it every day, that becomes a routine for them. It really gives them an advantage, a competitive advantage.

And in the long term they will see that they're getting ahead of a lot of people and you know, they can find great meaning for their life.

They can find success especially because, well, we see that with a lot of adults then it's, it's difficult for them to overcome all these feelings of shame and you know, self defeating patterns that they experienced throughout their lives. So if you find that, then I think you're set up for, I hope good life.

And even Karstenil for me in my job is this sort of thinking actually helps me a lot because during the session my mind is always, you know, trying to make all these patterns from the client's stories and trying to make sense out of them.

I'm just immediately to the moment I, you know, reject all the hypotheses and try to, you know, explore some of the other hypotheses that I feel that are right. So it kind of helps in psychotherapy as well.

And I hope that everyone can find that nature or their own personal story because if they do, I think then ADHD is, you know, ADHD is not something that going to stop you that much. If you can utilize it, then you end up very fine, I guess.

So well said and so true across the board. Thank you for sharing that and sharing a lot of your wisdom. How can people listening find you, contact you, look you up for services?

Well, first of all, thank you both for having me here.

It was a delightful conversation and well, I'm on LinkedIn with my own name and recently I actually tried to make my Twitter account active so they can find me with therapy for real. And I actually have an Instagram account as well, but those are, you know, mainly the Persian content.

So for English speaking, I think the best ones are LinkedIn and Twitter.

Great. I'll, I'll be sure to include everything that I can in the show notes so everybody can seek you out. Once again, thank you for coming on.

This has been a been a great conversation and just wish you all the luck going forward, you know, with PhD and everything else. And thank you for everything that you do.

Thank you so much. I'm glad we met on LinkedIn. There's so much benefit from social media. It's the way you use it. Right.

And I'm glad we met and thank you for joining us on the show and good luck for your future.

Thank you. And just let me add this final thing.

I think I want to encourage all ad shares to use more of social medias because I think they're always afraid of getting hooked up and getting addicted. But I think that provides fascinating opportunities. I just hope people can get help any sort of way that they can.

Definitely there's something to creating a adhd, you know, brain hive essentially using social media. And I think we've gone actually pretty far with ADHD research thanks to social media.

So there are positive aspects to it, folks, you just gotta learn to use it. But for all of us here at Spark launch, we'll see you next time.