Understanding the ADHD and Anxiety Overlap with Dr. Mona Potter
Release Date: 02/02/2026
Research Recap with Skye: Maternal Inflammation
Hacking Your ADHD
Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today, I'm joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series. In this series, we look at a single research paper, dive into what it says and how it was conducted, and try to find practical takeaways. In this episode, we're going to be discussing a paper called "Evaluation of Maternal Inflammation as a Marker of Future Offspring ADHD Symptoms: A Prospective Investigation." This study investigates the biological...
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Research Recap with Skye: The Atomoxetine Trial
Hacking Your ADHD
Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today, I'm joined by Skye Waterson for our research recap series. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper and dive into what the paper says, how it was conducted, and try to find any practical takeaways. In this episode, we're going to be discussing a paper called "Atomoxetine treatment strengthens an anti-correlation relationship between functional brain networks in medication-naive adults with...
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Trojan Horses
Hacking Your ADHD
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Understanding the ADHD and Anxiety Overlap with Dr. Mona Potter
Hacking Your ADHD
Distinguishing between ADHD and anxiety can feel a bit like trying to figure out if you're sneezing because of a cold or because your neighbor just started mowing their lawn - or maybe it's a bit of both, the symptoms look the same, but the solution is very different. This week, I’m talking with Dr. Mona Potter, a Harvard-trained, board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and the Chief Medical Officer and Co-founder of InStride Health. Dr. Potter spent years at McLean Hospital pioneering treatments for anxiety and OCD, and has a unique perspective on how we can manage the specific...
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Research Recap: Discontinued Use of ADHD Meds
Hacking Your ADHD
Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I’m your host, William Curb. Today, I’m joined by Skye Waterson for our research recap series, where we dive into a single research paper to find practical takeaways. In this episode, we’re discussing a paper called "Adherence, Persistence and Medication Discontinuation in Patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Literature Review." This study asks: what’s happening in the real world with medication adherence? Are people taking their meds, and if not, why? I found this paper through a presentation by Bill Dobson at the 2025 ADHD...
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Nervous System Regulation and the Stages of Burnout with Garrett Wood
Hacking Your ADHD
Hey Team! Burnout is one of those terms we throw around a lot in the neurodivergent community, but often we don't realize we're in it until we've hit a wall. Today, I’m talking with Garrett Wood, a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and founder of Gnosis Therapy. Garrett specializes in working with high-achieving professionals—which is often code for high-masking folks—helping them navigate executive well-being and nervous system regulation. In our conversation, we dive into the nuances of burnout, specifically how it differs from just being tired, and we walk through the five stages of...
info_outlineDistinguishing between ADHD and anxiety can feel a bit like trying to figure out if you're sneezing because of a cold or because your neighbor just started mowing their lawn - or maybe it's a bit of both, the symptoms look the same, but the solution is very different. This week, I’m talking with Dr. Mona Potter, a Harvard-trained, board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and the Chief Medical Officer and Co-founder of InStride Health. Dr. Potter spent years at McLean Hospital pioneering treatments for anxiety and OCD, and has a unique perspective on how we can manage the specific brand of exhaustion that comes with being neurodivergent in a world that never stops moving.
Today, we’re exploring the bio psycho social model—which is just a fancy way of saying we’re looking at your sleep, your stress, and your chemistry all at once. We discuss the "optimal zone" of anxiety and how it can actually mask ADHD symptoms until you find a treatment that works, the difference between a "crutch" and a tool, and why parents (and adults) should stop trying to be the "external executive function" for everyone around them. We also take a deep dive into the specific mechanics of OCD and why the structure that saves an ADHDer might actually feed an obsessive loop.
If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/269
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This Episode's Top Tips
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- To tell ADHD and anxiety apart, look at what’s pulling your focus. ADHD distractions are often external (the world "tapping you on the shoulder"), while anxiety distractions are typically internal (a "side commentary" of what could go wrong).
- Remember that medication can turn down the biological "volume" of symptoms, but it doesn't build skills or "brain muscles." Use the quiet provided by medication as a window to practice the executive function habits you need.
- While structure and rituals are helpful for ADHD, they can feed OCD. If you have both, you must learn to sit with the distress of not performing a ritual (Exposure and Response Prevention) rather than making things "seamless".