A psychologist told me to do a body scan. I was lying on hard yellow grass in 38-degree heat with three kids screaming inside and ants on my arms, trying to feel my body. I felt nothing. Or I felt everything and couldn't name any of it.

She concluded the problem was me.

It wasn't.

What We Cover

Why 'just breathe' and body scans keep failing ADHD mums — and why that failure isn't yours
The difference between early and late emotional intervention, and why the tools you've been given are timed wrong for your brain
What alexithymia and interoceptive gaps actually mean when you're trying to regulate — and why you can't feel the water warming until the lid's already blown
Why some of us start every single day with near-boiling water, and what that does to a nervous system that's been running like that for years
The scheduled check-in — not a mindfulness practice, just a moment to know where you are before the day makes that impossible
What to say to your partner when they ask if you're okay and you genuinely don't know
The James Gross emotional regulation model — 40 years of research — and what it says about the moment you're being told to intervene
What's coming next episode: delayed mum rage, the lid that blows after the stove's already off, and why 11pm panic isn't coming from nowhere

Free Resources

Energy Accounting Guide — mentioned in the episode. Helps you see your actual baseline and where the energy is going before you hit empty.

👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-mums-energy-accounting-guide/

ADHD Physical Health & Emotional Wellbeing Kit (Free)

👉 https://adhdmums.com.au/product/adhd-physical-health-emotional-wellbeing-kit/

Related Episodes

References

Edel, M.-A., Rudel, A., Hubert, C., Scheele, D., Brüne, M., Juckel, G., & Assion, H.-J. (2010). Alexithymia, emotion processing and social anxiety in adults with ADHD. European Journal of Medical Research, 15(9), 403–409. https://doi.org/10.1186/2047-783X-15-9-403

Fischer, D., Messner, M., & Pollatos, O. (2017). Improvement of interoceptive processes after an 8-week body scan intervention. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 452. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00452

Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781

Quadt, L., Garfinkel, S. N., Mulcahy, J. S., Larsson, D. E. O., Silva, M., Jones, A.-M., Strauss, C., & Critchley, H. D. (2021). Interoceptive training to target anxiety in autistic adults (ADIE): A single-center, superiority randomized controlled trial. EClinicalMedicine, 39, 101042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101042

Shaw, P., Stringaris, A., Nigg, J., & Leibenluft, E. (2014). Emotion dysregulation in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171(3), 276–293. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13070966

Webb, T. L., Miles, E., & Sheeran, P. (2012). Dealing with feeling: A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of strategies derived from the process model of emotion regulation. Psychological Bulletin, 138(4), 775–808. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027600

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