Podcast Summary: Translating ADHD

Episode Title: ADHD and Moderation: Finding Balance in Impulsive Behaviors
Hosts: Asher Collins and Dusty Chipura
Date: May 19, 2025

Main Theme

This episode examines the complex relationship between ADHD and moderation, exploring why managing impulsive behaviors—whether it’s drinking, smoking, eating, or even internet usage—is uniquely challenging for adults with ADHD. Ash and Dusty, both ADHD coaches, reflect on their own experiences and share practical strategies to help listeners pursue moderation and make sustainable lifestyle changes, rather than falling into the typical ADHD trap of all-or-nothing thinking.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Why Moderation is Hard for Adults with ADHD

• Moderation as a "Dirty Word":
  • ADHD brains struggle to recognize and sustain moderation due to difficulties in linking present actions with future consequences and quickly falling into black-or-white thinking.
  • “I feel like it's a dirty word when you have ADHD.” – Ash [00:30]
• Impulsivity and Emotional Dysregulation:
  • Impulsive behaviors often serve to meet immediate needs—like stimulation or calming a noisy mind—making moderation extra difficult.
  • Emotional overwhelm lowers executive functioning, making it nearly impossible to remember or act on long-term goals when in the moment.
  • “When I'm emotionally dysregulated, I can't connect back to those goals… I have to make choices based on anything that's going to help me with my distress tolerance in the moment.” – Ash [03:45]

2. The Trap of All-or-Nothing Thinking

• ADHDers often “yo-yo” between extremes, switching from total abstinence to overindulgence, rarely spending time in the middle ground of moderation.
• Recognizing when and why this happens allows for more effective behavior change strategies.
• Ash and Dusty stress the importance of moving beyond a perfectionist or “cold turkey” mindset.

3. Personal Experiences with Substances and Behavior

• Alcohol:

  • Asher reflects on cultural norms, changing health guidelines, and the specific challenges around drinking environments for the ADHD brain.
  • Dusty explains that trying to drink in moderation is made harder due to loss of self-control and self-monitoring with each drink. Setting intentions isn’t enough; the environment plays a large role.
  • “It's all well and good for me to say, oh, I'm gonna have three drinks tonight. By that third drink… is that person who's had that third drink capable of stopping themselves?” – Ash [08:54]

• Nicotine:

  • Emotional triggers such as dysregulation can quickly lead someone back to addictive behaviors, even after years of abstinence.
  • “Every time I have completely quit nicotine, the time that I have bought a pack of cigarettes is when I was dysregulated enough that I just needed something.” – Dusty [04:48]

• Internet/Social Media:

  • Moderation strategies can include timing, triggers, and low-tech interventions (like signing out of apps).
  • Seeking a “pause moment” is crucial but challenging; even partial success counts as valuable progress.
  • “If it's even working one in four times, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Maybe we need three more tools…” – Ash [17:45]

• Marijuana:

  • Can be beneficial for some but needs to be used with awareness; effectiveness depends on task activation.
  • “Getting that part [activation] out of the way... The marijuana comes in the middle and can be a little treat, a little carrot.” – Dusty [22:55]

4. Building Sustainable Change: Incremental Progress

• Moderation is not about perfection but the aggregation of small interventions tailored to one’s triggers and routines.
• Allowing backsliding or “failures” without self-recrimination is vital.
• “If we start to slip back... I'm much more able to notice the effects of those things.” – Dusty [27:37]
• Rather than aiming for rapid transformation, focus on lifestyle shift over months or years.
  • “Instead of trying to have a major lifestyle overhaul by this time next month, let's think about this time next year or like this time five years from now.” – Ash [25:18]

5. Practical Tools and Strategies

• Assemble an arsenal of interventions—apps that delay access (e.g., ‘One Sec’), setting clear boundaries for high-risk situations, or creating friction like signing out of apps.
• Evaluate when behaviors are most harmful versus less problematic, and target the most impactful situations first.
• Celebrate partial achievement and adapt tools as necessary.

Notable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Quote & Attribution | |---|---| | 00:30 | “I feel like it's a dirty word when you have ADHD.” – Ash | | 03:45 | “When I'm emotionally dysregulated, I can't connect back to those goals…and…choices…anything that's going to help me with my distress tolerance in the moment.” – Ash | | 04:48 | “Every time I have completely quit nicotine, the time that I have bought a pack of cigarettes is when I was dysregulated enough that I just needed something.” – Dusty | | 08:54 | “It's all well and good for me to say, oh, I'm gonna have three drinks tonight. By that third drink… is that person who's had that third drink capable of stopping themselves?” – Ash | | 17:45 | “If it's even working one in four times, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Maybe we need three more tools…” – Ash | | 22:55 | “Getting that part [activation] out of the way... The marijuana comes in the middle and can be a little treat, a little carrot.” – Dusty | | 25:18 | “Instead of trying to have a major lifestyle overhaul by this time next month, let's think about this time next year or like this time five years from now.” – Ash | | 27:37 | “If we start to slip back... I'm much more able to notice the effects of those things.” – Dusty |

Key Segment Timestamps

• 00:22 – Introducing the episode topic: moderation and ADHD
• 02:21 – The problem of impulsivity, black-and-white thinking, and emotional overwhelm
• 04:45 – Linking emotional state to lapsing addictive behaviors (smoking, drinking)
• 08:51 – Why setting intentions is not enough—losing self-control in the moment
• 10:51 – Awareness as the first step to change
• 15:37 – Using positive motivation and awareness to support behavior change
• 17:45 – Building an effective toolkit of small interventions for moderation
• 20:25 – Low-tech solutions: creating “pause moments” to disrupt impulsivity
• 22:55 – Matching interventions to context, using “treats,” and celebrating partial progress
• 24:18 – Long-term vs. short-term behavioral change; lifestyle shift over time
• 27:27 – Emphasizing incremental, sustainable progress and resilience to setbacks

Tone and Style

Ash and Dusty maintain a warm, candid, and deeply relatable tone throughout, combining personal anecdotes with insights from their work as ADHD coaches. The conversation is casual yet practical, offering encouragement without shaming, and consistently pushing for self-compassion and a realistic, individualized approach to change.

Conclusion

The hosts champion the value of moderation as a realistic and sustainable alternative to the all-or-nothing tendencies common among adults with ADHD. Listeners are encouraged to experiment with small interventions, accept imperfect progress, and reframe “failures” as learning opportunities. Next week’s episode will extend these ideas to building positive habits, highlighting that the journey toward change—especially with ADHD—is slow but worthwhile.