Climbing the Walls – Details, episodes & analysis

As ADHD content explodes during the Covid pandemic, countless people seek care for the first time, including many Black women. 

But new telehealth rules also open the door for potential misdiagnosis. 

More on this story:

• ADHD symptoms in women
• How to handle a misdiagnosis
• A day in Danielle’s life

For a transcript and more resources, visit the episode page on Understood.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Sari Solden was looking for answers. Why was she having memory issues? Why couldn’t she get her life organized? Where did this feeling of deep shame come from?

Sari’s books have changed the lives of generations of women with ADHD. Her early research uncovered the truth that the disorder looks different in women.

More on this story:

• A history of ADHD medications
• ADHD and shame
• ADHD symptoms in women

For a transcript of this episode and more resources, visit the Climbing the Walls episode page on Understood.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

When Danielle Elliot finds herself among the many women diagnosed with ADHD during the pandemic, she gets curious. Why women? And why now? 

This question takes her to northern Michigan, to meet a friend’s mom.

More on this story:  

• ADHD and rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD)
• Older women and ADHD: How the lost generation got found
• A day in the life with ADHD

For a transcript of this episode and more resources, visit the Climbing the Walls page on Understood.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

From Understood.org, Climbing the Walls is an investigative limited-series podcast that explores why women were historically underdiagnosed with ADHD — and how the recent surge in diagnoses is reshaping our understanding of ADHD.

Join host Danielle Elliot, a health and science journalist, as she digs into the recent rise of ADHD diagnoses among women. She weaves scientific insights with personal stories — including her own. Through candid conversations with mental health experts and women who’ve been through it, Danielle starts getting answers to some of her big questions around the surge in ADHD diagnoses, like: Why women? And why now?

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

ADHD finds itself at the center of mental health discourse, and some see it not as a disorder but as a strength. Danielle investigates the origins of this theory and questions who benefits from the rebranding of ADHD.

More on this story: 

• What does “thriving” with ADHD actually look like?
• The myth of the ADHD “superpower”

For a transcript and more resources, visit the episode page on Understood.org.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Danielle attends an ADHD camp in Michigan and hears stories from several women about being diagnosed with ADHD later in life. Many of them have one thing in common. 

More on this story: 

• I’m sure my mom has ADHD. Should I tell her?
• What is the ADHD tax?
• “Who are we missing?” One doctor’s lifelong fight for women with ADHD

For a transcript and more resources, visit the the show page on Understood.org.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Women with ADHD are frustrated with a medical community that can’t answer their questions about how hormones impact ADHD. Searching for answers, they turn to online communities for information and support.

Danielle talks to experts about the latest research on ADHD in women, and what the future of treatment could look like.

More on this story:

• A guide to hormones and ADHD
• ADHD and periods
• ADHD and menopause

For a transcript and more resources, visit the episode page on Understood.org.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

This week, we’re sharing an episode of ADHD Aha!, a show about that pivotal moment when someone realizes they have ADHD. Danielle recently visited the podcast to share more about her own diagnosis story.

If you’re interested in personal stories that bring clarity and connection to the ADHD experience, you won’t want to miss this one. 

To get a transcript of this show and more resources, visit the episode page at Understood.org. Follow ADHD Aha! wherever you get your podcasts, or click here to listen.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give

Hyperfocus is a great podcast to listen to next. It investigates some of the most pressing issues in the ADHD world. 

To get a transcript of this show and more resources, visit the episode page at Understood.org. Follow Hyperfocus wherever you get your podcasts, or click here to listen.

Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give