S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition on today's show. We're talking about your health and wellness. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. It is only three numbers. We'll talk about the suicide prevention hotline saving lives , then the global impact of cuts to Aids relief programs , plus what it's like getting an ADHD diagnosis later in life. That's ahead on midday edition. So the National 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline was launched in 2022 to make crisis care more accessible. You may have even heard it mentioned on our show several times when we're talking about mental health. It's simple , easy to remember , and seems to be working. A new study found declines in suicide deaths since 988 began , and it found a double digit decline in suicides in young adults , particularly here. To talk more about it is Doctor Erin. March-May. She's a lead clinical psychologist of the child and adolescent program at Sharp mesa Vista Hospital. Doctor Malcolm , welcome to Midday Edition.
S2: Thank you so much for having me.
S1: So glad to have you here.
S2: We're really seeing this trend of suicide and mental health concerns overall in the United States. Growing over the past several years. And that's certainly why a lifeline and crisis access resources are so important. When they were looking at the numbers , they were able to project what they believed would be the rates of suicide among individuals in the United States. And what they found here is actually , since the beginning of the crisis line for 908 , they've seen an 11% reduction in what would have been the projected suicide rate , specifically for individuals between the ages of 15 and 34. So that young adult to adolescent range is really utilizing this 98 crisis number. And we're seeing a lot of really positive benefits and results from that.
S1: Do we know how much , um , how much of that drop is from the 988 crisis line specifically , or are there other factors at play here.
S2: So certainly there can be other factors at play. We do know that in addition to changing to the 98 line , which is easy to remember , easy to use , easy access , there have also been lots of other initiatives and efforts across the United States to really put in place different crisis resources , access to care , opportunities for individuals to receive services. And so there has been more funding and more financial efforts put towards that as well , which I think can help kind of explain some of the other components here that are really helping others receive care. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. As you mentioned , you know , the nine , the National 988 line actually started in July of 22 or took hold. Then what changed exactly for people looking for support and mental health care ? Yeah.
S2: So the biggest change we're seeing then is that very standardized easy to use number. The switch to 988. Prior to that , they did have a one 800 number that was being utilized across the United States since about 2005. And really what the FCC realized when they were doing an assessment of the utilization of this service was that the best option is really to have a clear , direct understanding of how individuals can receive mental health support in a crisis , and having it a number that is really easy to remember , easy to use , and , you know , very similar to what we would consider 911 , except for crisis services , for mental health.
S1: So a person dials 988.
S2: And that individual really wants to get to know them , understand what they're struggling with and what's going on for them in that moment. The real goal there is to help them utilize coping skills , manage the crisis to really safety plan and lean on their support network so that they can get through that crisis successfully in those moments.
S1: And 988 is is not just for phone calls. It's also for text to write. Correct.
S2: Correct. So it is for text as well as there is a chat option. And so since 98 actually started , they've seen about 13 million contacts that include both call text and chat. Hmm.
S1: Hmm.
S2: They are much more likely to text or chat friends , peers , anyone that they're interacting with in general. And so it would make sense that for accessing a crisis line , they might do the same.
S1:
S2: Adolescent and young adult mental health is so important. And we know that really over the past few decades , and certainly since the pandemic , we've really been seeing increased rates of individuals struggling with depression , anxiety , suicidal thoughts , substance use , and any opportunity to really receive in the moment , access to crisis counseling and care can save lives.
S1:
S2: Often when our kids are struggling , they're not asking you for your advice and your feedback. They're really wanting you to just hear. Listen to them validate their struggle , and then together , you two might be able to come together to create a plan to help support them. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And that kind of reminds me of of the importance of sort of connecting with treatment services should someone need that. So when someone dials nine , eight , eight , are they connected or helped in that way to , to to further their treatment ? Yeah.
S2: So certainly that is an option. What we're seeing with 908 is approximately only 2% of the calls that come into 98 really require emergency services and emergency care. And in those situations , individuals are connected to immediate crisis services such as 911 or local emergency response teams for individuals to come help support that person. But by and large , really we're seeing addressing crisis and management in that moment and then identifying what professional you might be able to reach out to. Different other chats , websites , different community practices that might be able to continue to help you in addressing your mental health.
S1:
S2: But certainly we are seeing a lot of individuals who are struggling with connection , struggling to have that real human peer to peer connection that certainly many people lost during the pandemic. It's been harder for teens to go back to school. It's been harder for teens who have spent a lot of time behind screens or connecting with others via social media. And what makes really challenging is going back to those in person. Situations can be anxiety provoking and difficult , but really , we know that connection is one of the most important things , and certainly that is a big part of what might be lacking here with some of the children and adolescents right now.
S1: So do you have any suggestions for for teens or parents to help build that connection that so many are longing for ? Yeah.
S2: So I think one of the most important things is to encourage your kid to do activities that are in person and that they have the opportunity to kind of organically have conversations , meet other people , and that might require them to do things a little bit outside their comfort zone. And that's okay when they are able to have different supports in place to help them get there.
S1: And now people are on their phones , but on social media , I mean , tell talk a bit about how that change in , in the way we communicate impacts connection for teens these days. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So , you know , there's many different ways to interact with social media. And I think what's really important is that recognition that it is here to stay. And how do we utilize it in a way that is healthy , safe , allows ourselves to be able to connect with others , but also recognize that that's not really the end all , be all , and thinking about how we can really connect with others outside of a screen as well. Really thinking about in certain circumstances with social media how someone can be , you know , comparing themselves to others , not actually seeing the real situation as it is and and being able to really get into real life and allow individuals to connect in that way instead. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Are you seeing signs ? I mean , obviously you are that that things are improving for this demographic. Absolutely.
S2: Absolutely. I think something that is really important and special about this generation is that there is so much more conversation around mental health resources support , less stigma , and really just a greater opportunity to open the conversation about why people might be struggling , and also that there really isn't any shame in receiving services support in order to address those things , you know.
S1:
S2: We are a leading mental health provider here in San Diego County , and we do have a intake center and intake line where individuals could come 24 hours a day , seven days a week , if they are needing support. There are also crisis and access lines directly in our community. If you are really struggling with a crisis and feel like you might need immediate support , you can reach out through our police department to get the Psychological Emergency Response Team or the Mobile Crisis Team to help come and support you as well. There are just a whole lot of opportunities in the community here , and if you're ever wondering what might be available , you can also go on to 211 and see what resources for mental health might be available to you.
S1: And there's also an LGBTQ plus specific hotline. Right. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So the Trevor Project is a great place to access for children , youth , adolescents who are struggling with their mental health. And you can call that hotline. And as well as you can text start to 678678. And there is also a trans lifeline as well for youth in our community.
S1: And that's that's really important to to underscore because that was a component with the National hotline. Correct ? Yes.
S2:
S3: It was.
S1: Now it's it's not correct.
S2: So right now when you're calling nine , eight eight , you can press one for veterans military families , press two for Spanish language. And there used to be an option to press three for LGBTQ identifying individuals at this time that has been removed , though anyone with LGBTQ identities is welcome to call the hotline and speak directly to an individual who does have training in helping support individuals who are struggling that might be part of that community.
S1: All right. Well , we'll include links to those resources on our website , kpbs.org. I've been speaking with Doctor Aaron Matchmaker. She is lead clinical psychologist of the child and adolescent program at Sharp mesa Vista Hospital. Doctor McNamee , thank you so much.
S2: Thank you for having me.
S1: Of course , if you or someone you know needs help , contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting the number 988. Coming up , the latest on HIV Aids research and the impact of cuts to relief programs. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. For two decades , the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids relief , also known as PEPFAR , has provided life saving HIV treatments and prevention tools across the world. But advocates for the program say it's now , quote , dying a death of a thousand cuts. Its chief science officer , Mike Reed , resigned earlier this month. Now , PEPFAR , which is currently being implemented by the CDC , appears to be running out of funds. So what does this all mean for the global effort to fight HIV and Aids ? And what does it say about public health as a whole ? Well , Jon Cohen is a senior correspondent with Science magazine. He's been covering the global HIV and Aids crisis for decades. He's also written several books , including his most recent , Planning Miracles How to Prevent Future Pandemics. John joins me now with the latest on his reporting and what he sees for the future of this crisis. Welcome to midday.
S4: Thanks for having me , Jade.
S1: Glad to have you here. Can you first talk about what PEPFAR is and how exactly it works ? Sure.
S4: President George Bush started it in 2003. At that point in time. Only people in wealthy countries who were living with HIV could afford the medication. It was about $15,000 a person a year. And there was a recognition that we had the ability to help the world. And so George Bush created the PEPFAR program to basically Test and deliver the medication to resource limited countries , and it grew over time and had lots of bipartisan support. And it , as of today , has saved more than 20 million lives and people around the world. And I've worked in more than 50 countries on the ground. Love us for it. When I when I show up , people are like , oh , you're an American. Thank you. You know.
S1:
S4: And basically you need combinations of the drugs. The price has plummeted , in part because of PEPFAR and another effort called the Global Fund. And the two of those efforts have driven the price down to about $100 a year per person. Many countries that , in the beginning needed us to buy the drugs , buy the drugs themselves now. But PEPFAR does far more than deliver drugs. It sets up a whole system to bring people into testing to find out if they are living with the virus , if they are living with the virus , to help them get to clinics , monitors their blood to make sure they're taking the medication , and then structures the program in a country around the data. It's very data driven that comes in. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Okay , so bring us up to speed on some of the big changes PEPFAR has seen , starting with the end of the U.S. agency for International Development , or U.S. aid.
S4: It went poof overnight , and that threw countries into disarray. I went to Eswatini and Lesotho , which are next to South Africa , last year , to see what was happening. And I visited everywhere from cities to small villages in place after place. They were short on health care staff. They were short on laboratory staff. They couldn't move blood samples from clinics to laboratories. Everything was falling apart. Those two countries have the highest prevalence of HIV in adults of anywhere in the world. There are small countries like 2 million people , but 20% or so of the adults are living with the virus. Without the medication , those countries would have collapsed. So they're enormously grateful to us for helping their countries to remain functioning countries. And they have had to scramble to figure out what to do in the absence of the funding. As you mentioned , some funding continued through the CDC , and the most recent story I did was about threats to the remaining funding to CDC as the Trump administration pivots to a new form of assistance. And they will argue that PEPFAR remains. But it's fractured. And it was a quilt that had all these pieces nicely stitched together. And now they're trying to recreate the quilt with an entirely different system.
S1: And this quilt , really , as you mentioned before , when it was first offered , there was this high need for it. And because the drugs have gone down in price , some countries are paying for it themselves , not the U.S. so it's not that the need has grown greater for this program , right ? No.
S4: And countries steadily have taken over things that Peifer started. And the idea prior to this last election was that within five years or so , PPF would phase itself out , but it abruptly has been upended , and countries are scrambling to make deals with the US government. and these deals are called a memorandum of understanding. Their country to country. So it's a US government to Eswatini. And they'll say , let's cut a deal. Here's how much money will give us. You will give you show us your plan for country ownership. We want you to run this yourself. And on the one hand , it makes plenty of sense that we're shifting to country ownership. Countries should put their money into the health of their own people. The reality is that many countries in the world cannot. They have huge debt. They have enormous issues of poverty that we do not face here. They have enormous corruption that the person who's living with HIV didn't steal money , but someone did. And so it's a balancing act. And right now things are not in balance.
S1: And I guess in all that , what I take away is that the program itself is not a huge burden on America.
S4: No , I mean given. I guess it depends on how you view our wealth. And you know how much money we spend on things. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. I mean , I want to talk about this because you write that , you know , this is really a reflection of the Trump administration's America First global health strategy. It is. What does that strategy really entail ? Exactly.
S4: So it's been a little opaque because the memorandum of understanding haven't been made public readily. And the ones that have are missing information. But we know from Zambia and Zimbabwe that have both been negotiating deals that the US government has been making transactional decisions like , hey , we'll give you health money if you give us access to your minerals , which , you know , these countries are understandably saying , what are you talking about ? So there has been a lot of tension over this in some places. Other countries have cut deals and are very happy with it. It seems. I don't know yet. I'm still I'm going to be going into the field soon to visit several countries to see how it's working. But PEPFAR had problems. But this is taking a hammer to fix a clock that is a few minutes off every day. It's not how you correct things. I think that's the philosophy , the thinking of people who've been at the forefront of trying to address this. Yes we could. We needed to reform things , but it wasn't that off kilter. And watch what you're doing to it ultimately is causing harm. And I could see it last year in Eswatini and Lesotho , simply by the fact that I went into a clinic with pregnant women where no one was being tested for HIV. The easiest thing to do is to stop the transmission of HIV from a pregnant woman who's living with the virus , to her baby in her belly. You give that woman good drugs. She does not transmit. But if you don't test her , you don't know. And what's a test cost ? They didn't have the money to have people run the tests. So I could see that. Wow. Down the road , problems are going to occur. Because of the way this shift was instituted. It didn't have to happen with this sort of clumsiness.
S1: That's heartbreaking to hear , you.
S4: Know , heartbreaking to. See.
S1: See. Yeah. Yeah. Well , like we mentioned , Chief Science Officer Mike Reed stepped down from PEPFAR a little over a week ago and posted on his Substack criticizing President Trump's global health policies.
S4: And it's a lot of people are dismayed to see something that they built , not be reconfigured in a way that is most constructive , to help countries select the best parts of it , that they can fund themselves. Get rid of the parts they can't and do it in a very logical structure. So I think dismay and and shock and in many cases anger , as happened with my greed saying this just is authority. Authoritarianism is the word he used. So the people who have devoted their lives to helping stop the HIV Aids epidemic basically agree on how to do it. We have the tools at this point. When I started doing this , I started covering HIV as my beat in 1989 1990. The tools weren't there. We knew how to test , but we didn't have good drugs. I would walk into rooms , warehouses with 200 people dying from Aids in different countries , not in the United States , because we didn't have the burden of the disease that other countries do. But I saw things that look like those pictures of influenza in World War One with warehouses filled with dying soldiers. It was the most heart wrenching thing I had ever witnessed , and I hope to ever witness. It all went away. We turned the corner with this enormous scientific advance of good , safe drugs. Cheap , good , safe drugs. At this point , and not only do they allow people to live , when you take the drugs , you no longer transmit to anyone else because you knock the virus back so low in your own body that your risk of transmission plummets. So we have the tools at this point in time to bring this epidemic to an end. And PEPFAR countries like Lesotho and Eswatini , Those two countries were treating 95% of their people who were living with HIV. They had identified 95% of those people , and 95% of those people had the virus knocked back so low that they were not going to transmit. My concern and everyone's concern is that that's falling apart. We're slipping back. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. What developments ? Uh , because I want to talk about some of the advancements here. But what developments have there been when it comes to HIV drug treatment ? There was a big breakthrough with Lena Kaposvar. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. And I'm glad you asked about that.
S1:
S4: It's not all that important for people living with the virus , but for people who are not infected with HIV , you can take a drug , you can take pills. Right now , every day that work remarkably well at protecting you from infection. But that's a daily pill. Leonard , caviar is a shot. An injection once every six months. So it's not a vaccine. It's a drug , but it's approaching a vaccine in the amount of protection it offers. And the pills have had. It's called pre-exposure prophylaxis or Prep. Prep has made great strides , but many people have trouble taking pills daily , or they don't want their partner to know that they're taking pills , or they live at home with their parents and they don't want them to know. But you get an injection , it's more discreet and once every six months. So the promise of Lina Kapoor as Prep is enormous and it's science magazine. We named it our breakthrough of the year in 2024 , in the whole world of science. Hmm.
S1: Hmm.
S4: And the US isn't the only country that has cut back support. It's been several wealthy countries , and it's forcing countries and lower and middle income countries to take more responsibility for their own health , which is good. That's the right way for the world to work , I believe. Um , but there has been dependency built over years , and there has been expertise built over years , and there has been trust built over years that has threatened to , um , be harmed without a more aggressive attempt to do this in a coordinated , thoughtful way. So the challenge is to come up with a new global health architecture that works and works better than what we were even doing in the past. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. So with that do you quickly in the last 30s see this as , as more of an opportunity or.
S4: I think we do have an opportunity right now whether we will take advantage of it. That's the , that's the billion dollar multibillion dollar question. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I've been speaking with senior science correspondent Jon Cohen , and we'll link to the stories mentioned on KPBS. John , this was a very informative conversation. Thank you for your reporting and thanks for for joining us today.
S4: Oh my pleasure.
S5: Thank you.
S1: Coming up next , the host of the podcast , Grandma Has ADHD , joins us to talk about awareness and what it means to get an ADHD diagnosis later in life. We're back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition I'm Jade Hindman. ADHD or attention ? Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affects around 1 in 9 US children. Many adults live with ADHD , too , but they might not know it. For older adults , it's often underdiagnosed because symptoms are mistaken for other conditions like dementia. Well , joining me to talk about it is Jamie Shapiro. She's a San Diego based ADHD coach and host of the podcast Grandma Has ADHD. Her book is called this explains so Much understanding undiagnosed ADHD. A lot to talk about here. So Jamie , welcome to Midday Edition.
S6: Thank you for having me.
S1: Thanks for being here. Okay , so the title of your podcast is Grandma Has ADHD , but you're not the grandma here. It's actually your mom. And I know there's there's a story there behind that. Tell me about. It.
S6: It. Oh , there's definitely a story , as there usually is with ADHD. So , um , my oldest child came to me in middle school and said , mom , I want to be evaluated for ADHD. And I said , my child's non-binary. So they then I said , you don't have ADHD. You've been reading since you were three , because I couldn't sit still to learn to read until second grade. And so as the what happens with ADHD is that usually there is another person goes in for the evaluation because we don't always recognize our patterns , and it isn't just how we are in one area , it's how we are in in our schooling and at home in relationships. So the psychiatrist is asking Will a series of questions. And I looked at him and I said , I'm answering more yeses for me. Do I have ADHD ? I was 45 years old and he said , so we both walked out with a diagnosis and I put it on the shelf. So I had started my business , Silver Linings Transitions , which is here in San Diego as a senior move management and home organizing company. I'm going through a divorce. I'm like , okay , I've graduated college with high honors. I've got three children , I've started a business , I have ADHD , so what ? And I put it on the shelf. That was it. About ten years later , maybe a little less. Um. I was studying to become an ADHD organizing specialist because we provide organizing services in our slow times. And I happen to hear a podcast where they were discussing , um , fibromyalgia and migraine headaches being very common among women with ADHD. And I do a presentation called do you own your stuff or does your stuff own you ? And I would describe my mom as a hoarder. I would say my mom has hoarding disorder. She has piles of stuff everywhere. And I recognize that same thing in a lot of the clients. So I called my mom and I said , hey , mom , I don't think you have hoarding disorder. I think you have ADHD. Listen to this podcast. And then really , truly , the name grandma has ADHD. It was divinely inspired. It just came to me. Wow.
S1: Wow. So , you know , let me ask you this. Like getting a diagnosis later in life.
S6: And there's also. Oh , you know , this this explains so much which ended up being the title of my book because it really it just makes sense. Like , I was not lazy. I was not unmotivated. I wasn't too much , you know. Yeah.
S1: Yeah , it's it's , um , grief and relief. Absolutely.
S6: Absolutely. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. How would you describe what it's like then to live with ADHD for someone who may not know ? Sure.
S6: And I will say about 80% of people who have ADHD don't realize they have it. And there's this misconception that it's only the hyperactive little boy , which is why I didn't believe that my my child had it because they could sit still and read for hours. And and so when you find out that it can be the type A driven person , you know the person that does not stop achieving the perfectionist , it doesn't always look like the person who has too much clutter , who talks too much. It can be someone who struggles with social isolation because of social anxiety. Um. Impulsive spending ? For me , the short term memory is a real problem , so I'll get directions and I can never retain those directions. I used to , you know , always think , oh , I'm going to remember this time. I'm going to remember. And now I know. No , I really do have a challenge with short term memory. And for my mom , who is , you know , 79 years old , when she forgets a word or , you know , she forgets something now , she doesn't automatically think , oh , I've got early , you know , dementia or whatever. She , she just jokes and says , oh , ADHD. And I do want to point out and I say this pretty frequently , that if you meet one person with ADHD , you've met one person because we all present differently. And we , you know , we have different strengths and different weaknesses. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So I mean , and it's undiagnosed , uh , specifically in like older adults because again , as you kind of alluded to there , it's mistaken for other conditions , like , you know , dementia. Um , you work closely with older adults.
S6: I'll say one of the biggest areas that I see the challenge is in the clutter. I go into someone's home and they have their little embarrassed. Maybe they're not having friends over , and when I recognize that it might be ADHD , then I'm able to have a conversation with them. And there's this , this relief of , of this , of this knowing. And why did we get here ? So a lot of times , you know , we're very out of sight , out of mind. So if we don't see something , we don't remember that we have it. When you have ADHD , you get we're really good at the start. So we'll start a project , we'll start a craft project , we'll start a new exercise routine and then or a book and then we lose interest. And it just it's just saved , you know ? For later. We have a strong sense of social justice , so we don't want to discard something and put it into the landfills. We , you know , we want to feel that it's going to be used. And then you also have this , you know , this belief that I'm going to use it one day. I'm going to get around to doing that. I'm going to get around to fixing it. And that doesn't happen.
S1: If only you remember to get around to it.
S6: Did you have.
S1: It ? Yeah.
S6: I think that's the reason that so many people don't realize that ADHD does exist in women , typically. And I will say that typically gender type it said inattentive ADHD , ADHD for a woman. So when we use the term hyperactivity , a lot of people associate A.D.D. attention deficit disorder. But now the DSM five groups them all as ADHD , which is inattentive presentation and and hyperactive presentation. So a girl will sit in her chair. She'll internalize what's going on. She'll be more likely to have anxiety. She'll be the one that's rewriting her notes. Doodling in school. Daydreaming. Overly sensitive. Where the boy might be , you know , running around in circles. Having to go to the principal's office , moving his desk next to the teacher's. And it's really challenging for women , especially because we tend to take on the executive functioning of a family. And so and this was the case for me. You know , I had three children and I had permission slips to sign and teacher parent teacher conferences and the chores and the homework , because that was my job. And , and , and ADHD is really a struggle with executive functioning. So as the executive functioning of the household , I felt embarrassed that I couldn't seem to get it together the way , you know , my friends maybe could have. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Um , does medication help ? Absolutely.
S6: Medication can help. And the reason that coaching is so important with older adults is that a lot of times they aren't candidates for medication because they have other health conditions. But I also want to say that there are doctors out there who are saying older adults can't be treated with medication , and that's not correct either. One of the things that we're really working on is educating medical professionals. I actually had a doctor , Michael Lenz , on my podcast , who said that if you find a doctor who is informed about ADHD in older adults , it means he's self-taught because we haven't been looking at ADHD in women , you know ? And if they weren't hyperactive and they weren't a behavior problem in school , then it didn't get addressed. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. Like I also want to talk about your book. This explains so much because it includes practical strategies for living with ADHD. Can you give us some examples ? Sure.
S6: So the title of the book , it says for undiagnosed ADHD , because again , a lot of people are coming to this conversation and they may not be getting a diagnosis , but they can still benefit from the tools. But the subtitle is for people who have too much , feel too much , or have been told they are too much , and I definitely had that. Can you tone it down ? Can you be Jamie lite ? One of the things about my book is I take on the strategy of downsizing and decluttering once you understand the impact of ADHD. And so I for years tried couldn't figure out why I couldn't get organized , why I couldn't stay organized. And when you when you look at that with an ADHD lens like we talked about , out of sight , out of mind , I'm going to get to this one day. Strong sense of social justice , decision paralysis. We struggle with making decisions. So then you have this big project. And so that's one of the things that makes the book unique is that I'm taking on that topic of , I like to say , right sizing because that's what we're doing now instead of downsizing.
S1: But yeah , how have the , you know , internet and social media , how has that changed conversations around ADHD for for better or worse.
S6: Well , for better , because there is awareness about it now when people are , you know , suddenly realizing that it isn't just the hyperactive little boy and , you know , we're finally talking about it. And and then also when you get to hear other people's experiences , then you're like , oh , this isn't just me , you know ? So I think that's helped. And of course , there are a lot of people out there that are diagnosing ADHD who have no business diagnosing ADHD , too. I mean , you know.
S1: Right ? Right.
S6: We had a strained relationship , which is very common also in families with ADHD. I didn't ever think we could have a close relationship. And I realized when I started ADHD coaching and then writing the book that I was shaming my mother the way a teacher might shame a child or a parent might shame a child. And I realized that , you know , she had lived her whole life with undiagnosed ADHD , and I understood the emotional dysregulation , and I understood why she couldn't finish college and why she was always changing jobs. And we've repaired our relationship. And , you know , and I think for both of us , that discovery has been worth everything.
S1: That's great to hear.
S6: And again , if you go looking for a medical professional , make sure that they understand ADHD and older adults because a lot of them aren't aware. There's organizations like Chadd , which is children and adults with AD it's , you know , old old acronym. But Chad. Um and then find your people. One of the things I'm excited about is we're starting something called the Sparkler Society , because it's like , now you've discovered you have it , now you have to find your tribe and figure out how to get your blink together , together. And it's like going through with this new lens. So finding people , getting an understanding of it and and also stopping that voice in your head of you're not broken. There's nothing wrong with you. You have a different brain wiring. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. And lastly , I mean , how can you support someone in your life who has ADHD. That's really important to. Absolutely.
S6: Absolutely. I think again back to the knowledge when you understand it , education is so powerful and and I like to say in my podcast , you know , it's never too late to make the rest of your life the best of your life. So , you know , start fresh. And now I understand , you know , if I do laundry , I got to set the timer because I'm going to leave it in there and I'm going to pay the ADHD tax when it smells because I forgot to take it out. Mhm.
S1: Mhm.
S6: I would have thought it was just the disorganization. But it's , you know , emotional regulation. It's um , you know , the short term memory. It's decision paralysis. That's one of the biggest. I had no idea that I always struggled with decisions , and now I have an understanding of why that is. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , this has been so eye opening. I've been speaking with Jamie Shapiro. She's a San Diego based ADHD coach and host of the podcast Grandma Has ADHD. Her book is called. This explains so Much Understanding undiagnosed ADHD. And we'll have more details and resources on our website , KPBS. Jamie , thank you so much.
S6: Thank you.
S1: That's our show for today.
S7: I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
