Neurodivergent Strategies for Late-Diagnosed Adults: Find Your Divergent Path

Impulsivity isn’t just about skydiving on a whim or blowing your paycheck on shoes. For neurodivergent folks, it often shows up in subtle ways: cutting someone off mid-sentence, firing off a 2am text, or jumping to finish someone’s thought. In this episode of Divergent Paths, Dr. Regina McMenomy and co-host Russ Catanach delve into the neurological implications of impulsivity, examining how dopamine and executive function contribut...

Unmasking as a neurodivergent adult isn’t about oversharing. It’s about finally showing up as your full self. In this solo episode of Neurodivergent Solutions, Dr. Regina McMenomy shares practical, compassionate unmasking strategies designed for late-diagnosed ADHD and autistic adults navigating work, relationships, and everyday life.

Learn how to recognize when you’re masking, stop performing to make other people comfortable and st...

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Struggling to recognize when you’re hungry, tired, anxious—or even where your body is in space? You’re not alone. In this episode of Divergent Paths, Dr. Regina McMenomy and co-host Russ Catanach explore the often-overlooked sensory systems of interoception and proprioception—and why they’re especially important for neurodivergent folks.

We break down:

• What interoception and proprioception actually ...

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Is masking a sign of maturity—or a survival strategy? In this solo episode of Neurodivergent Solutions, Dr. Regina McMenomy challenges the idea that “professionalism” means suppressing who you really are. She explores how masking shows up in the workplace for neurodivergent adults, why it’s often misread as emotional maturity, and how that misperception leads to burnout, disconnection, and self-doubt.

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Why do so many late-diagnosed neurodivergent adults feel like frauds—even when they’re thriving? In this episode of Divergent Paths, Regina McMenomy, Ph.D., unpacks the neuroscience behind imposter syndrome and explains why it hits harder for people with ADHD, autism, and other forms of neurodivergence.

With co-host Russ Catanach, Regina shares personal stories, expert insights, and practical strategies to help you recognize imposte...

Rest isn’t a reward, it’s a requirement. In this solo episode of Neurodivergent Solutions, Dr. Regina McMenomy explores why rest is essential for neurodivergent bodies and brains, and why our cultural beliefs about laziness, productivity, and burnout often fail those of us with ADHD, autism, and other neurodivergences.

Regina shares personal stories and hard-won insights about redefining rest—not as a failure to hustle, but as a rad...

Struggling to manage your time, stay on schedule, or even feel the passing of time? You’re not alone. In this episode of Divergent Paths, host Dr. Regina McMenomy and co-host Russ Catanach unpack the neuroscience behind time blindness, a common experience for people with ADHD and autism.

We explore:

• What time blindness really is (hint: it’s not just poor time management)
• Why ND brains perceive time differently
• Shame-free strategies...

Why do so many neurodivergent adults resist going to bed even when they're exhausted? In this episode of Divergent Paths, Dr. Regina McMenomy and co-host Russ Catanach explore the psychology and neuroscience behind revenge bedtime procrastination, a common but misunderstood behavior where people delay sleep to reclaim autonomy and personal time.

This episode explores why neurodivergent brains often don’t "power down" like those of n...

Is it emotional immaturity or the long-term impact of masking, trauma, and survival mode? In this heartfelt episode of Divergent Paths, Dr. Regina McMenomy explores how neurodivergent individuals often experience delayed or disrupted emotional development, not because they’re broken, but because they’ve been adapting to environments that never fully accepted them. Co-host Russ Catanach asks the big questions as Regina shares lived ...

What exactly is a special interest and why are they so essential to neurodivergent people? In this episode of Divergent Paths, Dr. Regina McMenomy breaks down how special interests go far beyond hobbies. From emotional regulation to identity formation, we explore the deep role these passions play for ADHD and autistic folks. Joined by co-host Russ Catanach, Regina shares personal stories, clinical insights, and cultural observation...

Do you ever feel emotionally overloaded without knowing why? Or find yourself mirroring someone else's mood without realizing it? You’re not alone—and you’re not broken. In this episode of Divergent Paths, Dr. Regina McMenomy and cohost Russ Catanach unpack two powerful but often misunderstood neurodivergent experiences: emotional contagion and alexithymia.

You’ll learn what these terms mean, how they often show up together, and why...

In this episode of Divergent Paths, Dr. Regina McMenemy and co-host Russ Catanach explore the all-too-relatable phenomena of DOOM piles and task saturation—when your physical and mental clutter team up to ambush your productivity and sanity. From unopened mail to emotional overload, this conversation blends humor, insight, and compassion for chaotic brains trying to survive modern life. If you've ever hidden a mess in a box just to...

Burnout isn’t just about being tired—it’s what happens when your nervous system is screaming for a better way to live. In this episode of Divergent Paths, host Dr. Regina McMenomy is joined by Russ Catanach for a deeply honest conversation about neurodivergent burnout. They unpack how masking, misaligned environments, and hyperfocus can quietly push us toward the edge and why recovery isn’t about powering through, but embracing res...

Welcome back to Divergent Paths, the podcast that explores neurodivergent life beyond the stereotypes. In this episode, host Dr. Regina McMenomy, Ph.D. dives deep into one of the most misunderstood aspects of neurodivergence—Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), sometimes reframed as a Persistent Drive for Autonomy.

If you’ve ever irrationally resisted a task—even one you actually want to do—this episode is for you. Together with co-...

What if your struggle to focus, stay motivated, or meet deadlines wasn't a character flaw but a mismatch between your nervous system and your environment?

In this episode of Divergent Paths, we explore the concept of interest-based nervous systems—a defining feature of many neurodivergent experiences, especially ADHD. We break down how traditional motivation models fail neurodivergent folks and why "just try harder" is both unhelpfu...

Clutter: some of us thrive in it, some drown in it, and for many neurodivergent folks, it’s a constant battle. In this episode, Russ joins me as the curious co-host to explore the complicated relationship between clutter, executive function, and neurodivergence.

We talk about why traditional organizing methods don’t always work for ADHD and autistic brains, how clutter impacts our mental health, and the emotional weight of "stuff." ...

In this episode of Divergent Paths, I sit down with Juliana Allen, a somatic healing coach, civil service executive director, and mother, to explore the deep and often complex journey of discovering neurodivergence later in life. Juliana shares her personal experience of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, unraveling years of masking, perfectionism, and societal expectations that never quite fit.

We discuss the impact of late dia...

Perfectionism, for many neurodivergent folks, can look like a source of motivation but is most often a roadblock that keeps us stuck in cycles of procrastination, burnout, and self-doubt. In this episode, Russ joins me as the curious co-host to dig into the ways perfectionism uniquely impacts neurodivergent minds.

We talk about how perfectionism ties into masking, why it can make even starting a task feel impossible, and how societa...

In this episode of Divergent Paths, Dr. Regina McMenomy and her longtime friend, Russ Catanach, explore the complex world of masking for individuals with ADHD and autism. Masking involves suppressing authentic behaviors to conform to societal norms, often at great personal cost.

Regina shares her insights as a late-diagnosed neurodivergent individual, revealing the emotional toll of masking and the liberating process of unmasking. D...