Anxiety, imposter syndrome, and ADHD (Mallory’s story)

Mallory Band was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety when she was
8 years old. She has two brothers with ADHD, but their ADHD
looked different. They were hyperactive on the outside. But
Mallory felt hyperactive on the inside. She struggled with
perfectionism, people pleasing, and big emotions. As with many
women who have ADHD, imposter syndrome set in as she got older.
 


Mallory’s “aha” moment came well after her ADHD diagnosis — when
she was in graduate school learning about executive function. It
was the first time she had stopped to think about how her own
brain worked, and how burnt out she was from pushing herself
against it. Now she’s an executive function coach who helps
people with ADHD lean into the power of saying “no.”  


To find a transcript for this episode and more resources, visit
the episode page at Understood.  


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ADHDAha@understood.org.  
Related resources

More from Mallory: Imposter syndrome at work: How I stopped
feeling like a fake

ADHD and anxiety

ADHD in girls



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