PODCAST · health
ADHd20
by Alison Kendrick and Matthew Bivins
ADHd20 is a podcast about life at the intersection of ADHD and TTRPGs, with equal parts curiosity, comedy, and “wait, what were we saying?” Hosted by Matthew Bivins and Alison Kendrick.
Episodes
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All Aboard the Derailroad
You finally found the thread. The document is open, the brain is online, the thought train has left the station. And then: a “got a sec?” DM. A mysterious knock at the door. The window cleaning crew arrives. A mysterious foot crashes through the ceiling. (True story!) For our brains, getting...
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Peptide Talk
Hey y’all, it’s AK, choosing to speak to you directly instead of doing the usual podcast-description thing where I pretend I’m not the one writing this. It started with one small decision: not following my usual pattern on the way to therapy. Then I began to wonder about how many habits have I…
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Demandatory
Why can we genuinely want to prep a game, level up a character, tackle a project, or keep up with a hobby—then feel that desire evaporate the second it becomes an obligation? Turns out, there's a name for that feeling: demand avoidance. What happens when a want to becomes a have to? How can we…
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Overstimulus Check
When the Big Light in AK’s new apartment becomes the Big Bad, AK and Matt become hypervigilantes trying to save their own brains from overstimulation. What do you do when the lights are too bright, the room is too loud, your socks are committing crimes, seven people are talking at once, and your...
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The Neverending Story
Starting a new campaign? Delicious. Finishing one? Now that feels like homework. Let’s talk new campaign dopamine, the dreaded messy middle, scheduling doom, guilt spirals, and why sometimes the kindest thing you can do is end the arc on purpose. Plus! A spirited discussion of our current vocal...
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The Wood Wide Web
We’re back, baby! ADHd20 has returned for season five, and we’re kicking things off on our new tabletopsyturvy channel by asking one very inconvenient question: What if ease isn’t laziness? Inspired by nature, mycelium networks, our cave-dwelling ancestors, AI assistants, and the deeply radical...
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tabletopsyturvy
An admittedly too-short Season 4 wraps with a little reflection, a little mischief, and a big look at what’s coming next. We look back on 2025’s theme of Mastery, the unexpected places it led (including GMing at Gen Con), and the ideas that have been lighting our brains on fire lately. Also...
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Roll Model Kelly McLaughlin of the Dungeon Dudes
We got Kelly McLaughlin (one half of the legendary Dungeon Dudes) to sit down and talk ADHD, masking, and why neurodivergent brains and TTRPGs might just be a perfect match. Spoiler for those that know us: Kelly agrees that it's not just about the dice—it's about taking off the real-world mask...
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Push it Real Good
Reminder: progress doesn’t have to look like exhaustion. After Gen Con, AK and Matt reflect on what “push mode” looks like in ADHD brains—from hyperfocus to emotional overwhelm. Pushing ourselves too hard, pushing through burnout, pushing people away—or feeling pushed around. A conversation about...
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Extra Focus with ADHD Jesse
We’ve been quoting his book Extra Focus for years—so getting to sit down with author Jesse J. Anderson (aka ADHD Jesse) feels like a major level-up for ADHd20. We dig into adult diagnosis, ADHD myths that refuse to die, and why “just try harder” is absolutely not a viable strategy for the...
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ADHD in Ultra HD
Let’s talk about overstimulation. From cons to code, gameplay to group hugs, we’re digging into what it means to hit your sensory limit in a world that keeps turning up the volume. Inspired by a stunning moment on Worlds Beyond Number and a viral Survivor clip, this episode explores how TTRPGs...
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A Golden Jubilee!
🎉 We made it to Episode 50, and you're invited on our stroll down Working Memory Lane—complete with surprise guests and distractions galore! Join us as we reflect on four seasons of masking, hyperfixations, catastrophizing, and all the strange, sparkly ways we’ve found meaning in the madness....
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Context Switchcraft
In this magically chaotic episode, Matt and AK pull a tarot card, misidentify it, and somehow still use it to unlock a whole conversation about context switching. From the dark arts of time-blocking to the ADHD curse of attention residue, they explore why switching gears is so hard for...
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Uncharted Tarot-tory
In the Season 4 premiere, Matt and AK throw caution (and possibly common sense) to the wind by diving into the mystical, mysterious world of Tarot. But this isn't just a gimmick—Tarot has been an especially helpful ADHD tool for AK, aiding with focus and perspective. So, what happens when they...
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Tenacious ADHD
In our Season 3 finale, Matt and AK reflect on the highlights of 2024 and all the growth and gaming goodness the year brought us. From top-notch guests like @The ADHDM, @Seth of All Trades, and @ADDLiberator to action plans for curbing futzing and doomscrolling, we’re hopeful we eked out just...
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Good Grief
Grief is a tricky beast—messy, unpredictable, and somehow still managing to make us laugh at the worst possible moments. And does your ADHD type shape how you grieve? AK has a theory, and this week, she and Matt explore how inattentive and impulsive ADHD brains might handle collective grief...
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Screen Fiend
It’s time for an intervention, folks! In this episode, Matt stages a surprise wisdom check for AK, calling her out on her, ahem, dedication to her phone and social media. Are our screens slowly turning us into digital zombies? Probably. Join us as we dive into the perils of doomscrolling and...
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The Why-ing Game
Why, why, WHY?! We're not toddlers, we're just people with ADHD! Ever find yourself wondering why about...everything? Us too! In this episode, Matt and AK go on a quest to uncover the big WHYs of TTRPGs AND life itself. From game mechanics to real-life motivation (and maybe some gaming convention...
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ADHD Ever After with Seth McKay
What happens when your ADHD diagnosis starts with a podcast and not a therapist? In this very special episode, Matt and AK sit down with Seth McKay, BFF of The Pocket Dimension, professional game master, and freshly diagnosed member of the ADHD community. It’s a wild ride full of nerdy tangents…
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The Art of Futzing
"Hello, my name is Matt, and I am a Futz-aholic." It's a danger for many, but especially for those with ADHD: the practice of "working" on building systems to increase productivity or improve online gaming experiences. With the new age of powerful app-building software like Notion, Obsidian, and...
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ADHD Is So Hot Right Now with Skyler the ADHDM
From deep within the comments section of a Ginny Di reaction video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7MEYTMSEW8&t=411s) a highly likely friendship was forged. Games sees game and the ADHDM + ADHd20 Team Tesseract emerged. Somehow refusing to procrastinate, we quickly booked some time to hop on…
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The Stunned Condition
Your favorite ADHD/TTRPG nerds can find correlations between any number of subjects, and this time the topics include Baldur's Gate 3, the Stunned Condition of 5e, and colonoscopies! If you're neurodicey, do you also find that you're easily incapacitated? And how do you shake it off? In this...
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Notion Sickness
In the first official episode of ADHd20 of 2024, your intrepid hosts Alison and Matt share their struggles with feeling overwhelmed and not yet acclimated to the new year, even after starting the winter with all the energy of Duracell Bunnies. What do you do when you know what to do but just…
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Help Us, Brittany Smith. You're Our Only Hope!
We are BACK, adventurers! 🎉 Season Three, Electric Boogaleigh! We, your trusted guides Matt and Alison, speak with esteemed guest Brittany Smith, an ADHD coach and cognitive neuroscientist. Brittany shares her strategies for ensuring that your 'Sims Bar' stays green as you balance work, life…
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Rockin' Around the ADHD
It’s the final episode of ADHd20 Season 2, folks! Join Alison and Matt as they wrap up this season with a "clip episode" packed with retrospection and much giggling, natch. We streamed this one live to our Patrons, who came prepared with some great questions, letting us ramble on everything from...
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Over-Explaining—The Gift of Gab
So that we don't over-explain a video about over-explaining, here's a gen-text summary, soon to be part of Matt's patented "Un-ADHD-ify" app! "In this ADHD20 episode, Alison and Matt discuss the propensity to overexplain things common amongst many individuals, including themselves. They delve…
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This is a Catastrophe
"It's not that bad!". "You're overreacting." "Calm the f&%k down!" With ADHD, you've probably heard people say this to you your entire life. When your every reaction is dripping with emotion, others don't understand that in your brain, stubbing your toe and losing your pet cat can produce the…
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Procrastinate Like You Mean It!
We know that everyone, ADHD or no, procrastinates on the things that you don't want to do. But those with "squirrel brains" can even procrastinate on things that we REALLY LOVE, like prepping for D&D. Why? We have some terribly-cited answers for you! And even some ways to Get Medieval on...
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Resisting A Rest
Things we learned while recording this episode: The characteristics we embody while awake are also present in our sleep. Inattentive awake? Inattentive asleep. Hello, insomnia! We also took some time to call out the ridiculousness of long (and short!) rest mechanics in D&D. Don't worry, you…
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Actual Play with Dungeon Master Seth McKay
The most often-asked questions we've gotten since starting this podcast: "But what is D&D?! And how do you even play?!" If our D&D-inspired tangents have left you feeling a little perplexed, then this is for you! Our talented pal Seth McKay stepped behind the DM Screen to lead our party of four...
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The Declaration of Codependence, with Evan Bivins
Join us for a LONG overdue chat with our favorite designer, beatmaker and wannabe lycanthrope, Evan Bivins! We attempt an unqualified armchair diagnosis—at Evan's request, of course—and use the words "Venn Diagram" a whole bunch. We recorded and edited this podcast using an incredible tool called...
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Mask Me Anything
Matt and Alison, fresh out of a session of their favorite new TTRPG, Masks: A New Generation, find all the delicious correlations between having ADHD and being a teenage superhero! And the connection might not be what you think! Plus! Coming to terms with the masks we've longed donned so...
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Murder, He Rolled
Five minutes before they started recording this episode, Alison tossed the outline out of the window. Instead of the original topic they had chosen, she informed Matt they should have a very open and honest conversation about the goings-on in their most recent D&D session. In an inadvertent "Part...
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Free to Be You and Me
Best practices for making neurodivergent brains feel welcome at your gaming table! A question, from our Discord Server: How about going in-depth on things that have made y’all feel welcome to show up as your whole self at a gaming table (or conversely what will put your walls up or make it harder...
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Trick Plays and Cabarets
Alison and Matt challenge each other to talk about anything else besides ADHD and TTRPGs. The ADH-Duo wonder aloud whether they have any other passions beyond neurodiversity or role playing games. Spoiler alert: they aren't that successful at keeping off topic. But this leads them to dive into…
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Put Us In, [Dungeon] Coach! w/ Alan Bjorkgren
Our Homebrew Hero and Fave Game Designer, YouTube's The Dungeon Coach, joins Matt, Alison, and Fitz! to talk how to be creative and productive in a wild magic world. We are so lucky to have met Alan at GaryCon this year, playtested his incredible upcoming TTRPG, DC20, and have a brand new friend…
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An ADHd20 Primer
We are entering our podcast to be considered for The ENNIES this year, and here's our tight 15! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
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Olive How You've Leveled Up
Alison's only hangups involve vegetables, apparently, and Matt embraces the Chaos, in this episode about Leveling Up with ADHD. Do we gain real-life levels through XP, or Milestones? Porque no los dos? We ponder this week on some of the things that we have learned about ourselves in the past…
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A Whey We Go to GaryCon, with Lorekeeper Anna Fitzgerald
In this very feral episode of ADHd20, we spin tales of our experiences at GaryCon 2023, our first official TTRPG convention together! Alison, Matt, and Official Lorekeeper Fitz [twinkling bell chime] have just returned from a journey to Lake Geneva, WI, where they had a truly magical time at the...
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Paying the (ADHD) Tax, Man
AK and Matt have two questions for you, today: is the ADHD tax real? and are we in a cult? The answers are yes, for sure, and…probably not? Unless you really were a part of the Satanic Panic, back in the day, and if so, mad respect, 'cuz that probably took a ton of time and energy. And speaking…
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Dale Critchley Spills the Tea on Inclusive D&D
"Exclusion doesn't make it better," says our new friend and RPG inclusion hero Dale Critchley of Wyrmworks Publishing. In this episode, we learn what Dale and his cohort of artists are doing to shift the representation landscape in the TTRPG community. Including, and definitely not limited to,...
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Dungeons and Dopamining
What the *&@%#! is Dopamining? Hopefully you're doing it right now by downloading this 'cast, and awwww, that's so sweet! Also: does your PC have ADHD? And/or co-morbid RSD? We are braving our crippling Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria by getting real honest today about what we specifically do to...
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Sarah Mobley, Awe and Wonder Woman
One of Matt's dearest and oldest friends and brilliant learning and behavior specialist, Sarah Mobley, joins us on the podcast with the results of a brain assessment test she had us take recently! The results are fascinating, both in the test's findings and Sarah's take on how to improve our…
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Sounding the Nerd Horn
Welcome back to the only podcast that tries to find the intersection between ADHD and RPGs! It's Season Two, Electric Boogaloo, and Matt and Alison are full of Words and Themes! We are so grateful for everyone that listened to this podcast in 2022, and we're psyched to be back to the future of...
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A Home-Brewed World
What a delightful surprise this podcast has been for us! Something we just threw together because we thought the name was funny, but in eighteen episodes we have learned so much about ADHD, D&D, and ourselves! And we want to dream up what other kinds of trouble we can get into. We're taking a…
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There's Nothing Wrong With Woo Woo
It can be tough to feel like you're always moving forward with what you most want to do, when you have ADHD. There are tons of combat encounters in life that seem to have the difficulty set too high. We don't have any answers, of course, but this week we talk about a couple of everyday "buffs" we...
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I Cast Time Blindness!
In this episode, AK and Matt may have finally found the perfect intersection of ADHD and D&D: we dream up 5e Spells based on ADHD traits (or "tenets", if you're a "Rhodes Scholar"). And it's so much fun. We imagine how ADHD-themed spells "Executive Dysfunction", "Interrupt", and "Time Blindness"...
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It's Gonna Be About Xander
We step outside the comfort zone of talking about D&D, and pick up on any ADHD coding found in the late 90s classic Joss Whedon joint, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. High school nerds, hot librarians, chosen cheerleaders and demons in human form…surely there is one in the bunch with some executive...
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The Flirt and the Fanatic
We're putting a little more "d20" in this week's ADHd20, where we talk about how we would build the perfect adventuring party, both in D&D and in real life. We break down the basic tabletop RPG archetypes: magic person, fighter, thief and healer, and have fun building our perfect class combos. AK...
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The One Where Ross Gets Eaten By an Owlbear
Friends! We need them, love them, miss them when they leave, but also have a tough time making them. But is it really harder to make lasting friends if you have ADHD? or easier? And we try to figure out what the classes of the Friends would be. Except for Ross, because he's insufferable. --- We...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does ADHd20 have?
ADHd20 currently has 62 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is ADHd20 about?
ADHd20 is a podcast about life at the intersection of ADHD and TTRPGs, with equal parts curiosity, comedy, and “wait, what were we saying?” Hosted by Matthew Bivins and Alison Kendrick.
How often does ADHd20 release new episodes?
ADHd20 has 62 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to ADHd20?
You can listen to ADHd20 on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts ADHd20?
ADHd20 is created and hosted by Alison Kendrick and Matthew Bivins.
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