ADHD Approved
Turning everyday chaos into a workable life.
What this is
ADHD Approved translates the neuroscience of ADHD in women into plain language so you can stop blaming yourself, understand how your brain actually works, and turn your everyday chaos into a workable life.
Each issue covers one thing. One friction point. One mechanism worth understanding. Not a list of tips. Not a productivity overhaul. One idea, clearly explained, with the research behind it.
The goal isn’t a perfect system. It’s a more workable life.
How it’s written
Every study referenced here gets read in full before it appears. Not skimmed. Not borrowed from a summary. Read.
It’s a methodology. I spent years working in environments where understanding the why behind a problem was the only way to build something that actually solved it. That habit followed me here.
If you understand why something is happening in your ADHD brain, aren’t you more hopeful about trying a solution? And if the solution doesn’t land right away, you can troubleshoot because you know what you’re working with. You’re not guessing.
Jump to: How I use AI
Who it’s for
Women with ADHD, diagnosed, late-diagnosed, or secretly suspecting, who are high-functioning on the outside and exhausted on the inside. Who have tried the planners, the morning routines, the productivity systems. Who know what they’re supposed to do and still can’t make it stick.
If you’ve ever thought I know what to do, I just can’t do it consistently, this is for you.
On the paywall
There isn’t one for articles about the mechanism of ADHD. The research itself is free.
That’s a deliberate choice. The research that explains why your brain works the way it does shouldn’t sit behind a paywall. Understanding your own neurology isn’t a premium feature, it’s the whole point.
If you ever want to support the work, there’s an option to do that. But it will never be the price of admission.
Support ADHD Approved: Buy Me A Coffee
A note from Liz
I’m not a clinician. I’m also an ADHD mom, a former product manager and product owner, and now a small-business owner. My career has centered on understanding what people are trying to accomplish, identifying where systems create friction, and turning complex needs into practical products, processes, and next steps. That is the perspective I bring to ADHD Approved: lived experience supported by disciplined research, business analysis, and product-development thinking.
I earned a bachelor degree in Health Sciences from the University of Iowa in my early twenties. And, after years spent in product development in the healthcare industry, my background shaped into understanding complex systems, translating them into something usable that improves progress. Today.
This is the alchemy on which ADHD Approved is built.
Relief first. Clarity always. Workability over perfection.
This 2-minute survey helps me make sure what lands in your inbox actually fits your brain. Your answers shape what I write next.
Further reading:
ADHD & Sleep | Research Briefing
Connect:
About Me | Bluesky | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube
How I use AI
AI is used to support the process of translating the source material into usable strategies for women with ADHD.
The question is mine.
I pick the topic, frame the central question, and identify the misconception readers may be carrying.
The evidence is mine.
I verify sources live, against the actual paper. I rank evidence (a meta-analysis is not one small study, and one small study is not a headline), and remain transparent regarding what is still unknown. LLMs are fluent, but fluency is not accuracy. Nothing gets cited here that I have not opened and read myself.
The argument is mine.
Explaining a mechanism in simple language and what it means for the reader that helps her today. Deciding where I respectfully disagree with the conventional advice.
What AI actually does here
Three things, all small:
Helps me organize how I lay out the mechanism. Sometimes. It is an unreliable research assistant who’s constantly on the verge of being fired.
Stress-tests structure. Where does the argument sag, what did I assume, what did I skip, what could be more concise.
Refines phrasing on a sentence I have already written and can’t get quite right.
AI does not produce the ideas, the framework, the strategies, the context, the design thinking, the solutions, the failures, the frustrations, or the lived experience.
Why this distinction matters here specifically
I came to this work from product development, so I think in systems: inputs, friction points, minimum viable product, failure modes, and the difference between a person failing and a system being badly designed for that person. That lens is the entire publication.
The rest of what I bring is not transferable.
A first-generation American childhood in a multicultural family.
Raising two daughters while sorting which inherited expectations I want to hand down and which ones I am setting down.
What it costs to redraw a boundary inside a family that had already assigned you a role, and the grief that sits underneath that even when the boundary is right.
What happens to your systems when your capacity changes and the old ones stop working.
None of that is available to a model. It is lived. It is also why this publication designs support instead of coaching you, and offers practical reflection instead of therapy.
The standing promise
Every sentence you read is one I wrote, chose, or would defend out loud. If a piece can’t pass that test, it doesn’t ship.
