Blog for
Chris Lauzon - Therapist, LICSW

I’ve long held the opinion that when someone adds, “just kidding” or “just joking” after a comment, there is often some percentage of truth tucked within it. Not always, of course sometimes humor is just humor, play is just play. But many times, I’d estimate there’s about 40% truth living behind the curtain of the joke. Humor can be a safe doorway, a way to say something honest without risking full vulnerability. But it can also be a mask that bruises others.

Living with ADHD as an adult is often framed as a challenge, even a deficit. But what if we flipped the script? What if ADHD isn’t just something to “manage,” but a superpower to harness?

When people walk into a therapy room, it’s often in response to something urgent, an emotional crisis, a relationship breakdown, burnout, or a significant drop in their overall functioning. It’s natural. Pain is a powerful motivator. But while we spend so much time focusing on how to tread water when we’re drowning, we often forget that true, sustainable growth happens not during the chaos, but during the calm. Let’s call that calm your baseline.

When we’re in the grip of a crisis response (what many call a panic attack) our system goes into full alert. Heart racing. Breathing shallow. Skin tingling or sweating. Thoughts flying. Judgments stacking. It can feel like the world is closing in, or that we’re about to lose control entirely. But beneath all of this is a simple truth: We are reacting to a perceived threat.