Podcasts about Dotson

Rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD) impacts many aspects of your life and can be a driving force in how you manage relationships and internally process the world around you, so there are many nuances for it. In this episode, Patrick Casale and Dr. Megan Anna Neff, two AuDHD mental health professionals, answer some of the questions from listeners about RSD, including everything from self-shaming to the connection with other diagnoses. Top 3 reasons to listen to the entire episode: Understand what masked RSD looks like and the impact it has on shame and finding connection. Identify what connections and impact RSD might have on conditions like PMDD, as well as how the experience of rejection can be viewed differently between ADHD and Autistic individuals. Learn some strategies to help deal with the experience of RSD to create a better environment around you and pay attention to your core needs. When it comes to RSD, everything goes back to connection. It's both the thing that humans need and also something that can seem so difficult to attain and maintain. If you are struggling with complex and shifting intrusive narratives or internalized emotions that can last for years, try to focus on your core needs at the moment and check in with yourself so that you can offer yourself the opportunity to think more objectively and take action that is more likely to benefit you. Resources plus Exclusive Coupon Code Dr. Neff's Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Workbook Bundle (Clinical Use): https://neurodivergentinsights.com/neurodivergentstore/p/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-clinical  Dr. Neff's Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Workbook Bundle (Personal Use): https://neurodivergentinsights.com/neurodivergentstore/p/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-bundle Use Code: “DivergentConversationsListener” To get 20% off anything in the shop, including the RSD bundle.  Dr. Neff's free blog posts on RSD: https://neurodivergentinsights.com/blog/category/Rejection+Sensitive+Dysphoria    A Thanks to Our Sponsor, Tula Consulting! ✨ Tula Consulting: We would love to thank Tula Consulting for sponsoring this episode. Workplace communication can be messy. Considering the lens of neurodiversity can be helpful for understanding this. Maybe you found yourself frustratedly typing "per my last email" in an office communication, perplexed about how a colleague or client doesn't seem to understand your very clearly written email. Consider this. Visual information processing isn't everyone's strength. Perhaps a quick call could make a world of difference. Or how about including a video or voice message with your email? And this technology exists! Simple steps like these can make your work environment more accessible and bring out the best in everyone. Tula Consulting is on a mission to help organizations build more neuro-inclusive products and work environments. Tula does this by bringing curious minds to solve curious problems. Find out more by visiting tulaneurodiversity.org.   Transcript PATRICK CASALE: All right, so we are back with RSD part three, which will probably lead into an eventual RSD part four. But last week, we did not get to all of your questions, we kind of diverged, and we want to get to more of them today, especially, the ones that we think we have a lot to talk about. So, I think we want to start off with what can highly masked RSD look like? MEGAN NEFF: Love that question, first off. So, last month when I was, like, deep in RSD mode, making the workbook, I created a grid, which… this is my like pattern finding, so I just want to tease out it's not like in the clinical research. But I made a grid of overlain RSD responses on top of kind of like the fight, flight, fawn, freeze, and talked about different responses. And we talked about this a little bit in our first episode. But like the fawn and the freeze response, I would say are masked RSD responses. And so this could show up as like perpetual people-pleasing, right? And perfectionism, those two. The myth being if I never make a mistake, or if I never make someone upset with me, then I would never have to experience this really painful thing. And so a lot of masked RSD looks like really high-performing, high-achieving kind of busybodies ways of being in the world. And then I think when the RSD doesn't really get triggered, because none of us are perfect, and even if we're people pleasers, we're going to have miscommunications with people. I think that experience gets very internalized. So, instead of perhaps an emotional or angry outburst, what you're going to see is things like perhaps substance use, or a lot of negative self-talk, and rumination, and retreating, in some cases, self-harm, and other really like that…. And taking the pain internal. Like, also talked about as internalization, you're going to see a lot more of that. So, the people around you might not actually even know you're having an RSD trigger. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah. And you know, those are the moments, right? Where we could use the language for a lot of self-destructive behavior going on behind the scenes to be able to keep up appearances, to be able to apply that social lubricant, like you've mentioned before, of this is how I fit into these spaces, this is how I show up, this is how I can people please, this is how I can socialize. And then that burnout just really takes over, right? Because there's going to be intensified depression, there's going to be intensified burnout, there's going to be intensified anxiety going on behind the scenes. And you, kind of, like, starting each day from a negative energy reserve and trying to get it back at that point in time where you're like, I'm operating at like negative percentage, and I'm going to put myself into the situation again, and again, and again. MEGAN NEFF: Absolutely. And then we've also got to consider shame dynamics, which also perpetuate all those things you just mentioned of people with internalized RSD would have a lot of shame dynamics going on, which perpetuates a lot of like negative coping. And here's the thing about shame, so shame theory is really interesting, actually. But one of the tricky things about shame is that sometimes there's this belief we fall into or trap. Like, if I can self-shame enough, I can protect from other shame, right? So, self shame it's the shame we give ourself. Other shame is the shame we experience from others. So, people with very internalized RSD who are, you know, people pleasing, perfectionistic, tend to have really harsh inner critics that are very shame-based and have a really hard time diffusing and unhooking from these inner critics partly because the inner critic feels really protective. Because if that inner critic is, "I'm going to shame you, so you don't experience shame from another person." It's playing a protective role. Now, we would argue it's not actually protecting or helping the person, right? But it feels like it's incredibly protective. Most of my life I've had a very, very harsh inner critic. And yeah, I couldn't unhook from it until the last few years because I was like, "No, this is protecting me." So, self shame protecting from other shame. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, shame is one of those emotional experiences that is probably one of the most painful things that happens to a human being, I think, that that shame spiral is so incredibly painful, destructive, torturous, hellacious. I mean, the criticism that ramps up the internal dialogue. I tend to go into more of like a shutdown space when I'm feeling really shameful. I noticed that comes up a lot when I feel like I can't do something that I feel like I should be able to easily do like screw something in in a way that looks even, or not cause a hole in the wall, or having to call a handy person after that because I've created said issue. That happens a lot. Then there's the social shame component where that really happens with the RSD triggers for me, where it really does create this almost like existential dread component to where you are really questioning everything and anything and almost losing sight of your sense of self in those moments too. MEGAN NEFF: Oh, I think we absolutely lose sight of ourselves in shame spirals. Yeah, so that's kind of, I guess, clinical or lexiconic, if that's the word, definition of shame, just in case people aren't aware. So, guilt is the experience of like, I've done something bad and guilt is actually a good experience. Right? It's helpful feedback. For one, we're not living consistently with our values. Shame, on the other hand, is I am bad, right? It's like I am the bad object, I am bad. And so that experience of I am bad. It's interesting, as we're talking about shame I'm like, how are we three episodes into RSD and we haven't talked about shame yet? Or even how did I write a workbook on RSD and not to talk about shame? Because I think, really what we're talking about it is when the shame is activated relationally because I think that is what happens with the RSD trigger is it's, I let this person down, or I like hard feedback, I am bad, right? And it's such a quick narrative we drop into, I am a bad person, which is the shame narrative. PATRICK CASALE: For sure. So much of our sense of self, self-worth is connected too. And that narrative of I am bad, or I am unworthy, or I am not good enough, or all of the things that start surfacing, oh, man, I've seen so many, just situations where shame has created this spiraling sensation that has created an immense amount of destruction in people's lives in terms of both therapeutically and personally, and from my own perspective for myself. So, it is one of those emotions that is just really, really painful. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, absolutely. PATRICK CASALE: I mean, we're talking about associations right now and we're talking about shame, we're talking about guilt, we're talking about sense of self that all gets triggered. We start to also see, and I just want to use a trigger warning, but we do start to see an intensified sense of suicidal ideation with a lot of this, too. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah. Oh, I mean, yeah, shame and suicidality absolutely walk hand in hand. So, when you're doing a suicide assessment, there's questions you ask, and how a person answers some of those questions are indicative of how much risk they're in. And one of those questions that tells us this person is in a really high-risk bucket is do you believe or feel that the people in your life would be better off if you weren't here? And shame seduces us into that really painful narrative, shame and many other things, depression, but… PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, I personally think that shame is one of the most damaging and destructive things that we experience. So, heaviness aside, techniques and strategies to work through that shameful experience when it's coming over you because there are ways to not let it engulf you and drown you in a way where, you know, it can be that devastating and destructive too. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, I mean, Brene Brown is really the queen when it comes to shame, right? Like, I love the idea that vulnerability is the anecdote or the cure to shame. And I think that's part of why when we have internalized RSD we're so prone to some of the like negative coping, because we're less likely to reach out and be like, "Hey, I'm having this experience right now." We probably feel shame about the experience, right? Like shame about being too sensitive, shame about our shame. So, reaching out becomes incredibly difficult. But if we can find someone, whether it's a therapist, or a friend, or a partner who gets it and where we can give that shame some breathing room, and by breathing room not like room to expand, but like room to dissipate, right? Where it doesn't live inside so intensely, that is one of the most powerful things we can do to disrupt a shame spiral is to connect, which again, like we're talking about relational shame, right? So, like belonging has been threatened. It makes sense that connection would be the anecdote to that. PATRICK CASALE: And it also makes sense that it would be the last thing that you would reach for when you're feeling like, "Oh, I'm really feeling this massive amount of shame or rejection. I know I need connection, but I can't reach out for it, because that makes me feel too vulnerable, that makes me feel unsafe. I don't feel worthy of connection." Whatever the internal dialogue is, it makes it that much harder a lot of the time. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah. Well, it's interesting, I'm thinking about the matrix and I'll, like, find a way to make a one page infographic of this that I'm referring to, and we can attach it, because the other parts of the matrix are fight, flee. And I'm just seeing how all of these reactions, all of these stress reactions to RSD move us away from what we need, they move us away from connection. So, if we're fleeing, obviously, that's going to move us away from connection in the in the fight. That's where I would say projection comes online, and where the shame is so intolerable to feel it gets projected onto other people, and then we lead with anger. That's a way of pushing people away. So, whether it's like we're retreating in our pain internally, we're fleeing, or we're projecting all of these move us away from what we need, which is connection. And so, I think that's a lot of work living and working with RSD is figure out like, these are going to be my, like, automatic stress state responses. How do I override that to actually address a coordinate here and move toward that? PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, I think that's a great point. And if we can anchor into the idea that foundationally at the root of this is the desire and necessity to have connection yet the fearfulness or inability to feel like you can access it, and just constantly trying to anchor in, and remember, like, connection is at the root of this, right? Like, as humans, relational beings, regardless of we're introverted, extroverted, does not matter, we still need connection in some capacity. That's something that we absolutely need and it's a major… What am I going to say? It's majorly a part of our makeup. And when we don't have access, or we feel like it's not possible, or we don't have those people in our lives we can turn to, then this can really start to spiral out of control, I think, and this is where we see this really get to that negatively impactful place, and that really destructive place too. I'm not finding my words appropriately right now, but I just want to emphasize the importance of connection. MEGAN NEFF: I feel like I was tracking. I didn't notice that. I feel like I could linger in this conversation if this feels poignant and important. I'm also aware we talked about trying to get through questions in this episode. PATRICK CASALE: Oh, yeah. We did [CROSSTALK 00:14:08]- MEGAN NEFF: Should we move on to the next one? PATRICK CASALE: Let's put in that one question because I think that the topic of shame, in general, could be an entire series. MEGAN NEFF: Let's do an episode on neurodivergent shame because shame is very much part of the experience. It's often tied to, like, of course, past relational experiences we've had, internalized ableism, and then a lot of us have co-occurring trauma and trauma and shame are also very, like part of what's traumatizing about trauma is the shattering of self that often happens in trauma. So, yeah, let's do a shame episode or episodes, because it's a big topic. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, so for everyone listening, if shame is important, it feels like it's a part of your experience, which I assume for most of you it is, including ourselves, we will do more episodes on shame and specifically focused on that topic. But we do have other questions that we want to get to, if we want to make it an Answer Your Questions episode. So, one question was RSD linkage to PMDD. So, you wanted to take that one? MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, I mean, I think we should do an episode on PMDD, and just like neurodivergence and hormones at some point. Anyways, but PMDD is essentially, oh my gosh, what does it technically stand for? PATRICK CASALE: Post-menopausal dysphoric disorder? MEGAN NEFF: Good job. Yeah, I've been referring it to PMDD so long. I was like, I'm not going to get those letters right. Thank you. So, it's kind of- PATRICK CASALE: [CROSSTALK 00:15:47] also dysphoric disorder. MEGAN NEFF: I mean, it's like PMS on steroids, essentially. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, it's called that. MEGAN NEFF: So, basically, yeah, PMS on steroids, the clinical definition, PMS on steroids. PATRICK CASALE: Going into the DSM 6 soon, premenstrual dysphoric disorder? MEGAN NEFF: Yeah. And it's very connected to like how hormones are shifting as part of this cycle. And both autistic and ADHD people who have a estrogen cycle, would that be the way to say it? That experience a cycle are much more vulnerable to do both PMS and PMDD. And one of the things about PMDD… PMDD can be really intense. Like, I've definitely seen cases where someone baseline mood is actually pretty okay but will experience like, acute suicidality in that like week or that period. Like, it can be that intense. It's not that intense for everyone, but for some people, it is that intense of a mood shift. So, absolutely, like, I describe it as like just paper thin, like in the sense of like everything's getting in, in that period. So, emotions are going to be heightened. So, of course, RSD, if someone has a baseline RSD, that's also going to be heightened because RSD is connected to emotion regulation. So, with PMDD, emotional regulation becomes a lot harder. And we tend to feel things more intensely. So, yeah, I hadn't actually thought about that, but I love that of that thought experiment of what RSD looks like in that window of time. And I think that's actually really helpful to know. Because it's not going to make it go away, but being able to say like I know RSD triggers are going to be big this week, I'm probably going to perceive rejection where it's not, I'm going to feel it deeply. It doesn't mean it's true. Like, being able to do that self-talk. Like, I don't know whether I have PMDD. But I definitely have like hormonal shifts. I'll tell myself typically that week, "Don't trust your mind. You're not allowed to think about the future, you're not allowed to evaluate relationships." Like, I have like hard rules about what my mind is allowed to do that week. And it's not like a harsh rule. It's like a kind, like, parental figure come in and be like, "You know what? Your mind's not up to any good this week." So, there's some things we're just not going to think about because it's not going to be helpful. Here's what we're going to do instead. PATRICK CASALE: I love that. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, but yeah. Sorry, go ahead. PATRICK CASALE: No, that's great. I mean, man, you can make worksheets, or like affirmations, or guidelines for people around like that sort of structuring in terms of, I'm not going to trust my mind this week. Like, these are the things that you know to be true, these are the things that we're not going to put any energy into. Like, that makes so much sense. Okay, add another episode to the list of neurodivergence and hormones. So, moving on through the questions, these are leading to episodes which we love. So, thank you for submitting these. Okay. Do stimulants cure RSD? That's a pretty basic response and we're going to say no to that. There are stimulant medications, right? Megan talked about the psychopharmacological perspective in episode one of things that do help in some capacities. But if we're going to just make a blanket statement that say stimulants do not just cure or help RSD in that capacity. Okay, we did highly masked RSD. What else did we say we were going to talk about? MEGAN NEFF: I think autistic versus ADHD, and that was a question that came in. So, you'll hear autistic people and ADHD people talk about RSD. Like, there's a lot of resources out for both. Now, I actually didn't realize this till I started doing the deep dive about… as soon as questions come up, like is RSD specific to ADHD? So, first of all, I see a lot of like monopolizing of experiences. Like, I see a lot of autistic people who are like only autistic people have sensory sensitivities, which isn't true. So, I just want to caveat that. Like, anyone can be high on the rejection sensitivity spectrum, right? This is a spectrum of humanity. RSD as a term, as a concept, as something we talk about is specific to the ADHD literature, in the sense that it's come out of ADHD literature, you know, the projections are like, I don't know how scientific this is, but according to Dr. Dotson, like 99% of ADHDers experience this. Like it's a very core component of ADHD. Other people might be very high in the rejection sensitivity spectrum for different reasons. You know, attachment style, trauma, autistic. Like being misperceived, internalized ableism. Is it RSD if a person's autistic and not ADHD? I don't know. Like, I don't know if we would apply that term. We could say there might be really high in the rejection sensitivity. I have noticed when working with autistic-only populations, it's like hit or miss. Like, maybe they have it, maybe they don't. But I also see people where it's like, I don't really care what people think about me. Like, that's also present. So, autistic people do experience victimization, and like social bullying, and marginalization, they're neuro minority. So, I think there's a lot of reasons why autistic people would also be high on rejection sensitivity. And then we know a lot of autistic people who are also ADHD. So, I think I didn't provide clarity, I just explained how muddy the waters is. PATRICK CASALE: That's okay. Sometimes that is the answer, though, how muddy the waters are, because… And I'm also thinking as you're talking, right? Like, we know so many people are undiagnosed either autistic or ADHD, and how much gets missed. So, I'm just wondering just how many people out there who identify as ADHD, who are also autistic, but unknown, or undiagnosed, and vice versa, and how so much of that also plays a role into the prevalence of RSD showing up as well? MEGAN NEFF: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. I will say, oh, this was after you left, you had to dip out for a meeting, when we interviewed Amanda for Ask An Autistic I asked about this. And at first, it was kind of like, yeah, maybe some RSD. And then we talked about like, okay, what happens when… and because we're both on social media, why I asked explicitly about that, she's like, "Yeah, these narratives come on and then, you know, I've usually worked through it in like five or 10 minutes." And I was like, "Five or 10 minutes?" Like, I still get intrusive thoughts about experiences, or even like, this is embarrassing to admit, like comments that I got two years ago, where like, if I embarrassed myself, or did something I'm not proud of, I still get intrusive memories about that like 20 years later. That's a pretty different experience than being able to move through something fairly quickly. And I know Amanda's just one autistic person. But that was a really interesting moment in our conversation, when, like, yes, painful, yes, hard. But the ability to have the tools to work through it without it like bouncing back for me, I work through it, but it keeps bouncing back. And then I have to work through it again. And that's part of that intrusive kind of overtaking. PATRICK CASALE: That's a great point because that actually makes me remember what I was saying for my group practice. So, shout out to Dr. Bennett Harris who's going to rub that in my face that I named him on this podcast. But saying like, these things linger for years sometimes, right? And that's something we haven't addressed yet, is the length of time. I know you've addressed it in your workbook, but we haven't addressed on air that this can bounce back, like you just mentioned for years. And it can be something where you can look at it when you're in a healthy like cognitive space where you're like, "Okay, this comment, I've worked through it." But then maybe something thematic, or something similar comes into play, and it hits you, or it impacts you in a way that you didn't expect. And all of a sudden you're right back to that comment from two and a half years ago. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah absolutely. Yeah, I'm glad we're talking about that because that's a part of RSD that like, A, it's just confusing and B, it's really stressful to just like be going throughout your day and like all of a sudden intrusive, like, embarrassing or shameful memory pops up and you're like back in it. Like, yeah. Okay, this is kind of a silly example. But we were filming an episode, and we were talking about how we need to do RSD, and we were like speaking of RSD, we just got our first like one star review. And in the moment I was like, you know, like talking through like, okay, that makes sense. But then that comment kept popping in my head throughout the day. And sometimes when I think about this podcast, like that just pops back up. And it feels so silly. And then the secondary narrative of like, "Megan Anna, why do you care about this?" Right? So, it's not just the interest of memory, there's often a second narrative that comes on up like, why are you still holding on to this? Especially, if it's something like that or like, I feel like that's petty. And I should be able to just release it, then there's a second narrative of like, why are you still thinking about this? Why can't you release it? Why can't you get over it? PATRICK CASALE: Let's talk about the secondary narrative, because I think that's so important that you just named that. One, I'm sorry for bringing that up on air, won't ever do that again. MEGAN NEFF: No, I'm glad you did. It's a good live example. And it's like, yeah. PATRICK CASALE: I think we're onto that ship forever. I cannot tell you how often I check All Things Private Practice and Divergent Conversations Apple Podcast reviews. Why am I doing this to myself? Like, why am I going on there knowing that there could, eventually, be a one star review? Like, I should be able to let that go and then that will destroy me for days. I don't know why. That's self-inflicted, it's not healthy. The secondary narrative, that process, right? Of, okay, this experience, this reaction is creating this sensation, it's creating RSD, it's creating distress, then the secondary narrative that's trying to rationalize said reaction that is exhausting to bounce back and forth between narrative one and two over and over and over and over and over again. MEGAN NEFF: Yes, and one thing I've observed, because the neurodivergent brain as well, so divergent is that we often have, like, overlapping narratives. I'm doing this with my hands of like, we'll have an experience, and then we'll have a narrative about it, and then we'll have a narrative about the narrative. And so one thing I've noticed, and I've started to be more careful with this, so I don't do too much CBT, I do have more of a mindfulness approach to like, let's start noticing your thoughts. What I've noticed, and I think, especially, with neurodivergent people, sometimes once they started noticing their thoughts, they got worse. So, like, there's an experience of this. So, the next week came back and like so much worse. So, it's like, okay, let's unpack what's happening here. And it was the secondary narratives. It's now that I'm observing my thoughts, I'm having so much judgments, and evaluations, and feelings about those thoughts. And so then you have to teach how to become mindful of the secondary narrative, right? PATRICK CASALE: RSD about the RSD. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah. RSD about the RSD. And invalidation, right? Like, I think we're really good at invalidating ourselves in those narratives. Yeah, yeah. PATRICK CASALE: I'm going to try not to diverge too much, because we said we were going to stay on course, which we should always know it's never going to happen. I'm thinking about like, secondary narratives, and how often I have to verbally process them out loud. Like, I will talk myself through the secondary narratives a lot of the time, and how often my wife looks at me in the house. And she's like, "Who the fuck are you talking to?" And I'm like, "I am talking through like my internalized experience and my thoughts that are happening right now and processing them out loud to try to pick them apart to decide what feels rational versus irrational and what feels like there's a linkage to." And she's like, "Is this happening in your brain all the time?" And I was like, "This is happening in my brain all the time." MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's weird to me that it's not happening for everyone inside their brain all the time. Like- PATRICK CASALE: Like, this isn't taking up all this mental real estate 24/7 for you? People were like, "What?" She looked at me like, "How do you sleep?" And I'm like, "Well, you know the answer to that, not well." Oh, my God. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, we have busy minds. And so I think learning how to work with our mind it becomes really important. PATRICK CASALE: Sometimes that is that mindfulness. Like, for me when I hear the word mindfulness, right? And I'm really going to diverge is I hate that word. MEGAN NEFF: I do too. I do too. PATRICK CASALE: Because I associate it with like being still- MEGAN NEFF: Meditation. PATRICK CASALE: Meditate. MEGAN NEFF: Come to your mind. PATRICK CASALE: Exactly. Yeah, that's not going to happen. MEGAN NEFF: No. PATRICK CASALE: But I would much rather apply mindfulness in the way that you do, which I think you said was like, I cannot remember the term that you [CROSSTALK 00:29:38]- MEGAN NEFF: Oh, mindfulness on the go. And I searched it up after that. And there actually is a book that was written a long time ago with that same term. So, I did not come up with the term. I mean… PATRICK CASALE: But I like what you mentioned, right? Like, you're being mindful about the temperature of your smoothie in the morning, or your water, or you're being mindful about the fact that your mind is diverging into a million different directions. And instead of like saying, "Oh my God, my mind is diverging into a million different directions. I need to shut it down. There's something wrong, I can't do it." I'd rather say my mind is diverging into a million different directions. And I'm just being mindful of that. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah. So, when I think about mindfulness, like I like the imagery of tagging. Like, I feel like a lot of what I'm doing is tagging, like, oh, that's what that is, that's what that is. So, it's like naming, tagging, and… PATRICK CASALE: List making. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, what did you say? PATRICK CASALE: List making MEGAN NEFF: List making. Well, no, I think I would think of list making as more like you're in the content. And when I think about mindful tagging, it's more of an observational process. That's a really subtle distinction. And that's part of it. So, I like the imagery of like, observing mind, evaluative mind, and what mindfulness, like it's not an activity, it's a way of being, it's a way of being with self. So, whenever we're in observing mind, like that observer who's not judging, not evaluating, but like tagging, like you're having this experience, this is the script that's happening, you're in observing mind. And you can do that while being busy. Like, you can do that. You don't have to sit and listen to a 10-minute meditation and try to empty your mind. For me, when I tried to do those exercises, then all of the evaluation scripts like I can't do this, this is so hard for me, my body physically feels uncomfortable. PATRICK CASALE: Yep. And that can even lend itself and I'm going to get us back on track in a second. But that can even lend itself to being dismissed in the medical and mental health care system where medical professionals are like, "Have you tried mindfulness for sleep?" And you're like, "The fuck? Yes, of course, I have tried mindfulness for sleep. I am neurodivergent. Do you understand how that mean? How the brain works?" Yes, I have tried it. Have I ever tried to like tag and be mindful of a million different thoughts simultaneously while looping them all together? Like, that's every night of my experience? Of course, I've tried that. Yeah, anyway, I don't want to diverge that way. So, you wanted to also get to the topic of… MEGAN NEFF: Oh, yes, yeah. PATRICK CASALE: … slash [CROSSTALK 00:32:20]… MEGAN NEFF: So, we got a couple of questions about like, how do you tease out RSD from trauma, from attachment stuff? Which is great question. So, first, I think whenever we get the, like, tease out questions, I want to first ask, like, for what cause? Or for what purpose are we teasing this out? If it's like, I don't know what the diagnosis is, if you're a clinician, that's going to be a very different conversation. And if it's like, this is a known neurodivergent person. So, I mean, it's physiologically the same things happening, right? Like, the sympathetic nervous system or shut down mode, like it's been activated, a stress state has been activated. We're responding to something relational like, so teasing out like what are the triggers? So, in the context of trauma, and well, that also gets complicated over time about PTSD with a specific trauma, we're talking about complex trauma? But like, what are the triggers around it? Same thing with attachment. But honestly, I have a hard time teasing out like, what is anxious attachment and what is RSD, because if criticism, or feedback, or someone being disappointed in you, that's going to be an attachment injury. So, in attachment theory, we talked about attachment injuries, and that's going to activate stuff. So, yeah, again, muddy waters. When it's the neurodivergent person who also has trauma, also has insecure attachment, that point it's like a soup, right? Like all of these things are intersecting. And which means, also, like on one hand that could feel disempowering, but on the other hand, it means like, as we heal from trauma, as we move toward more secure attachment, everything's going to get better, right? The whole system's going to get better. Okay, I feel like I've talked or rambled. Let's stop for now. PATRICK CASALE: When you say it's, you know, muddy waters and like a soup, I think that's, again, I know so many of you want clarity on this. And I think sometimes there's not a lot of clarity to be given, because so many [CROSSTALK 00:34:44]- MEGAN NEFF: …things intersect. And these are constructs, right? Like attachment theory. Like, these are constructs we've put on top of experiences. PATRICK CASALE: Right. MEGAN NEFF: But they're limited. PATRICK CASALE: Absolutely. MEGAN NEFF: Now, it's totally up to you. PATRICK CASALE: No, that's fine. We're both having thoughts at the same time. But the one takeaway when we're talking about attachment trauma, if we're trying to like differentiate, if we're trying to… okay, if we want to put RSD over here versus what's anxious versus what's avoidant versus what's complex PTSD? Gets really murky. But what is at the foundational level of all of these things? It's something we've talked about several times already in the last two hours, connection. Attachment trauma is about connection. RSD, ultimately, is about connection, complex PTSD, there's going to be layers of unsafe or unhealthy connection. And I think that so often we're missing this mark of like, we want so badly to understand what's happening to us or our own experiences, right? But at the end of the day, foundationally, at our core, it comes back to connection, and our desire to have it, and our inability sometimes to receive it, or maintain it. And I think that that impacts everything that we're talking about. MEGAN NEFF: I love that of like, get back to the basics. And I think, especially, with autistic people, I can see this of like, we want to know precisely what's happening, right? So, like, what's the RSD? What's the trauma? What's this? I don't know how helpful that conversation is, but I do know that what's helpful is getting down to the core need. Like, okay, this is a painful moment, what do I need in this moment? And getting back to that like? And yeah, typically, a lot of these things are connection, belonging, these are the things that are being threatened, and this is what I need right now. So, getting back to the basics in those moments, I think, is ultimately, typically, going to be more helpful than like, is this attachment is this? It's like it's all the things, right? It's all the things intersecting in a difficult moment. PATRICK CASALE: Exactly. And what usefulness does it serve if we're just throwing label on top of label on top of label, because like, there's such a bad negative stereotype with avoidant attachment as there is, and then you throw, you know, the label of autism or neurodivergence, and people are going to have their own experiences around this. And I think, if we just circle back to connectivity, and just the ability to have relationships, and what are we missing? What are we feeling like we're really having painful experiences around? The attachment label doesn't matter as much. Like, it just gets so complicated and convoluted then, or trying to, like, parse apart, you know, things that are really deeply connected and interwoven too, and it's really hard sometimes to get a sense of like, where does this go? And where do I place this? MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think, partly, like, we have to get into how is the label being used? You know, I take a very constructivistic approach to language in general. Like, I prefer language that is most helpful. So, for some person, like talking about like, oh, my attachment system is activated right now. If that's the most helpful for you attuning to yourself, and validating your experience, use that language, right? If it's more helpful to be like, "Oh, my RSD is activated right now." Use that language, use that frame. But how these labels are being used, I realized, like for myself, I often use these labels in that mindful tagging way that we were just talking about of like, "Oh, this is happening for me right now." But I'm very aware that those labels could be used and have a very different experience for someone, right? It could be like, a shame base. Like, this thing is activated right now and I'm so like, mad about it and mad at myself. Or it could be used as a distancing, right? Distancing from the core wound, distancing from the core need by saying, "Oh, that's RSD." And then, like, just leaving it at that. It could be a way to emotionally distance from the pain. So, as much as the label is important, I think, more so like, how is that label being used? What's the internal experience of it? PATRICK CASALE: I just lost your sound for a second. MEGAN NEFF: Oh. PATRICK CASALE: You're back, okay. I heard how is this label being used? How is this label being experienced? Is that it? MEGAN NEFF: Yes. And then I was done. So, I just feel like I ended the sentence. PATRICK CASALE: Maybe that was it. But yeah, I agree 100%. And I think if we can kind of incorporate some of those techniques, and strategies, and just ways of thinking about this it could be a little bit less painful. And it's given me a lot of ideas right now, which is not where I want my brain to be going, and to diverging into all these ideas because I've got to get into other meetings. But I have so many ideas for episodes based off of these last couple of conversations. And again, I just want to highlight how helpful these Ask The Audience sessions can be, because, one, we want your feedback. Those of you who are listening, we appreciate all of you. That feedback has been very helpful, constructive, positive, and we do not take it for granted. And we want to answer these questions because we know a lot of this experience is feeling confused, feeling overwhelmed, feeling [INDISCERNIBLE 00:40:26], feeling disconnected, feeling alone, and we want to help maybe make this a little bit more of a human experience for all of you involved. Megan's just [INDISCERNIBLE 00:40:42]. MEGAN NEFF: I'm feeling like that was the conclusion, episodes are out every Friday. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, episodes are out every Friday on all major platforms and YouTube. And goodbye. MEGAN NEFF: It's like a compulsion now, Patrick. I like have to make it awkward at the end. PATRICK CASALE: I mean, you're doing a good job. MEGAN NEFF: I honestly I'm not trying. It's just like, okay, that was the summary. You look at me. I don't know what to add. I feel like if I add anything I'll have ruined yourself your beautiful summary. My voice is now going out. PATRICK CASALE: Just that. MEGAN NEFF: Goodbyes are rough. PATRICK CASALE: All right, goodbyes are rough. Goodbye.

Register For Our FREE Credit Repair Business Masterclass!What if I told you you could fight back against debt collectors and make them pay you?Well, that's exactly what today's returning guest, Vance Dotson, does for a living! Vance has the most unique business I've ever heard of. He's not an attorney yet makes millions of dollars suing debt collectors, banks, and credit bureaus. He's back today to tell us more crazy stories, explain a big FDCPA update, and share some important legal cases every Credit Hero needs to know. Vance also shares some fantastic new tactics for credit repair business, so you better stick around!Key Takeaways:Intro (00:00)How Vance Got Into Suing Debt Collectors (02:20)You Don't Need a Lawyer to Sue (11:05)New Regulation in the FDCPA (13:33)Most Common Violations by Debt Collectors (15:28)Biggest Mistake People Make and How to Avoid It (17:30)A Big Win (19:54)Important Cases Credit Heroes Should Look Into (21:51)New Tips and Advice for Credit Repair Businesses (25:24)Rapid Fire Questions (30:16)Outro (32:15)Additional Resources:- Get a free trial to Credit Repair Cloud- Get my free credit repair training  - Credit Report 101: A Beginner's Guide to Reading & Disputing!Make sure to subscribe so you stay up to date with our latest episodes.

In this episode of the Pipeliners Podcast, hosts Christopher De Leon and Rhett Dotson join Russel Treat to discuss learning integrity management. The hosts share insights from their experience in the pipeline industry and the creation of their podcast, "Pipeline Things." They highlight the importance of understanding pipeline failures, the role of regulations, and the challenges of pipeline integrity management. The hosts delve into their series called "The Failure Files," where they explore significant pipeline failures, analyze the lessons learned, and emphasize the importance of continuous improvement in integrity management. The conversation touches on topics such as the maturity of pipeline integrity programs, the balance between compliance and safety, and the need for a proactive approach to risk analysis. Visit PipelinePodcastNetwork.com for a full episode transcript, as well as detailed show notes with relevant links and insider term definitions. 

Our favorite MoFo, Santana Dotson, is enjoying a Packer W by 102.9 The Hog

In this episode:What injuries are most common while training for an Ironman and how can they be avoided? How often do athletes present to the medical tent at an IM event and what problems are they going with? On the Medical Mailbag we review recent research that explores a wealth of data to answer those questions. Plus, an interview with national cycling champion and self-described aero geek Heath Dotson on what kinds of trends make sense for age groupers to consider for their own set ups and what they should just skip.Segments:[time stamp]- Medical Mailbag: Ironman Medical Misadventures[time stamp]- Interview: Heath Dotson LinksTriathlon Magazine Canada article on Louise Atkinson Clark@Hdcoaching on Instagram @Heathdotson on Twitter Heath's Website

Santana Dotson on if the Packers are improving. by 102.9 The Hog

Do you ever feel like you are more sensitive to rejection, teasing, criticism, or your own perception that you have failed or fallen short? Or maybe you know someone who seems to be particularly hard on themselves and reactive to others? Everyone experiences some reaction to rejection, but individuals with RSD find themselves more likely to perceive harsh rejection and criticism where there might be none and can sometimes feel like they live in a chronic state of rejection. In this episode, Patrick Casale and Dr. Megan Anna Neff, two AuDHD mental health professionals, dive deep into the complexities of rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD) and its impact on neurodivergent individuals and the people around them. Top 3 reasons to listen to the entire episode: Understand the impact of RSD and how it can lead to chronic pain, affect relationships, and cause avoidance behaviors in professional and personal settings. Hear about some ways that RSD can impact relationship dynamics and major life changes and decisions. Learn about treatments and strategies to help with RSD, as well as ways to adapt therapeutic modalities to be more effective with neurodivergent individuals. Rejection sensitivity dysphoria can be difficult to navigate both internally and externally and can have a profound impact on the way you experience the world, but there are ways to address it that can help with reducing the intensity around feelings of rejection and finding ways to improve relationships through collaborative communication around RSD. Resources plus Exclusive Coupon Code Dr. Neff's Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Workbook Bundle (Clinical Use): https://neurodivergentinsights.com/neurodivergentstore/p/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-clinical  Dr. Neff's Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Workbook Bundle (Personal Use): https://neurodivergentinsights.com/neurodivergentstore/p/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-bundle Use Code: “DivergentConversationsListener” To get 20% off anything in the shop, including the RSD bundle.  Dr. Neff's free blog posts on RSD: https://neurodivergentinsights.com/blog/category/Rejection+Sensitive+Dysphoria  The EFT attachment infinity loop can be downloaded here: https://neurodivergentinsights.com/couples-resources   A Thanks to Our Sponsor, Tula Consulting! ✨ Tula Consulting: We would love to thank Tula Consulting for sponsoring this episode. Workplace communication can be messy. Considering the lens of neurodiversity can be helpful for understanding this. Maybe you found yourself frustratedly typing "per my last email" in an office communication, perplexed about how a colleague or client doesn't seem to understand your very clearly written email. Consider this. Visual information processing isn't everyone's strength. Perhaps a quick call could make a world of difference. Or how about including a video or voice message with your email? And this technology exists! Simple steps like these can make your work environment more accessible and bring out the best in everyone. Tula Consulting is on a mission to help organizations build more neuro-inclusive products and work environments. Tula does this by bringing curious minds to solve curious problems. Find out more by visiting tulaneurodiversity.org.   Transcript PATRICK CASALE: Hey, so we are about to do an episode on RSD today, which I think we are going to turn into a two-part episode. One, because there's so much to cover. Too, because Megan just wrote a 170-page workbook on the subject. Three, because I am unbelievably jet lagged and haven't slept in days. And Megan is not feeling well and is sick. So, we're going to do what we can today to kind of jump into the introduction to this topic. But a lot of you submitted questions to our Instagram, a lot of you submitted questions in general, and we want to cover all of them. We just may not get there today. But this is certainly a topic that we are going to circle back to. So, because Megan just wrote a 170-page workbook, I'm going to turn it over to you to kind of set the stage. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, well, one problem is when you've been swimming in the literature it's hard to know where to start the conversation. So, yeah, how do I synthesize RSD? Well, RSD stands for rejection sensitive dysphoria. Yeah, I guess I'll go over the history of it briefly. So, it was coined by Dr. William Dotson, who if you don't know who that is, like, I recommend Googling him. He's got a lot of really awesome articles up. He's got a lot of webinars that are free through ADDitude Magazine. And he's, like, done a lot in really emphasizing kind of the emotion regulation struggle that often happens with ADHD. But yeah, he's the one that coined RSD. Although, you could actually go back to the '60s and there was a psychiatrist before him, Dr. Paul Wender, who was describing symptoms that now we realize are RSD, who's using the language of atypical depression. But looking back, we actually see, like, okay, that was undiagnosed or often undiagnosed ADHD. And it was RSD and emotion regulation struggles that he was describing. So, there have been breadcrumbs of this in the literature since the 1960s. But it was really in the last 20 years or so that it's become an actual term. It's not a diagnosis. It's not something you'd be diagnosed with. It comes out of the ADHD literature, so there's some debate, like, is this a specifically ADHD thing? And there's several people that say, yes, this is like a distinctive ADHD thing. So, that's the kind of, I guess, clinical definition of RSD. Oh, I guess what it is. So, the question that Dr. Dotson would ask his… and he's a psychiatrist, he's not a psychologist, he's a psychiatrist. But what he'd ask his people when they come in is this question, "For your entire life, have you always been much more sensitive than people you know to rejection, teasing, criticism, or your own perception that you failed or have fallen short?" And he said, 99% of ADHDers would have this like, yes. And not just, yes, but like, "Oh, my gosh, I feel like you know something about me that I've been so embarrassed to tell the people in my life." And then about a third of ADHDers said, "This is the hardest part of ADHD to live with." So, it's pretty significant when we think about kind of the clinical picture of ADHD. Okay, I'll take a breather there. So, that's, I guess, the clinical definition, is it's a really intense, physical, emotional response to the perception of rejection. Or even, like, I guess self-rejection in the sense of like, I didn't live up to my own standards or bar, yes. PATRICK CASALE: And this is very different than other forms of rejection. And I think that's important. Like, you went over that in your... was it Misdiagnosis Monday that you created the diagram for recently? MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, so I created a Venn diagram comparing, like, what is normative rejection sensitivity and then what is RSD? And that's actually typically where I start the conversation. Earlier I was like, "Oh, I don't know where to start the conversation. I usually start with like the evolutionary history." Rejection sensitivity is like a human experience and thank goodness it is. So, if we look at it from an evolutionary lens, the idea that belonging to a group literally meant survival for most of human history. You know, we're pack creatures, and we're not the biggest or strongest species, but it's our ability to think together, to be together, to problem solve together that has meant humans have survived. So, the thinking goes, and this is, you know, any evolutionary psychology is going to be an oversimplification, but kind of the thinking goes, so our anatomy hasn't caught up, right? So, if we perceive rejection, we can experience that as a threat to belonging, therefore a threat to survival on a very kind of automatic level because it's like it's baked into our DNA. And so we haven't caught up to the fact that we don't actually have to belong to the group to survive in modern life. But our body chemistry or our nervous system hasn't caught up to that. So, I like to frame, like, rejection sensitivity through that lens of, yeah, this makes sense as a human experience and it's a spectrum. Some people have really intense. So, like, if you have RSD, you're going to have a really intense rejection sensitivity, whereas other people have more mild rejection sensitivity. But yeah, that is what I did on the Venn diagram and the articles. I walk through, like, this is what normative rejection sensitivity looks like and this is what RSD looks like because RSD is above and beyond that normative sensitivity to rejection. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, thanks for setting the stage like that because I think it's important to delineate between the two. Like, it's absolutely a process of human experience to feel hurt when they feel rejected, or to feel vulnerable, or to feel insecure, or to feel unsafe. But this takes this to a whole new level, right? Because the symptomology, the struggles that come with RSD can really intensify very quickly and be unbelievably debilitating. MEGAN NEFF: Absolutely, absolutely. Yes, debilitating. And like, yeah, I think that captures it. And that is part of, like, that's one of the ways I distinguish between, like, RSD versus normative of how much is influencing the person's decisions or daily life. And if, like, a fear of rejection, a fear of putting ourselves out there is significantly influencing our decision, that has a lot of control over our day-to-day. And typically, it's not a great thing for our well-being when fear is controlling. There's a lot of avoidance that can often happen for people when they have RSD. Like, avoidance of social situations, or putting themselves out there for like a job promotion. So, there can be career implications, romantic implications. Like, I can't even imagine asking someone out on a date, right? What if I'm rejected? So, yeah, it can be really debilitating. PATRICK CASALE: I see it show up a lot in the coaching that I do because of the entrepreneurial side of my business with a lot of my ADHD coaching clients, where it's really hard to even put themselves out there on social media, it's really hard to create content, it's really hard to put their own spin on something because God forbid someone comes in and critiques it or says something that really sends them down that shame spiral. MEGAN NEFF: So, I actually just had a really interesting consultation around this. And right now I'm working with a psychoanalyst because I'm wanting to… this is a little bit of a divergent trail, I'm wanting to… So, as a psychologist, when I work one-on-one with people, I have a relational framework for the work I do. And I've realized having a framework is really helpful. So, I'm wanting to figure out how to adapt that relational framework to what I do as a public psychologist. So, I've been consulting with… a lot of people consult with like business coaches, I'm consulting with a psychoanalyst to figure out how do I bring a relational framework to the work I'm doing? PATRICK CASALE: That's right. MEGAN NEFF: But part of what came up was this, I've realized in writing this workbook that RSD is probably the number one block when it comes to, especially, social media because social media is just such a vicious space right now. It can be, I shouldn't make global statements, it can be. And one thing I was talking about was how as an autistic person, my ideas, and my emotions are not separate. So, as an autistic ADHDer, right? Like, and I see that a lot with autistic people, our ideas, and our emotions, our ideas, our values, and our personhood are so integrated. So, when I put my ideas out there, I'm putting a lot of myself out there, and then you layer on top of that RSD, damn, that's hard. PATRICK CASALE: It is. That's such a great way to kind of just put that out there too. And I know that you've been on the receiving end as I have too, your audience is significantly bigger, so you probably receive more of it, but I've been on the receiving end of text messages with you where someone said something nasty, or really like offensive, or just inappropriate, and how debilitating… why do I keep using that word? How painful that [CROSSTALK 00:10:1]1- MEGAN NEFF: ...today. PATRICK CASALE: I don't know, I feel like my brain is moving at like MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, we're both struggling. PATRICK CASALE: [CROSSTALK 00:10:19] but how painful that experience has been for you and how it makes you kind of retreat inward, and then a void. MEGAN NEFF: It does. So, I just recently switched things up. And it's actually been so good for my mental health. Like, the way I joke about is that I've emotionally broken up with social media because what I was noticing, I noticed a few things and it's so helpful to have the RSD lens. Like, probably for the first six months, when I was growing, it was really exciting. I'd open the app, I'd be excited to see like how many like, you know, because I had these little posts that would just go viral. And it'd be exciting to see that. And then it shifted to where I'd open the app and I would dread like, "Oh, no, did it go viral?" Or like my stomach would drop every time I open the app. Or every time I open a DM or the comments, like, half the time I literally kind of open the comments because I would feel so stuck of like, what am I going to see? 99% of the comments are really incredible things to read. But of course, those aren't the ones that stick to my brain. It's the 1% of it. Again, I want to tease apart, some of the comments that are critiques have been really, really good learning experiences for me. And then some of them are just like rude, and unkind, and come with a lot of hostility. And I do value the ones that are hard to take in but those have been good learning experiences for me. Yeah, I got to a point where I would feel physically sick opening the app. So, what I've done is I've turned comments off. I have an auto DM. And I will go days without opening the app. So, I will open it on Monday and Wednesday when I post. And you know how you can see on your phone how much time you've spent, like I spend like five minutes a week on Instagram. And it's amazing. And I feel like I've so much of my nervous system back, I have so much my mental real estate back. And I'm reinvesting that. I've launched my more community-oriented membership. And I'm reinvesting that energy in people who are really committed to showing up and engaging authentically. And I cannot explain what a difference that has made for my mental health. PATRICK CASALE: I'm really happy that you've done that for yourself because I know the amount of energy it takes. I also know how impactful it becomes. And it becomes a situation where you have… I, typically, in these moments will shut down, I will avoid, I'll turn everything off, I have to disconnect from everything. And then you're right, there's like this fearfulness of even opening the app back up. There's this like overwhelming dread sensation of like having to look at anything where you may perceive it in any sort of way that feels critical or… and not in a bad way because criticism is not always a bad thing, like you mentioned. But there are just people who like to just say stupid shit just to say stupid shit. And you have free rein to do that on the internet. So, it becomes really hard for people who are in online practices who are therapists who will have to network virtually, who have to show up online because that can really intensify very quickly and all of a sudden that leads to that shutdown or the disconnection. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah. No, I love how you're connecting it to entrepreneurship because I think there's a lot of, particularly, ADHD entrepreneurs and RSD is very ADHD thing. And like, that double-edged sword of, yeah, like, you have to put yourself out there to be an entrepreneur. And oh, my goodness, if you put yourself out there, you're going to face criticism. You just are. Like, you can't please everyone. And something I like that's a mantra I remind myself, but when you have RSD you have to. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, you're right. And that's why I keep bringing up the entrepreneurial side is because so many ADHDers that I know are entrepreneurs and it makes sense. Like, it works with the way the brain functions, and the creativity, and the spontaneity, and all the innovation. And like, it's also really challenging because it is about showing up. And you mentioned something before that's sticking in my mind about like, the inner connection of like the inner woven thought, feeling, experience for autistic people. And I get that very much and so much of ourselves when we put ourselves out there in that way, is like this is an extension of how I'm feeling and how I'm moving through the world. So, for it to be picked apart at times of like, "Oh, well, this isn't that character, this doesn't sound right, or like, I don't like the way this came across." All of a sudden it becomes this, like, sensation or this experience of my personhood, like, my sense of self is being under attack right now. And that makes me want to, like, bury my head and hide. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And then, again, I guess, to bring it back to the AuDHD experience, like, another thing I see and I experience as an autistic person is like the fear of putting something out there and it being factually wrong. Like, I think that's one of my biggest fears. And I see that with a lot of autistic people. Like, what if I write something, and then in five years new research comes out, and like that language, and that, like, I've been talking to my spouse a lot about… my business has just become a huge source of stress if I'm working way too many hours, and I'm chronically sick. So, something has to change. And one of the things I was realizing and talking with my spouse, the reason I'm so stressed is I'm frantically because I have this membership that I've historically published a workbook a month that also means I've got like 20 workbooks, and I'm like, what is wrong in that, that I now want to go back and update? Because the idea of like, anything being out in the world that has my name on it, that might be factually wrong, from an autistic lens is also, like, very unfathomable. PATRICK CASALE: And I imagine how unmanageable that becomes too, that it's like, "Oh, I have a 170-page workbook. Now I have to go back and add or edit and revise." And like, very time consuming, obviously. But, you know, Luke is obviously a God sent too, so… MEGAN NEFF: Yes, that's what he is [INDISCERNINBLE 00:16:44] one. But yeah, so I think, especially, the autistic ADHD experience, it gets complicated because there's a lot of different layers that we can feel rejected or criticized. So, this, I think, is a really important part of RSD. And I think this becomes an important part of learning how to work with RSD when our brain is hyper-vigilantly scanning for signs of rejection, what it means is that, like, the wiring around that is going to become like, and the neural pathways are going to become really forged around, like, perceiving rejection, which means we're going to perceive it when it's not actually there. And this is where I think partnerships and friendships really suffer. Like, let's say two ADHDers, right? So, like, someone forgets to call or someone forgets, like, because working memory, it can be a struggle, and the person with RSD that might trigger, like, that person doesn't care about me, and it could trigger so many narratives, when it's really like, oh, something came up and they forgot. And I think that is part of what causes so much pain around RSD is it's like someone is perceiving it chronically when they're not actually being rejected. PATRICK CASALE: That's what I come across the most too when people are asking questions around RSD is like, well, if I'm moving through the world where I'm constantly feeling this pain of rejection or experiencing it this way, how do I then move through the world? Because it's so hard to maintain friendships, working relationships, professional relationships, etc. when I'm experiencing RSD so intensely in all of these situations. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, for a lot of people it's like, okay, it's easier just not to put myself out there. It's easier not to be in a relationship. It's easier to make my world small. And that's a really sad solution. PATRICK CASALE: It is because there's so many feelings of isolation, and loneliness, and disconnection as there is for a lot of neurodivergent people, so intentionally shrinking your world to protect yourself from potential harm, it's really, really hard. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We haven't even talked about that aspect of RSD of, and this is why, like, you also hear autistic people talk about RSD. I'm really curious, we haven't seen a study on this but I'd be curious if we did a study that controlled for the ADHD because we know so many autistic people have ADHD, like purely autistic people, would they still have RSD? I'd love to see a study on that. But the neurodivergent experience of just perpetual miss-attunement, like we have had more rejection. So, that's another complicating factor, right? We're more likely to perceive it, but partly that's because we are more likely to have experienced social victimization and rejection. And then it becomes this kind of vicious feedback loop of if we show up anticipating rejection, we might have developed psychological defenses and ways of being in the world that actually make it more likely for us to be rejected. And, yeah, it's vicious. PATRICK CASALE: We've talked before about, like, how we always lay out the pain points because so much of the experience is pain points, honestly. But if we're saying this, right? And then we take a step back from the clinical lens for people to say, okay, this is my experience, this is my world, this is every day, this is how I move through relationships, this is how I perceive conversation and feedback. What do we do? MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, no, I mean, there are things we can do. And I'm going to kind of put it in two buckets, psychopharmacological. Okay, big words and brain fog don't mix well today. And then kind of psychological treatments or therapeutic, like, more traditional type treatments. And again, this comes from Dr. Dotson's work, but he has talked about, so there's a class of medications, I'm going to actually look it up so I make sure I'm using the right words, that it's a non-stimulant medication, that it's a class of medications that's sometimes used for a for ADHD. So, alpha agonist is the class, and clonidine and guanfacine are the two medications within that class. Okay, this is really technical, but both have about a 30% response rate. So, a response rate when we're talking about medication is kind of significant reduction of symptoms when the person is on it. So, 30% isn't great. But these two medications are different enough that if you try one, and it doesn't work, and you try the other, there's about a 55 to 60% response rate that one of these will work for you. That's actually a pretty good response rate when it comes to medication. And Dr. Dotson, and again, he is a psychiatrist, but like, he will talk about how he's worked with people who have maybe been like, psychoanalysts for 10 years. RSD wasn't touched, they go on medication, and it's like they ask a girl out for the first time or they apply for that job. Like, it provides emotional armor that they needed. A, to just get out of that avoidance suit, but B, to actually be able to engage like the talk therapy tools. We often need some sort of armor or just regulation to be able to engage the tools that are useful. So, I think that's a really helpful frame just to realize, like, there are medications out there that might be helpful for some people. PATRICK CASALE: That is definitely helpful. And then, you know, on the other bucket, the psychological framework and toolkit that we're talking about, what are strategies that you think are useful? MEGAN NEFF: So, yeah, like a lot of kind of the traditional emotion regulation strategies, but then like, a little bit more targeted. First of all, I think, learning about the rejection sensitivity lens, I say this a lot, and sometimes it gets big reactions, but like, we have to learn to not always trust our minds. Like, our minds are not always helpful. Sometimes, like- PATRICK CASALE: Totally. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, our minds love attention. And so sometimes it'll spew the most mean, negative, alarming things at us to get our attention. And this is one area where I think learning to not trust our minds becomes really important, realizing, okay, I am prone to have like a rejection goggles on or rejection lens on, which means I'm going to see it when, like, maybe my partner isn't actually trying to reject me, or maybe my boss is genuinely giving me… like, is intending good for me in this constructive feedback. So, I think one really getting clarity on that lens so that we can identify when that's on so that we can unhook from it a little bit more. I would say that's the first step. Other steps like emotion regulation strategies. So, again, if we put this back into the perspective of a threat response, our nervous system, our stress state, our fight, flight, freeze, fawn wherever we go in our nervous system is going to be activated when we're perceiving rejection. So, I'm a big fan of like nervous system mapping, which I think that comes from polyvagal theory. I don't love all of polyvagal theory, but I like this idea of nervous system mapping of like, let me map where I am in my stress response, and then figure out what tools you need. So, if you're someone who goes, like hyperarousal, you would need downregulation strategies to kind of help cool the body off. So, emotion regulation strategies. And then, also, things like knowing your rejection triggers, knowing your, like, what I call raw, but what I didn't come up with the term, but raw spots. Like, what are those raw spots or those areas in our life where maybe we have some attachment wounds, or some relational wounds so when they get bumped they pull a big reaction from us, getting a lot of clarity about, like, what are your rough spots? Why? What's the history of those? What happens to you when those get activated? So, also, like a ton of insight, right? Insight into your relational patterns, into your psyche. I'll stop there, that was a bit. There's, I'm sure more. PATRICK CASALE: Those are good to start out with so that people can implement this stuff and start, you know, doing their own research or incorporating these into their day-to-day because I think it's important to be proactive, too, because I think you're mentioning so many important tips right now and the raw spot suggestion, great suggestion, right? Because if you know what creates these triggers for you, then you can work on, you know, preventing, or at least putting into practice something that will help regulate when you're going into events like that or moments like that. I actually don't like at all, and I just want to be clear about this, CBT but REBT, rational emotive behavioral therapy, when you do like the ABCDE model of like activating event, behavioral challenge, challenging belief disputation, because what we're talking about is like, my wife's not picking up the phone, she must not love me anymore. And we're jumping to these conclusions, we're catastrophizing a lot, and I like that you said, don't always trust your brain because there are always, and I don't want to use blanket statements either, there are often alternative explanations for behavior. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah. Wait, so are you saying you don't typically like CBT but you do like that CBT exercise? PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, I like that exercise because it allows you to say like, what's the activating event? Okay, she doesn't pick up the phone. My immediate reaction is she doesn't love me anymore, right? Like, and then you've kind of processed it through that lens of like, but what are the other scenarios here for not picking up the phone? MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, I'm glad you say that because I'm with you. And that, like, I tend to not default to CBT, especially, for neurodivergent or anyone who's had a marginalized experience in the world because I think it can be really invalidating. But then there's these tools from CBT that I really like. And I'm like, well, if you put it in context, this can actually be really helpful. And I don't want us to, like, throw the baby out with the bathwater. So, I'll talk about that too, like putting your thoughts through a reality filter. And there's certain questions you can ask to be like, okay, is this thought helpful to me right now? Is it like, yeah, are there cognitive distortions that are, like, influencing this? Kind of that detective work of like, let me become a detective of my own mind, and my own experience, and my own thoughts, which even just the act of stepping outside of the experience into that observing detective, ideally, non-evaluative, non-judgmental mode is therapeutic, no matter where you land on the reality filter of the thought. PATRICK CASALE: Absolutely, yeah. And I'll just piggyback on my statement of saying I'm not a fan of CBT. I know how harmful it is for marginalized communities and for neurodivergent folks in… oh, we could have a whole episode on therapeutic modalities that don't work well for neurodivergent human beings. But if you put it through that lens, and I like that you use that word, you can start becoming that detective, you can start, like, taking that step back because it's really helpful when it feels like almost everything is creating this intensification of experiences that leaves you feeling like you're not able to participate in your life because you just feel like you can't put yourself out there or you can't, you know, speak your mind, or you feel like you just can't show up the way you want to show up. And I think that's really challenging for a lot of ND folks, too, is like, if I can't show up authentically, that really feels uncomfortable and that feels really painful, too. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, I mean, that then ties into like masking and RSD which that can be its own, like complex conversation. But yeah, if masking helps reduce RSD you could see how like, okay, I'm going to say this, but then I'm going to unpack it, masking becomes a form of self-care. And I don't mean that masking is actually self-care, but like, in that option of like, I'm either going to, like, spiral, like, the fear of I'm going to spiral with RSD because I'm going to show up authentically and you know, the fear, it's not going to be perceived, or I'm going to mask, I could see how for someone masking feels like the less energy cost of the two. And again, that's assuming that masking is like a choice, which it often is not. But it's just that is an interesting, like, yeah, the masking RSD dynamic. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, absolutely. So, I think we could take this in a variety of ways. And I think we could talk about, like, partnership and RSD, I think we could talk about so many different avenues. I also don't know how your energy is and I want to check on that. MEGAN NEFF: No, I actually feel like I've talked a lot about like content creation in RSD, which is not going to be, like, the majority of people listening to this. So, I'd love to spend some energy to generalize it more to, yeah, relationships, workplace, things like that. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah. MEGAN NEFF: Absolutely. PATRICK CASALE: So, let's talk relationships. Whether it's, you know, different neurotypes, same neurotype, one person is experiencing RSD, one person's not, that can be really challenging because conflict can arise in relationships, and often does. And it can feel really, really painful to feel like you are being critiqued, or you feel really vulnerable, or you're, you know, feeling like you're spiraling often in conversations with your partner. And I imagine then the other partner would then feel that challenge too of like, I don't even know what I can say. MEGAN NEFF: Yes, yeah. I mean, I think it's painful for both people involved, right? Because if one person feels like they're walking on eggshells, right? That's kind of the famous metaphor, that is not healthy for a relationship if there's not the capacity to talk openly about what is happening, and if hard conversations spiral into, like, emotion dysregulation and conflict. So, that is a really painful scenario for both partners involved. Yeah, absolutely. With relationships, I'd be curious to kind of like overlay attachment style and RSD. And attachment theory is one that like it gets critiqued for being oversimplified, but I find it a really helpful lens, even with it being, if people know like, okay, this is probably an oversimplification, I still find it really helpful and to someone who has RSD and also, anxiously attached, like, there's going to be some big emotions when they perceive like an attachment injury or where they perceive they're being criticized. And again, kind of, I'm mapping, I guess, is my word today, but mapping out what are the attachment styles. There's a really great exercise from EFT therapy. It's infinity loop. I have a link on my website, I could link it in our show notes. But it's essentially you map out, like, what happens in the aftermath of an attachment injury. Like, what story does each partner start telling? What did they start doing, right? So, some partners will retreat, some will go to work because it's like, we have to fix this. But then that activates another story, like a secondary story. So, you can map out like, okay, what happens to us in an attachment injury. I think exercises like that become really helpful because then you can understand and name the chaos without a map of like, what is happening here? It's really confusing. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I'm glad you mentioned that because I think recognizing the attachment style and the pattern and then being able to, again, step back when you're not activated and look at it, and say, okay, now I get a sense of like, what's happening in these moments because what you don't want to do, like you said, it's not a healthy partnership if you're walking on eggshells if you feel like you can't have communication, and it's very different experiences on either side, so each partner is experiencing this painfully but very differently, too. MEGAN NEFF: Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. Like, I think ideally the RSD could almost be externalized and be talked about as like a thing in the relationship, right? Like, okay, we just hit an RSD wall, or like, we just triggered the RSD. I love externalizing both and like individual techniques, I do it all the time. Like with, oh, my mind is doing this thing, right. That's it. I'm externalizing it. I'm making it less connected to me. I'm saving the relationships when we can externalize it and it's like, let's collaboratively solve the struggle we're experiencing around this RSD trigger versus you versus me. That really changes the conversation. PATRICK CASALE: It feels much more like teamwork at that point in time. And going back to your detective analogy before, like, you're both putting on that detective hat of like, how can we solve this together? Instead of you're injuring me versus I'm experiencing our relationship this way. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah, that makes such a big difference when partners can do that, like stand side by side, look at the dynamic together versus… I see that a lot, so much like accusations, and kind of like, I mean, our narcissism episode just came out. Like, you are a narcissist, or you're gaslighting me. Like these huge words get thrown out, or can get thrown out when we're looking at the other person as the problem versus looking at the dynamic, or the issue, or the like the process, content versus process. Like, that's a communication thing of when we're locked in the content, which we typically are during in RSD trigger. That means we're locked in like, the thing we're talking about. Process is kind of like bird's eye view, like what is actually happening here relationally? You can get unhooked from the content enough to have some process conversation, some process reflection, that is so helpful in relationships. PATRICK CASALE: Absolutely, 100%. And I think that's also a good transition point into professional relationships. Like, because those things happen in the workplace, too. And it can happen with your co-workers, it can happen from a employee/employer standpoint, and the implications can be pretty huge, like you said, not trying to go for that promotion that you wanted, not talking out in staff meetings because you're going to feel rejected for how you come across. There are so many ways that this can show up in the workplace, too. MEGAN NEFF: Absolutely, absolutely. And I think it's going to depend like, so I talked about, well, Dotson talks about three ways people can respond to RSD, I've added a fourth one. And I have like a little matrix up of like the different ways people can typically respond to RSD. So, workplace stress is going to depend on like, what is your kind of default response? So, like, perfectionism is a really common response to RSD. Like, if I just never make a mistake, then I'm fine. No one's ever going to perceive any of this, right? It's totally illogical, except it's not because we're going to make mistakes. People pleasing, so kind of, like, I put that in under the fawn mode. Like, perpetual people pleasing, like reading, like, what does this person want from me? And a lot of people that are RSD become really good at like, kind of taking in a person, figuring out exactly who they want the person to be. I think that ties back into masking and other things. And then avoidance. So, just like, I'm going to avoid putting myself out there. I think that's the one we've talked about the most in this episode. And then the one I added is the like projector or someone who gets like fight mode when they're perceiving rejection. So, yeah, workplace, if you're a perfectionist people pleaser, with RSD in the workplace, you're going to burn out really fast. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, yeah. It's going to look like workaholism, right? And you're going to be potentially putting in extra hours that are unnecessary, you're going to be taking on additional tasks that you don't really have the capacity for or don't want to do. And you're going to be one of those employees potentially that goes above and beyond for everything. And then ultimately, it's like, fuck, I can't do this job anymore. This is not manageable for me. This is not sustainable. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah. And like I think you and I were probably both in that category. And I think that then resentment can come in. So, I would say it's like a more low-simmer chronic RSD response, right? Because there's this illusion of I can, yeah, evade rejection if I just work harder. But then the resentment that builds up, the burnout that that builds up. Absolutely, yeah. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, absolutely. And then it leads to either termination or leads to quitting a job that you may have been able to navigate or find some accommodation for and it can be really challenging. I think that if we're looking at the whole person, this is so impactful interpersonally, in relationships, in employment places, employment places, places of employment, [INDISCERNIBLE 00:39:39] but it's so impactful. So, knowing the triggers, like you said, implementing some of these soothing strategies for your nervous system, being able to have these conversations, being able to externalize. I think there are a lot of good strategies that you're naming and mentioning right now. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, yeah. And then also for the avoiders, right? Like getting out of the avoidance loop, which essentially, a lot of anxiety-based treatments are all about targeting avoidance because avoidance feeds anxiety. So, I would add that tool for the avoiders, and especially, with the workplace. Like, avoiders are probably going to be underemployed, they're not going to be going up for that promotion, they're not going to be putting themselves out there. And so really targeting avoidance, using exposure. Gosh, it's going to be a whole other episode. Actually, I feel some guilt about this because I think I used to be one of the voices that said this, and I'm now seeing it on social media a lot. Like, exposure therapy doesn't work for autistic people. Exposure therapy doesn't work for sensory habituation. But that doesn't mean it doesn't work for PTSD triggers, for anxiety. So, we have to get out of this, I think it's a dangerous mindset to say exposure therapy doesn't work for autistic people. When you're in an anxious-driven avoidance loop, you absolutely have to do exposure. Like, it can be natural, it should be led by you. So, for that person exposure and addressing the anxiety would be a really important part of the toolkit. PATRICK CASALE: Glad you name that. I think that's a really good tip and also good framework for the recognition that in some instances certain techniques and strategies are useful, like we said before, despite not being useful as like a blanket statement or across the board. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah, I'm starting to become more gentle in my language use. Like, I think I used to be like, "This kind of therapy is bad." Like, I used to say, like, "CBT is bad for autistic people." I'm now more around like things need to be adapted, right? So, you need to adapt exposure therapy when you do it for an autistic person, 1,000%. If you're using CBT, you should adapt it and consider the marginalized experiences. So, I'm kind of like, yeah, I'm changing my narrative a little bit and how I talk about it. I'm softening it to talk more about adapting and less about what's good and what's bad. PATRICK CASALE: I think it's also important to like, differentiate between taking one simple tool, or technique, or strategy from something, opposed to saying like, okay, CBT as a whole, we don't like it. But this one technique really is useful if we adapt it in a neurodivergent affirmative way. And I think that you could do that with a lot of different therapeutic interventions and modalities. MEGAN NEFF: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. PATRICK CASALE: Usually, three yeahs in a row from you is like, all right, let's transition out. So, is that where we're at? MEGAN NEFF: I mean, I don't know how long we've been recording. You're right. Like, you said this before we started recording because we were both feeling really lousy. And I was like, "I don't know if this will be a good episode." You were like, "Usually when we start talking it like works." I feel like I could talk longer. But I also feel like I could be done. I don't know, what do you feel? PATRICK CASALE: I feel the same way. I think we've been recording now for about 45 minutes so- MEGAN NEFF: Okay, good length. PATRICK CASALE: Good length of time. And I think it's a good foundational episode to then build off of for different perspectives. I think we can also have people on here to talk about their own RSD experiences, and how it shows up, and how they work through it, or try to manage, and support themselves. So, I think we can go a lot of directions with this. MEGAN NEFF: Yeah. And I mean, I love, we should definitely do a like answer questions follow up because I think people have a lot of questions around this topic. And so we could do that. PATRICK CASALE: Yeah, will say I didn't think about even asking for questions for the episode until like 10 minutes before we started recording. We got like six questions immediately. So, I think that with another day or two, we could compile all that and we can address that the next time we record. MEGAN NEFF: Let's do that. PATRICK CASALE: Cool. Well, for those of you who don't know, Megan, and I haven't recorded in like three and a half weeks because I've been gone and I just appreciate being able to fall back into this even though we feel crappy, like connected in that way. So, just want to thank you for that. What was I going to say? MEGAN NEFF: I think episodes are out every Friday on all major platforms, Spotify, Apple… PATRICK CASALE: What Megan just said, new episodes are out every single Friday. If you have topic requests, if you have questions you want answered, please email our Gmail address that's attached to our Instagram, which is divergentconversationspodcast@gmail.com. We do read those. We don't always respond because we just don't always have the capacity or the spoons to do so. And new episodes are out every single Friday on all major platforms and YouTube. And Megan has a 170-page workbook on RSD that you can purchase from her website at neurodivergentinsights.com. And that will be linked in the show notes as well. Cool. All right, goodbye.

Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell isn't concerned about receiver Jahan Dotson, and his recent production proves we shouldn't be either. Plus, it's never too early to look at the NFL Draft with five Commanders picks in the first three rounds. Finally, Ron Rivera on offensive line improvements and how two losses could help Washington win this weekend. Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…

This week on Pitmaster, we have Brian Corbett with Smokin' Skullies and Steve Dotson with D Qued BBQ talking about how to assess your competition BBQ season and ways to practice in the offseason. 

On this episode of Take 5, Craig and Logan break down the film of Sam Howell's 33 yard TD pass to Jahan Dotson from the Commanders' 20-17 victory over the Patriots. The two go through why it worked and how it is the perfect example of what the Commanders should be doing on offense.  Enjoy! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From 'Reception Perception' (subscribe here): In this clip, James and Matt tell you the one thing you need to know about Commanders receiver Jahan Dotson. Matt Harmon and James Koh whip around the NFL and cover the position they know best: Wide receivers. Using the data from Harmon's exclusive Reception Perception charting methodology, the guys give their takes on receivers at every level of the game. Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts, as well. Follow the guys on Twitter @JamesDKoh and @MattHarmon_BYB. Follow Reception Perception @RecepPerception. Download and Subscribe to the Reception Perception Show anywhere you get your podcasts. Watch segments of the show on YouTube at Matt Harmon!! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this clip, James and Matt tell you the one thing you need to know about Commanders receiver Jahan Dotson. Matt Harmon and James Koh whip around the NFL and cover the position they know best: Wide receivers. Using the data from Harmon's exclusive Reception Perception charting methodology, the guys give their takes on receivers at every level of the game. Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts, as well. Follow the guys on Twitter @JamesDKoh and @MattHarmon_BYB. Follow Reception Perception @RecepPerception. Download and Subscribe to the Reception Perception Show anywhere you get your podcasts. Watch segments of the show on YouTube at Matt Harmon!! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From 'Reception Perception' (subscribe here): In this clip, James and Matt tell you the one thing you need to know about Commanders receiver Jahan Dotson.Matt Harmon and James Koh whip around the NFL and cover the position they know best: Wide receivers. Using the data from Harmon's exclusive Reception Perception charting methodology, the guys give their takes on receivers at every level of the game.Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts, as well.Follow the guys on Twitter @JamesDKoh and @MattHarmon_BYB. Follow Reception Perception @RecepPerception. Download and Subscribe to the Reception Perception Show anywhere you get your podcasts.Watch segments of the show on YouTube at Matt Harmon!! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts We've got another tight end to add this week as Trey McBride has arrived! Plus we give you plenty of quarterback options. First, the big news on Kirk Cousins and the rest of the injured QBs before Dave gives his top waiver wire priorities (3:50) and we talk FAB (10:25) ... Top three players at each position: QB (16:35), RB (19:40), WR (22:22), TE (24:15), DST (25:50). We discuss Jahan Dotson, Gardner Minshew, Will Levis, Demario Douglas and many more. Plus, we've got shallow league (28:15) and deep league options (29:40) to consider ... Recapping Raiders-Lions (36:05) and debating the rest of season value for Jahmyr Gibbs. Is he even going to be better than David Montgomery? Then we've got the Dropometer (47:05) and another look at the waiver wire (50:00) at each position with more players to add ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

October 31: Matthew (@MatthewBerryTMR), Jay Croucher (@croucherJD) and Connor Rogers (@ConnorJRogers) waste no time diving into Matthew's Waiver Wire targets coming off of Week 8 of the season. The trio break down players position-by-position, including Jahan Dotson, Demario Douglas, Tyjae Spears, Darrell Henderson, Sam Howell and Trey McBride. They also discuss Jahmyr Gibbs' breakout game on Monday night before concluding the show with their favorite futures bets right now.(04:30) – WR Waiver Wire: Jahan Dotson, Demario Douglas, Brandin Cooks, Rashid Shaheed, Quentin Johnston, Khalil Shakir and Jayden Reed(23:05) – RB Waiver Wire: Tyjae Spears, Darrell Henderson, Royce Freeman, Leonard Fournette, Emari Demercado, Devin Singletary and Zach Charbonnet(40:35) – QB Waiver Wire: Sam Howell, Derek Carr, Baker Mayfield, Gardner Minshew and Will Levis(43:50) – TE Waiver Wire: Trey McBride, Logan Thomas, Taysom Hill, Hunter Henry and Michael Mayer(45:00) – Defensive Streamers: Falcons, Patriots and Giants(46:05) – Raiders at Lions Reaction: Jahmyr Gibbs goes off (again) while Davante Adams' slump continues(50:15) – Back to the Futures: Betting Bryce Young for OROY, Kevin O'Connell for COY and Saints to make the Playoffs

Santana Dotson tries to find the positive in the Packers' latest stinkeroo by 102.9 The Hog

Santana Dotson's take on the spiraling Packers by 102.9 The Hog

From 'Reception Perception' (subscribe here): Matt Harmon and Nate Tice try to understand why the Sam Howell to Jahan Dotson has been non-existent so far this season. Matt Harmon and James Koh whip around the NFL and cover the position they know best: Wide receivers. Using the data from Harmon's exclusive Reception Perception charting methodology, the guys give their takes on receivers at every level of the game. Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts, as well. Follow the guys on Twitter @JamesDKoh and @MattHarmon_BYB. Follow Reception Perception @RecepPerception. Download and Subscribe to the Reception Perception Show anywhere you get your podcasts. Watch segments of the show on YouTube at Matt Harmon!! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Should we be concerned for Commanders WR Jahan Dotson's lack of production? Ryan Horvat of BetMGM Tonight talks about the big games as we talk betting. We close the hour going around the NFL.

From 'Reception Perception' (subscribe here): Matt Harmon and Nate Tice try to understand why the Sam Howell to Jahan Dotson has been non-existent so far this season.Matt Harmon and James Koh whip around the NFL and cover the position they know best: Wide receivers. Using the data from Harmon's exclusive Reception Perception charting methodology, the guys give their takes on receivers at every level of the game.Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts, as well.Follow the guys on Twitter @JamesDKoh and @MattHarmon_BYB. Follow Reception Perception @RecepPerception. Download and Subscribe to the Reception Perception Show anywhere you get your podcasts.Watch segments of the show on YouTube at Matt Harmon!! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin Dotson is a PFF darling. He detailed differences between McVay and Tomlin. Dorin provides his perspective on coaching styles now compared to past generations. Analyzing Tomlin's relationships with his players. If nothing else, he never loses his team. 

Matt Harmon and Nate Tice try to understand why the Sam Howell to Jahan Dotson has been non-existent so far this season. Matt Harmon and James Koh whip around the NFL and cover the position they know best: Wide receivers. Using the data from Harmon's exclusive Reception Perception charting methodology, the guys give their takes on receivers at every level of the game. Whether it's the biggest stars in the league or new rookies bursting on the scene, you won't get better wideout information anywhere else. Along the way, they'll break down the biggest stories in the NFL and offer up a few big-picture fantasy football thoughts, as well. Follow the guys on Twitter @JamesDKoh and @MattHarmon_BYB. Follow Reception Perception @RecepPerception. Download and Subscribe to the Reception Perception Show anywhere you get your podcasts. Watch segments of the show on YouTube at Matt Harmon!! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

10/19 Hour 3: Beltway Blitz - 1:00 Why hasn't Jahan Dotson been involved - 19:00 Calls on Jahan's production - 32:00

Andy wonders why Jahan Dotson has been so quiet this season. Also, how they plan on handling the sack problem (0:00-18:04). Steve Buckhantz joins to preview the Wizards and the NBA as a whole (18:05-39:31). Checking up on Emmanuel Forbes, who might be forced into the action this Sunday vs. the Giants (39:32-54:34). For more sports coverage, download the ESPN630 AM app, visit https://www.sportscapitoldc.com, or tune in live from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM Monday-Friday.To join the conversation, check us out on twitter @ESPN630DC and @andypollin1See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15:48 - Commanders: reaction to John Hussey being the referee for the Commanders' game at the New York Giants...breakdown of a jam-packed injury report for the game...and discussion of comments from head coach Ron Rivera on the productive season that edge defender Chase Young is having, the benching of corner Emmanuel Forbes Jr., receiver/punt returner Jamison Crowder winning Special Teams Player Of The Week and more 37:01 - Commanders: deep dive on quarterback Sam Howell, including him ranking very well in Completion Percentage Above Expectation and key comments from him and head coach Ron Rivera on Howell taking so many sacks...and analysis of the seasons that receivers Jahan Dotson and Curtis Samuel are having, including notable comments from Dotson on his disappointing season 01:03:40 - Capitals: thoughts on an ugly 6-1 loss at the Ottawa Senators that featured winger Alex Ovechkin not having a shot on goal for a second consecutive regular-season game for the first time in his NHL career Visit InsuranceBMC.com and tell BMC Insurance that Al Galdi sent ya! Visit WSHOnTheDaily.com! Visit UnderdogFantasy.com or download the Underdog Fantasy app, sign up and use the promo code "Galdi" for Underdog Fantasy to double your first deposit with up to $500 in bonus cash when you make a first deposit of at least $10! Download the Gametime app, create an account and use the promo code "Al Galdi" for $20 off your first purchase! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From 10/19 Hour 3:

What level of evidence do we need for POLST to use it ourselves, to advocate for wider usage, and for establishing POLST completion as a quality metric?  The answers to these questions will vary.  Reasonable people will disagree.  And today, on our podcast, our guests disagree.  Firmly.  AND we are delighted that our guests modeled respectful disagreement.  With no hard feelings.  Respectful disagreement is in short supply these days. Our guests today are Kelly Vranas, pulm crit care doc who published a systematic review in JAGS of the evidence for POLST (as well as other articles here, here,and here); Abby Dotson, who is Executive Director for National POLST and Director of the Oregon POLST registry; Karl Steinberg, geriatrician and palliative care doc and President of National POLST; and Scott Halpern, pulmonary critical care physician, bioethicists and palliative care researcher who was senior author of a Viewpoint in JAMA that was critical of the concept and evidence base for POLST (and argues little has changed).  We had a full podcast, and I wasn't able to give my take on the existing evidence for POLST, so I'll write it here. I'm in the middle between Scott and Karl, where I suspect Kelly is, though we didn't ask her explicitly.  On the one hand, I agree with Scott that observational studies finding those who complete a POLST stating a preference for comfort oriented care and DNR are not go to the ICU says little about the effectiveness of POLST.  Far more likely that those underlying preferences and values are what drove the findings than completion of the POLST form that codified the preferences into orders.  On the other hand, I agree with Karl that the POLST has face validity, and anecdotal evidence is overwhelming.  Certainly SOME of those avoided hospitalizations, CPR, and ICU stays were due to documentation of those orders in the POLST. The unanswered question is: HOW MUCH of the differences are due to the POLST?  It's not zero, as many of us have had cases in which we said, “Thank god we completed that POLST, it clearly stopped X from happening.” But is it a tiny, meaningless, fraction?  Or a substantial proportion?  My guess is a small but meaningful fraction of differences in observational studies is due to completion of the POLST, though the majority of differences are due to underlying preferences and values. Is that fraction due to POLST large enough that we should design quality metrics around completion of POLST? Absolutely not. Do we need better evidence, preferably from an RCT of POLST vs no POLST? Yes. Caveat as well that RCTs should not be placed on pedestal as the only answer-  often patients enrolled in RCTs do not represent real world patients - observational studies do.  For a trial to have value, it should not exclude patients over age 80, or those with dementia, or patients residing in nursing homes.  And it must be powered to detect a small but meaningful difference, not the same level of effect seen in observational studies. OK, I'll step off my soap box. Additional links mentioned in the podcast: Recent JGIM article on POLST in California nursing homes, hospitalization, and nursing home care Karl's GeriPal post on appropriate use of POLST  Enjoy! -@AlexSmithMD

The Washington Commanders take on the New York Giants in Week 7 NFL Action. Who will emerge victorious?

10/19 Hour 3   1:00 Dave Richard 18:00 Are you concerned about Jahan Dotson's targets? 34:00 Will Jon DePompa come back to Speed Round?

Dynasty player debates and more! On today's dynasty fantasy football podcast, Borg, Betz, and Mike discuss players they have rising confidence in! Plus, Jahan Dotson's dynasty outlook, tanking ethics in dynasty leagues, and veteran players to trade for on the cheap! Join Borg, Betz, and a Baller each week to take your Dynasty fantasy football game to the next level and dominate your league -- Fantasy Football Podcast for October 18th, 2023. Connect with The Fantasy Footballers: Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Love the show? Leave us a review wherever you listenSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Take 5, Craig and Logan discuss Jahan Dotson's performance against the Falcons on Sunday and how it contributed to his downward trajectory. The guys offer their thoughts and analysis as well as what they hope to see from him moving forward.  Enjoy!  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1:12 - Not My Beat: Ben Standig discusses his Commanders Week 6 takeaways 16:27 - Why is Jahan Dotson struggling? 24:12 - Overreaction Tuesday W/ Lynnell Willingham

Commanders wide receiver Jahan Dotson has just 17 catches for 140 yards and one touchdown through the first six games of the 2023 NFL season. Craig Hoffman looks into why the No. 16 overall pick in last year's draft is not off to a great start to his sophomore season in the league after he had just one target (which he dropped) in Sunday's 24-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

1:12 - Commanders Pick-6: How did our six players with the spotlight on them perform in Week 6? 17:03 - Importance of being patient with Emmanuel Forbes despite Week 6 benching 22:50 - What's going on with Jahan Dotson? 33:35 - Real Things: Justin Pugh, Kevin Harlan + Ali Krieger

Jahan Dotson has not been getting involved in the Commanders offense

Hour 3 - 00:00 - What's Up With Jahan Dotson 17:43 - Ron Rivera's Postgame Comments On The Commanders Win 30:48 - Jeff Walker Needs An Alibi

Philadelphia Eagles WR DeVonta Smith had another rough outing in Week 6. How concerned should you be about the No. 2 WR for the Eagles moving forward? Plus, is Washington Commanders WR Jahan Dotson droppable in redraft leagues? And is there any reason to panic about Saints WR Chris Olave? All that and so much more in this episode of the show! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! DoorDash Get 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply. BetterHelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.  birddogs Go to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNFL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNFL for a water bottle with any order. You won't want to take your birddogs off we promise you.  Jase Medical Get $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com. PrizePicks Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100! Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. eBay Motors For parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let's ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. LinkedIn LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Make Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vegas recap and football talk with Santana Dotson by 102.9 The Hog

An NFL insider put the belief out there that the Steelers see most of their issues coming from the offensive line. Is it fair to put the brunt of the blame on that unit? They haven't been good, but they are far from the biggest issue. Donny thinks the Steelers are taking a shot at their offensive line because they try to put such an emphasis on running the football and they haven't done that well. Donny and Chris agreed that there are much bigger issues, but the organization seems to believe that Matt Canada and Kenny Pickett aren't the problem It looks like Kevin Dotson is playing quite well in LA. Do people like Mike Tomlin and Pat Meyer deserve flack for former throwaway linemen playing well in other spots?  The Steelers rank 18th in snap counts for non-rookie QBs and they seem to be in refusal to play their top two rookies – Broderick Jones and Joey Porter Jr. It seems like the Steelers have such a “we know best” attitude about everything.  College Football Minute – A huge win for the Pitt Panthers, knocking off previously unbeaten Louisville, 38-21. The move to Christian Veilleux provided a shot in the arm for the Panthers, which left Chris asking – what took so long? 

Viva Las Vegas with Santana Dotson by 102.9 The Hog

The guys open the episode talking about the big sports weekend in MN and some more talk about the firing of Adrian Heath. Then it's on to the beers and a discussion about the Loons victory over the LA Galaxy. They discuss the issues with the broadcast, the changes in the lineup, Dotson's early goal, LAG getting the equalizer, and the next four Loons goals all coming from Pukki. They also discuss some of the differences they saw in the team with Heath gone, and get into a complicated discussion about the Loons backing into the playoffs. They finish up the podcast with a funny story about a traveler from Africa trying to bring Giraffe poop through MSP Airport.

The #ShipCast returns for Commanders vs. Bears. They set up their Underdog pick 'em sweats, discuss Gretch engagement farming with Kyle Pitts, and pin Pat down on his Sam Howell takes. Later, Drew Dinkmeyer joins the show to talk Bears fandom, his $350,000 DFS win, interesting considerations when building in-game pick 'ems, and another successful Wellymaker drive. The gang lands the plane with an agonizing Jahan Dotson sweat, why Pete hates the word tinkle and thinks all numbers look the same, and why everyone in fantasy is way too reactionary.    Use promo code 'SHIP' with your first deposit and Underdog will match up to $500 ➝ https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-ship-chasing  Join the Ship Chasing VIP program for access to Stat Chasing live streams, a private discord channel in the Deposit Kingdom server (https://discord.gg/BXHEGGxYtq), Youtube badges, custom Youtube emotes, and links to our private drafts.FOLLOW:► Pat ➝ https://twitter.com/patkerrane // https://www.legendaryupside.com/► Gretch ➝ https://twitter.com/yardspergretch // https://bengretch.substack.com/► Peter Overzet ➝ https://twitter.com/peteroverzet // https://po-box.beehiiv.com/subscribe Ship Chasing Twitter ➝ https://twitter.com/ShipChasing Ship Chasing merch ➝ https://overzet.myshopify.com/collections/ship-chasing

Hour 1 - 00:00 - Commanders D Line is Good But Not Dominant 20:26 - Terry McLaurin's Role In The Offense 30:57 - Why Is Jahan Dotson Not Getting The Ball More?

If you've got Jahan Dotson on a fantasy team, you are frustrated! And you should listen to the open of today's podcast, because we break down every route he ran in Week 3 to try and figure out what exactly is going on. We'll also dig into your potential flex plays, with some great high-upside, scary-downside players you might choose to use in your flex spot for Week 4, we'll preview the Thursday night Lions/Packers tilt from a fantasy (and NFL) perspective, we'll play another great listener mixtape, and we'll build our teams for Week 4 in DraftKings. Guest: DFS Expert Jake Trowbridge.   NOTES: Sponsor - www.leesa.com/harris and use code HARRIS for up to $725 off on a great mattress plus two free pillows, a $120 value Sponsor - www.Hatch.co/harris for $20 off the Restore 2, a sleep system to help you build better sleep habits for life Sponsor - www.DraftKings.com code HARRIS for a free contest with your initial deposit to play our favorite DFS games, including our weekly listener contest Follow Jake Trowbridge - @JakeTrowbridge Follow our show - @HarrisFootball Become a patron - www.patreon.com/harrisfootball Become a Person of the Book - https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Harris/e/B007V3P4KK Watch the YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/harrisfootball Harris Football Yacht Club Dictionary - https://yacht-club-dictionary.fandom.com/wiki/The_dictionary Join the Harris Football Subreddit - www.reddit.com/r/HarrisFootball Play in our Week 4 DraftKings Contest - https://www.draftkings.com/draft/contest/151188041   Week 4 Flexual Healing: De'Von Achane - (risky = Tyler Lockett; safe = Tank Dell) Michael Pittman - (James Cook) Kyren Williams - (safe = Tee higgins; risky = George Pickens) Courtland Sutton - (risky = Javonte Williams; safe = Steelers RBs)   Jake's Week 4 DraftKings Lineup: QB - Jameis Winston - $5,300 RB - Christian McCaffrey - $9,200 RB - Roschon Johnson - $4,900 WR - Devonta Smith - $7,500 WR - Chris Olave - $7,100 WR - Mike Evans - $7,000 TE - Cole Turner - $2,700 FLEX - Marvin Mims - $3,900 DEF - Commanders - $2,400   Chris's Week 4 DraftKings Lineup: QB - Justin Herbert - $7,800 RB - Christian McCaffrey - $9,200 RB - Javonte Williams - $5,500 WR - Stefon Diggs - $8,100 WR - Courtland Sutton - $5,300 WR - Adam Thielen - $4,500 TE - Pat Freiermuth - $3,400 FLEX - Josh Palmer - $4,000 DEF - Cardinals - $2,200 (h.m. - Russell Wilson - $5,800, Zack Moss - $6,000, Miles Sanders - $5,300, Amari Cooper - $6,100, Terry McClaurin - $5,100, Tank Dell - $4,600)

Jahan Dotson spoke about his role in the Commanders new offense

Hour 3 - 00:00 - Commanders Talk With Mitch Tischler 19:18 - Why Isn't Jahan Dotson Getting The Ball

what does Ron Rivera have to say about why Dotson is not getting the ball

Santana Dotson on the Pack's win and Alumni Day shenanigans by 102.9 The Hog