The Cost of High Functioning: ADHD, Masking, and Systemic Burnout with Ashley Gibson

Ron Sosa hosts Ashley Gibson, a psychotherapist and founder of Meaning in Practice, to discuss the hidden cost of “high functioning” neurodivergence at work. Ashley shares being late-diagnosed with ADHD after building a successful marketing career through willpower and masking, including work on Broadway’s Hamilton, while simultaneously training as a clinician, parenting, and navigating major life stress. They explore how office culture and mission-driven environments intensify performance, overstimulation, and internal load, and how the pandemic revealed what was actually masking versus true preference and rhythm. Ashley describes using clinical frameworks, including Structural Analysis of Social Behavior, to map how systems teach people to internalize blame, contributing to burnout that is systemic rather than individual. The episode reframes common questions from “what’s wrong with me?” to what the system taught and what functioning has been costing.

In this episode of Left Unattended, Ron talks with Dr. Kelly Cooper, a veterinarian and consultant, about receiving an ADHD diagnosis at 55 and why she called it a “liberation day.” Kelly shares how the diagnosis helped her understand chronic self-criticism, anxiety, rejection sensitivity dysphoria, and the perfectionism she realized was protecting her from rejection. They explore pressure-driven productivity, procrastination that was reinforced by academic success, and how time, energy, and resource management becomes harder with age and changing capacity. Kelly describes how perimenopause intensified ADHD-related challenges, what prompted her to seek help, and how coaching, mindfulness, and tools like externalizing the inner critic support regulation and follow-through. She also discusses vulnerability in leadership, content creation fears, and her work through Reality Vet Coaching, including launching a women’s group coaching program.