Attention Talk Radio · Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG

ADHD, Shame, and Self-Talk: Breaking the Cycle

April 1, 2026·39 min·3 clips

Dr. Sharon Saline argues kids with ADHD don't need a single big trauma to develop deep shame — a thousand small negative messages do the same damage.

The topic is shame. Copper opens around ADHD, shame, and negative self-talk, then the conversation turns that phrase into something listeners can actually use. Dr. Sharon Saline gives the cleanest image: shame can blare in your head without being the truth about who you are. For ADHD listeners, that lands. The point is not to wipe shame out forever. It is to notice the volume button and practice turning it down before it runs the room. Copper is careful about scope. He says he is a coach and does not go deep into this life territory, and he points people toward a therapist or counselor when the work belongs there. That caveat helps. The episode does not pretend a clever phrase can fix every painful loop. The useful move is simple: notice shame and negative self-talk when they flare, talk back to them, and quiet them enough to keep going. There is warmth in the ending, too. Copper thanks Dr. Sharon Saline, repeats her website, and lets the show land with a small Alexa or Siri joke about lowering the shame volume. The joke does not cheapen the topic. It makes a hard internal experience easier to hold. The radio format is still very present. A secret word, sponsor reads, and the Attention Talk Radio bumper break up the conversation. The strongest part comes after the break, when Copper names the boundary between coaching and therapy and lets the volume-button image carry the takeaway. This is coaching-adjacent ADHD language that leaves room for therapy when the pattern is bigger than coaching.

As heard by us

A plainspoken look at shame, self-talk, and learning to turn the volume down.

Attention Talk Radio treats ADHD shame as a problem of negative self-talk, with Jeff Copper staying in coach mode and Dr. Sharon Saline keeping the discussion rooted in how shame can build over time and why changing it takes practice.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If your inner critic never shuts up, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Attention Talk Radio