In this episode of Clinically Awkward, I, Alyssa Zimmerman, sit down with trauma therapist Carly Falk to unpack surviving your twenties through the chaotic millennial time capsule that is HBO’s Girls.

We get into trauma work, EMDR, and why I don’t believe embarrassment belongs in therapy. Substance misuse, hypersexuality, sensory seeking, and messy friendships aren’t moral failures; they’re data about unmet needs. Neurodivergent women deserve care that is holistic, honest, and shame-resistant.

Then we use Girls as a neurodivergent case study. Ray’s rigidity and info-dumping. Shoshana as the masked, competent autistic little professor. Hannah’s chaotic hyperbole, glossed-over OCD, and relationship dynamics that still make me wince.

We revisit our millennial youth, six-beers-is-fine culture, warehouse parties, and the normalization of self-destruction in your twenties.

And yes, my special interest, the Enneagram, inserts itself. I cannot watch fictional characters without typing them. Hannah as a Four as so is Jessa and they’re both spiraling into sabotage. Marni’s need to be chosen as intergenerational trauma. Shoshana’s possible Six energy sending me into a live wing crisis.

We also touch on AuDHD patterns versus borderline personality disorder, including the difference between a “favorite person” and a “safe person,” and why black-and-white thinking hits differently in different neurotypes.

We close with a radical idea: friendships can end without anyone being the villain. Sometimes growth looks like letting go.

Carly shares about her practice, Lotus Embodied Counseling in Columbia, Maryland, and as always, I’m just out here saying what I needed to hear at 25.

0:00 - Welcome to Clinically Awkward: Quarter-Life Crisis Survivors (Feat. Carly)

3:54 - Therapist Origin Stories: The Practice I Accidentally Built

9:42 - Girls as a Neurodivergent Case Study (Respectfully)

15:46 - Millennial Optimism: Dollar Ubers, Chunky Necklaces, and Hipster Vibes

19:35 - Your Boyfriend Owns One Towel: Dating in Your Twenties

23:36 - We're Talking Too Much About Men Again (Derogatory)

27:22 - Shoshana, Masking, and the Little Professor Pipeline

32:30 - Hannah: Hyperbole, Bad Choices, and the Audacity of It All

37:01 - Shoshana's Six Energy & My Live Seven Wing Crash Out

41:10 - Jessa Is a Four and It's Not Fun: Chaos as Self-Sabotage

47:44 - Marnie Would Rather Be Chosen Than Be Okay

51:14 - Justice for Noreen: Second Adolescence, Please

52:51 - Okay We Have to Stop: Carly's Info + Emotional Aftercare

In this bonus episode of Clinically Awkward, I, Alyssa Zimmerman, your local stressy messy AuDHD therapist and self appointed Snake, join Rain Glenn, the Baby, to celebrate our unlikely friendship built entirely on the Game Changers universe, a completely normal and healthy bonding experience.

We spiral about our 50 day and counting Heated Rivalry hyperfixation and everything we know about season two adapting The Long Game, including the Spring 2027 release and the deeply suspicious six episode order that we do not trust.

We mourn the loss of the gladiator butt plug Halloween scene, celebrate Shane coming out to a teammate, and present a professional “please don’t cut this” list featuring the kitchen scene, couch and ice cream, phone smut, the Pike Kids wedding, and more jealous Ilya.

We campaign for maximum Yuna Hollander, debate the plane crash monologue logistics, defend Shane from the “he’s an asshole” discourse, analyze Ilya’s dad coded energy, and accept that waiting until 2027 is now part of our personality.

In this Eating Disorder Awareness Month episode of Clinically Awkward, I, Alyssa Zimmerman, stressy messy AuDHD therapist, am joined by Bailey Pilant to talk about disordered eating in neurodivergent people, especially binge eating disorder, with guest appearances by bulimia and ARFID. We explain why “just listen to your body” is wildly unhelpful advice when your hunger cues are basically non existent, and how restriction, calorie tracking, nighttime binges tend to show up together.

We get into the AuDHD mechanics behind it all, including executive dysfunction, hyperfocus, sensory issues, dopamine seeking, medication effects, and the fear of being perceived. We also talk about why shame and punishment don’t actually change behavior, despite diet culture’s strong insistence otherwise.

We challenge food rules like earning meals and labeling foods good or bad, share realistic strategies for getting fed when functioning is low, and discuss sensory barriers, clothing, body changes across life stages, and the emotional experience of weight fluctuation. We close with thoughts on self compassion, appreciating what bodies can do.