Clinically Awkward is back Wednesday, October 28th, going all in on neurodivergence and pop culture. AuDHD therapist Alyssa Zimmerman explains the season 2 delay and previews what’s ahead: Carrie Bradshaw’s untreated ADHD, two very different kinds of autistic, and why Joey Tribbiani, Barney Stinson, and Jason Mendoza are basically the same guy. Up first: The Haunting of Hill House. New episodes every Wednesday.

Clinically Awkward Season 2: I'm finally giving the algorithm the hyper niche content it's looking for, so this season we're yapping about our favorite fictional characters through the lens of mental health, neurodivergence, and the Enneagram. It's also less scripted, less edited, more therapist-focused, and fully unmasked, because cutting all the awkward parts out of a podcast called Clinically Awkward was, in hindsight, a weird choice.

Joining me for this season preview is Clinically Awkward bestie Rain Glynn, back from Season 1 episodes 3, 14, 20, and 28 (yes, three of those were Heated Rivalry). We map out a hyperfixation calendar that promises dopamine, dopamine, dopamine, and then a crash, address the men who keep cold emailing to explain why they're the exception, and get into late diagnosis, autistic speech patterns, being a neurotypical repellent, and why therapists make the absolute worst therapy clients.

Then we run through all nine Enneagram types and the TV characters who embody them, from Monica Geller and Carrie Bradshaw to Chandler Bing, Lady Danbury, and Shane Hollander, plus why Rachel Green is a two and not a four. We also tackle the question every newly diagnosed client asks: is my diagnosis my personality? It's not. Any Enneagram type can have any diagnosis.

New to the Enneagram? Start with Season 1 episode 2, episode 21 on HBO's Girls, and episode 28, where Rain and I type our favorite fictional hockey boys.

Full videos, bonus content and clips on Youtube, Tiktok, and Instagram all @clinicallyawkwardpod

If your hyperfixation got a hyperfixation, congratulations, you are exactly who this episode is for. The 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs broke a lot of neurodivergent brains this season, and I needed to talk about it with someone who gets it. This is the season finale of Clinically Awkward, and I went out with a bang.

My friend Jana Morgen (@thisbookishlady on TikTok) is a content creator and event coordinator based in the Bay Area who came into hockey through Heated Rivalry, went to eight Sharks games in a single season, and has been crying about men she found out existed that day ever since. We have been mutuals on TikTok for a while and I have been waiting for the right moment to get her on the pod. A Stanley Cup win felt like the right moment.

We got into why sports fandom might be the most neurodivergent-friendly environment on earth, how hyperfixation works when the thing you fixate on has literally infinite content, the parasocial spiral that happens when the playoffs eliminate someone's favorite captain and TikTok serves you their retirement press conference six minutes later, and why I think we need to stop calling it mental health and start calling it brain health. We also talked about goalie psychology, WAG shoe choices, the Vegas jerseys, the rotisserie chicken on the ice, and why Carter Hart simply does not have the mental fortitude. You know what you did, Carter.

Find Jana on TikTok at @thisbookishlady and find me at @clinicallyawkwardpod. If you want to work with me or apply to be a guest, head to alyssazimmerman.com.

00:00 You Found Your People: Neurodivergence, Sports Fandom, and the Art of the Hyperfixation 03:50 Heated Rivalry to Rinkside: How an AO3 Fic Accidentally Turned Into Eight Sharks Games 09:01 Had to Google It: Vintage Footage, Early Playoff Chaos, and Wait That's the Same Guy 13:30 Parasocial as a Love Language: Crying About Men You Met Today 21:37 WAG Culture, Vegas Jerseys, and the Case for Sparkles: Hockey Fashion We Did Not Expect 24:25 Bussi, Anderson, and the Case for Calling It Brain Health 30:35 Non-Toxic Male Friendship and the Carolina Hurricanes: What Seth Jarvis and His Friends Are Teaching Us 33:17 Technically a Tangent: ADHD, NVLD, and Ways to Make Your DSM Actually Useful 36:32 Carter Hart Has No Mental Fortitude and Other Things We Said Out Loud 42:53 The Stanley Cup Is the Best Man at Three Weddings 47:07 I Did That: ADHD Superstitions, Hockey Rituals, and How I Won the Stanley Cup 52:02 Next Season Energy: PWHL, Finding Your People, and Jana's Secret Project