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Understanding and Supporting Neurodivergent Sensory Experiences
Sensory sensitivities are a core, valid experience for many neurodivergent individuals. By understanding and implementing personalized mitigation strategies, we can foster safety and reduce the harm caused by chronic overstimulation.
The Complex Intersection of Neurodivergent Minds and Self Harm
Self harm ideation in neurodivergent individuals often represents a nervous system's survival response to overwhelming distress, not a symptom of brokenness.
Reclaiming the Inner Voice: CPTSD and Negative Self-Talk in Neurodivergent Individuals
For neurodivergent individuals with CPTSD, negative self-concepts are often trauma responses forged in a world of chronic mismatch. Healing involves gentle practices that address both the ingrained neural pathways of criticism and the specific context of neurodivergent experience.
The Transformative Power of a Late Neurodivergence Discovery
A later-in-life neurodivergence diagnosis can provide the essential framework to rebuild.
What the Pufferfish Teaches Us About Neurodivergent Protections
Like the pufferfish that inflates to create safety, the neurodivergent nervous system uses protective behaviors like withdrawal or irritability as a response to overload.
Loneliness and Friendship in the Neurodivergent Experience
Loneliness within the neurodivergent community is not a personal failing but often a result of navigating a world designed for different social operating systems.
The Missing Map: Understanding and Building Cognitive Empathy
Many neurodivergent individuals possess profound empathy, yet struggle with cognitive empathy, the mental map for reading social cues.
Neurodivergence, Communication Trauma, CPTSD and Embodied Healing
For many neurodivergent individuals, the very act of communication can become a source of profound and repeated trauma.
Synesthesia as Neurodivergent Perception
Synesthesia is not merely a curiosity but a fundamental aspect of sensory processing for many neurodivergent individuals.
How Fawning Can Erode the Neurodivergent Self
When neurodivergent individuals are consistently labeled as "too sensitive" or "overreactive," they often learn to cope by fawning, a self-abandoning strategy that trades authenticity for perceived safety.
Healthy Regulation or A Rut? Neurodivergent Routines and Rituals
For many neurodivergent individuals, ritual and regularity are not preferences but essential tools for nervous system regulation.
Neurotype, Truth, and Conflict in Relationships
When conflict arises, neurodivergent individuals often prioritize objective truth seeking, while neurotypical individuals tend to focus on emotional considerations.
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria and Neurodivergence
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is an intense, often overwhelming emotional response to perceived rejection or criticism that disproportionately affects neurodivergent individuals.
Thin-Slicing and the Neurodivergent Experience: Navigating Social Rejection
Even the most meticulously crafted mask cannot always conceal the innate differences in neurodivergent communication and presence.
A Compassionate Look at Neurodivergent Meltdowns and Support Strategies
A neurodivergent meltdown is an overwhelming physiological response to being overloaded, not a behavioral choice.
Theory of Mind in Neurodiverse Communication
Effective communication requires us to infer the complex internal states of others, a cognitive process known as theory of mind.
Why Neurodivergent People May Thrive in Somatic Therapy
Traditional talk therapies like CBT often operate from the top down, focusing on changing thoughts to influence emotions and body states. In contrast, somatic psychotherapy works from the bottom up, helping clients regulate their nervous system to create new cognitive and emotional experiences.
When Asking Feels Dangerous: A Somatic Approach to Neurodivergent Risk Assessment
For many neurodivergent individuals, asking for help is subconsciously categorized as a dangerous threat rather than mere discomfort.
Neuroqueer: The Journey to Embodied Authenticity
The neurodivergent and queer communities share a profound experience of navigating a world not designed for them, leading to shared challenges like masking and a journey toward embodied self acceptance.
The Impact of Internalized Behavioral Criticism on Neurodivergent Children
Persistent behavioral criticism of neurodivergent children can lead to lasting self-esteem challenges and emotional distress, with deeper impacts than those experienced by neurotypical peers. Affirming their unique needs fosters resilience and self-acceptance.