The Autistic community has taken many approaches to reframing what the diagnostic criteria calls "Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts." There's the double-empathy problem, for example, in which Autistic people have an easier time understanding each other where allistics struggle and vice versa.

Childhood Emotional Neglect, while a relatively new idea from 2012, aligns remarkably with autistic social "deficits." While I'm by no means trying to draw a single causal line, I also wonder in this episode if maybe some of our social difficulties are actually signs of CEN.

Even if our parents were quite well-meaning, we were more likely to experience CEN via a lack of appropriate mirroring of our internal responses, especially if our internal world was especially intense or complex.

This episode covers the effects of CEN primarily. To learn more about examples of how it can develop, or how to address it, you can read the books below, or search for articles about them.

Books mentioned: 

1. Running On Empty
2. Running On Empty No More

Both are affiliate links

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This episode is also on YouTube

If our sensory needs are not met, even an otherwise okay day will still feel... off somehow. And then that gap between how we feel and how we think we "should" feel can make it even worse (that one's not a topic in this episode, just a thing that happens).

If our sensory needs ARE met, sometimes even tough circumstances can feel not that bad.

To be clear, this is not about avoiding bad days, which are bound to happen sometimes!

But meeting both our comfort and mental sensory needs makes everything easier. It's a big part of feeling better first.

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2. Email Newsletter: Nothing Wrong With Us
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4. How Can I Help (request coaching support)

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Lessons learned from ~17 years of therapy over the last 20 years. How I'd approach therapy now based on that.

What to look for in therapists, goal-setting in therapy, and reasons to quit your current therapist.

Also connects back to last week's interview with Joe about AuDHD therapy.

Links mentioned:

• Book Decolonizing Therapy (also mentioned last week, affiliate link)
• Blog post on finding a neurodivergent-affirming therapist (with links)

More resources suggested by a community member:

• Dueling Minds, AuDHD Support
• Autistic Girls Network in-person support groups for adults
• ADHD Support Groups in Canada (CADDAC)
• ADDA Virtual Support for ADHD

1. Transcript Doc
2. Email Newsletter: Nothing Wrong With Us
3. Like Your Brain community space (Patreon/Discord)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.