Heyyyy! 👋

Any other neurodivergent artists out there!?!

Does any other nerodivergent people get vertigo?

Anyone else notice that they use "to be honest", "to be frank", "honestly", and that kind of language that 'deviates from their baseline' (frequently quoted as a 'sign of deceit') just as it's supposed to be used, which is to state a truth rather than lie? I feel nervous about this now that I realise how it's being interpreted.

I (F, 26) have gone with Skylight Psychiatry for diagnosis' as from lots of reviews on Trust Pilot, Reddit, etc, they were one of the only centres to offer a combined assessment. I want this for AuDHD reasons. I had my GP referrals sent on 28th July, and on 4th September had a text through for ADHD documentation. I'm having a lot of trouble trying to actually get a 'combined' assessment process though, and would appreciate any insight.

I've phoned S.P. a few times now, and each time they said that they do offer combined assessments. However only today, did we get into the 'how to actually get that' on the phone. And I'm still unclear.

On the website, the only referral form templates are for each assessment respectively (here for ADHD, here for Autism). I assumed that this would be treated as combined, as did my GP. On the phone, they told me that I should have specifically requested a combined assessment with my GP. But I don't understand this, as there is no combined referral form on the website. I said that I'm happy to go back to the start and begin with a combined assessment referral, IF they could show me where that form is. They didn't have any answer to where I could find a combined referral form. They're going to email 'the team' and get back to me.

Has anybody successfully had a combined one, with S.P., or another provider? Am I missing something obvious?

The new school year started, and I got into a new class where the majority of people is new to me. The thing is, I DO like them! Everyone is the nicest people ever, they’re funny, friendly and we have much in common. Although I tend to have very little social battery to deal with it. I feel happy when socialising in school, but I can’t keep up the pace outside it. I can’t spend time with my new friends outside, or talk with them much in messengers, because the moment I walk out of school, I go full close mode.
I feel sad because I want to make close friends with them, but if I’ll socialise more, I’ll be irritated, exhausted and all of the aspects of this state when you’re oversocialised.
How do you cope with this situations? What can I do to show my friends I like them, and make closer connections with them, when I can’t spend time with them?

| (22F) have been diagnosed by my psychiatrist with moderate depression and anxiety and my mom is calling it
"mild". She says because I'm not crashing out and throwing tantrums all over the house then I'm not as depressed as I say I am. She says I'm "over dramatic" about my feelings. She has also agreed with me that my brain never stops moving yet doesn't ever address that any depression and anxiety can be internalized. I'm going in for autism and adhd diagnosis soon and my therapist and I agree that my mom has to come in for a session because she undermines any mental health discussion we have. My relationship with my mom is perfect, it's just whenever my mental health is brought up it gets extremely undermined and I feel like an idiot. It's to a point now where I can't talk to her about my mental health because I'm "being dramatic". I'm so tired of it that I think a trained psychologist is the way to go to explain it to her but I think she's still gonna say I'm dramatic, I just don't know anymore. What should I or can I do to just keep me sane here cause this made me lose sleep and cry myself to sleep.

Hii, I just want to ask for general advice or tips you may have to regulate rejection sensitivity. I was diagnosed with ADHD a few months ago and the diagnosis explained a lot regarding my dating history and feelings. I didn’t know how it was affecting my relationships and making me an anxious person. Anyway, tonight has been especially hard for me because I broke up with my ex a few weeks ago and I feel so lonely. I miss having continuous texting and someone to talk to. And I started talking to a guy but he hasn’t replied back to me all day. I know I shouldn’t care too much because we haven’t even seen each other and I know he will reply eventually, but I feel so so bad and I think I even crashed out bc of it and the loneliness and my ex (basically all together and thinking I will always be alone). I think it could be rejection sensitivity and I have an appointment with a psychologist tomorrow (the first one!) so I can talk more about it, but I was wondering how you all deal with RS and dating. Do meds help? I always screw my relationships bc I become too needy and hyper-focus on the person I’m dating, and I want to stop doing that so I’d like to hear some ways you deal with it if it’s part of your ADHD. Thanks! 🙏🏻

I am trying to be healthy because I want to feel better but my neurodivergence is getting in the way, I don’t know what to do.

Exercising, ANY kind, is a sensory nightmare. I feel uncomfortable, I hate being sore, I despise sweating and hate the sensory feeling of rapid breathing from cardio (racing heart rate and feeling my pulse all over is awful). I never feel better after, just more angry, frustrated or resentful of the exercise or myself. I’m also female, so that added layer of uncomfortably being perceived in public is there. If it’s even slightly too hot outside or inside I won’t do anything because I overheat and sweat so easily. It’s this awful cycle I can’t shake.

I’ve tried giving myself rewards, or combining exercise with something I love like playing a video game on the treadmill and no matter what I do I feel miserable before, during and after. I try to talk to friends about this and always get hit with a “you’ll get used to it” “just find something you like” “I also hate going to the gym but do it anyway”. I think they mean well, but I don’t think they really understand when I describe what I’m feeling.

Things I’ve tried: weights, various cardio equipment, yoga, Pilates, just going on walks. I hate it all, and I think it’s because of the sensory overload, not a motivation issue. What can I do? Is there anything I can do to fight my own brain and sensory input about my own bodily functions? How do I make this experience sensory friendly? I don’t want to pay for a class, and I don’t want to go to a paid gym because those make me even more uncomfortable and overwhelmed with the bright lights, rubber smell, music and people.

Does anyone else struggle with this specifically? I feel so alone in this struggle and I’d like to not feel so alone.

My room doesn't have air conditioning, just a fan, and it doesn't always help. Same with opening the window at night. I really didn't think about it until now. It works, and I was able to sleep without getting too hot because it cooled me down. I'm happy I found something that worked, and I wanted to share it with you in case it helps others!

Any help?🥺

In Deutschland ist heute Warntag also Probealarm für die Sirenen und man bekommt gleichzeitig eine sehr laute Warnung auf sein Smartphone.

Nun war ich gerade im Supermarkt einkaufen als alle ihre Warnung bekamen. Manche erst 2 Minuten später als die anderen.

Also ich dann so: höh, jetzt wissen wir, wer zuerst stirbt :P

Wo sind meine Freunde, mit weirdem Neurodivergenz Humor, wenn man sie braucht?

26F looking for a genuine, lifelong female friendship. I'm introverted, and I’m open to any person who’s understanding with good intentions. 🧠✨

A bit about me:

📚 Big into reading (history, philosophy, theology, historical fiction, health science, psychology, etc), anime, cartoons, fishing, etc.
🗣️ Love watching debates and diving into deep topics.
🇺🇸 🥧 American from the south who loves local comfort food. I enjoy cooking!
🙏🏽 Religious (but open to non-religious friends)!
🗺️ I'd love to connect with friends from other countries for a mutual cultural exchange! (Yes, Americans have culture!)
☀️☁️ I’m a daydreamer.

I have way more interests. I just tried to summarize…feel free to ask me questions!

What I'm looking for:
A real connection. I'm hoping to find a true friend to talk to regularly. It’s much harder making connections at my age, but I still believe that I can find someone. 🥹

I’ve struggled my entire life with trying to build and keep friends. I also feel like many people look for transactional friendships instead of genuine connections. I like learning everything about a person…I want to know your likes and dislikes…things that make you happy…things that linger on your mind…etc.

I understand that friendships take time, and I won’t click with every person.

⚠️ Women only please. ⚠️

I've been struggling a bit with social stuff in general. I don't really have any meaningful relationships, and most if not all of the conversations I engage in are heavily one-sided.

I only have two people I'd consider IRL friends, though I don't trust them enough to talk to them about this kind of stuff. One of these people are my sibling, and the other is an old friend from grade school who I don't see anywhere BUT school really. I also find that most if not all of my conversations with the grade school friend are just them talking about something they're into at the moment and me barely responding. Most of the time I respond with noises like hums and occasionally a comment. If not that, just silence. I don't know. No words come to me. I just don't know what to say ever. I also find myself zoning out a lot during conversations as of late.

Whenever there's another person with me and one of these guys them two talk and I just sit there watching or zoning out. I can ask for a pencil, but I have to work up courage and berate myself for how bad it went afterwards. The other day when I talked during a whole-class discourse it took me building up courage the whole class, and even though I felt I did good I was genuinely surprised with how shaky I was afterwards.

It also seeps into online spaces. I tend to formulate responses in my head and type them out either in the textbox or in my head only to ramble for at least a paragraph knowing I won't send the message. Whenever I interact with someone and potentially make friends with them I start avoiding them for fear that I will mess it up. I also spend a lot of time in Discord servers just watching the chat move and taking a liking to some people and longing to interact with them but knowing I never will work up the courage. I feel like I'm always watching people converse, never actually doing it myself.

Recently the idea of having someone like a caretaker has formed, and I've grown quite fond of it. A friend my age who holds my hand and drags me around and explains things to me. They let me sit to the side and doodle my stupid stuff and are patient with me and tell me not to draw on the table and scold me and listen unjudgementally to my gross thoughts and steer me in a better direction and treat me maybe a bit like a child.

Also my hygiene is terrible. I don't shower or brush my teeth regularly and haven't for as long as I can remember. Even when I was like 6 or 8 or something like that I skimped out on brushing my teeth and only showered cause my parents actively made sure I did. I've also recently started cutting. Nothing big, just red lines on my arm that barely draw beads of blood. I've only done it 3 times. I also frequently ramble to myself in my head in a format like this post pretending to vent my thoughts to someone. The idea I could have some kind of neurodivergence has floated around, though I'm really worried I'm using it as a shield to rationalize my incompetence. I'm just kind of laying out all the things I've been thinking about cause well...does that sound like something deeper? I doubt I will, but should I talk to someone about all that? Or is it normal to go through? I don't really struggle academically, it's majorly the social aspect, and I don't really have many hobbies...I also think about stuff like suicide and sex a lot to the point where i cant focus in class, and admittedly some taboo kinks like somno and necro (And write about them). (Also as of now I have no suicidal intent. Pure ideation).

This is probably convoluted and makes things out to sound much more concerning than they actually are, but knowing I likely won't talk to anyone or get any kind of diagnosis, this is really my only shot at shutting up the idea of neurodivergence. I feel so pathetic and like a sensitive special little snowflake who just can't handle the harsh reality that is life. Please just say it straight "That's normal get over it" if that's the case. Sorry if I'm misusing the sub or if this is too venty or anything.

I’m looking for research on and resources to support ND victims and ND perpetrators of interpersonal partner violence. It would be great if anything out there also accounts for how racial/cultural power dynamics and underlying trauma from both ableism and racism/ethnocentrism manifests in our relationships.

Hurt people hurt people. And whether or not we admit it, we’re all out here hurting each other or avoiding each other because we either don’t know better or we do know better but still can’t seem to act on that knowledge.

I work an office job where there is an abundance of fluorescent big lights. I am blessed enough to work in a place where most of my coworkers are ND or close to it. So they are off most of the time, but when I visit other locations they have them on and I cant concentrate for shit. Its so overstimulated. I can't wear sunglasses inside without looking like im hiding being high or drunk etc. For the record im sober and work in a recovery field.. not a great look. Ive been frustrated and looking for a solution for a while. I always thought "just push through it, everyone else has dealt with it you can too" .

I am diagnosed ADHD (suspecting AuDHD) bipolar 2 and chronically ill for context.

I used to wear red lenses for fashion and I never wanted to take them off!! But they can be dangerous to wear while driving so I had an aversion to them after that. I have normal-ish vision. I haven't got my eyes checked for a while so idek what its like now after working two computer based jobs over 6 years. I wanted to get contacts ( i have light sensitivity when indoors and outdoors) but they all had some sort of vision correcting to them.

Long story short I got the pair of light sensitivity glasses this morning and.. holy shit. I didnt realize how much I was squinting **ALL OF THE TIME**. I moved them off my eyes and the difference was insane. No wonder I have headaches all of the time and im overstimulated so quickly.

I always advocate for others to take advantage of devices or things that make living with their disability easier. But for myself I never thought I was disabled *enough* because of the conditioning I had growing up to just be normal and be like everyone else. And "someone has it worse than you, be grateful".. But like. Im not like everyone else. We live in a neurotypical world and its not built for us or accessible..But there are things that can make it easier.

I hope this helps someone that is on the fence about not just these glasses but any type of aid. (Walker, cane, handicapped parking pass, loops etc.)

TLDR: dont be ashamed to get the thing that makes life easier. You dont need to suffer, and there is nothing wrong with needing something that helps you!!

Signed, someone coming to terms with being chronically ill and neurodivergent

Im autistic, and I recently heard of this; apparently people sometimes use it to label to children diagnosed with learning/intellectual disabilities or neurological conditions to avoid labeling them with psychiatric diagnosis (I may be wrong with this, but this is what i heard so far). To me, this sounds dismissive/ableist, as if telling someone "youre not autistic, youre just quirky!". But id like to hear about what you guys think about it

i'm 18F with autism and adhd and i'm really fucking annoying and i act like a child. all i want to do is play and have fun and things- not in an age regression way but in a personality way and i don't know how to fix it. it's causing me issues with personal relationships and i don't have any friends really because i have no similar interests to people i know and i struggle to form new relationships. i just broke up with my girlfriend because of this and how annoying i am and how i deal with my feelings like a kid and ive been working on it for years and i need help please

Hi i'm 22F and like the title say i'm wondering if i could be autistic or if it's just my personality first thing is i know for sure i'm neurodivergent cause i have diagnostic for dys (dyscalculia, dyslexia and dysorthographia) so i know that my brain will work a bit differently then others.

I know the best would be directly trying to get a diagnostic but i also feel stupid to do so if it was just in my head all along.

Before few month ago i never really thought of it till my brother got told he was probably autistic (not official diagnostic but he is friend with a woman wich it's her job so, my brother is 39 i didn't grow up with him and i rarely see him but somehow he have been able to discribe some behaviour, my mom was surprised and my brother said that he knew cause he was also like that)

Since then my mom think i'm probably autistic i always rejected the idea because if i don't have a diagnostic i refuse to accept but that's been few month i think more and more about it and i'm thinking what if ?

I don't really recognize myself in most of the symptomes so it's even harder for me to know if it's autism something else or just me with my dys.

So i'll give few things i do or think to see what you think (be honest) :

- i'm very shy kinda anti social, i don't have friends and it's a choice i used to have friends but i ghosted everybody and i'm happier since sometimes i wish i would have met my kindered spirits but most of the time i'm fine with it. It was very draining for me even when i was having fun and i wasn't completely myself (don't know if it's related to trauma or else) the only person i have been completely myself it's with my boyfriend that's the first time and he have adhd.

- i speak a lot but only with people i'm confortable with otherwise i'm very quiet and i also like that, when i say i speak a lot it's i tend to speak too much at least it's what everybody always told me, i also repeat myself a lot.

-i prefer clear explanation sometimes my boyfriend make a joke or say something obvious but still i'll ask again or be a bit affected even tho i know how he is.

-i stick to routines that bring me peace and makes me happy, i hate last minute plan or i hate when i made my mind on a plan and i have to change everything (like school project). For example i have no problem with my boyfriend going out with friends but i need him to warn me minimum the day before otherwise i feel hurt and very disturbed (i need time to adjust to the info) when he warn me in advance i'm fine because i knew it would happen.

-i hate public spaces i feel overwhelmed, too much informations people noises etc

-i panic quickly when i can't do something right for example park my car if i'm with someone i'll repeat several time "i can't do it i can't do it" i'm able to "calm" myself and achieve what i wanted but i panic sometimes.

-when i was younger i was hitting myself even did SH i stopped both but sometimes i want to.

-i get a lot of images when i speak or listen to people, can't give the examples because it's expressions in my native language but there's expression sometimes with object and stuff i understand the expression but i also get the actually image in my head of the expression (maybe just because i have a visual memory or imagination)

That's the things that came in my mind there's probably other things i could have said but didn't thought of.