What us Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy? Simply put, it’s a style of therapy more so than a modality. Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy is akin to psychodynamic therapy because it incorporates multiple modalities. It packages therapy to meet the individual’s needs in their healing journey. This type of therapy can use typical CBT skills. It can explore newer models like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Internal Family Systems (IFS). Alternatively, it can also utilize a trauma-centered protocol like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). The goal is to teach skills. It provides ways to process emotion safely. This is especially beneficial for individuals who engage less with the emotional side of therapy. They might overly intellectualize. Understanding is not always enough for change.
Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy also looks at specific issues for those who consider themselves or have been diagnosed as neurodivergent. Daily masking can be exhausting. It may cause a person to burn out in their social life. Typical therapy might push people to engage in socialization. It might aim to remove barriers in a counterproductive way. This can unintentionally encourage masking, thus worsening the burnout. Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy aims to understand the individual’s goals. It explores the consequences of unmasking. It also finds ways to reduce interference in daily life.
Another great aspect of this approach to therapy is that it explores a strengths based model. Neurodiverse people often learn how to function in a world that seems unfriendly to them. They can be great problem solvers and have a huge tolerance for difficult situations. These skills and more can easily be shifted toward goals that better suit an unmasked, neurodivergent person. They might prefer to act in this way if traditional expectations were not expected.
The goal of Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy is to help a person understand who they are in the context of society. It also focuses on their limitations and their strengths. This therapy style also teaches how to combine all of these aspects. The aim is to optimize a person’s genuine experience in life. We have to remove the barriers of self-judgment and learn how to deal with emotions beyond intellectually understanding them. This type of therapy often helps people with neurodiversity to better understand themselves and the world around them. They learn to make choices on what they want. It enables them to operate in a way that becomes more fulfilling in the long term.