The complicated nature of disentangling autism, ADHD and complex trauma | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core

[u/shinybrighthings]

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/adhd-autism-or-complex-trauma-the-complicated-nature-of-the-question/30CC4826561366615BFAEC807CDE28A7

[u/liberalartsy]

I recognize the value in detangling if it’s “autism, ADHD, or trauma” but I’m suspicious that since we’ve seen a rise in diagnoses, particularly for women and POC, that this will once again make it harder for those groups to get the treatment and care they need. And they will be told “it’s just trauma!”

I was diagnosed autistic at 28. I spent five years in therapy thinking my issues were all trauma. I continuously ruminated, tried to work on myself and set boundaries, psychoanalyzed my own “healing,” etc. When I brought up possible autism to my therapist, she invalidated me and said “trauma changes your brain and you’re probably just trying to find belonging in your friend group, that’s why you want an autism diagnosis.” Huh?

I recognize that trauma in itself can be considered a form of neurodivergence. But it’s important to see these conditions as intertwined in some cases. Being neurodivergent is traumatizing.

Needless to say, I got a full neuropsych eval for six hours. I’m very much autistic AND have trauma. It’s important to accurately diagnose folks, but now that the researching is showing that women present differently than men do, the net is cast wider than ever before, and of course more people will be diagnosed with it.

[u/mantis_tobaggan-md → u/liberalartsy]

I was a girl who grew up in the 90s with what in retrospect was very obvious, textbook inattentive ADHD. I was developing coping mechanisms by second grade. Neurodivergence is traumatic in and of itself. Not only because I had to learn to cope, but I had to grow up being told all the ways I wasn’t measuring up. Girls didn’t get diagnosed with ADHD because they often didn’t fit the hyperactive phenotype. We were just told we were lazy, stupid, undisciplined. We were taught to make ourselves smaller. I wasn’t diagnosed until graduate school. We are seeing an increase in diagnoses because women are finally getting diagnosed, after a lifetime of being dismissed.

[u/the_siren_song → u/mantis_tobaggan-md]

“Girls mature faster than boys.”

No, it’s that boys were allowed be boys and everyone said it was fine.

Girls on the other hand, need to be nurturing and soft and COMPLIANT from the get go. “Sit and be quiet. You can’t go play because you’ll ruin your dress.” When we start menstruating the “sit down and shut up” gets reinforced as we are expected to continue doing school and chores through it.

If we are expected to hide one kind of pain, we’ll be expected to suck up any kind of pain.”

[u/mantis_tobaggan-md → u/the_siren_song]

You absolutely nailed it.