So What Does Neurodivergence Have to Do with Mental Health Anyway?
Short answer? Everything.
Longer answer? Let’s unpack it — because this isn’t just about labels. It’s about lived reality.
And if life is a stage? Then neurodivergent folks are often handed the wrong script, shoved into the wings, and told to “act normal.”
Wiring vs. Wellbeing
We’re often told that neurodivergence (how your brain is wired) and mental health (how you’re coping) are two separate things. But for many of us — especially those who are undiagnosed or constantly masking — the curtain between them is paper-thin.
Let’s take autism as an example. Studies show some autistic children experience amygdala overgrowth in infancy — the part of the brain that processes emotion and threat. This can lead to a heightened sensitivity to risk, emotion and overwhelm from a very young age.
Meanwhile, ADHD brains are working with dopamine and norepinephrine dysregulation. These are the “motivation, reward and focus” chemicals. When they’re low or unreliable, you’re not lazy — you’re under-fuelled.
So what does your brain do?
Cue the Dopamine-Seeking Montage
Risk-taking
Overworking
Overeating
Gambling
Addiction
Compulsive relationships
Doom-scrolling
All the “just one more episode/snack/task” plot twists
This isn’t bad behaviour — it’s a brain doing its best to feel OK. It's improvising with what it has.
Trauma, Masking & Survival Mode
Neurodivergent children and adults are often more vulnerable to trauma — not always because more bad stuff happens to us, but because the intensity of our experiences is often greater.
What might feel uncomfortable to a neurotypical brain can feel terrifying to a neurodivergent one — especially when layered with shame, confusion, or repeated social rejection.
Many of us grew up being told we were wrong. Too loud. Too sensitive. Too much.
And that our needs were “irregular” or not real.
We were placed in environments that overwhelmed us, forced into situations where we couldn’t be ourselves.
Told we were rude. That we had to try harder. Do more. Act more "normal."
Newsflash: That’s not “character-building.” That’s cruel, unfair and highly stressful…
And when you live in survival mode long enough? Unhealthy coping strategies start to feel… normal.
Let’s Welcome to the Stage!
Freud’s Defence Mechanisms Denial. Projection. Regression. Rationalisation. Intellectualisation... (The classics.)
With a supporting cast of: Chronic anxiety. People-pleasing. Burnout. Meltdowns. Isolation.
The thing is, these aren’t personal failures. They’re adaptations that are accessible to us to make it through day-day and to feel safe in a world that is confusing and scary.
What Actually Helps?
Let’s be honest — it’s not just therapy. It’s understanding how your whole self works brain, body and soul.
It can look like:
Figuring out who you are underneath the masks and coping mechanisms
Accepting your needs as valid, not inconvenient
Learning to work with your brain, not against it
Designing environments that reduce overwhelm
Letting emotions be seen instead of silenced
Finding people who speak your language — without translation
Rebuilding trust in your instincts
Rescripting life to fit you, not the critics
So, what does neurodivergence have to do with mental health?
Everything.
Because it’s not just about how your brain works.
It’s about how it’s had to survive the show so far.
You don’t need a diagnosis to deserve support.
You don’t need to hit breaking point to seek help.
You don’t need to explain your pain to earn permission.
You don’t need a full rewrite to start editing the script.
And you definitely don’t need permission to choose a different ending.
✨ Just the freedom — and courage — to Choose Your Way.