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In a current podcast interview with trauma skilled Lisa Cooper Ellison, Ellison requested me whether or not trauma circumstances, corresponding to post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD) or advanced post-traumatic stress dysfunction (CPTSD), are neurodivergences.
I answered with a convincing sure.
I outline neurodiversity as regular variations in human neurological perform, with an emphasis on regular.
For ease of understanding, I break neurodivergences into three classes: developmental problems like consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD) and autism; psychological diseases like bipolar dysfunction and anxiousness problems; and purchased psychological disabilities like post-concussion syndrome—and trauma problems like PTSD.
What Are Acquired Psychological Disabilities?
Acquired psychological disabilities aren’t genetic—that we aren’t born with. They will come from accidents (within the case of post-concussion syndrome), diseases (within the case of mind fog), or psychological trauma (within the case of PTSD).
PTSD and different trauma-related neurological circumstances are neurodivergences. However you do not need to have an official prognosis of PTSD to neurodivergent. Keep in mind, neurodiversity is about neurological perform variations, not medical labels.
Neurodiversity is about how our brains work. It’s concerning the strengths and struggles that our variations give us. So, what are the strengths and struggles that include trauma neurodivergences?
Trauma Neurodivergences Come With Struggles
Like every neurodivergence, trauma neurodivergences include struggles in addition to strengths. To study extra concerning the struggles and strengths of trauma neurodivergences, I interviewed Lisa Cooper Ellison, Ed.S in medical psychological well being counseling and trauma-informed writing coach, an skilled on this space, to get a fuller image of the struggles that survivors of trauma face. Ellison mentioned,
“For many individuals, the struggles and strengths of a prognosis like PTSD and CPTSD are the identical. The objective is to acknowledge and domesticate the great whereas acknowledging and dealing with every attribute’s limitations.”
For instance, Ellison informed me about excessive sensitivity, a function of many trauma survivors. Ellison mentioned,
“We expertise the world deeply, from the fantastic to the extremely overwhelming. We even have an uncanny capability to detect different folks’s feelings, utilizing solely the slightest cues. This can be a talent many people realized to remain secure throughout childhood.”
However excessive sensitivity isn’t all the time factor, Ellison explains: “Whereas this will serve us nicely as a result of a lot of what we learn is expounded to risk detection, we generally get issues improper or see threats when none exist.” In different phrases, sensitivity can flip into anxiousness, hypervigilance, and continual stress.
Ellison defined that trauma survivors typically really feel elevated empathy, which is an efficient factor, “However there are occasions when that empathy can flip into folks pleasing or result in trauma bonds.”
Trauma survivors expertise crises. However meaning they’re often “wired for disaster,” as Ellison places it. The issue is, then, that “common life can really feel complicated, and we are able to generally search for a disaster when issues are going nicely or manufacture one in order that issues really feel ‘regular.’”
However as Ellison factors out, many of those struggles are additionally strengths.
Trauma Neurodivergences Additionally Come With Unbelievable Strengths
Trauma survivors even have strengths—identical to another neurodivergent particular person. Ellison informed me, “They’re extremely sturdy people with extremely adaptable nervous methods which have realized to outlive what might sound unsurvivable.”
Ellison explains that as a result of many trauma survivors are extremely delicate, “We really feel deeply and are deeply moved by occasions.” And this generally is a good factor. Why? “Which means we expertise the world deeply, from the fantastic to the extremely overwhelming.”
Trauma survivors stay in high-definition. Ellison, who teaches trauma-informed writing, notes in her educating that trauma survivors can leverage their energy as delicate observers of the world to make them higher writers.
Trauma survivors are additionally extremely empathetic and, as Ellison explains, “the primary to consolation somebody who’s skilled a serious loss. We’re not afraid to be with somebody who’s experiencing the robust stuff.”
Trauma survivors are additionally glorious to have round when issues get robust. Ellison explains, “As a result of our nervous methods are extremely attuned to survival, we’re nice in a disaster. It’s the one time we don’t panic.”
As many neurodiversity advocates have identified, you will need to talk about neurodiversities’ strengths and struggles. Often, as a society, we focus solely on the adverse and ignore the constructive.
As neurodiversity advocate Karen Ray Costa has repeatedly identified, the Diagnostic and Statistical Guide of Psychological Issues (DSM) solely lists adverse facets of neurodivergences—not the constructive ones, which may very well be simply as useful in diagnostics.
So, I thank Ellison for sharing the strengths of neurodivergent trauma problems so eloquently. I hope that once we take into consideration neurodivergence sooner or later, we’ll all think about the strengths in addition to the struggles.
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