It’s hard to know what to say on Christmas Eve, when Bethlehem is under siege, when the weather in Boston has been as weirdly warm as the weather in California this week because of climate crisis, and when, even though Jesus is still my favorite, all my spiritual bypassing recovery means I no longer identify as Christian.
I have been following you writing for several years. I very much resonated with this essay. For a while now I have wondered if you have read much about what late-in-life women diagnosed on the autism spectrum are saying. It seems that social justice is often major concern in their life. It certainly has been in my life. My intuition is that in the New Year you may want to look into the traits of women on the spectrum and see how this fits into the Internal Family System ideas and setting boundaries. It seems that many people - mostly men I guess- with autism are misdiagnosed as being narcissistic, when instead it is their neurological makeup that causes problems in interpersonal communication. I look back now with new understanding why teaching communication skills to some couples just failed. Also you might want to research how the concept of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria fits in with the protector parts of Internal Family Systems. (Last night I read in Jenara Nerenberg's book Divergent Mind that you said that you seemed to be a magnet for autistic people. It has been the same with me, so lately I have been reading more about autistics traits and the latest thoughts written about this by women on the spectrum . I think you will find it a fascinating as I have.)
What a provocative comment, Elsa. Thank you. I'm very curious to hear more. Do you have any particular recommendations to check out? I live with someone on the autism spectrum and my partner has many autistic traits, but they are trauma-related for sure. I find it so hard to understand the difference between early developmental trauma and the nervous system impact that results from preverbal developmental trauma and what we call "neurodivergence." I'm very interested in learning more.
Dr. Megan Neff - a clinical psychologist has a newsletter, podcast, and is on Facebook I believe. She sees the over lap of autism with PTSD. I have to agree it fits my situation. But once I started looking into this I see autistic traits in both my father and mother and PTSD in their childhoods. I have traits and cPTSD from early developmental trauma as my mother was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder later in life but she was in and out of mental hospital while I was young. I now have dysautonmia and gluten problems which also seems to be connected with some people on the spectrum. Recently listened to a podcast by Huberman Labs on the latest research at Stanford on autism. It seems the autistic genes are spread through out our society. I also just finished reading Neurotribes by Steve Silverman to understand how the thoughts on autism have changed over the years. Great book. I could go on and on. But you seem to be like me, just follow the leading of your intuitive Self to see what you come up with. ekcbell@aol.com if you want more info as I continue to make sense of the grief of a lifetime (I'm 75).
Tender hearts reveal themselves in real time. Lovely thoughts and good work.
I have been following you writing for several years. I very much resonated with this essay. For a while now I have wondered if you have read much about what late-in-life women diagnosed on the autism spectrum are saying. It seems that social justice is often major concern in their life. It certainly has been in my life. My intuition is that in the New Year you may want to look into the traits of women on the spectrum and see how this fits into the Internal Family System ideas and setting boundaries. It seems that many people - mostly men I guess- with autism are misdiagnosed as being narcissistic, when instead it is their neurological makeup that causes problems in interpersonal communication. I look back now with new understanding why teaching communication skills to some couples just failed. Also you might want to research how the concept of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria fits in with the protector parts of Internal Family Systems. (Last night I read in Jenara Nerenberg's book Divergent Mind that you said that you seemed to be a magnet for autistic people. It has been the same with me, so lately I have been reading more about autistics traits and the latest thoughts written about this by women on the spectrum . I think you will find it a fascinating as I have.)
What a provocative comment, Elsa. Thank you. I'm very curious to hear more. Do you have any particular recommendations to check out? I live with someone on the autism spectrum and my partner has many autistic traits, but they are trauma-related for sure. I find it so hard to understand the difference between early developmental trauma and the nervous system impact that results from preverbal developmental trauma and what we call "neurodivergence." I'm very interested in learning more.
Dr. Megan Neff - a clinical psychologist has a newsletter, podcast, and is on Facebook I believe. She sees the over lap of autism with PTSD. I have to agree it fits my situation. But once I started looking into this I see autistic traits in both my father and mother and PTSD in their childhoods. I have traits and cPTSD from early developmental trauma as my mother was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder later in life but she was in and out of mental hospital while I was young. I now have dysautonmia and gluten problems which also seems to be connected with some people on the spectrum. Recently listened to a podcast by Huberman Labs on the latest research at Stanford on autism. It seems the autistic genes are spread through out our society. I also just finished reading Neurotribes by Steve Silverman to understand how the thoughts on autism have changed over the years. Great book. I could go on and on. But you seem to be like me, just follow the leading of your intuitive Self to see what you come up with. ekcbell@aol.com if you want more info as I continue to make sense of the grief of a lifetime (I'm 75).