Therapy for Neurodivergent and Highly Sensitive People

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“The world will benefit significantly from talents such as empathy, emotional intensity, certitude, sensitivity, ability to detect details, depth of thought, will to embrace, and many other things that we need in a time where alienation, coldness, superficiality, and emotional hardness are predominating.”
― Jenara Nerenberg, Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You

Neurodivergence (ND) means having a brain that works differently from the average or “neurotypical” person. This may be differences in social preferences, ways of learning, ways of communicating and/or ways of perceiving the environment. Forms of neurodivergence include:

• ADHD
• Autism
• Learning disorders (ie. dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia)
• Sensory Integration Disorder

A highly sensitive person (HSP), a term first coined by psychologists Elaine Aron and Arthur Aron in the mid-1990s, is an individual who is thought to have an increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli. This is sometimes referred to as having sensory processing sensitivity, or SPS for short. Many neurodiverse individuals are also Highly Sensitive. 

While highly sensitive people often feel misunderstood and get a bad rap for being “too sensitive," it is a personality trait that brings unique strengths and challenges.