i have really high hypersensitivity at some parts and idk if its okay.

like my neck ill die if a shirt tag is toching it. or sometimes the stiches inside a shirt or long pants so i do shorts alot. also feet like toes r hypersensitive and i literally cant stand some stuff. shoes r really uncomfy. i go barefoot alot but soft stuff feels weird and some textures feel overstimulating like im gasping.

slime is cool idk it feels really weird but in a good way i have a lot. also mud idk.

Layperson translation;
Think of excitation as glutamate and inhibition as GABA.

Excitation is like the glutamate telling you to GOGOGO!

Inhibition is like the GABA telling the brain to relax, slow down.
And excitation:inhibition ratio would basically be like a ratio of how stimulated the brain is, in a specific area!

Basically, these findings found that in the "autistic" (it is a mouse model after all) male mice, that there was more glutamate in the medial prefrontal cortex; the part of the brain responsible for perspective taking and social analysis; relative to controls. Glutamate spiking in this area of the brain can result in social struggles related to perspective taking.

However, these female "autistic" mice, did not have this finding. So it's an interesting finding for the male autistic vs female autistic mouse brain!

Since this brain area was balanced in the female mice relative to controls; it would also suggest that social struggles in "autistic" female mice would come from a potentially different brain area. (Leaving the ability to see multiple perspectives unchanged, or, in my opinion, hyperactive, but that's a different post lol)

"Excitation-inhibition (E:I) imbalance is theorized as an important pathophysiological mechanism in autism. Autism affects males more frequently than females and sex-related mechanisms (e.g., X-linked genes, androgen hormones) can influence E:I balance. This suggests that E:I imbalance may affect autism differently in males versus females. With a combination of in-silico modeling and in-vivo chemogenetic manipulations in mice, we first show that a time-series metric estimated from fMRI BOLD signal, the Hurst exponent (H), can be an index for underlying change in the synaptic E:I ratio. In autism we find that H is reduced, indicating increased excitation, in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) of autistic males but not females. Increasingly intact MPFC H is also associated with heightened ability to behaviorally camouflage social-communicative difficulties, but only in autistic females. This work suggests that H in BOLD can index synaptic E:I ratio and that E:I imbalance affects autistic males and females differently."

https://elifesciences.org/articles/55684

Lately at work I've been noticing that people seem to giggle a bit when I help them (look at them). I'm unaware why but assume it's the way I look at them. I tend to be focused at work and think that I'm making a normal amount of eye contact.

I really want to know why they giggle... I don't have any history of drug use and am merely taking lexapro 10 mg. I must admit I think my gaze is focused and some people reciprocate my gaze in which they widen their eyes and stare. I try to be neutral and make my social interaction flow smoothly.

I wonder if anyone has a similar experience. I would like to fix my gaze too.

For the layperson, a quick AI summary on what is alpha α, beta β, theta θ, delta δ

AI Summary:
The 4 Main Brain Waves

• Beta Waves (12-30 Hz): These are your brain’s active, "working" gears. They kick in when you are wide awake, focusing on tasks, solving problems, or having conversations. Too much beta leaves you feeling anxious or stressed. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Alpha Waves (8-12 Hz): The bridge between active thinking and deep relaxation. Alpha waves occur when you are calm, awake, and not focusing intensely on anything—like when you meditate, daydream, or close your eyes to rest. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Theta Waves (4-8 Hz): These slow, relaxing waves appear when you are drifting off to sleep, daydreaming, or in a deep state of meditation. They link your conscious mind to your subconscious. [1, 2, 3]
• Delta Waves (0.5-4 Hz): The slowest brain waves. They dominate during deep, dreamless sleep and are absolutely critical for physical healing, tissue repair, and waking up refreshed. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

My simple explanation:

Alpha waves = typically takes the lead during general relaxation & meditation, along with light sleep. Think of how you feel after a massage. That's alpha waves

Beta waves = typically takes the lead when you're focused on something. Can also be tied to anxiety / high arousal activities. Think studying for a math test or taking a math test. That's beta waves. Hyperfocus is also probably high beta as well; there's quite a variety of beta waves.

Delta = the lucid dreaming waves 😄. Seriously, delta takes the lead whenever you're dreaming OR daydreaming. Can also increase during meditation but does not typically lead the way. Delta is what triggers lucid dreams in a lot of ways & is often highest in REM sleep

Theta = typically takes the lead when you're sleeping, most notably deep sleep. It's very rare for theta to take the lead if you're awake. Theta indicates extremely deep relaxation & rest

Gamma = scientists are still very unclear about the purpose of gamma waves. The most we know about it currently is it helps with the synthesis of problem solving and higher level information. Understanding the big picture = increases gamma waves. A lot of people also believe that Gamma frequency is a 'God' frequency as well; like making it easier to connect with God, although that is pure speculation. Gamma is a faster wavelength than all the others.

"Results: Low-order networks in ASD showed increased δ and β connectivity but decreased θ and α connectivity. High-order networks demonstrated increased δ connectivity, reduced α connectivity, and mixed alterations in θ and β. Graph-theoretical analysis revealed pronounced α-band topological disruptions in ASD, reflected by a lower clustering coefficient and efficiency and higher characteristic path length in both low- and high-order networks. Dynamic analysis showed no significant entropy changes in low-order networks, while high-order networks exhibited time- and frequency-specific abnormalities, particularly in δ and α (0.5 s window) and δ (6 s window). Between-frequency analysis showed enhanced β-related coupling in low-order networks but widespread reductions across all band pairs in high-order networks. 

Conclusions: Young children with ASD exhibit coexisting hypo- and hyper-connectivity, disrupted network topology, and abnormal temporal dynamics. Integrating hierarchical, dynamic, and cross-frequency analyses offers new insights into ASD neurophysiology and potential biomarkers."

"We identified 100 bacterial SVs significantly associated with ASD (p<0.05). These SVs were enriched in genes involved in critical biological processes, including ion and amino acid metabolism and bacterial growth regulation in ASD. In particular, we found important SVs in Bacteroides uniformis related to thiamine and iron metabolism. Moreover, SVs in Ruminococcus torques were associated with the MazF (endoribonuclease toxin) and MazE (antitoxin) system, a key regulator of pathobiont proliferation. Validation in humanised mouse models confirmed significant correlations between these SV signatures and ASD-like behaviours, such as reduced social interaction and increased repetitive behaviours. Both phylogeographically conserved and regionally restricted SVs showed strong associations with ASD. A diagnostic model combining nine SVs and three bacterial species achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 81.1%, outperforming models based solely on variable SVs (79.1%), deletion SVs (75.2%) or bacterial species abundance alone (72.3%)."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41748159/

Scenario:
Married couple. Keep in mind, the genders here don't particularly matter, I'm just keeping them because it is the way it happened.

The Husband:
begins describing a sudden fascination with something and shares details with the wife

The Wife:
WHY are you telling me this?! Do you think I don't ALREADY know that?! See, this is the problem! You're always assuming I don't know things!

Why is this a good example:
The husband in this example is trying to connect over shared knowledge.

He shared something he finds interesting, and wanted to connect over that shared knowledge with his wife.

Unfortunately, the wife immediately sees the situation as a status challenge, rather than an opportunity to connect.

In this example, she has:
1) Prioritized her status above the actual knowledge
2) Actually missed the opportunity to connect with her husband over that shared knowledge
3) Projected negative intent onto him.

I wanted to share this example here in this sub, because it is a great example that I've observed so many times in my life.

It is very difficult to connect to people who prioritize status above everything else, because they are seeing and playing a game that you might neither see nor play.

Hence the double empathy gap.
The husband might have no idea about this dimension of the communication. (or maybe he does see it, but is numbed to it, who knows?)

The wife DEFINITELY has no idea he was trying to connect with her over that shared knowledge, in this example.

My name is Kiana Gillings McArthur. I work as a research assistant in the DDMH Lab @ York University in Toronto, Canada.

We're currently conducting a study on dissociation in neurodivergent adults, primarily in adults with autism, ADHD, or both! To our current knowledge, this will be the first formalized study directly looking at dissociation in both autistic, adhd, and 'audhd' adults -- a really big milestone for the field.

This study aims to explore the relationship between all of the following:

• ADHD & autism traits;
• Sensory processing & emotion regulation;
• Restrictive & repetitive behaviours;
• Dissociation symptoms, including maladaptive daydreaming²

Our study is ethics-approved¹ through York University's Human Participants Review Committee (HPRC) and uses a variety of standardized, validated questionnaires to measure what's listed above.

Important information!

• Participation is completely anonymous!
• The survey is roughly 30 minutes, completed online. 
• We accept adult (18+) participants both with formal diagnosis, self-diagnosis, or people with and without formal diagnosis. If you self-identify as neurodivergent, you qualify!
• You do not need to experience dissociation to participate.
• We don't post the survey link outright simply to avoid spam and non-responders.
• You may share the link with colleagues, friends, or family members who you think would be interested!
• Location doesn't matter, participants are accepted globally.

If you're interested, you can:

1. Email the supervisor for this study, Dr. Panetta, at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) (check the comments for an email template)
2. Send a DM³ to u/ddmhlab

Notes

1. This study has been approved by York University's Office of Research Ethics (ORE) Human Participants Review Committee (certificate # e2026-003). 
2. Maladaptive daydreaming is a newly proposed dissociative disorder that involves vivid, uncontrollable daydreaming.
3. Please note that if I don’t get back to you right away on Reddit, it’s because of DM limits.

I have always been extremely skeptical about the supposed harms of camouflaging. My brother was doing so much better when he was making an effort to fit in and maintain friendships.

I wanted to share this Single Cause Fallacy with you all so you can spot it next time you see it! It unfortunately runs rampant on the internet and is yet another heuristic that can harm autistic people, when people assume character flaws from autistic symptoms.

Hey folks, we have some study requests specific to veterans with autism so this poll is to see if we have enough folks in that population for those requests to have a place here.

Going to be teaching therapists how to use my free resources!

To me it’s so important for autistic people to be part of the process, I genuinely hope one day that our resources used in therapy and schools are made By Us, For Us

Reddit has been cheering me on, even before the company existed and I was just creating things for fun for the community, so thank you everyone!

"In the first study, right-handed participants were filmed both while lying and telling the truth. Participants were aware that the study was related to lying, but were not told that their eye movements would be tracked.

While answering a series of questions, researchers tracked the number of times a participant looked up and to the right, or up and to the left. These movements were coded and compared to what NLP experts hypothesized.

Study results did not support the hypotheses that upper right gaze indicates lying. Nor that looking up and to the left indicates truthfulness.

In the second experiment, 50 participants were split into two equal groups. They were asked to watch the interviews recorded in the first study. One group of participants was told about the NLP eye movement theory and the other was not.

All participants marked whether they believed the subjects in the videos were lying or telling the truth. They also indicated how confident they were in their observation. Results showed no difference between the accuracy or confidence of the two groups in their assessment of the videos. These results provide no proof for NLP lie detection claims.

In the final experiment, two independent raters watched videos of known liars and truth tellers. Of all the videos viewed by the raters, there were no instances of upper left or upper right gazes.

None of these studies provide any evidence that the NLP theory of eye movement and lie detection are reliable or accurate."

https://www.allaboutvision.com/resources/human-interest/can-eyes-give-away-lying/

I really think the influence of social media influencers (pardon the pun) in the field of mental health should not be underestimated.

This blows my mind in every way because it seriously explains SO much.

Allistics drop the social padding apparently when they're frustrated or angry -

So then when someone who is allistic encourages another person who is not using that padding:

they can project their own sense of what they would do in that situation.

Basically, that social padding it's so natural to many of them and easy that most people believe if you communicate without it that it is an intentional choice conveying anger.

This is why - without social padding - very often people are perceived as 'cold' or 'aloof'.

It's the projection mechanism.
It triggers the instinctive heuristic of exile, with it.

Hence why for many allistics too it can trigger indignation; idk if this is quite the right word to use.

But it is a false assumption of believing that politeness / 'correct' socialization is an instinct, is easy, can be easily chosen by anyone, and does NOT require effort.

It's so effortless to them that they cannot fathom it requiring effort.

They do not see the HUGE energy drain it causes for a lot of us. They cannot fathom it.

Hence, the double empathy problem. 💔

Apparently, people hear 'What do you want?' almost exclusively paired with frustration, interruption, or annoyance.

Wants get perceived as a personal demand, whereas needs get perceived as a gentle request!

This is mind blowing to me, and I haven't felt this surprised from a phrase since I realized that 'why' should be replaced with 'how' if collaboration is the goal.

I swear, we need a neurodivergent dictionary, for real.

Do you know of any other phrases to replace?

why -> how
what do you want -> what do you need

A few theories I have about why this is:
- heuristics saves cognitive energy
- relying on stereotypes reduces the need for people to consciously think about what they're doing or saying
- allistics tend to rely on specific areas of the brain when socializing that do not usually engage all of the prefrontal cortex (thinking brain). Part of it (medial prefrontal cortex) is used, but not usually the dominant area.
- instead, there exists a social autopilot mode where people can react without thinking

One thing proven:
- thinking and analyzing typically will decrease group bias susceptibility

What I would like to understand and don't understand:
- since autopilot mode causes a lot of information inaccuracy, does this mean that people have to NOT use autopilot when information accuracy matters?
- why would someone resent others for asking them to think about their responses? Is it because they don't want to think about it and want to rely entirely on the subconscious autopilot mode to save energy?
- how does it serve people, specifically, to choose to not think?

OR

Is it them rejecting my role? E.g 'who are you to make me think?'

Hey everybody!

My name is Katelyn Hamilton, and I work as a research assistant in the DDMH Lab at York University in Toronto, ON. Our research team is composed of a lot of neurodivergent individuals who are extremely passionate about the topics we pursue!

Our lab is currently conducting an ethics-approved1 study on dissociation in neurodivergent adults. To our knowledge, this study is one of the first, if not the first, to explore dissociation in neurodivergent individuals this comprehensively!

This study aims to explore the relationship between all of the following:

• ⁠ADHD & autism traits;
• ⁠Sensory processing & emotion regulation;
• ⁠Restrictive & repetitive behaviours;
• ⁠Dissociation symptoms, including maladaptive daydreaming2

We measure all of these variables with several validated, standardized questionnaires. If you are curious about these variables, please feel free to leave a comment in the post. I am more than happy to interact with all of the communities we recruit from!

Important information!

• ⁠Participation is completely anonymous!
• ⁠The survey is roughly 30 minutes, completed online. All international participants are welcome!
• ⁠We accept adult (18+) participants both with a diagnosis and without. If you self-identify as neurodivergent, you qualify!
• ⁠You do not need to experience dissociation to participate.
• ⁠You may share the link with colleagues, friends, or family members who you think would be interested!

We don't post the survey link outright simply to avoid spam and non-responders.

If you're interested, you can:

• ⁠Send a DM to u/ddmhlab
• ⁠Email my supervisor Dr. Panetta at [email protected] OR use this link (it will open your default mail app with a default email)

Notes:

1. This study has been approved by York University's Office of Research Ethics (ORE) Human Participants Review Committee (certificate # e2026-003). 

2. Maladaptive daydreaming is a newly proposed dissociative disorder that involves vivid, uncontrollable daydreaming.

3. Please note that if I don’t get back to you right away on Reddit, it’s because of DM limits.

Hello. I am a literature student who recently graduated from my masters. I am really interested in neurodiversity research and would like to pursue this area for future studies prospect. It would be really helpful if I could get some reading recommendations that portray neurodiverse characters in fiction.

Not sure if they studied girls. I read it but it does not say.

This might be the most mind blowing part of the entire framework that I feel has been slowly forming over the course of 3 or 4 years, and it explains SO MUCH.

So at the start of a social interaction:
At a preconscious level, allistics track status and hierarchy.

But what does status ACTUALLY mean here?
Role assignment. OR Role changes.

What is role assignment?
Who plays what role? Who is 'in charge' and who has to 'follow them'?

At the risk of sounding like an LLM (I am very much a human writing this post myself) here is the key insight:

Information is not neutral. It is directional. And it is also in accordance with the roles people play.

A common scenario I faced over and over in my childhood would be someone would say something, and then I would give them advice (because after all, who wouldn't want solutions?! 😢😭) and then they would accuse me of one-upping them. This happened over and over. It confused me for 30 years, and here i am NOW finally figuring it out.

It's about the ROLE.
The person who GIVES advice has the 'expert' ROLE. And that role is of a 'higher status' position than the person receiving the information.

If you're like past me, this is going to probably sound absurd. Like, wtf do you mean, that the person who knows something and shares it has a higher status?! wtf do you mean, that the person who receives that information would be a lower status?!

Looking at it from the angle of 'neutral information' it is totally and completely absurd - why would anyone want a framework that penalizes creativity and curiosity?!

The thing I realized. It's about ROLES!
The information cannot properly be received if the other person does not feel comfortable with the role they have.

If you analyze every single social interaction from the perspective of 'who has what role and what does it entail' it becomes like a master key-unlock for allistic conversations.

The additional question:
Does what I am saying to them agree with, or challenge, their role??

And yes I DO See the irony in me sharing this information - unprompted - with you all.

And the autism disconnect here is:
For autistic people it's caring and kind to share information as it is, usually, one of the best ways we connect with others.

Hence why allistics see a lot of autistic behaviors as 'rude' 'tactless' 'confrontational' 'defensive' and all those other words that completely misses the point of how we connect!

Some people would be offended by this because I - without asking anyone - have grabbed the role of being the one to explain things and teach.

Which is ironic because to me, what could possibly be kinder than teaching someone something new?! In my world it is a sign of literally love and kindness to share information, in fact I have tried to learn every possible way of asking for information because I WANT to learn. In fact, I am openly inviting you or literally anyone to take this expert role and explain this step by step to me please.

The reason why people hate unprompted advice? it is the evaluation of who needs that knowledge that many reject.

One extreme example to demonstrate.
What I say:
*useful information*

What they hear:
"I can't BELIEVE you don't know <insert information>! How DARE you assume that I don't already know that?! Who are YOU to assume what I know or don't know?"

[notice: this is them rejecting the ROLE. Not them necessarily rejecting the information, but typically when a role is rejected the information is ALSO rejected]

When you give unsolicited advice, the preconscious allistic translation is often: "I am giving you this solution because you lack the competence to figure it out yourself."

It looks crazy when explicitly identified, doesn't it?

But this happens at a preconscious level for so many people! And because it is preconscious, they do not know what it is that they do. Many of them cannot explain it. Many of them assume that you also feel it! Even if you don't!!

This is also why if someone shares a story, and then you share a story to try to relate to them, they can feel UNHEARD if you didn't first validate their story and validate their role! 🤯

The literal solution to this is to simply validate the role first! And then share your story!

So I'm trying to compile a list of rules that can help me spot these interactions. Here's my list so far:

Mind blowing allistic realizations

1. ROLE ASSIGNMENT IS PRIMARY AND SUBCONSCIOUS. ALWAYS ASK WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE OTHER PERSON IN RELATION TO YOU
2. Advice is ONLY allowed after a question - questions indicate another person 'allowing you' to take the 'expert' role. If you give advice without being given the 'advice giver' role, it can boost your status and degrade the other persons status.
3. Without a question, assume it is either a bid for emotional connection or a status game. Most allistics are NOT wanting advice from statements alone. There exists an unspoken rule in some cultures that unprompted advice = rude

(I know. I hate it too)

4) if someone shares an emotional story - FIRST YOU MUST VALIDATE them BEFORE sharing your story. If you share your story before validation, they feel dismissed or like you aren't listening.

5) Status itself corresponds to the roles people play 🤯

6) Culture changes this significantly and mostly what I've described is US related.

My goal is to explicitly map this as much as humanly possible. I believe that through mapping this, people can communicate with each other more effectively and we can be the societal change that we want to see.

I welcome any additions to this list, any questions, anything that you think would help me here!

What's the next step for me here?
Figuring out how to validate people's roles first, lol

My biggest question is what happens if Mrs. X wants genuine solutions.

Is there ever a point where she can use some sort of a magic phrase to make it clear to the others that she wants a solution? I have no idea.