NEURODIVERGENCE IN THE FOCUS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY: FEATURES OF CLINICAL AND PRACTICAL WORK

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the specificity of psychotherapeutic help for adults with neurodivergence and to define the clinical and practical guidelines for this work. The article focuses on the movement from a model of psychotherapeutic help that mainly works with secondary emotional and behavioral manifestations to a neuroaffirming approach that takes into account the nervous system of a particular client: sensory processing, interoception, regulation of arousal, masking, late diagnosis, and chronic stress. Neurodivergence is understood as a stable variant of nervous system functioning that affects perception, self-regulation, communication, and social adaptation. Anxiety, depressive states, communication difficulties, and behavioral manifestations in neurodivergent clients may be related not only to cognitive schemas, personality traits, or relational experience, but also to stable features of nervous system functioning. This makes it possible to define therapeutic goals more accurately and to avoid interpreting neurodivergent manifestations as resistance or lack of motivation. Clinical work involves differentiating psychological symptoms, sensory dysregulation, somatic factors, and the consequences of prolonged masking. Practical work requires adapting goals, pace, communication methods, sensory conditions of therapy, and the therapeutic relationship itself, as well as cooperation with physicians and related specialists. Sensoryoverload, self-regulation difficulties, alexithymia, interoceptive difficulties, social masking, neurodivergent burnout, and the experience of late diagnosis are significant for therapy. In this context, the neuroaffirming approach does not aim to “normalize” the client, but helps reduce overload, understand oneself better, support autonomy, choose individual self-regulation strategies, and improve quality of life.