What Can We Do To Cope, Though? [Est: 5m 59s]

All right, welcome back to the course in this video, we’re gonna discuss one of the most common things which is communication and coping strategies for neurodivergent people. We’re gonna start with communication. And the thing about communication is that it’s a challenge, a lot of the time for neurodivergent individuals. But it’s important to understand that this doesn’t mean that it’s less effective. It’s just a little harder and for them it’s different. What neurotypical people may consider a normal conversation may not make sense to a neurodivergent person or when they do that translation, we talked about, it may not come out to what you intend. It’s often more confusing and leads to increased overwhelm. So a coping mechanism is to take in less information or to shut off a neurodivergent person may shut off if they have too much. This communication challenge has been researched well, and it’s noted or it’s called the double empathy problem. And what it means is that this lack of communication goes both ways. It’s not just them, not understanding you or you not understanding them. Whoever, whether you’re neurotypical or neurodivergent. That statement applies. Neurotypical may find it difficult to understand neurodivergent communication. But that’s also true the other way around, right? In fact, a neurotypical person who finds a neurodivergent person hard to understand, it might be an indication that there is that difference in neuro type or maybe one of them isn’t diagnosed. And um you think you’re talking a neurotypical to neurotypical or maybe you’re not even thinking about it, but there’s this inherent misunderstanding. What is that? It could be this double empathy problem. What the double empathy problem describes is that neurotypical and neuro divergence, two of them together have a deeper and better understanding better comprehension than a neurotypical and a neurodivergent. It’s not always true. Obviously, it’s a generality, but there was several scientific studies that proved that the comprehension is greater when you have two people, the same neuro type together. So if this is just a sunk cost of communicating, it’s going to be there no matter how we communicate, no matter when we communicate or what. Let’s assume that there is a decreased level of comprehension and that we even more further, have to slow down. It’s also essential to understand that social protocols can be overwhelming for neurodivergent people. But neurotypical might consider polite or expected can cause sensory overload for a neurodivergent person. So not engaging in these protocols or these social norms like making eye contact or being quiet while you’re talking or looking away can be a form of self-care and not avoidance. It’s important too to talk about coping strategies. So one crucial aspect of coping is that self-care, I just mentioned self-care for neurodivergent individuals looks a little different maybe than it would for a neurotypical. Um It includes things like taking breaks, obviously when you’re feeling overwhelmed, but not knowing when those breaks are gonna end is it’s about the overwhelm. It’s not about time finding a safe place to decompress or retreating and engaging in calming activities like meditation, yoga or just being left alone in a dark room. Another coping strategy is seeking support. So this can include therapy, talking to a trusted friend or joining a support group specifically for neurodivergent people. But if they don’t have any of these things, this might look like an outburst or screaming or being desperate for something with no understanding of why that is this is a neurodivergent person’s attempt to get the support that they need and