Category: Autism
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What happens when a neurodivergent man builds his own brain?
Jon Mick built a 90-table database of his own mind, published his MRI data, and open-sourced his cognitive architecture. Here’s what that means for the rest of us
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The body keeps the invoice
The universe spent 13.8 billion years producing a nervous system capable of abstract thought, and you’ve spent the last forty years running it on emergency power. The research says the invoice can start being paid down. Here’s what actually works
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So you want to build something that doesn’t repeat the same mistakes
If you’re building something and you want it to be different from the organisations that failed you, Letters from the Quiet Half is where the honest version of that conversation happens. Research, clinical frameworks, no corporate motivational posters. Subscribe free: quiethalf.substack.com/subscribe
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When the workplace decides you’re the problem
If your career has been a long series of almost-but-not-quites, Letters from the Quiet Half was built for you. Research, clinical honesty, and the considerable relief of finding out the gap was never yours to fix alone. Subscribe free: quiethalf.substack.com/subscribe
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The book the DSM still isn’t ready for
Download the completely rewritten fourth edition of Understanding AuDHD for free as a paid subscriber to ‘Letters from the Quiet Half’, with full access to the curated book library and an embedded DeepDive podcast episode
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Message to Neil
If this letter landed somewhere familiar, you’re not alone. One-way friendships drain neurodivergent people faster than most. Subscribe to my Substack channel for writing that names the things polite society pretends not to notice, from a psychologist who has stopped pretending
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Why the monster myth is the most dangerous idea in child protection
If you’ve ever wondered why decades of prosecution, rescue operations, and awareness campaigns haven’t reduced the sexual exploitation of children, The Convenient Monster argues the answer is uncomfortable, systemic, and closer to home than anyone wants to admit
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Your body has been writing you letters for years. You just couldn’t read them
If decades of masking and the invisible weight of long COVID have left your body keeping a score nobody told you about, you are not imagining it. Lee Hopkins is a psychologist and late-diagnosed AuDHD adult who understands what you are going through from the inside out
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When the body keeps the score of a lifetime of masking
Chronic physical pain can emerge after years of neurodivergent masking because the nervous system and body absorb prolonged stress responses. When identity strain, social pressure and self-criticism accumulate over decades, the body may eventually signal overload through fatigue, tension and pain
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Misdiagnosis nearly killed me
A personal and clinical account of misdiagnosis, neurodivergence, environment, and augmentation. Three books form one argument: mental health fails when behaviour is mistaken for architecture, context is ignored, and clinicians lose the bandwidth to remain curious
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Doing less without disappearing
Living with an ADHD and autistic brain often means having more ideas than energy This reflective essay explores why doing less is not failure but a necessary response to nervous system depletion burnout and the quiet work of recovery in a culture addicted to productivity
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Why late ADHD diagnosis rewrites your life story
If you were diagnosed late and are still reprocessing your life story, you’re not behind. You’re doing the necessary work. Follow Mindblown Psychology for clear, humane explanations of neurodivergence, identity, and mental health without shame or simplification
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Have you tortured someone today?
One in four of us don’t ‘fit in’. This leads to tremendous psychological pain as we deal with the pain of rejection and the fear of being ostracised. Have you unwittingly tortured your friend today?
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Why some conversations now feel impossible
If conversations leave you exhausted rather than understood, this piece explores the psychology behind why dialogue collapses when belief fuses with identity, and how to recognise when shared understanding is no longer available without blaming yourself or others
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Goodbye to the shitty end of social media
If you’re tired of the enshittified end of social media and ready for calmer, more human spaces, join me on Substack, YouTube and in the pages of my books. Follow the work where depth lives, not where algorithms thrive. It’s time for a cleaner digital life
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AuDHD isn’t two conditions, it’s one complex reality
If this is your life too, you’re not alone, and you’re certainly not malfunctioning. You’re wired differently, and that wiring deserves explanation rather than judgement. If you want more grounded, contrarian, neuro-affirming writing like this, stay part of the conversation
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Systematic desensitisation: Teaching the brain to unlearn fear
Joseph Wolpe’s 1958 therapy method, Systematic Desensitisation, still reshapes how we treat anxiety and phobias today—especially for neurodivergent minds learning to trust their own nervous systems again
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Get over yourself
A reflective essay on sensitivity, overthinking, and learning that not everything is about us. Includes a neurodiversity lens on rejection sensitivity and the contrarian ‘Gaye factor’
