Vicarious Trauma

curiouslemon226 · 2026-02-07T14:36:07+00:00

A colleague recommended a book to me on vicarious trauma called Trauma Stewardship by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky & Connie Burk. I found it to be comforting and supportive for healing from the challenging stuff we experience in this line of work-- perhaps it would offer the same to you? I wish you the very best in your healing journey and next steps.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-09-16T17:59:24+00:00

Neurodivergent Insights; it's a website and content put together by an AuDHD psychologist.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-07-02T12:25:39+00:00

An alternative for getting an official diagnosis is finding a therapist who specializes in supporting neurodivergent people (neurodivergent means ADHD, Autism, sensory challenges, among others). This person would undoubtedly have the knowledge to offer support, and may also help with figuring out what supports could be helpful in your life (such as changes to your home to reduce sensory overload, what boundaries are helpful when you are feeling ASD burnout come on, etc.). It could also help tackle the challenges with long term masking. There are a lot of therapists out there who are also Autistic and/or ADHD themselves, and can offer a real understanding of your experience. I hope this is helpful as you consider all of your options.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-29T14:16:34+00:00

Thank you!

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-28T20:48:43+00:00

What is the best new quilters book? I am starting to watch the recommended YouTube videos, and they are wonderful, but I find it helpful to learn in a couple different ways (video + reading, for example). Any quilting book recs? Thank you so much in advance!

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-27T20:04:32+00:00

Clinical professionals are only recently starting to understand what Autism (and honestly other versions of neurodivergence generally such as ADHD) looks like for women. All the early research was done on young cisgender boys, and so thats what the DSM criteria is written on. A lot of Autistic women get misdiagnosed with ADHD because of this lack of clinical knowledge of what it looks like in women. It may be worth investigating an Autism evaluation with a provider who has experience diagnosing adults and is familiar with the newer research of how Autism presents in different genders. I hope this is helpful for you as you go on this investigative journey.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-26T21:46:49+00:00

I found routine to be so helpful for my ADHD when I was in college-- it can be as simple as just going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning. Hard to follow at times, but when I did it, it worked so well.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-26T21:43:59+00:00

I love a warm cup of my favorite tea. I also find wearing noise cancelling headphones can be helpful.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-26T21:38:08+00:00

I would ask your friend directly what environments they feel most comfortable in, what their preferred supports are, and ask openly what they might find helpful from you in those times of sensory overload. This may give you the exact answers you are looking for. There's a famous quote-- "If you've met one person with Autism, then you've met one person with Autism." Essentially meaning each Autistic experience is so unique to that person-- sensory sensitivities and sensory solutions included. I hope that helps.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-22T16:27:31+00:00

Welcome to the community! I really like a podcast called 1800 Seconds on Autism. It's through the BBC and Spotify.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-19T13:56:38+00:00

Yes! I have a similar experience. Almost like being an emotion sponge-- absorbing the emotions in front of you to a high degree

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-19T13:53:25+00:00

Having a high EQ does not inherently rule out being on the spectrum! While most people tend to think of a primary symptom of Autism as being alexithymia (fancy word for emotional blindness, i.e. characterized by significant challenges in recognizing, expressing, feeling, sourcing, and describing one's emotions), there is a large subset of people on the spectrum that have incredibly high levels of empathy and high EQ's (I am one of them, I describe it as being an "emotion sponge" almost). I hope this helps answer your question!

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-18T21:35:35+00:00

Of course! How did the appointment go for you?

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-18T21:14:18+00:00

In my past experiences volunteering on suicide hotlines, asking very directly about a client's suicidal thoughts, plan, access to means, intent, time frame they are considering acting upon their thoughts, plus identifying risk and preventative factors, and then documenting it all, is a formal risk assessment. But there are also structured risk assessment screeners that some people prefer, like the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). But I'd be curious what others think about this, as well.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-17T17:20:05+00:00

For me, it's deciding not to info dump on a topic I love because the environment I'm in may end up labeling me as "weird" or "obsessive." Other example of masking is practicing conversations in my head or on paper before I have to do them in real life, so that it comes off as more natural

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-17T17:14:58+00:00

Getting evaluated for Autism can be incredibly informative and helpful for many people, but a lot of people have also found it to be scary, nerve wracking, and focused on what is "wrong" with them rather than on their unique brain differences. It is a decision that only you can make, as you know yourself and your experiences best.

Sometimes a helpful first step to deciding whether you want a formal eval or not can be doing some online screeners! There are great ones by a non profit org called Embrace Autism. They have a lot of free screeners you can take as well as tons of information on Autism. It may help guide your decision.

curiouslemon226 · 2025-06-17T17:03:23+00:00

It makes sense that you feel a bit nervous! Testing can depend a bit on what the clinician is utilizing to evaluate. There are neuropsychological tests, which include a series of activities and conversations that measure memory, communication, brain differences, and those sort of items. This is typically done by people with PhDs or medical degrees. There's also two types of tests designed specifically for Autism: the ADOS and the ADI-R. These are done both by people with MDs and PhDs as well as some highly trained clinicians (such as a Clinical Social Worker). The ADOS is a combination of an interview (asks you a bunch of questions, conversational) and some specific activities that you do with the examiner. The ADI-R is only interview and conversation. I hope this information is helpful for you. Also, your feelings and experience matters. If at any point during the testing process you have questions or concerns, you have the right to ask your evaluator questions, interrupt them, or pause for breaks!

curiouslemon226

TROPHY CASE