The Neuroaffirmative Therapy Handbook

"Screaming into the void"—this describes the experiences of many neurodivergent clients who come to therapy seeking our support. Often, they have encountered helping professionals who have overlooked, dismissed, or invalidated their unique identities and needs. If you aspire to be the difference but are unsure where to start, The Neuroaffirmative Therapy Handbook: A Practitioner's Guide to Working with Autism and ADHD is an essential resource. Authored by an autistic and ADHD therapist, this guide will explore how you can provide informed and affirming care that’s specifically tailored to your client’s neurodivergent identities. Inside, clinicians will discover: • Insights into the nuances of neurodivergence. • Common barriers to achieving accurate diagnosis. • Detailed information on neurodivergent traits, behaviors, co-occurring conditions, and challenges. • An exploration of how structural ableism contributes to attachment insecurity and heightened exposure to trauma. • Techniques for building rapport and delivering effective psychoeducation. • Strategies to address counterdependence and enhance client engagement. • Methods to identify and alleviate neurodivergent stress responses. • Comprehensive action plans designed to improve executive function and mental flexibility. • Reviews of popular therapeutic modalities, including an introduction to a new approach specifically designed to address complex PTSD. • Essential guidelines on the dos and don’ts of neuroaffirming therapy. • Strategies to help clients cultivate personal growth, find community, and achieve fulfillment. Using The Neuroaffirmative Therapy Handbook, you’ll gain access to a comprehensive suite of tools designed to empower autistic and ADHD clients to lead lives rich with connection, satisfaction, and meaning.

Adult autism assessment is a new and fast-growing clinical area, for which professionals often feel ill-equipped. Autistic adults are often misdiagnosed which has enormous implications for their mental health. This accessible and comprehensive adult autism assessment handbook covers the most up to date research and best practice around adult autism assessment, centering the person's internal experiences and sense-making in clinical assessment, rather than subjective observation, thus providing the clinician with a truly paradigm shifting Neuro-Affirmative approach to autism assessment. Traditional clinical assessment tools are comprehensively explored and unpacked to enable the clinician to have full confidence in aligning traditional criteria to the Autistic person's subjective experiences. Full of additional resources like language guidelines and an exploration of the common intersections between Autistic experience and the effects of trauma, mental health and more, this book supplies a breadth of knowledge on key areas that affect Autistic adults in everyday life. The mixed team of neurotypical and neurodivergent authors describe lived experience of Autistic adults, a how-to for conducting Neuro-Affirmative assessments and post-assessment support, alongside reflections from practice. This book also has a directory of further resources including downloadable forms that you can use to prepare for your own assessments and a downloadable deep dive into Autistic perception. This guide will also support professionals through every step of the assessment process.

Written by neurodivergent psychologists for neurodivergent readers. This empowering workbook offers self-compassion skills to help you embrace who you are and thrive. As an autistic person or neurodivergent individual with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you may sometimes feel as if you’re living in a world that wasn’t designed for you. You may have sensory sensitivities, social difficulties, struggles with executive functioning, sleep issues, depression, anxiety, burnout and meltdowns, and trauma from a lifetime of marginalization and microaggressions. If you are struggling with your neurodivergent identity, know that you aren’t alone. Whether you were diagnosed as a child or are just now realizing your difference, this workbook can help you move beyond the internalized message that there is something wrong with you, so you can embrace who you really are and manage stress before it leads to neurodivergent burnout. The Neurodivergence Skills Workbook for Autism and ADHD offers acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and self-compassion skills tailored to the needs of neurodiverse people—especially those with ADHD and Autism—so you can live authentically, take pride in your identity, increase overall well-being, and build meaningful connections to thrive as a neurodivergent person in the modern world. This workbook will help you: Acknowledge your needs and be your own advocate Unmask and express your authentic self Reduce sensory overload and balance emotions Manage rejection sensitivity dysphoria (RSD) and social anxiety Build meaningful social connections Improve executive functioning to get more done Adjust your environment to better fit your needs Most importantly, you’ll learn to take pride in your identity. Whether you’re autistic, ADHD, or both, this workbook can help you overcome self-critical thinking, advocate for yourself in effective ways, and learn practical skills to help you thrive as your authentic self.

There are now over 900 randomized controlled trials demonstrating the positive effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for a wide range of areas. ACT is listed as an empirically supported therapy for multiple clinical concerns and is being disseminated as an evidence-based treatment by organizations including the United States Veterans Health Administration and the World Health Organization. In The Oxford Handbook of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Michael P. Twohig, Michael E. Levin, and Julie M. Petersen bring together contributions from the world's leading scholars to create a comprehensive volume on established areas of ACT. The Handbook presents a scholarly review of the treatment as it has developed over the past two to three decades. Featuring 33 chapters on key aspects of the treatment, the contributors offer analysis on ACT's conceptual and theoretical underpinnings, applications to specific populations and problems, methods of implementation, and other special topics. They further cover theory, empirical support, and scholarly descriptions of treatment application. The volume is divided into four sections, with the first, on conceptual foundations, offering five chapters that comprise a primer on ACT. The second section presents chapters on ACT methods, such as acceptance, cognitive defusion, and values. The third section covers specific applications of ACT, including depression, eating disorders, and psychosis. The fourth and final section covers issues implementing ACT such as training, delivery in schools, technology, and cultural adaptation. The Handbook concludes with two chapters examining directions for future research and practice. Offering rich resources to further study each topic, the Handbook is an essential resource for scholars and students who wish to understand the important major aspects of this transdiagnostic form of cognitive behavior therapy.

Life can present many challenges, some of which can be incredibly difficult to overcome. When these more troubling challenges arise, it can feel impossible to know how to navigate them and the many experiences they bring. You may feel worried about your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, or all three. Especially when these parts of your experience seem hijacked by anxiety, anger, fear, frustration, depression, or other difficult emotions, it can be overwhelming to navigate them and the many behavioral experiences they bring. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (A.C.T) is a type of psychotherapy that relies on talk therapy techniques to assist you with achieving a more functional state in your life. By adjusting your perspective, increasing your awareness, and taking intentional action, you deepen your ability to recognize and navigate your emotions. This way, you do not fall into or maintain unwanted patterns of avoidance, denial, or unhealthy emotional release. Instead, you take control of your experiences and offer yourself the opportunity to navigate them more intentionally. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (A.C.T) is a guide that will show you exactly how you can do it. Some of what you will learn in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (A.C.T) includes: - How the past and future affect your present reality - The importance of the conceptualized self - Why lack of activity and commitment hold you back from achieving success - Specific A.C.T techniques you can use to improve your life - How to develop an A.C.T strategy, or game plan, for yourself - Steps for engaging your A.C.T strategy in your life - And more! If you are ready to break free from unwanted patterns and experience growth in virtually every area of your life, buy Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (A.C.T) today and start exploring how you can change your life! You will be glad you did. 

Nearly 15% of the US population has been diagnosed with a chronic medical condition. These patients - and their families - confront serious psychosocial challenges as they face living with a lasting medical illness. This is where medical crisis counseling (MCC) steps in. MCC is short-term intervention (1-10 sessions) that focuses on three critical, interacting areas in the patient's life: the disease, the emotional response, and the family's response. Four assumptions lie at the heart of MCC: The medical condition is the focus; medical crises are temporary and offer opportunities for learning; the adjustment issues faced by people with illness can be predicted; and people have strengths that help them identify and realize concrete goals. This book describes the MCC model and richly illustrates its therapeutic objectives and intervention techniques for each of the eight "expectable" issues of chronic illness: control, self-image, dependency, stigma, abandonment, anger, isolation, and death. Via numerous case examples, the impact of chronic illness on the patient's family members is described and methods are offered to promote better communication and adjustment around the medical problem.

Every parent of a child with ADHD (Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder) needs to know: How can I help my child, myself and my whole family not only cope but thrive? The Hyperactive Child Book has the answers. Hailed by Child magazine as one of the ten best parenting books of 1993, this is the only book that offers the invaluable advice of an entire team of experts--a monther and the pediatrician and child psychologist she turned to when her son was diagnosed with ADHD--on every aspect of raising a hyperactive child, including: Why it is essential to have your child evaluated by an expert diagnostic team--and how to go about finding more How to be sure your child is receiving the best possible medical care How to be your child's adocate in the school bureaucracy How to help your child acquire the specific study skills that will help him or her learn most effectively How to deal with day-to-day issues from homework to housework to relationships with siblings and peers Detailed compassionate and endlessly useful, here at last is a book that goes beyond the myths and fads about hyperactivity to help your entire family live happily with an ADHD child.

Navigating the "neurotypical" world with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism (AS/HFA) can be extremely stressful. But by understanding the specific ways your brain works differently--and how to tap into your personal strengths--you can greatly enhance your well-being. In this wise and practical book, experienced therapist Valerie L. Gaus helps you identify goals that will make your life better and take concrete steps to achieve them. Grounded in psychological science, the techniques in this book help you: *Learn the unspoken rules of social situations.*Improve your communication skills.*Get organized at home and at work.*Manage anxiety and depression.*Strengthen your relationships with family and friends.*Live more successfully on your own or with others. A wealth of stories, questionnaires, worksheets, and concrete examples help you find personalized solutions to problems you are likely to encounter. You can download and print additional copies of the worksheets for repeated use. Of special note, the Introduction was updated in 2017 with the latest information on how autism spectrum disorder is defined in DSM-5. Finally, a compassionate, knowledgeable, positive guide to living well on the spectrum. Mental health professionals, see also the author's Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Second Edition.

Revision of: Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adult Asperger syndrome. c2007.