Communication difficulty? It could be Double Empathy.

Having trouble with communication with someone whose neurotype doesn't match your own?  We get it...and we practice helping people with this every day.

One of the things that gets talked about a lot in session across all of those who have both neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals in their families, as well as different types of neurodivergent individuals in the same family, is the impact of understanding in communication. It shows up differently for each group, whether that be partners, parents, siblings, or clients themselves with things like...

Why don't they get it?

I just don't understand but think we are definitely saying the same thing.

I repeat what I hear in my own words and they get mad at me. 

I'm trying to tell them but they aren't listening.

And even this one...

They just don't have empathy.

It's actually Double Empathy...a term coined by Damien Milton, an autistic researcher, in 2012 and it literally describes that communication between an neurodivergent person and neurodivergent person contains little issues as does communication between a neurotypical person and another neurotypical person.  However, when a neurodivergent person and neurotypical person communicate, mismatches, misunderstanding, and out of context assumptions can often take place forming a two sided barrier to comprehension.

This double barrier shows that the miscommunication doesn't mean that a neurodivergent person does not have empathy. In fact, most display higher levels of cognitive empathy than most individuals. It does mean that the varying ways in which communication occurs between very different brains can complicate human interactions and connection.

Therapy can help bridge this gap by learning how to communicate, interpret, assess your own perceptions and assumptions, and create clarity with your words as well as how the other person receives them. Whether you are struggling with your partner, your child, your parent, or sibling, Neuro-Roots fosters an environment where this learning to understand can begin and barriers to connection become smaller. It's these 'aha' moments and times in session with our clients that mean the most, and we are grateful to witness the magic when connection happens with communication help.