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What Do People Actually Learn When They Learn About ADHD?
A look at “Content of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder psychoeducation packages: scoping review” by David Morris, Sharifah Shameem Agha, Miriam Cooper and Kate Langley (2026) After an ADHD diagnosis, one of the first things many people are offered is psychoeducation: learning about ADHD, how it affects you and what helps. It sounds straightforward. But what’s actually…
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“Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner”: Religious Trauma and Queer Resilience
A look at “Surviving Charitable Hatred: Spiritual Violence and Queer Resilience” by Andi P. Eliza-Christie (2025) A gentle note: this post discusses religious trauma and spiritual abuse. “We love you, we just can’t accept your lifestyle.” Many LGBTQIA+ people raised in strict religious communities will recognise that sentence, and the peculiar pain of rejection wrapped…
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From Kanner to Algorithms: Is AI the Future of Autism Support?
A look at “Dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Journey from Traditional Methods to Artificial Intelligence” by Anjali Sahai (2025) Artificial intelligence is being promoted as the answer to almost everything these days, and autism is no exception. This Indian narrative review surveys the journey from the earliest descriptions of autism to the latest AI tools…
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Masking and Camouflaging: The Hidden Cost of Fitting In
Rehearsing conversations before you have them. Copying other people’s facial expressions. Forcing eye contact. Suppressing the urge to move, fidget or stim. Going home and collapsing. If this sounds familiar, you may know all about masking, also called camouflaging: hiding or compensating for neurodivergent traits in order to fit in. What the research says In…
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It Doesn’t Just Get Better By Itself: Working with Young Queer Adults Today
A look at “Adopting a queer lens working with LGBTQ+ young people” by Silva Neves (2026) There’s a comforting story that goes something like this: things are so much better for young LGBTQIA+ people now. There’s Pride, rainbow lanyards, queer characters on TV. Surely they’re fine? This opinion piece by a London psychosexual and relationship…
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AuDHD Hiding in Plain Sight: Autistic Traits in Adults with ADHD
A look at “Autism spectrum traits in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a hidden multifaceted phenotype marked by affective comorbidity, emotional dysregulation, and chronobiological disturbances” by Giulio Emilio Brancati, Ugo De Rosa, Anna Magnesa, Irene Cocciaro, Elena Costagli, Anna Iriti, Berenice Rimoldi, Matteo Vedovelli, Pierpaolo Medda, Elisa Schiavi and Giulio Perugi (2025) ADHD and autism…
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More Hours, More Magic? Why Quality Beats Quantity in Autism Support
A look at “Behavioral approach to autism spectrum disorder: quality versus quantity in interventions” by Jaime Lin, Júlio César Claudino dos Santos and Cinara Ludvig Gonçalves (2026) There’s a stubborn myth in autism support that therapy works like a potion: double the dose, double the sparkle. If ten hours a week is good, surely forty…
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When the Past Climbs Into Bed: Profiles of Trauma and Sexuality
A look at “Profiles of Traumatic Sexuality in Sex Therapy Patients: A Comparison of Interpersonal Trauma History and Sexual Well-Being” by Nadia Willard Martel, Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan, Shalie-Emma Vaillancourt, Martine Hébert and Natacha Godbout (2025) A gentle note: this post discusses sexual and interpersonal trauma in general terms. For many people who have experienced trauma, the…
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Who Cares for the Carers? LGBTQIA+ Caregivers and Mental Health
A look at “Assessing sexual and gender identity interaction with the relationship between caregiving and adverse mental health outcomes” by G. Thomas Wilson II, Gilbert Gimm and Rodman Turpin (2026) Caring for an ageing parent, a poorly partner or a friend in need is one of the most loving things anyone can do. It can…
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From Puberty to Menopause: ADHD Across Women’s Lives
A look at “Integrative literature review – the impact of ADHD across women’s lifespan” by Kati Krebs and Roslyn Donnellan-Fernandez (2025) We’ve touched on hormones and ADHD a few times in this series: midlife diagnosis in “The Missing Years: ADHD, Midlife and Menopause”, women’s Reddit communities in “What Reddit Reveals About Women and ADHD”, and…
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Coming Out at Any Age (and in More Than One Way)
Coming out is often imagined as a single, dramatic moment, usually in your teens, usually involving a nervous family dinner. In reality, it’s rarely that tidy. Many people come out in their thirties, fifties or seventies. Many come out more than once: as queer, as trans, as polyamorous, as kinky, or as neurodivergent. And most…
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Needles, Ponies and Dolphins: A Whistle-Stop Tour of Autism Interventions
A look at “A Review of Therapeutic Approaches for Autism Spectrum Disorder” by Yang Hai, Saihan Bai, Huiting Qiao, Deyu Li, Daifa Wang and Meiyun Xia (2025) If you’ve ever searched online for autism support, you’ll know the options can feel like a never-ending fairground: medication, behavioural programmes, acupuncture, brain stimulation, music, horses, dolphins. This…
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Old Stories, Big Feelings: Schemas, ADHD and Borderline Personality
A look at “Schema Mechanisms Underlying Emotion Dysregulation and Impulsivity in Comorbid Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder” by Mohsen Khosravi (2025) ADHD and borderline personality disorder (BPD) often turn up together, and they can look surprisingly alike. Both involve intense emotions, impulsive decisions and stormy relationships. So when someone has both, what’s going on…
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Coming Soon: How LGBTQIA+ People Cope with Minority Stress
A look at “Affect regulation in the context of sexual and gender minority stress: A scoping review protocol” by Daphne Y. Liu, Benjamin A. Swerdlow, Shao Yuan Chong, Nadia Kako, Alex Rubin and Nicholas S. Perry (2026) This one’s a little different: it’s a trailer rather than the main feature. A study protocol is a…
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Feelings, Online and Affirmed: Trans People’s Experiences of a Digital Emotion Regulation Programme
A look at “‘You get a better idea of what you want to do with your life’: needs and experiences of transgender and gender diverse individuals participating in an internet delivered emotion regulation treatment” by Markus Byström, Hedvig Engberg and Hanna Sahlin (2026) Trans and gender diverse people experience higher rates of emotional distress. That…
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Robots, Magnets and Nasal Sprays: A Tour of What’s New in Autism Support
A look at “Novel therapeutics in autism spectrum disorder” by Sara Daniella Kevelson, Rana Elmaghraby, Fenil Patel, Hallie Brown, Michelle Gorenstein, Jennifer Bain, Zachary Michael Grinspan, Ernie Pedapati, Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele and Pankhuree Vandana (2026) Every few months a headline promises an autism breakthrough: a hormone spray, a brain-stimulating headset, a friendly robot. So what’s genuinely…
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“Will I Have to Explain Myself?” Why the Fit with Your Therapist Matters
There are hundreds of types of therapy, from CBT to psychodynamic to person-centred and beyond. It’s tempting to think that picking the “right” one is the key to success. But one of the most robust findings in psychotherapy research points somewhere else entirely: the relationship. What the research says Psychologists call it the therapeutic alliance:…
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Double the Stress: Trans People of Colour, Paperwork and Mental Health
A look at “Centering transgender and gender nonconforming people of color in the study of minority stress, transition-related factors, and mental health” by Michelle R. Dalton, Scott Secrest, Aline Araujo Hoffmann, Maria Nash, Divya Patel, Joanne Salas, M. Paz Galupo and Katie Heiden-Rootes (2026) Much research on trans mental health has focused mostly on white…
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Re-examining the Cass Review: A Critical Look from Educational Psychologists
A look at “Re-examining the Cass Review: A critical commentary on gender diversity research” by Cora Sargeant, Dan O’Hare, Beckett Markland and Sarah Wright (2026) Few documents have shaped the conversation about gender diverse young people in the UK quite like the Cass Review, published in 2024. It was welcomed across the political spectrum and…
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Out of Control, or Out of Step? The Science of Compulsive Sexual Behaviour and Porn Use
A look at “Compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) and problematic pornography use (PPU): A comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and expert-informed narrative review with suggested future directions” by Campbell Ince, Beáta Bőthe and 27 international colleagues (2026) “Sex addiction” and “porn addiction” are phrases that get thrown around a lot, often with a hefty side of shame. But…