Mindfulness is becoming increasingly popular as a way to lower stress, increase positive emotions, and generally improve well-being. What started as a more spiritual practice has become something that even medical professionals are frequently recommending to patients.
And it makes sense, because the science has found real benefits from practicing mindfulness. Studies have found it can reduce anxiety and depression, improve mental health related quality of life, and even lessen chronic pain.
But can it help those of us with neurodivergent brains?
Mindfulness For Neurodivergent People
The research suggests that yes, mindfulness can be helpful for neurodivergent people as well. While research on this is still in its infancy, and more rigorous studies are needed to confirm much of the results, small scale studies frequently find statistically significant results suggesting that mindfulness based interventions can improve the lives of neurodivergent people.
Of course, every form of neurodivergence is different, so I wanted to break down the research on the benefits for some of the most common neurodivergent conditions.
Mindfulness for Autistic People
For those of us on the autistic spectrum, mindfulness has shown the potential to aid with core symptoms of autism, including social challenges. Some research also suggests it can improve cognitive functioning, including executive functioning like control over inhibition and attention.
But the largest chunk of research points to its ability to support autistic people’s emotional regulation. Studies specifically focused on the autistic population have found it can reduce stress, anxiety and depression, alleviate psychiatric comorbidities, reduce rumination, increase self-awareness and insight into emotional states, enhance calmness and relaxation, and offer a sense of empowerment in managing emotions.
This research has also shown improvements in positive states following mindfulness training, such as increased life satisfaction, positive outlook, mindfulness, and quality of life.
With all this research, it’s hard to deny that mindfulness can be a big help for those of us with autistic minds. It’s certainly benefited my autistic mind in many of the ways listed above.
Mindfulness for ADHD
There is also a fair bit of research on using mindfulness for ADHDrs. It’s focused primarily on how mindfulness training can help decrease the severity of ADHD core symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity. This research suggests that mindfulness really can aid in this task, improving executive function and strengthening attention, while reducing impulsivity and hyperactivity.
Mindfulness can even lead to reductions in the overreactivity and behavioral challenges related to ADHD.
The research on ADHD also suggests that mindfulness can improve emotional dysregulation, an aspect of ADHD that often goes overlooked but has serious impacts on quality of life.
Mindfulness for Anxiety and Stress Disorders
While people often focus on ADHD and Autism as the main neurodivergent conditions, there are many more conditions that arise from differences in the brain - whether those differences are inherited genetically, or caused by things like trauma. Some anxiety and stress disorders are also considered neurodivergent conditions, and also benefit from mindfulness.
Research points to mindfulness as a beneficial practice for those with generalized anxiety disorders, for example. These studies have found mindfulness can not only reduce anxiety, it can also improve factors like emotional dysregulation and dysfunctional cognitive processes.
Those with PTSD may also benefit from mindfulness. Some studies have found it can reduce the core PTSD symptoms caused by a variety of triggering events.
And then there are those of us who meet the PDA criteria, a poorly understood cluster of symptoms tied to autism, ADHD and anxiety disorders. PDA is primarily characterized by high levels of anxiety in response to demands and demand avoidance. While no studies look at how PDA responds to mindfulness, it’s worth noting that research has found improvements in avoidance behaviors for those with anxiety disorders that commonly co-occur with PDA.
Mindfulness for Other Forms of Neurodivergence
Studies have also found that mindfulness can help a variety of other forms of neurodivergence.
Mindfulness may help those with obsessive compulsive disorder reduce their obsessive-compulsive symptoms, lower depression and increase mindfulness.
Studies on those with bipolar disorder have found no effects on depression/mania symptoms from mindfulness, but did find improvements in anxiety symptoms.
Studies on those with borderline personality disorder have found benefits such as reduced impulsivity, reduced emotion dysregulation, improved attention skills, and improved mindfulness-related capacities like decentering and non-judging.
Beginning Mindfulness With a Neurodivergent Mind
It’s clear from the research that mindfulness is not just for neurotypical folks. Mindfulness offers a wide range of benefits for many with neurodivergent minds.
Still, we may also have unique challenges in engaging with mindfulness, which traditional mindfulness instructions don’t take into account. My own experience with meditation and mindfulness has been life-changing - and it has opened up space for more joy, rest, self-compassion, and resilience. But it was a difficult road to get here, relying on neurotypical directions.
This is why I’m starting this article series on mindfulness for neurodivergent minds. If you’ve had challenges with mindfulness in the past, or are considering trying it in the future, stay tuned for part 2, where I describe the unique challenges we may face with mindfulness. I’ll follow that up with suggestions for how specific neurotypes can successfully take on mindfulness practices.
With a better understanding of how neurodivergence can impact mindfulness, we can adjust to make these practices more accessible and beneficial for all of us.
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