Motivation and emotion/Book/2025/Neurodiversity and emotion

Case study Consider Mia, a 14-year-old girl with autism, who finds school social situations overwhelming. Group work, noisy corridors, and unexpected changes to routines trigger intense anxiety and emotional outbursts. Mia is highly perceptive and academically capable, yet her peers often misinterpret her reactions, leaving her feeling isolated and misunderstood. This scenario illustrates a common challenge for neurodivergent girls. Emotional reactivity alongside social and sensory sensitivities, which can be harder to recognise and support compared with boys. [Add supporting image and reference image within text]

Understanding these challenges is important because emotional dysregulation can affect learning, relationships, and overall wellbeing (Paulus et al., 2021). Neurodiverse individuals may experience emotions more intensely or differently due to variations in brain structure, neural connectivity, and neurotransmitter function (Bertollo et al., 2025). Sensory sensitivities, rejection sensitivity, and difficulty predicting social cues can amplify stress and make adaptive coping harder (Iturmendi-Sabater et al., 2025). Without supportive strategies, these emotional difficulties may contribute to frustration, social withdrawal, or behavioural problems (McLean, 2022).

Psychological science provides valuable insights and tools to support neurodiverse individuals like Mia. Theories such as Gross’s Process Model of Emotion Regulation and Self-Regulation Theory explain how emotions arise, how they can be managed, and where regulation may break down (Gross, 2008). Polyvagal Theory highlights the role of autonomic nervous system flexibility in social and emotional engagement, helping to explain chronic hyperarousal or reduced adaptability (Barbier et al., 2022). Evidence-based interventions, including coping skills training, social-emotional learning, and personalised behavioural strategies, can enhance emotional control and improve adaptive functioning (Murray et al., 2023). By combining theory with practical approaches, educators, psychologists, and carers can help neurodivergent individuals navigate emotional challenges, fostering resilience, social competence, and wellbeing.

• Gross’s Process Model of Emotion Regulation and Self-Regulation Theory provide insights into how neurodivergent individuals monitor, manage, and adjust their emotions and behaviours. Gross’s model outlines strategies for regulating emotions both before and after they arise, supporting adaptive responses and social functioning, while Self-Regulation Theory emphasizes the ongoing processes of evaluating and modifying thoughts, feelings, and actions, with difficulties linked to emotional dysregulation and behavioural challenges.
• Polyvagal Theory explains how autonomic nervous system regulation shapes emotional and social engagement, highlighting how individuals with ASD may experience chronic hyperarousal or reduced flexibility in response to social stimuli. Combined, these theories offer a comprehensive framework for understanding emotional and behavioral regulation in neurodivergent populations and inform interventions that support adaptive functioning and well-being.

• Developed by James Gross (1998, 2002), the model identifies five strategies for managing emotions: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. These strategies can be applied to support emotional regulation in neurodiverse individuals.
• Antecedent-focused strategies help individuals influence emotions before or during the experience. Response-focused strategies occur after the emotion is fully experienced and provide tools to manage intense reactions common in neurodiverse populations (see Figure 1).
• Techniques include changing facial expressions, vocal tone, thoughts, physiological arousal, or subjective feelings. These approaches can improve emotional control and support better social and behavioural outcomes.

• The theory of self-regulation describes how individuals monitor, evaluate, and adjust their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to achieve goals or respond adaptively to their environment (Laulié et al., 2023).
• Self-regulation involves both automatic and controlled processes, including attention control, emotional modulation, and behavioral planning (Benallie et al., 2021).
• Difficulties in self-regulation are linked to emotional dysregulation and behavioral challenges, making it a key target for interventions (Paulus et al., 2021).

• Polyvagal theory proposes that the myelinated vagus enables adaptive behavioral and emotional responses by dynamically regulating the autonomic nervous system, allowing engagement and disengagement based on environmental risk. Children with ASD may not execute the “vagal brake,” leading to chronic sympathetic activation, hyperarousal, and reduced autonomic flexibility in response to social stimuli (Barbier et al., 2022).

• Neurodiverse traits stem from variations in brain structure, neural connectivity, and neurotransmitter activity, which together influence how emotions are perceived, processed, and regulated across different neurodevelopmental conditions. Evidence suggests that both pharmacological and behavioural interventions can support neurodiverse individuals in improving emotional regulation, although effectiveness often varies depending on the condition, age, and individual differences (Iturmendi-Sabater et al., 2025).

• Neurodiversity refers to naturally occurring variations in cognitive functioning, affecting processes like social interaction, sensory perception, and emotion regulation (Baumer & Frueh, 2021). These variations can influence behavioural and emotional control, learning, and social engagement, highlighting the need for supportive strategies that accommodate neurodiverse strengths and challenges (McLean, 2022).

• Neurodiverse traits correlate to genetic neurodevelopment and neurobiological factors influence brain structure and function contributing to differences in neural connectivity and information processing (Parenti et al., 2020). These neurobiological variations also overlap with mechanisms correlated to mood disorders, including neurotransmitter dysregulation, altered prefrontal–amygdala connectivity, and HPA axis dysfunction, highlighting the complex interplay between neurodevelopmental traits and emotional regulation (Bertollo et al., 2025).
• Biological variations can affect the activity of neurotrasmitter systems (e.g. serotonin, dopamine, glutamate), which play a key role in shaping emotional experiences and regulatory capacity (Teleanu, 2022). For example, in ADHD dysregulation in dopamine pathways can impair the brain’s ability to regulate reward processing and inhibitory control, contributing to heightened impulsivity and reduced frustration tolerance (Oscar Berman et al., 2008)

• Emotional responses in the neurodiverse brain can be activated by a wider or more intense range of stimuli, with sensory cues (sound, light, texture, social signals) often have a stronger influence on emotional arousa (Goldberg, 2023).

• Variations in brain regions such as the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and insula, alongside differences in neurotransmitter systems (dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine) and hormones (cortisol, oxytocin), shape both the perception of emotions and the strategies available for regulating them (Goldberg, 2022).
• Differences in neural connectivity and processing speed can lead to both challenges (e.g emotional dysregulation, prolonged recovery after distress) and strengths (e.g heightened empathy, deep emotional focus) in managing emotional state (Goldberg, 2022; Teleanu, 2022).

• Studies on stimulant medications in ADHD populations have explored their impact on emotional reactivity and mood lability.
• SSRIs and other mood-regulating medications have been examined in autistic populations for their effects on anxiety, irritability, and emotional regulation.

• Social-emotional learning programs and coping-skills training help improve adaptive emotional responses.

• Strategies used by neurodivergent individuals in counselling include self-advocacy, seeking clarity in communication, and employing personal routines or tools to manage sensory and emotional overwhelm (McLean, 2022). Experiences of uncertainty, masking, unclear language, and inaccessible sensory environments can provoke stress, frustration, or feelings of invalidation (Jones et al., 2024). Flexible, individualized approaches, such as predictable structures, affirming language, and sensory accommodations can help reduce triggers and enhance coping.
• Rejection sensitivity is common with ADHD playing a role in emotional dysregulation triggered by perceived rejection among peers (Murray et al., 2023). It is the tendency overly anticipate, perceive and react to social rejection that triggers maladaptive thought processes and behaviours (Iturmendi-Sabater et al., 2025). To regulate negative emotions caused by percieved rejection people may engage in intense behaviour such as self-isolation, emotional outbursts, or compulsive reassurance-seeking.

• Heightened or atypical sensory processing can lead to sensory overload, which in turn increases emotional reactivity and can make self-regulation more difficult in high-stimulation environments (Patilima, 2025).

• The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
• Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
• It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science

1. ↑ Gross, J. J., & Thompson, R. A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 3–24). Guilford Press.