A message that's been read but not answered. "Can we have a quick chat tomorrow?" from your manager, with nothing else. A small comment on something you worked hard on. For some people, these moments pass. For others, they land much harder. You might notice a drop in your stomach before you've had time to think, and a conclusion that seems to arrive on its own: they're annoyed with you, or you've done something wrong. Part of you may know the reaction is bigger than the momen

Someone asks how you're feeling, and you don't know what to say. You might notice your chest is tight or your stomach is churning, but you can't tell whether it's worry, anger or hunger. Or you only realise days later that something upset you. If this happens a lot, other people may have told you that you're cold, unemotional or not trying hard enough. You may have started to believe it. It can be very tiring to keep being asked for an answer you don't have. This article is f

You spent the evening with people you like. It went well. You laughed, you joined in, and you'd happily say you had a good time. Then the next morning a friend messages to say how nice it was, and you can't bring yourself to reply. If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Many autistic adults enjoy people and still find socialising draining. Some have been told they're antisocial, cold or lacking in empathy, when that doesn't match how they feel inside at all. This article

You might come home from the supermarket and need to sit in the car for ten minutes before you can face going inside. Or you might get through a day in an open-plan office, then snap at someone you love over something small, and not know where it came from. Some people call this feeling overstimulated. Others don't have a word for it. They just know that some places leave them wiped out, and that other people don't seem to feel the same way. It's often called sensory overwhel

Maybe you've noticed that things you used to manage have started to feel too much. Replying to a message or getting to the shop feels like climbing a mountain. You take a weekend off or even a week, and expect to feel better. When you come back, the tiredness is still there, as if the rest didn't count. If you're autistic, have ADHD, or both, this might be burnout. This article is for anyone who recognises something here, whether you have a diagnosis, are waiting for an asses

Maybe it's the morning after. You're going back over what happened, trying to work out why something so small felt so big. You might have apologised more than once or feel dread at the idea of seeing someone. Or you might not remember much at all, only that you went quiet and couldn't come back for a while. If that sounds familiar, this is for you. It's for autistic adults, whether you have a diagnosis, have recognised yourself, or are still wondering. If you're autistic and

Some people read their assessment report in one sitting. Others leave it in a drawer for weeks. Some feel a lot at once, and some feel surprisingly little. All of these are common, and none of them is the wrong way to take the news. This article is for adults who have been diagnosed with autism, ADHD or both, and are somewhere in the weeks or months since. You might have waited years for an assessment, or it might have happened quite quickly. You might have been fairly sure o

You might know the moment. You get home, close the door and the effort stops. Your face relaxes. You stop checking how you're sitting or what your hands are doing. Only then do you notice how hard you've been working all day. Or it might be smaller than that. You rehearse a phone call before you make it. You keep still in a meeting when your body wants to move. You laugh at the right moment, then go over the conversation later to check you got it right. This article is for an

Some people think of ADHD as difficulty focusing, losing things, or being easily distracted. Those things can be part of it, but they're far from the whole picture. For many adults with ADHD, the harder part isn't the distraction. It's the emotional overwhelm, the shame that builds up over years of feeling like you're failing at basic things, and the way it shapes how you see yourself. This article is for anyone who's wondering whether ADHD might be relevant to their experien

You can be in a room full of people and still feel entirely alone. You can have a partner, friends, family, colleagues, a full social calendar, and still carry a quiet sense of disconnection that's hard to explain. This isn't about whether you have people in your life. It's about whether you feel truly seen, known, or connected to them. This article is for anyone who's noticed that being around people doesn't always ease the loneliness. Maybe you find yourself putting on a ve

If you're still showing up, still meeting your responsibilities, still managing to get through the day, it can be hard to recognise that you might be burning out. Burnout doesn't always look like a dramatic collapse. Sometimes it looks like someone who's functioning perfectly well on the outside whilst feeling increasingly disconnected, exhausted, or empty on the inside. I'm Jodie James, a BACP-registered counsellor based in North Manchester. I work with people navigating str

If you find yourself thinking "it wasn't that bad" or "others had it worse," even when part of you knows something harmful happened, you're not alone. These phrases and the doubt that comes with them, can show up repeatedly after experiences that were confusing, frightening or left you feeling unsafe. Sometimes it appears the moment you begin to name what happened. Other times it arrives months or years later, just as you're starting to make sense of things. This article is f

Life can feel relentlessly busy and emotionally demanding. Many people are juggling work pressures, family responsibilities, financial concerns, health worries, and the quiet expectation to keep going no matter how they feel. It’s easy to put your own needs to one side, telling yourself that others have it worse or that you should be able to cope. Over time, this can lead to feelings of anxiety, low mood, stress, exhaustion, or a sense of being disconnected from yourself or t

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In recent years, the intersection of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and domestic violence has attracted substantial attention from researchers, psychologists, and mental health professionals across the globe. This comprehensive article will explore the complexities of how the two are connected, shedding light on the relationship between these two distressing circumstances. Unmasking Domestic Violence Often lurking beneath the surface, domestic violence remains a pervas