The Chronic Pain Experience of Neurodivergent Persons: Guidelines for Ethical Practice
Presenter: Ben Truter, Clinical Psychologist
This seminar will be focusing on the ethical and practical considerations for supporting neurodivergent people living with chronic pain. A core theme is that many neurodivergent individuals may not know they are neurodivergent, so we can’t rely on disclosure or diagnosis to guide our approach—accessible, respectful care needs to be the default. We’ll explore how to validate a client’s lived experience of pain (especially when tests don’t “explain” it), and how to avoid common harms like dismissal or diagnostic overshadowing by centering the person as the expert in their own body.
We’ll also look at informed consent through a neurodivergent lens, with client safety as absolutely paramount. We’ll discuss how alexithymia, over-processing, fatigue, and reduced nervous system safety can make it harder to process information, communicate preferences, or participate meaningfully in decisions—even when someone appears “fine” or agreeable. Practically, this means consent must be a supported, collaborative process: reducing sensory and relational threat, pacing and chunking information, offering clear options (including “pause and revisit”), and using tools like written summaries and teach-back to ensure understanding and genuine choice.
What is neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that refers to a collection of largely genetic conditions affecting how someone thinks, learns, socialises, focuses or pays attention, experiences the world, and processes information.
Neurodivergence includes conditions like autism spectrum, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, OCD, developmental co-ordination differences, sensory integration struggles, auditory processing conditions, and anxiety.
Recent research is also showing us how these conditions co-occur and overlap and aren’t as standalone as we previously thought them to be. Of course, other mental health concerns can exist alongside neurodevelopmental conditions and often do.