Author Archives: Michelle Labine

Feeling “Childlike” in Power or Learning Situations: A Common AuDHD Pattern By Michelle Labine, PhD October 2025 When an AuDHD woman says she feels “childlike” or “small” in certain situations, she isn’t being metaphorical. It’s a full-body experience and a visceral shrinking that shows up as a quieting of voice, a sudden loss of words, […]

The Quiet Fear of Not Being Diagnosed By Michelle Labine October 2025 Many of my clients express this fear when we begin exploring the possibility that they might be ADHD or Autistic. It’s often not the testing itself that feels frightening, it’s the deeper fear that, after all the reflection, research, and self-recognition, they’ll be […]

Not Anymore By Michelle Labine October 2025   When an Autistic woman says, “I need it this way,” or “I can’t do that right now,” it is not about control. Read that again. It’s about trust, safety, and finally being allowed to exist on her own terms. What looks like control from the outside is […]

Autism + Environment = Outcome Understanding the Equation as a Late-Diagnosed AuDHD Woman By Michelle Labine, PhD  October 2025 For most of my life, I believed the way I responded to the world revealed something inherently wrong with me; that I was too sensitive, too intense, too emotional. What I couldn’t see then was that […]

Beyond Defensiveness: How Shame Shapes Autistic Men and the Ones Who Love Them By Michelle Labine, PhD October 2025 In my work with autistic adults—especially those assigned male at birth and raised as boys—I see the same emotional pattern emerge again and again. It’s rarely named, but it is deeply felt. It doesn’t show up […]

The Inner Dynamics Behind Defensiveness in Autistic Men By Michelle Labine, PhD  October 2025 Why Defensiveness in Autistic Men Is So Often Misread It’s a pattern I’ve witnessed countless times in therapy rooms, in couples’ dialogues, in the private confessions of autistic men who are desperately trying to love well, but feel chronically misunderstood. A […]

When Narcissistic Abuse Meets the Autistic Heart By Michelle Labine, PhD  October 2025 A narcissistic man is shaped by an early wound. Long before he becomes charming, withdrawn, or cruel, he is a boy who learned a distorted version of love. Some boys grow up rejected, criticized, dismissed, or emotionally abandoned. They learn that love […]

When Sharing Becomes Imposing: On Autonomy, Marriage, and the Need to Be Self-Guided By Michelle Labine, PhD October 2025 I am married to a deeply intelligent man, someone with an incredible mind, an insatiable curiosity, and a true love for learning. One of the ways he moves through the world is by sharing what he […]

The Persistent Need for Autonomy: When Lack of Structure Feels Like Chaos By Michelle Labine, PhD October 2025 I recently went on a trip that should have been relaxing a break from work, a change of scenery, time to recharge. I had looked forward to it for weeks. But instead of rest, I found myself […]

Taking an Inventory of My AuDHD Strengths at Work By Michelle Labine, PhD September 2025 When you live with both Autism and ADHD, what many of us call AuDHD, you’re used to people pointing out the challenges. We hear about what’s “hard” for us far more often than what’s powerful about the way our brains […]