Category Archives: Uncategorized

When My Diagnosis Became Their Healing: How Understanding Autism Changed All of Us By Michelle Labine PhD December 202 I had been circling around the idea that I might be Autistic for almost eight years before I was formally diagnosed: ADHD at 48, Autistic at 50. By the time I sat in that final assessment […]

By Michelle Labine, PhD December 2025 For years, I talked about self-regulation with my kids, with the people I teach, and with my clients. It was the language I was trained in, the one that felt familiar and “correct”: regulate your emotions, regulate your behaviour, regulate your reactions so you can function in the world. […]

Masking on Overdrive: How ADHD Amplifies Autistic Adaptation By Michelle Labine, PhD December 2025 There is a particular kind of tiredness that settles into my body when I think about the years I spent adapting myself to everyone around me. I hesitate to use the word masking because it has never sat right with me […]

The Hidden Burnout: When ADHD Drive Meets Autistic Exhaustion By Michelle Labine, PhD A December Reflection This is a topic I’ve written about before in different forms, and the fact that I keep circling back to it tells me just how deeply it lives in my bones. This push-pull between ADHD drive and Autistic exhaustion […]

When Trust Hurts By Michelle Labine, PhD November 2025 I still feel embarrassed when I talk about this. Even after my autism diagnosis, even after years of reflection and learning, there’s a flush of shame that rises when I admit how often I’ve been tricked, misled, or taken advantage of. I know I’m not alone […]

Part Two: When Images Guide Connection Autistic Knowing in Relationships By Michelle Labine, PhD November 2025 What surprised me most, after finally understanding my autism, was recognizing how deeply my imagistic way of knowing shapes my relationships. I’ve always picked up on emotional shifts quickly often long before someone puts words to what they’re feeling […]

Part One: When the Mind Speaks in Images Autistic Knowing in the Therapy Room By Michelle Labine, PhD November 2025 As an Autistic therapist, one of the most reliable ways I understand what’s unfolding in a session doesn’t come from structured thought or linear reasoning. Instead, it comes as an image sudden, symbolic, and quietly […]

When Passion Turns Into Exhaustion: The AuDHD Rhythm of Intensity, Novelty, Burnout, and Rebirth By Michelle Labine, PhD November 2025 If you live in an AuDHD body where autism and ADHD are woven tightly together you probably know this rhythm instinctively, even if you never had the language for it. It starts with the spark: […]

Not This Time By Michelle Labine, PhD  November, 2025 For years, I’ve walked into situations like this one: high stakes, structured, full of unspoken expectations. I know the drill; prepare, rehearse, anticipate what people will need from me, and then push through, no matter the cost. It’s what I’ve always done: mask, manage, and make […]

When Connection Feels Like Danger: Experience of Overload and Self-Protection By Michelle Labine, PhD October 2025 There’s a pattern many late-diagnosed Autistic women recognize only after years of confusion: the sudden urge to run, retreat, or cut off connection when relationships or social experiences start to feel too intense. On the surface, it might look […]