Kroll Elizabeth, Lederman Megan, Kohlmeier Jonathan, Kumar Komal, Ballard Jaime, Zant Izabella, Fenkel Caroline
Charlie Health, Inc., Bozeman, MT, United States.
The Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States.
Front Psychol. 2024 Jul 15;15:1403129. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1403129. eCollection 2024.
The medical and social definitions of neurodivergence have become a common topic of discussion in recent years, and the ways that we define, measure and report on conditions within the neurodivergent umbrella are changing. The objective of this study was to analyze differences in mental health symptom presentation at intake and compare treatment outcomes among three groups: clients with an affirming neurodivergent diagnosis, clients without an affirming diagnosis, and neurotypical clients.
Data were collected at intake and discharge. Clients self-reported neurodivergent identity, neurodivergent diagnoses, as well as the severity of depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and self-harm frequency. One-way multivariate analysis of variance tests were run to assess differences in mental health symptoms at intake and discharge based on neurodivergent identity and corresponding diagnosis. When MANOVAs indicated significant differences, follow-up univariate one-way ANOVAs were conducted for each dependent variable.
Neurodivergent clients reported significantly worse mental health symptoms at intake than neurotypical clients, regardless of diagnosis status. Additionally, clients who identified as neurodivergent but did not report an affirming medical diagnosis reported significantly worse mental health symptoms than those who did report an affirming medical diagnosis. By discharge from IOP treatment, no significant differences were found in symptom change scores between neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals, or neurodivergent individuals with an affirming diagnosis and those without.
These findings highlight the importance of acknowledging client identity as a key component of mental health treatment. The act of validating symptoms and experiences, allowing accommodations when requested, and exploring identity formation regardless of diagnosis, allowed all clients who identified as neurodivergent to benefit from treatment.
近年来，神经差异的医学和社会定义已成为常见的讨论话题，我们定义、衡量和报告神经差异范畴内病症的方式正在发生变化。本研究的目的是分析入院时心理健康症状表现的差异，并比较三组患者的治疗结果：确诊为神经差异的患者、未确诊的患者以及神经典型的患者。
在入院和出院时收集数据。患者自行报告神经差异身份、神经差异诊断结果，以及抑郁症状、焦虑症状的严重程度和自我伤害频率。进行单向多变量方差分析测试，以评估基于神经差异身份和相应诊断的入院和出院时心理健康症状的差异。当多变量方差分析显示存在显著差异时，对每个因变量进行后续单变量单向方差分析。
无论诊断状况如何，神经差异患者入院时报告的心理健康症状明显比神经典型患者更严重。此外，那些自我认定为神经差异但未报告确诊的患者，其心理健康症状明显比那些报告确诊的患者更严重。到强化门诊治疗结束时，神经差异个体与神经典型个体之间，以及有确诊的神经差异个体与无确诊的个体之间，在症状变化评分上未发现显著差异。
这些发现凸显了承认患者身份作为心理健康治疗关键组成部分的重要性。确认症状和经历、应要求提供便利，以及无论诊断结果如何探索身份形成，这些做法使所有自我认定为神经差异的患者都能从治疗中受益。
