Autism and trauma—what the world often gets wrong about autistic trauma and why

Let's talk some more about autism and trauma, because it's so much more than just... autistic people are more likely to experience trauma...

It's what our nervous systems internalize as trauma in the first place.

We are not talking about ""big T, trauma"" here.

We are talking about ""little t"" trauma.

Things like...

- Sensory overstimulation

- Feeling misunderstood

- Experiencing social exclusion

- Getting a bad haircut (I am serious about this one and am including it because this one is actually the strongest example of my point)

Things that most nonautistic people would consider small... possibly slightly overwhelming, but definitely manageable. (And then often judge us for having what they deem to be an ""overreaction"")

But to the autistic nervous system, the internal experience is extreme. Not slightly overwhelming. Not overwhelming but manageable. Extreme.

It can feel like someone is taking a taser and electrocuting your heart.

Yes. From a ""bad"" haircut.

(If you think I'm exaggerating, this is exactly why this conversation is so important.)

So, to get us all on the same page about how autistic nervous systems experience ""little t, trauma,"" here's where I think the conversation needs to start...

By answering the question, ""what exactly is trauma?""

Because I think the term is being used differently by most people, and that it's causing us to talk past each other instead of getting us on the same page where there is mutual understanding.

So, I'm going to start with a definition that I believe accurately reflects how the field of psychology talks about trauma...

But in a way that looks at what's happening in the nervous system when trauma is acquired, not how trauma manifests (which is the framing I typically see in every day discourse).

Trauma... is the nervous system internalizing and storing in its memory an experience that was threatening to its survival.

Which is largely happening at the unconscious level.

The reason the nervous system does this is so it can instantaneously protect itself in the event that something similar happens in the future.

Trauma is essentially the internalization of threat protection.

Not... 'I'm being chased by a bear,' threat protection...

But... 'I have experienced this unbearable thing (that can be literally anything) in the past'... threat protection.

Even if that unbearable thing was a ""bad"" haircut.

This is autistic trauma, in a VERY simplified nutshell.

And as of just a few years ago, we have evidence from a scientific experiment that validates this. (I'll share the link below)

It's currently the only research of its kind (that I'm aware of), and due to ethical requirements, was conducted on mouse model brains rather than human brains.

(If you are unsure what this means, it is relatively easy to learn the basics about mouse models via google)...

But the research findings are extremely noteworthy when it comes to this topic because the study found that the mouse models reacted to ""mild stress"" with PTSD-like responses.

This is not proof (very little is when it comes to science), but it is absolutely supporting evidence that autistic brains experience ""mild"" forms of ""stress"" much more intensely than nonautistic brains.

But not just *more* intensely...

*So* intensely that it reaches the level of scientifically, psychologically, and physiologically defined PTSD.

This is not a small finding in my opinion.

This is MASSIVE.

And this is where science limitations create a need to move into theoretical framing... IF we want to understand what this actually means for autistic people.

It is my belief that autistic people are not developing cPTSD en masse just from ""big T, traumatic"" cumulative events (like long term abuse)...

Yes, many of us absolutely are (myself included at one time, though that is thankfully now in my past)...

But that much of our cumulative trauma is acquired from ""small"" things that nonautistic people would never consider traumatic.

And yet... to our nervous systems... they *absolutely* are traumatic.

That we experience continuously, daily, if not hourly for many of us... that literally *becomes* cPTSD over time.

This is what I believe is happening, yet the science is painfully behind.

Autistic trauma is many things. At this point, I don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise.

But what I see as missing from the dialogue... from advocacy... from research... in a BIG way, is everything I just outlined.

It's the ""little t, traumatic"" accumulation of experiences that we acquire *because* our brain wiring is *regularly* mismatched with our environments.

And THAT is what I think we need to investigate next...

IF we want to truly understand how autistic people experience a world that was not designed to meet our needs...

And most importantly... put ourselves in a position where we can actually SOLVE that problem, societally and systemically.

If you're autistic, I would love to know if this resonated with you.

And for those who are new here...

I'm Nicole Filippone, autistic philosopher of human difference and translator of the human experience. 🙂

My background is in philosophy, psychology, learning science, and most recently, I've been doing a lot of cross domain synthesis into autistic cognition and the internal autistic experience.

If this type of content interests you, you can find a lot more like it on my page.

I also have a learning library on my website where I put all of my content into structured catalogs. I'll share a link to that in the comments as well for those interested.

Happy learning 🙏🏻