Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn’t Designed For You

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 1,578 ratings

Price: 16.53

Last update: 12-05-2024


About this item

A paradigm-shifting study of neurodivergent women - those with ADHD, autism, synesthesia, high sensitivity, and sensory processing disorder - exploring why these traits are overlooked in women and how society benefits from allowing their unique strengths to flourish.

As a successful Harvard and Berkeley-educated writer, entrepreneur, and devoted mother, Jenara Nerenberg was shocked to discover that her "symptoms" - only ever labeled as anxiety - were considered autistic and ADHD. Being a journalist, she dove into the research and uncovered neurodiversity - a framework that moves away from pathologizing "abnormal" versus "normal" brains and instead recognizes the vast diversity of our mental makeups.

When it comes to women, sensory processing differences are often overlooked, masked, or mistaken for something else entirely. Between a flawed system that focuses on diagnosing younger, male populations, and the fact that girls are conditioned from a young age to blend in and conform to gender expectations, women often don't learn about their neurological differences until they are adults, if at all. As a result, potentially millions live with undiagnosed or misdiagnosed neurodivergences, and the misidentification leads to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and shame. Meanwhile, we all miss out on the gifts their neurodivergent minds have to offer.

Divergent Mind is a long-overdue, much-needed answer for women who have a deep sense that they are "different". Sharing real stories from women with high sensitivity, ADHD, autism, misophonia, dyslexia, SPD, and more, Nerenberg explores how these brain variances present differently in women and dispels widely-held misconceptions (for example, it's not that autistic people lack sensitivity and empathy, they have an overwhelming excess of it).

Nerenberg also offers us a path forward, describing practical changes in how we communicate, how we design our surroundings, and how we can better support divergent minds. When we allow our wide variety of brain makeups to flourish, we create a better tomorrow for us all.


Top reviews from the United States

hannah jurewicz
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous information on ND
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2024
This is a great book for anyone curious about Neurodivergence, especially if the symptoms don’t appear to be typical white male symptoms. Research based and I definitely appreciate the information.
Liz
5.0 out of 5 stars As an AuDHD women with sensory processing differences… you want to read this.
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2024
This book has changed my life and healing path. The books is relatable, easy to read, and the author gets to the root treatments (we’re currently aware of) and doesn’t allow conventional medicine to gaslight what many of us are experiencing with ND. Highly recommended.
Gail V.
4.0 out of 5 stars excellent read. very informative.
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2024
This book has so much information about neurodivergence in females . I love that it reminds us that neurodivergent people may have similarities but each person is still unique. I love that it speaks of if everyone could just be more accepting of others differences the world would be a better place. It is packed full of education and ways to help.
Dana
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and eye-opening
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2024
What did I like/disklike?
Liked: cutting edge research and journalism; considers capitalism, white-supremacy, and patriarchy as external agonists; focuses on depatholoziging language
Disliked: can be a bit of a laborious read considering some areas required me to stop the book and do research on other things to understand the paragraphs better, but that's more of a learning/developmental challenge for me than it really has to do with the book itself and still comes out a total positive.

Who would I recc to?
Anyone looking to expand their knowledge on why people are the way they are, how to better understand themselves or the people they live with, and become more passionate and understanding to how certain behaviors may appear in themselves and others because of the world around us.

Why did I choose rating?
This book beautifully articulates relationships among discoveries in neuroscience, autism, psychiatry/neutropics, psychology, and therapy research to make a solid case for changing how we organize our views of the human mind, condition, and manifestation of behaviors; instead of by exclusively pathologizing the person, but by also acknowledging a major role the pathology of the environment they are in plays to their condition.
Diane M. Bazail, M.Div.
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2024
It's not that one is was obtuse, low, or incapable. It's that you process things differently which in turn, makes you divergent. Unique and unlike no other. Having to change how one engages a task because you'velearned to accommodate yourself and possibly others. I ❤ this book!
Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Such an important read!!!
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2024
This book was incredibly eye opening to the world of neruodivergence, especially for adult women. Such a validating and empowering read. As a therapist, this gives me ideas in how to better support my clients and myself. Rather than seeing individuals as the problem, we have to ask how society and the environment exclude individuals.
Leah Nicholson
3.0 out of 5 stars Just Okay
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2024
Like the first half of the book, the last half sucked, was hard to finish, so boring.
Offie
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely a must read
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2024
I've had everyone in my family and many of my friends read this book. It's a must read.

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