The Neurodivergent Body: When the Nervous System Speaks the Language of the Body.

I’m a Clinical Psychologist who spent many years working in physical health settings within the NHS. My patients were often those whose symptoms didn’t make sense to medicine. They experienced non-epileptic seizures, chronic pain, fatigue, inflammation, dizziness, or a deep sense that their body had stopped cooperating. When test results came back “normal,” they were referred to psychology. The unspoken message was that if nothing physical could be found, the problem must be in their head. 

Even then, something about that story never felt true. These were not people imagining illness. They were people whose nervous systems had reached breaking point. Their bodies were speaking a language that medicine had not yet learned to translate. 

A Pattern Hiding in Plain Sight 

Years later, as my work evolved to focus on neurodivergent adults, I began to see the same patterns. So many of those “medically unexplained” presentations were in fact neurodivergent people, often with ADHD, autism, or sensory processing differences. Their nervous systems were more sensitive, their bodies more reactive, and their histories full of masking, people-pleasing, and chronic override. 

The medical lens hadn’t failed because there was nothing to find. It failed because it was looking in the wrong place. 

We now know that neurodivergent people are more likely to experience connective tissue differences, dysautonomia, chronic pain, immune and hormonal dysregulation, and gut issues. These are not random coincidences. They reflect a shared neurobiological thread. What affects the brain also affects the body. 

The Weight of Suppression 

For many late-identified neurodivergent people, life has been an ongoing act of suppression. Suppressing sensory pain, emotion, and instinct. Suppressing the need for rest or retreat. Over time, this suppression becomes stored in the body as tension, fatigue, inflammation, or shutdown. 

The body begins to tell the truth that words never could. 

When we are not believed, the body often becomes the final messenger. What appears as “mystery symptoms” may be the nervous system’s way of saying this way of living is not sustainable. 

Beyond “All in the Head” 

It is time to move beyond the idea that physical and psychological are separate. The brain is the body. The nervous system is our bridge between mind and matter. For neurodivergent people, this connection is even more pronounced. Their systems register the world with greater intensity. They sense, feel, and react more deeply to environmental and relational stress. 

When medicine sends a neurodivergent person to psychology to “fix their thinking,” what it misses is that their body is already doing the thinking, communicating through pain, exhaustion, and overwhelm. 

Towards a New Kind of Care 

Supporting neurodivergent regulation begins with the body. 
That might look like: 

• Understanding your sensory profile and noticing what soothes or overwhelms. 
• Learning to pause before pushing through. 
• Co-regulating with safe people, animals, or nature. 
• Allowing movement, rest, or stillness that honours your nervous system’s pace. 
• Reclaiming rest as a biological need, not a personal failure. 

This is not about mind over matter. It is about mind with matter, working together as one intelligent system. 

Listening Differently 

The activist in me still bristles at how quickly medicine pathologises what it cannot explain. But the psychologist in me has hope. We are beginning to listen differently, not only to symptoms but to the deeper story underneath them. 

Perhaps the question was never “is it physical or psychological?” 
Perhaps the question is “what is this body trying to say?” 

For neurodivergent people, healing begins with being believed. 

And as we learn more about the neurodivergent body, we begin to see that nervous system care, nutrition, rest, and sensory regulation are all part of the same conversation. Supporting a neurodivergent life means supporting the whole bodymind, not trying to separate the two. 

About the Author 

Dr Emma Offord is a Clinical Psychologist and founder of Divergent Life, a neuroaffirming service supporting late-identified neurodivergent adults through assessment, therapy, and coaching. She writes and speaks widely about the intersections between neurodivergence, trauma, and embodiment, helping to build a world where neurodivergent people can live safely in both their bodies and their truth.