Unmasking Ourselves: Neurodivergence and the Hidden Cost of Pretending
Masking helps neurodivergent people survive, but at a cost. Explore how healing creates safe spaces to unmask and be authentic
What Is Masking?
Masking is the act of hiding one’s true self in order to survive, fit in, or avoid judgment. For many neurodivergent individuals, and for those shaped by trauma, it becomes second nature. Smiling when overwhelmed, forcing eye contact, copying others’ behaviors, or constantly editing one’s words.
Masking may create safety in the world, but it comes with a cost: exhaustion, disconnection, and loss of authenticity.
Trauma and Masking
Trauma survivors, even without a neurodivergent diagnosis, often mask too. As children, they learned: ‘be perfect to stay safe, don’t cry, don’t be too loud, don’t show too much.’ Masking becomes an armor, but also a prison
The Healing Journey of Unmasking
Healing invites us to slowly unmask in safe spaces.
• Compassionate Inquiry: Reveals where the mask began, often in childhood survival.
• Reiki & Tameana: Soften the energy field, allowing authenticity to emerge.
• Brainspotting: Helps process the body’s fear of ‘what will happen if I show my real self?’
The Gift of Authenticity
Unmasking doesn’t mean revealing everything to everyone. It means finding spaces and relationships where your nervous system can rest, where you can exhale and say, ‘This is me.’
Masking may have helped you survive. But authenticity will help you thrive.
Ready to Return to Yourself?
If this speaks to something inside you, I invite you to begin.
Sessions are available online or in person, and each one is a sacred space created just for you.
