A Triple Empathy Problem - think about it.

Readers of this may be aware of Sir Baron Cohen's work of the problem of empathy for autistics from 2009 and beyond.

Readers of this may also be aware of and have lived experiences of the Double Empathy Problem as described by Dr Damian Milton in 2012.

Recently I have been thinking that as well as including double empathy problems between neurodiverse and neurotypical maybe the model could do with expanding again.

There is a third empathy problem that is also in the mix:

"be kind to yourself", get to know the neurodivergent you" etc.are the sort of advice and practice that I encounter post diagnosis.  These are problems of empathising with oneself as neurodivergent which many of us work so hard to overcome.

I suggest promotion of awareness of the triple empathy problem.

ThinkingNeutral faceVulcan

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  • Yes  I believe you are right in identifying the cause of the problem as being the high masking self not empathising with the ND self and vice versa - itself a dual empathy problem.  Albeit an "internal" one for the autistic person. 

    I think the dual empathy problem is normally applied to two people tho' 

    Therefore I suggest highlighting the struggle autistic people have in empathising with themself by coining the term "triple empathy problem"

    On a linked point I am drawn to consider that neurotypical people are perhaps less inclined to have an empathy problem with themselves as neurotypical society validates how they feel more readily than it does neurodiverse.

    I acknowledge that this may be an inference I am drawing however this is how it both "appears" to me by observation and what i have learned to consider by reading about and discussion of the topic.

    What do you reckon?