Although research has examined associations between experiences of discrimination and disordered eating, less is known about what may explain this link. Thus, the present study examined links between racial trauma, loneliness, and disordered eating among a large sample of racially/ethnically minoritized college students. Participants included 30,377 college students self-identifying as people of color (POC) from the 2022-2023 Healthy Minds Study. Results indicated that racial trauma and loneliness were significant predictors of disordered eating, after controlling for age, gender, and financial stress. In addition, loneliness explained the link between racial trauma and disordered eating. Findings suggest the need for culturally responsive therapeutic services when psychologists are working with racially/ethnically minoritized college students with disordered eating.
In this address, I offer reflections on my year as president of the Society of Counseling Psychology amid political backlash, institutional uncertainty, and organizational change. I explore how overlapping threats to education, research, and human dignity reshaped the priorities of my presidency, the field, and the division. The resultant lessons reflect the challenges of balancing vision with care, urgency with sustainability, and advocacy with stewardship. I invite us to consider what it means to remain faithful to our values when the conditions for putting them into practice change. Ultimately, this is an invitation to counseling psychologists to ask what this moment requires of our science, training, practice, leadership, and relationships with the communities we serve and represent. I proffer holding tensions as a shared responsibility: remaining connected, confronting difficult truths, and building a profession capable of meeting the demands of an uncertain future.
Porras Pyland and Rodriguez Tackett's integrative neuroaffirming framework (INAF) and neuroaffirming identity development model represent a significant shift in how autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are conceptualized within psychology. This reaction highlights the framework's contributions to reframing neurodivergence through a multidimensional, intersectional lens that centers lived experience, nervous system functioning, and intersectionality. I situate the model within foundational psychological research, including liberation psychology, identity development theory, and intersectionality, to strengthen its theoretical grounding. I also emphasize the importance of therapist self-reflection, arguing that engagement with the INAF requires clinicians and educators to examine their own neurotypes, nervous system responses, and internalized stigmas. A case illustration demonstrates how limited therapist awareness may impact attunement with therapists' self and neurodivergent clients. Implications for clinical practice, training, and systemic change are discussed. Ultimately, this reaction underscores that advancing neuroaffirming practice requires both structural transformation and deep personal reflexivity.
Neurodivergent people are a notably underserved population in counseling psychology, which is an urgent concern given that they experience elevated rates of mental health challenges and express a desire to receive mental health services. In their Major Contribution (MC), Porras Pyland & Rodriguez Tackett make substantial headway in introducing these important issues to the field. We situate our response to their work in existing neurodiversity scholarship and advocacy efforts, in addition to existing counseling psychology frameworks. We note areas of consensus, and also areas where our perspectives diverge, particularly around neurodivergent identity, terminology, the conceptualization of mental health disparities, and proposed therapeutic frameworks. Finally, we highlight the ways in which counseling psychology is already well aligned with the goals of the neurodiversity movement, and close with a productive vision and call to action, offering initial suggestions for practitioners seeking to better serve neurodivergent clients.
Traditional psychological frameworks have largely conceptualized "neurodivergence" through a deficit-based medical model rooted in neuronormative standards. These paradigms often misinterpret cognition, behavior, and perception through their neuronormative lens. In response, we present the integrative neuroaffirming framework (INAF), an identity-affirming framework grounded in first-hand perspectives, Indigenous wisdom, polyvagal theory, and interpersonal neurobiology. INAF critically examines the systemic and historical forces that shape identity development and highlights masking and neuroconformity as protective but costly responses to these pressures. To challenge deficit-based narratives, we propose the term MINDS-misunderstood, intersectionally neurodiverse, and silenced-as a more affirming alternative to "neurodivergent." MINDS reflects the dynamic and intersectional nature of neurodiverse experiences-shifting the focus from deviation to diversity. We offer tools for supporting MINDS clients across support and accessibility levels, including the neuroaffirming identity development model (NID), to guide psychologists in fostering authenticity and self-determination. INAF provides a foundation for transforming research, advocacy, training, and clinical care.
