Masking in Autistic Adults: A Clinician’s Guide to Neurodiversity-Affirming Care
Book Details
- Publisher : Routledge
- Published : February 2026
- Cover : Paperback
- Pages : 348
- Category :
Autism and Aspergers - Catalogue No : 98493
- ISBN 13 : 9781032935980
- ISBN 10 : 1032935987
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Written by an autistic psychologist specializing in neurodivergent adult assessments, this pioneering book bridges the chasm between clinical practice and autistic experience via the author’s unique and candid “insider-outsider” perspective.
Divided into three sections covering foundational knowledge, building connections, and clinical applications, this book integrates personal insights with extensive clinical experience, research, and perspectives from the autistic community, sharing both the author’s own late discovery of autism and the parallel challenges high-masking autistic adults often face in receiving appropriate care. Readers will learn to look beyond a performance of "normalcy" to understand the internal worlds of their clients, addressing the sensory, social, and emotional experiences that are often missed and misunderstood. Chapters provide clinicians with foundational knowledge and practical strategies to address autistic burnout, complex trauma, social anxiety, co-occurring conditions, and differential diagnosis.
Ideal for healthcare professionals working with autistic adults, this book advocates for empathetic, informed, and compassionate healthcare practices and highlights the need for a nuanced appreciation of autistic adults’ complex experiences.
Reviews and Endorsements
This essential guide, drawing on the author’s dual perspective as a psychologist and an autistic adult, equips clinicians with the insights and tools needed for neurodiversity-affirming care. It provides practical strategies for recognizing high-masking presentations and addresses complex clinical challenges, such as burnout, trauma, and assessment adaptation. This book is a necessary resource for enhancing clinical practice.
Ray W. Christner, PhD, psychologist, Hanover, PA, private practice
It is clear from the compassionate and informative nature of this book that Iain is drawing from both his lived and professional experiences of autism. It is heartening to read a book on psychological care for Autistic people that is written by an Autistic psychologist.
Erin Bulluss, PhD, autistic clinical psychologist, Samson and Bulluss, psychology/consulting
Get your highlighter ready—this book is packed with clinical pearls and practical guidance! Masking in Autistic Adults: A Clinician’s Guide to Neurodiversity-Affirming Care seamlessly integrates lived experience, clinical expertise, and research. It teaches clinicians to adapt therapeutic models to fit each client, rather than expecting clients to conform to pre-existing frameworks. This is a guide you’ll turn to again and again. Highly recommended for neurodiversity-affirming practice!
Donna Henderson, PsyD, neuropsychologist and co-author of Is This Autism? A Guide for Clinicians and Everyone Else and Is This Autism? A Companion Guide for Diagnosing
This book is deeply needed. It’s the book I wish I’d had during my clinical training. Dolan weaves lived experience, clinical insight, and research with eloquence and compassion. As both an Autistic psychologist and a clinician, his voice bridges two worlds — illuminating what masking feels like from the inside while offering clinicians a practical and affirming framework for care. This is the kind of book that changes how we see our clients — and, potentially, ourselves.
Megan Anna Neff, PsyD, clinical psychologist and founder of Neurodivergent Insights
Table of Contents
Part 1: Understanding Masking and Neurodiversity
1. Neurodiversity-Affirming Fundamentals of Autism
2. High-Masking Autism: When Signal is Mistaken for Noise
3. “Female Presentations” of Autism and Intersectionality
4. How Autism Can Go Unnoticed
5. Might You Be an Autistic Clinician?
6. Debunking Myths and Stereotypes about Autism
Part 2: From Theory to Alliance
7. Rebuilding the Therapeutic Frame for Autistic Minds
8. Exploring a New Autistic Identity: Grief and Integration
9. A World of Difference: A Practical Guide to Social and Sensory Experiences
Part 3: Clinical Adaptation for Neurodivergent Well-being
10. Alexithymia and Emotional Health for Autistic Adults
11. Autistic Burnout
12. Trauma and Autism
13. Anxiety and Autism
14. Substance Misuse and Autism
15. Sexual and Emotional Intimacy and Autism
16. Co-occurring Conditions in Autism
17. Advice for Collaborative Adult Autism Assessments
Conclusion: Self-Knowledge, Purpose, and Coming Home
About the Author(s)
Iain Dolan, MC, is an autistic psychologist. Drawing on his dual perspective, he specializes in providing compassionate, neurodiversity-affirming autism psychotherapy and assessments for adults.
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