Maria Bratsos

I’ve spent the last two days in a state of constant overwhelm, anticipating a medical treatment I will need to undergo. Minor surgery. A standard procedure. But still – surgery. I consider myself lucky to have never experienced this before, yet because of that, my (neurodivergent) mind spirals away, trying to get a hold of what to expect.   My thoughts are spinning, my anxiety spiking.   I picture myself lying there – under bright lights, unconscious, vulnerable, helpless – a

Growing up, many of us learned that being nice, pleasant, or agreeable was rewarded with attention, affection, and love. It was – or became – an unspoken rule that love followed from paying close attention to others’ needs, expectations, or emotional states, and from consciously or unconsciously adapting ourselves to meet them.   As children, we learn very quickly how to navigate life and our immediate surroundings in ways that allow us to form attachments and experience love

Love is so much more than a feeling. Love is a way of living. An act of walking through life with open eyes, paying attention to all those little things that fill our world with beauty and grace.    Love is intentional. It asks of us to put our guard down, to be touched and moved by all the small gestures and encounters we experience. To let them humble us.    Love asks of us to see and welcome others for what they are - not what we want them to be. Love means to see ourselve

I recently discovered that I’m autistic – at the age of 43, after having worked as a psychotherapist for several years. This realization has not only offered me a new understanding of myself and my biography, but also a deeper appreciation for the many layers the human experience entails.   While autism has been largely discussed in connection to the struggles, disadvantages and suffering autistic individuals experience by having to squeeze into a society dominated by neuroty

What does it really mean to be human?   This blog is titled ‘On the Art of Being Human‘ – and not ‘On the Art of Being Neurodivergent‘.   While my neurodivergence has shaped every aspect of the person I have become, it does not define the entirety of my being.    Our neurological wiring is what I like to call our bedding or lining – it builds the foundation for how we take in, process and resonate with ourselves and the world around us. In that, we differ from the so-called n

During my deep dive into the realm of neurodiversity, I asked myself: how do we define “the norm”?    What if the framework of orientation we currently use is not the norm after all? What if variety and diversity are and always have been nature’s “norm” for survival in this world?    Along my journey as a psychotherapist, I have experienced that neither my clients nor I fit into the current societal frame of being „normal“.   None of us experiences our existence as a perfect