Question 1

What is Action Potential?

Accepted Answer

The electrical signal a brain cell fires to send a message to the next cell. Like pressing a domino — a wave of electrical charge travels down the nerve. Every thought, movement, and feeling depends on millions of these happening every second.

Question 2

What is Adaptive Functioning?

Accepted Answer

The practical everyday skills that help a person manage daily life — things like cooking, communicating, managing money, and following social rules. Assessed by watching how someone actually lives, not just by IQ test scores. Many neurodivergent people have high IQ but need support with adaptive skills.

Question 3

What is Alexithymia?

Accepted Answer

Difficulty identifying and naming your own feelings. The emotions are there — you feel something — but you cannot find the word for it, or even be sure what emotion it is. Common in autism and often misunderstood as "not having feelings," which is the opposite of the truth.

Question 4

What is Allostatic Load?

Accepted Answer

The total accumulated wear-and-tear on the body and brain from dealing with chronic stress over time. Small stresses add up. For neurodivergent people, the extra effort of navigating a world not designed for them often raises this load significantly — leading to burnout even when individual days don't seem that hard.

Question 5

What is Amygdala?

Accepted Answer

A small almond-shaped structure deep in the brain that acts as your personal alarm system. It detects threats and danger — real or imagined — and fires off the fear response. In many anxiety conditions and PTSD, this alarm can become oversensitive, going off even when there is no real danger.

Question 6

What is Amygdala Hijack?

Accepted Answer

The moment when your brain's alarm system takes full control and shuts down rational thinking. You react before you can think. The word "hijack" is accurate — your alarm centre has literally taken over. Common during anxiety attacks, meltdowns, and intense emotional moments.

Question 7

What is Amygdala Hyperactivity?

Accepted Answer

Chronic over-activation of the amygdala — the brain's threat-detection centre — rather than the acute event of an amygdala hijack. In conditions like BPD, IED, PTSD, and anxiety, the amygdala fires more readily and more intensely, stays activated longer, and may respond to non-threatening stimuli as if they were dangerous. It is a sustained pattern, not just a one-time reaction.

Question 8

What is Anhedonia?

Accepted Answer

The loss of pleasure in things that used to bring joy. Not sadness exactly — more like a flat, grey experience where nothing feels enjoyable or meaningful. One of the core experiences in depression. Important to know: it is a brain chemistry change, not laziness or ingratitude.

Question 9

What is Attention?

Accepted Answer

The brain's ability to select what to focus on, maintain that focus, shift it when needed, and filter out distractions. Not one thing — attention has several components. ADHD affects the attention system not by removing it but by making it harder to direct it intentionally. The spotlight still exists; it just has its own ideas about where to point.

Question 10

What is Attribution Bias?

Accepted Answer

Tendency to credit successes to external factors (luck, timing) while attributing failures to personal inadequacy. Central to impostor syndrome cognitive patterns.

Dictionary of Differences — Plain Language Definitions