Prayer for the Neurodivergent

Last updated on: February 12, 2021 at 9:42 am by Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC

Prayer for the Neurodivergent 2021-02-12T09:42:20-05:00 Fr. Matthew P. Schneider, LC

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Prayer for people with mental health is an issue we need to address as a Church. I’ve been covering prayer for autism and related conditions a bit. I did an interview with the Catholic Mental Health Blog on this. (It was a while ago but only published this week.) We covered a bunch of topics, but most would be familiar to regular readers here like my vocational story and helping autistics in Church In this interview questions on prayer and mental health stood out.

Woman praying (CC0 Pixabay)

The Interview on Prayer:

How do you think your approach to spirituality differs from a neurotypical person?

I think there are a number of factors. I have a book coming out with Pauline Press sometime (hopefully second half 2021) that goes much more in depth so I’ll just summarize here.

I think two of the biggest factors have to do with theory of the divine mind and the linguistic communication circle. Autistic people tend to struggle at earlier stages of prayer because we find it difficult to imagine God’s mind or put our prayerful thoughts into words. But, as we get deeper in prayer, that lack of theory of mind and linguistic filter can make our prayer go deeper faster. The deepest prayer does not rely on verbal expression, so we can find deeper prayer more easily than non-autistic people.

A lot of other factors depend on specific aspects, like stimming* in prayer and finding a way to participate in the liturgy without sensory overload. We also often tend to communicate with God more in rational discourse than emotional expression, just as we often tend to communicate to our fellow humans. […]

What does mental health mean to you? How do you care for your own mental health?

I think that term can mean all kinds of things. I think that self-care is valuable for autistics like myself as I know we tend toward both depression and anxiety at higher rates than the general population. I try to practice some general self-care like sleep, exercise, etc. to avoid these. I also think sometimes I can hyper-focus for a certain amount of time and work faster than most but then need more down time than average.

You can read the rest on their blog.

Conclusion

I hope things like this help others pray. I really think am looking forward to the book which half has been edited already. Things like this can really help everyone on the spectrum pray better whether Catholic or not.

Note: I don’t get paid for these interviews. Please sponsor me on Patreon so I can keep making content like this.

Previous Post

February 11, 2021

FREE Euthanasia for the Disabled in Canada

Next Post

February 13, 2021 DNR Orders Forced on Those With Learning Disabilities

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Autism Bioethics Book Review Business and Economics Catholic Social Teaching Culture Diocesan Life Disability Discipleship Euthanasia Family Life Genetics Global Politics History Immigration Inspiration Interview Liturgy Moral Theology My Life News Analysis Original Articles Prayer Privacy Pro-Life Science Sexual orientation or identity Social Media Sports Technology Theology Uncategorized US Politics Vatican

Select a Month March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz