The unbearable heartache of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

Content warning: suicide ideation. In this painfully raw and heartfelt blog, Autistic advocate, Chantell Marshall (aka Shy Little Pixie) gives a rare and illuminating account of what it is like to live with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria and the revelation that has helped her quieten her self-sabotaging inner critic.

Please don’t ask me to be brave

In this powerful piece by one of the Reframing Autism team, she takes us behind one of her particularly damaging masks – the one called “courage”. “This mask is a warrior. It rushes headlong into battle without fear, or even better, despite fear … it lives by the mantra “act first, think later”. It is arrogant. It makes me say “yes” when inside I am screaming “no”. It says to my children “Be brave – like me!”

Shy Little Pixie: Unlocking the enigma of Autistic social anxiety

“When I am able to mask, I may make it through an hour, but invariably, my mask soon slips, and like Cinderella at the ball, I am left escaping in tears for fear of the ‘real me’ being exposed.” Chantell is a late diagnosed Autistic writer and advocate with ADHD and severe social anxiety. She shares her lived experience online as Shy Little Pixie, so others do not feel so alone.