How common are NT's?

Post Reply New Topic

In modern psychology more and more mental "disorders" are being named and diagnosed. Diagnosis criteria for these disorders are widening and considering the amount of undiagnosed Neurodiverse people, Are NT's really in the majority?

There is no neurotypical brain in the literal sense of the word. There are many interpretations of the term. Here are some:

-------------------------------------

1. Person A interprets the term as a reference to those that do not have autism.
2. Person B interprets the term as a reference to those that do not have any generalized brain structure differences (based only on what is currently known).
3. Person C interprets the term as a reference to those that are not 'normal', in a detailed way. For example, homosexuals are not neurotypical, as they stray from a norm.
4. Person D interprets the term with a vague mixture of the other interpretations.

-------------------------------------

It is an incredibly loose term, and only really useful as a scientific construct when considering differences between specific brain functions. So little is known regarding neurology that in current times thoughts people have on the matter are heavily skewed based on the limited amount of knowledge - future possibilities are not accounted for, and definitions are varying.

A person with 'working' executive functions can be described as having a 'neurotypical' level of exeuctive functioning. A person with deficits in executive function (or advantages, totally unexplored by neuroscience) could not be described as having 'neurotypical' executive functioning. It is all so very convoluted.

When 'neurotypical' is used colloquially (such as on these forums), I believe most people use it simply to refer to those that aren't autistic - a detailed way; those that don't meet the criteria for autism are considered NT, and while the same people may not consider those with ADHD to be NT scientifically, the way they use the term socially is different in that they are strictly using it to refer to those without autism. It is confusion resulting from the actual scientific scrutiny of the abstract concept of NT and its social uses that causes problems.

I would rant about it all day, but I can't be bothered, as I already made a thread doing so weeks ago.

_________________
Unapologetically, Norny.
-chronically drunk

With all the different disorders that people are diagnosed with, my guess is that 70-80 percent of the world are NT. That's only my way of looking at this, though. There are many different ways to look at this.