Alia Breon, MD

The Neuroscience of Overwhelm Deciphering the biological signal of too much, too fast

Your nervous system runs on a budget. Overwhelm is what happens when the withdrawals have been outpacing the deposits — and the body finally calls it in.

aliabreonmd.substack.com/p/the-neuros...

The Neuroscience of Overwhelm Deciphering the biological signal of too much, too fast

As my 13-year-old PDAer recovers from burnout, I thought the timing was right to write on the neuroscience of overwhelm.

open.substack.com/pub/aliabreo...

A great paper on double empathy theory: autistic social challenges aren’t deficits, but a mismatch between autistic and non-autistic communication and experience. The DSM’s deficit-based framing of autism obscures that reality.

Hi Helen! Thank you and I am so happy this piqued your interest. I have been quietly reading your work for the last couple years and so it is wonderful to get to connect with you.

Ezra Klein recently wrote: "Attention is sometimes an act. But first it is an instinct."
We think we choose what we notice. But the initial decision was made before conscious awareness arrived. Pulling attention from its natural direction? That takes effort.

It is heartbreaking to see how medical science and autistic lived experience has been pushed aside and made way for fear-based messaging. There is a complex interplay between the immune system, stress biology and sensory procesing but vaccines are not the problem.

Yes!! Autism is fundamentally a difference in how salient (important and interesting) information engages with the attentional networks and interests systems.

Yes! It is a difference in how processing resources are distributed. The autistic mind naturally attributes more resources to important and interesting experiences. This deepens processing in some areas, but leaves less resources for others. The theory of monotropism.

We tell autistic kids to stop spinning, stop flapping—stop expressing joy so visibly. When did you last let happiness move through your whole body? Laugh without checking yourself, or swing just for the rush? My autistic son is teaching me to remember.

Could the Salience Network Be the Neurobiological Basis for Monotropism? A speculative synthesis from a physician steeped in autism, sensory science, and the neuroscience of attention.

Autism studies say the autistic brain is over-connected. Others say under-connected. Others: both.
Monotropism makes sense of it.
Is the Salience Network the neurobiology beneath it?

I explore that idea here ⬇️

Could the Salience Network Be the Neurobiological Basis for Monotropism? A speculative synthesis from a physician steeped in autism, sensory science, and the neuroscience of attention.

open.substack.com/pub/aliabreo...

Thank you Fergus!

I needed a new lens How lived experience reshaped what I thought I knew

I’ve been holding these reflections quietly for a long time.
I’m finally ready to begin writing about autism, monotropism, attention, and what I’ve learned along the way.
Excited to share my first post!
aliabreonmd.substack.com/p/why-im-wri...