Mapping Clinical Diagnoses Associated With Neurodiversity and Neurodivergence in Mental Health Research

How are clinical diagnoses in the empirical mental health literature mapped onto neurodivergent and/or neurodiverse terminology? In this scoping review of 134 studies, 151 134 participants were primarily identified through self-reported diagnoses (n = 56 [41.8%]) or self-identification (n = 50 [37.3%]). A heterogeneous range of diagnoses was associated with neurodivergence and neurodiversity, most commonly autism (n = 92 [68.7%]), followed by ADHD (n = 86 [64.2%]), dyslexia (n = 44 [32.8%]), dyspraxia (n = 21 [15.7%]), anxiety disorder (n = 20 [14.9%]), and dyscalculia (n = 17 [12.7%]); notably, 29 studies (21.6%) did not specify any clinical diagnoses. These findings suggest that while neurodivergence and neurodiversity are valuable terms for capturing lived experience, their lack of specificity may introduce substantial heterogeneity in research focused on clinical categories.

Corresponding Author: Alessio Bellato PhD, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Building 44, Highfield Campus, Southampton SO17 1BK, United Kingdom (a.bellato@soton.ac.uk).

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