Brain health · Sanctum

A lifelong sense of being different

As far back as you can remember, a feeling of being one step outside. Watching people who seem to share a manual you were never handed, sensing you were not quite like the others, and never being able to say exactly why.

This is one of the most common threads in late recognition. A brain wired differently often knows it long before it has the words, so the difference is felt as a vague, lifelong sense of not fitting, of having to translate what others do by instinct. It is not insecurity or imagination. It is recognition without a name.

Because it is a feeling rather than a symptom, it rarely gets asked about, and people carry it quietly for decades, often deciding the problem must be them. When it finally gets named, the relief is enormous, and so, sometimes, is the grief.

We take that lifelong sense of difference seriously, because it is often the truest clue someone brings. None of this is a diagnosis. It is what we explore with you.

Written by Dr Asad RaffiConsultant Psychiatrist · Founder & Medical Director