Many neurodivergent individuals struggle to articulate their emotional needs, especially when traditional mental health tools rely heavily on verbal self-reporting.
A new study brings this challenge to light, revealing how emotional wellbeing varies across different neurodivergent groups and suggesting a promising alternative method for assessing emotional health.
New research by J. David Pincus and Ken Beller, published in Frontiers in Psychology (2025), explores emotional wellbeing across neurodivergent populations using an innovative, image-based assessment tool called AgileBrain.
The key finding: individuals without a neurodivergent diagnosis—referred to as neurotypical adults—consistently showed the highest emotional wellbeing.
In contrast, people with diagnoses such as ADHD, OCD, and mood or trauma-related disorders reported significantly lower levels of emotional wellbeing due to a combination of high emotional activation and negative emotional need profiles.
Emotional wellbeing, in this study, is understood as the degree to which a person’s emotional needs are met. These needs span 12 dimensions, from safety and autonomy to inclusion and purpose.
When these needs go unmet, people experience emotional distress. This model is grounded in a unified theory of human motivation and expands upon decades of psychological research.
The researchers recruited over 1,000 full-time U.S. employees from various industries, ensuring the sample was representative of the national workforce.
Of those, 351 individuals self-reported at least one formal neurodivergent diagnosis, including ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and conditions such as depression and PTSD.
Participants completed the AgileBrain assessment, a brief three-minute task that uses rapid image selection to evaluate emotional needs.
Unlike conventional questionnaires, AgileBrain minimizes verbal demands by presenting curated images representing emotional states like insecurity or success.
Respondents quickly select which images they relate to, capturing intuitive emotional reactions before cognitive filtering kicks in.
Results showed clear differences between neurotypical and neurodivergent groups.
Neurotypical individuals had the highest scores on the wellbeing index, reflecting low emotional activation (intensity of unmet needs) and a positive emotional profile.
In contrast, individuals with ADHD reported moderately high activation levels but skewed heavily toward negative emotional needs, leading to significantly lower wellbeing scores.
Similarly, people with OCD and sensory hypersensitivity also exhibited high emotional activation and predominantly negative emotional need patterns.
Participants with depression, anxiety, PTSD, or bipolar disorder showed the most concerning profile of all.
Their emotional needs were overwhelmingly negative—focused on insecurity, stagnation, and feeling uncared for—combined with elevated emotional activation. This group had the lowest wellbeing index across the board.
These findings matter because they provide a more nuanced view of mental health that goes beyond diagnostic labels.
By identifying specific unmet emotional needs, this approach helps reveal the inner emotional lives of people who may not easily express their struggles.
For example, individuals with autism showed high emotional intensity but had both positive and negative needs—suggesting that while they may struggle with emotional regulation, they are also capable of deeply positive emotional experiences when supported appropriately.
For the general public, the study offers a valuable insight: emotional wellbeing isn’t just about feeling happy—it’s about whether people’s emotional needs are being met across different areas of life, including relationships, work, self-perception, and moral values.
This reframing helps explain why people with neurodivergent traits may feel overwhelmed, even if they appear functional on the surface.
The image-based nature of AgileBrain also has practical implications. It may better serve those who find verbal questionnaires difficult or exhausting, such as people with ADHD, autism, or trauma histories.
As more employers recognize the importance of mental health in the workplace, tools like AgileBrain could be used to monitor emotional wellbeing across teams and identify employees who may benefit from additional support.
However, the authors caution that the study’s cross-sectional design offers only a snapshot in time.
Longitudinal research is needed to understand how emotional wellbeing fluctuates over months or years.
The sample—limited to full-time workers—may also reflect a higher-functioning subset of neurodivergent adults, potentially underestimating challenges faced by those who are unemployed or underemployed.
Despite these limitations, the findings suggest that emotional wellbeing assessments grounded in unmet needs could become a powerful supplement to traditional diagnostic tools.
By shifting the focus from symptom checklists to a broader view of human motivation and emotional fulfillment, researchers and clinicians may gain deeper insights into how to support mental health across diverse populations.
For now, the message is clear: understanding how people feel isn’t just about asking them to describe it. Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Citation
Pincus, J. D., & Beller, K. (2025). Emotional wellbeing in neurodivergent populations. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1606232. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1606232
