Why Neurodivergent Adults Struggle to Make Friends (And What to Do About It) | Caroline Maguire

Making friends as a neurodivergent adult is harder than anyone tells you — and there are real, brain-based reasons why. This isn't a willpower problem or a personality flaw. It's a wiring difference that nobody ever explained to most of us.

Caroline Maguire is a social-emotional learning expert, TEDx speaker, and neurodivergent person herself — ADHD, dyslexia, and learning disabilities. Her new book, Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults, is the practical, science-backed guide most of us needed years ago.

This is Part 1 of our conversation — the personal side. We get into why friendship feels so unintuitive for ND brains, the mindsets that quietly sabotage your connections before you realize it, what flooding and anxious overcorrection actually look like in practice, and how to stop masking your way into rooms that will never be right for you.

Part 2 — workplace friendships, trust, and navigating ND social dynamics on the job — drops next week.

What we cover:

• Why the "friendship should be easy" myth hits differently when you're late-diagnosed
• How your past experiences are secretly running your social life right now
• Finding what actually fills your connection cup — and stopping what doesn't
• Masking vs. authentic connection, and why masking costs you the friendships you want
• Flooding, triggers, and the "writing a story" spiral after a social event
• Anxious overcorrection — why we send 45 texts explaining the thing
• People pleasing, rushing in, and the fortress mindset

📖 Get Caroline's book: https://bookshop.org/a/108800/9781538773086z