Take the amygdala, for example—the fight/flight/freeze part of the brain. In Aspies, it was ten to fifteen percent larger than in neurotypicals. That meant that a stressor of one for everyone else was a ten for someone like Dev, leading to what clinicians referred to as “depression attacks,” in which the experiencer goes from feeling fine to suicidal in a matter of seconds. It also contributed to a tendency known as “catastrophizing,” in which every conceivable scenario suddenly morphs into the worst possible outcome—a
