Rachel Rouse Counseling, PLLC

Rachel Rouse Counseling, PLLC Providing psychotherapy and play therapy for children, adolescents and adults

02/22/2026

Borderline personality disorder is a mental health condition that affects the way people feel about themselves and others, making it hard to function in everyday life. It includes a pattern of unstable, intense relationships, as well as impulsiveness and an unhealthy way of seeing themselves. Impulsiveness involves having extreme emotions and acting or doing things without thinking about them first.

People with borderline personality disorder have a strong fear of abandonment or being left alone. Even though they want to have loving and lasting relationships, the fear of being abandoned often leads to mood swings and anger. It also leads to impulsiveness and self-injury that may push others away.

Borderline personality disorder usually begins by early adulthood. The condition is most serious in young adulthood. Mood swings, anger and impulsiveness often get better with age. But the main issues of self-image and fear of being abandoned, as well as relationship issues, go on.

If you have borderline personality disorder, know that many people with this condition get better with treatment. They can learn to live stabler, more-fulfilling lives.

Adverse childhood experiences may contribute to the development of borderline personality disorder. Common negative experiences may include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

*Neglect
*Physical and/or sexual abuse
*Removal, separation or loss of a caregiver, parent or loved one
*Traumatic event

In some cases, the parts of your brain responsible for emotion and behavior may have trouble communicating as expected. This could lead to BPD symptoms. (Mayo Clinic ❤️)

02/20/2026

Even though OCD and autism are distinct conditions, they can co-occur. Research suggests that up to 17% of autistic people also have OCD, much higher than in the general population. However, having one condition doesn’t automatically mean you have the other. Each condition comes with its own challenges, and when they overlap, the experience can be unique from having just OCD or just autism.

For example, someone with both OCD and autism might struggle with intense routines but feel unsure whether it comes from a need to relieve anxiety (OCD) or a strong preference for sameness and predictability (autism).

According to April Kilduff, LCPC, LMHC, LPCC, LPC, an autistic NOCD therapist, not all repetitive behaviors are compulsions. “For autistic individuals, routines and repetitive actions can be comforting, not distressing,” she explains. “The key is understanding whether a behavior is done to relieve anxiety (OCD) or as a form of self-regulation (autism). That distinction matters when creating a treatment plan.”

For children with both OCD and autism, this distinction can be even harder to spot. Parents may need professional guidance to differentiate between behaviors driven by anxiety and those that are simply part of their child’s neurodivergent way of engaging with the world. ( ❤️)

02/19/2026

Thank you, The Contented Child, Child Wellbeing Consultancy! ❤️

02/17/2026

ADHD and autism (often termed "AuDHD" when co-occurring) are neurodevelopmental conditions that frequently overlap, with 50-80% of individuals with ADHD displaying autistic traits, and roughly 39-87% of autistic individuals having ADHD. Key symptoms include executive dysfunction, sensory sensitivities, intense interests, emotional dysregulation, and social communication challenges.
Symptoms of Combined ADHD and Autism (AuDHD)
Cognitive & Focus: A mix of ADHD-related distractibility/impulsivity and autism-related need for routine and structure, leading to a "novelty-seeking" yet "routine-loving" internal conflict.

Executive Dysfunction: High difficulty with planning, organization, and task initiation.
Social & Emotional: Complex social interaction challenges, often resulting in high emotional volatility, rejection sensitivity, and sensory overload.
Hyperfocus: Deep, intense focus on specific, often changing, interests.

Commonality and Diagnosis
Prevalence: Up to 80% of individuals with ADHD may have overlapping traits of autism.
Diagnosis: While once considered mutually exclusive, it is now common for individuals to be diagnosed with both. Evaluation should ideally be done by specialists familiar with both conditions.

Image Coaching With Brooke ❤️

02/15/2026

The diagnostic criteria for autism are mostly based on research on boys diagnosed with autism rather than females. Because of that, many girls are not diagnosed with ASD (or Asperger’s Syndrome) until they are teens.

In many cases, girls with autism at a younger age show more capacity, compared to boys, to interact in social settings. On top of that, they can often make and maintain friendships at a young age. However, if undiagnosed, autism symptoms in women become more evident as they reach adolescence, highlighting the diverse nature of the autism spectrum.
Although autism is more difficult to spot in girls than boys, there are some signs you can look out for:

Social skills and communication challenges
Girls with autism may struggle with maintaining eye contact, processing social events through daydreaming, and may show difficulty in forming intimate social interactions. They may also exhibit lower verbal cognitive ability, literal understanding of information, and communication difficulties.

Sensory processing issues
Sensory challenges, such as difficulties with intense lighting, sound, or touch, are common in autism. Women with autism may engage in self-regulation through stimming, meltdowns, or self-injurious behaviors in response to sensory inputs.

Behavioral challenges
Girls with autism can sometimes act out or show aggressive behaviors. This can occur when they are trying to communicate something or when there’s a sensory problem that they’re trying to regulate. Alternatively, it can be due to a physiological or health-related problem.

Visual thinking
Female autism may represent itself in visual thinking. Visual thinking allows some with autism to conceptualize patterns and solve complex problems.

One of the most famous women with autism, Temple Grandin, Ph.D., was nonverbal for the first three and a half years of her life. She developed her social skills and attained a doctoral degree in animal science, where she began to pioneer revolutionary concepts due to her ability to think in pictures.

Special interests and obsessions
Autistic women often develop special interests and obsessions. While girls may have more socially acceptable interests, such as celebrities, these passions can still indicate autism and may be overlooked in diagnosis.

Why Autism in Women Goes Undiagnosed
Girls are often underdiagnosed with autism because current diagnostic criteria are more aligned with how autism is expressed in boys. Research indicates that for every one female diagnosed with autism, at least three males receive a diagnosis.
Some argue that girls may have traits that protect them from developing autism, while others believe that more girls might have autism but go undiagnosed due to biases in current diagnostic criteria. (Autism Parenting Magazine ❤️)

Image: ❤️

02/12/2026

DMDD is a childhood condition marked by severe, recurrent temper outbursts and persistent irritability. These emotional explosions occur far more often than in typical peers and are present across settings—home, school, and social environments.

A 2023 study in JAMA Psychiatry found that chronic irritability in children is linked to atypical activation in the brain’s amygdala and prefrontal cortex, key regions for emotion regulation. This helps explain why children with DMDD often can’t “just calm down” despite consequences or rewards.

DMDD symptoms are often visible by age 6 and must persist for 12 months or longer to meet diagnostic criteria. Common symptoms include:

Severe temper outbursts (verbal or physical)
Persistent irritability or anger between outbursts
Outbursts occurring three or more times per week
Impairment in school, home, or friendships
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2023), early identification can significantly improve long-term outcomes through behavioral therapy and parent training.

Thanks to ❤️

02/11/2026

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), SCD is diagnosed only when the individual does not meet the criteria for ASD, particularly the presence of restricted, repetitive behaviors which are a core feature of ASD.
In other words, while both conditions share challenges in social communication, a dual diagnosis of SCD and ASD is not made. If ASD is diagnosed, it accounts for the social communication issues as well.

Safa s❤️

02/11/2026

You, the future CEO ❤️

02/08/2026

’s Room ❤️

02/07/2026

Gwen❤️

02/07/2026

Thanks, as always, to Coaching With Brooke! ❤️

02/06/2026

Trauma-informed (TI) care maximizes physical and psychological safety and recovery through building meaningful relationships among individuals, families, and professionals. To learn more about care, download our new infographic here: https://bit.ly/4bWY5In

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Weatherford, TX
76086

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http://www.rachelrousecounseling

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