Here is the transcription of my most recent video blog:

(And here’s the audio on AnchorFM)

Hey everybody, it’s Queen Mab, and today I’m going to talk to you about black and white thinking. Now, this is something that many of us who are neurodivergent struggle with. I think it affects ADHD folks as well as autistic folks. And I would like to make the radical assertion that perhaps black and white thinking is not always a bad thing, and the idea that it is always a cognitive distortion might actually be some ableism. 

Now, I don’t think that’s always the case. I mean, there are definitely times when my very extreme and very literal mind can cause issues for me. I will be the first one to acknowledge that. On the other hand, I think there are some advantages like being very determined and persisting at things (such as this video blogging) even when they become very challenging, and being very deeply affected by issues related to social justice, and also wanting to do things correctly and well and right the first time. I mean, I think that that type of very literal, black and white thinking can definitely be an advantage in certain situations.

I also was thinking about in high school, I had an English teacher who showed us movie clips and talked about filmmaking techniques, and he said to us, “You know, there’s things that you can do in black and white that you can’t do in color.” And I think there might be some truth to that. I think you really do need people in the gene pool whose minds are as literal as those of us who are neurodivergent.

So I would encourage everyone to…maybe instead of saying “black AND white thinking,” maybe it would work better to say “black OR white thinking,” because I think that for me, the antidote to that kind of thinking can be the paradox, right? That…YES, it is true that this is black…AND it is also white…that is also true! The problem is when I’m only seeing one side or the other side. I think maybe a better way to call it would be “all or nothing thinking,” but even then, you could use the paradox. You could say, “Well, it’s ALL…and it’s nothing.” 

So tell me about you! Black and white thinking – is this an issue for you? Is it helpful to you ever, or is it always a problem? Let me know in the comments – I’d love to hear from you, and if you’d like to see more of my content, you can visit queenmabmusic.com. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe, and I hope that I might see you in person or virtually at my show on October 19 at the Santa Monica Playhouse. I’ll put a ticket link below. Thanks so much!

In Defense of Black and White Thinking

Post navigation


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *