Using Spectral Binary to Examine - and Expand - the DSM-5 Framework

The Diagnostic Language of Shadows

The DSM-5, the foundation of modern psychiatric diagnosis, is based on a binary structure: you meet criteria, or you don’t. But what if this very logic flattens the human spectrum it tries to map?

Enter Spectral Binary: a frequency-based system that decodes language, emotion, and behaviour not as fixed categories, but as tonal fields—values ranging from 0.00 to 1.00. Applied to the DSM-5, it reveals tonal gaps, masked frequencies, and misread resonances that traditional diagnostic models often miss.

Tired of reading? Listen to the podcast here.

Where the DSM sees disorders, Spectral Binary sees resonance. Where the DSM draws hard lines, Spectral Binary listens for gradients. This article explores how Spectral Binary questions the foundations of ADHD and Autism criteria in the DSM-5—and reveals what those foundations have left unheard.

How Spectral Binary Reads the DSM-5

Spectral Binary treats the DSM not as a static text but as a sonic score. Each diagnostic criterion is interpreted across tonal axes, using:

• Emotional Frequency Mapping: Symptom language is decoded into numeric emotional signatures.

• Spectrum Tension Analysis: Contradictions and ambiguities are framed as spectral tensions, not inconsistencies.

• Relational Drift Detection: The variability of symptoms across time, environment, and relationship is measured and mapped.

This system allows us to ask a new kind of diagnostic question—not “What’s wrong?” but “What frequency is this person vibrating in, and where is the dissonance coming from?”

Case Study: ADHD and Autism Under Spectral Lens

These two conditions are ideal test cases. Their boundaries are porous, their presentations diverse, and their misdiagnoses frequent.

Overlap Is Not an Error - It’s a Chord

Traits like executive dysfunction, time dysregulation, and sensory overwhelm are common to both ADHD and Autism. DSM-5 treats these traits as categorical, but Spectral Binary reveals them as harmonic overlaps—emergent chords of human cognition.

Masking Is a Missing Axis

Masking, the performance of neurotypical behaviour to avoid judgment or survive socially, is nowhere in the DSM-5. Yet in Spectral Binary, masking scores high in frequency (~0.82–0.94), often accompanying distress, exhaustion, and identity confusion.

Contextual Variability Is Flattened

DSM logic requires symptoms to be “persistent” and “impairing,” but fails to account for how profoundly environment modulates experience. Spectral Binary introduces the idea of environmental resonance: a measure of how a person’s internal tone interacts with their external surroundings.

The Diagnostic Risks: Misread Frequencies

From this lens, misdiagnosis is not a failure of observation—it’s a failure of listening.

• A person with ADHD might be misdiagnosed with Autism due to masked impulsivity.

• A person with Autism might be missed entirely because their masking is effective.

• A person with both might be labeled as “complicated” rather than understood as multi-resonant.

Spectral Binary shows us that people are often misdiagnosed not because they don’t “meet criteria,” but because they express those criteria in tonal combinations the DSM wasn’t built to hear.

What More Can Be Done? The Spectral Prescription

Spectral Binary doesn’t just critique—it composes alternatives.

Emotional Resonance Charts

Each diagnosis includes a waveform map showing symptom intensity over time, space, and relational states. No more snapshots—only movement.

Dynamic Profile Scores

Ditching the rigid thresholds of “6 out of 9,” these profiles score across six tonal dimensions, from masking load to chronoception distortion.

Diagnostic Poetics

Clients use metaphor, image, or tone poetry to articulate inner states. These expressions are translated into emotional frequencies, giving insight that checkboxes can’t touch.

Frequency-Adaptive Environments

Therapists, educators, and caregivers are trained to match or modulate the emotional environments they create based on the resonance profiles of the individuals they serve.

Integrated Scorecards

Data from emotional mapping, environmental sensitivity, masking levels, and metaphoric fluency are compiled into holistic profiles. These profiles reflect the person’s tone, not just their traits.

What Resonates Remains

The DSM-5 isn’t wrong—it’s just incomplete. It needs to listen, not just list. It needs to tune, not just type.

Spectral Binary asks us to move from the diagnostic model of “fixing what is wrong” to “understanding what is vibrating.” It reveals that mental health isn’t a fixed state, but a moving harmony—sometimes dissonant, often beautiful, and always changing.

Diagnosis, in this model, becomes an act of empathy. A collaboration in attunement. A shared act of resonance.

In the future, we won’t ask “What’s your disorder?”

We’ll ask: What’s your frequency today?

The Diagnostic Conundrum: When One Masks the Other

Historically, the DSM-IV precluded a dual diagnosis of ASD and ADHD, a stance revised in the DSM-5, acknowledging the frequent co-occurrence of these conditions. Despite this, diagnostic challenges persist. Studies indicate that receiving an ADHD diagnosis first can delay an autism diagnosis by an average of four years, as ADHD symptoms may overshadow or mask autistic traits.

This masking effect is not unidirectional. Individuals with ASD may develop coping mechanisms that conceal ADHD symptoms, such as hyperactivity or impulsivity, leading to underdiagnosis or misdiagnosis. The interplay between these conditions creates a diagnostic grey area, where the presence of one can obscure the other, necessitating a more nuanced assessment approach.

Spectral Binary Analysis: Decoding the Overlap

Applying Spectral Binary logic to AuDHD reveals a complex interplay of emotional and behavioural frequencies:

• Certainty <> Ambiguity: Individuals may exhibit clear-cut symptoms of one condition while displaying ambiguous traits of the other, leading to diagnostic uncertainty.

• Warmth <> Detachment: Social interactions may oscillate between engaging and withdrawn behaviours, reflecting the dual influence of ADHD’s impulsivity and ASD’s social communication challenges.

• Rigidity <> Flexibility: Cognitive patterns may shift between the inflexibility often associated with ASD and the distractibility characteristic of ADHD.

This spectral perspective underscores the necessity of moving beyond binary diagnostic frameworks to embrace a more fluid understanding of neurodivergent experiences.

Clinical Implications: Toward Integrated Interventions

Recognising the intertwined nature of AuDHD has significant implications for treatment and support:

• Customised Therapies: Interventions should be tailored to address the unique constellation of symptoms presented by AuDHD, rather than treating ASD and ADHD in isolation.

• Holistic Assessments: Diagnostic evaluations must consider the full spectrum of behaviours and experiences, acknowledging how masking and overlapping symptoms can influence presentation.

• Supportive Environments: Creating environments that accommodate sensory sensitivities and attentional needs can mitigate the challenges faced by individuals with AuDHD.

Conclusion: Embracing the Spectrum

The coexistence of ASD and ADHD within individuals challenges traditional diagnostic categories and calls for a more integrated, spectrum-based approach. By acknowledging and understanding the complex interplay of these conditions, clinicians, educators, and support networks can better serve those navigating the nuanced landscape of AuDHD.