Mormon and Neurodivergent (Autism and ADHD) - Paul Martinez | Ep. 1986
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.5 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 24 January 2025
⏱️ 181 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Paul reflects on his journey from being raised in the Mormon church to eventually leaving it. He opens up about his childhood, feeling isolated due to his neurodivergence, and his complicated relationship with his family. Paul shares his path to Mormonism, how he felt a strong connection to the faith at first, and his experiences as a missionary, including the challenges he faced in Argentina. Over time, he became disillusioned with the church, particularly after learning new information and struggling with its stance on LGBTQ issues. As Paul navigates life post-church, he discusses his career, his evolving understanding of love and relationships, and the healing process through music and self-reflection. The episode explores his feelings of loneliness, the importance of recognizing toxic behavior, and his journey to self-acceptance after leaving the Mormon faith.
00:03:35 Defining neurodivergence
00:14:30 Religious experiences before the LDS church
00:27:18 First introduction to Morminsim
00:47:28 Mission call to Buenos Aires and being pressured to confess sexual sins
01:00:55 How neurodivergence played into his mission
01:16:28 Parental alienation & trying to reconnect with his mom
01:32:58 “Mormonism is passive aggressive”
01:41:25 Paul began to get in trouble for questioning priesthood holders
01:59:20 November 2015 LGBT policy and Paul’s choice to stop attending church
02:14:50 Feeling love from the members, but not the institution
02:28:25 Narcissists only see their own reality
02:44:10 Do you feel more fulfilled than when you were Mormon?
02:56:04 Final questions - “Where will you go?”
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast. |
| 0:03.9 | I'm your host, John DeLinn. |
| 0:04.9 | It's January 21st, 2025. |
| 0:07.6 | And today we are going to be having a guest who is talking about navigating neurodivergence. |
| 0:17.2 | In this case, I'll call it high functioning autism slash ADHD attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. |
| 0:26.1 | Yeah, close enough, John. |
| 0:28.1 | Within the context of a high-demand religion and also within the context of an abusive relationship, how to self-advocate, and also |
| 0:40.3 | sort of maybe achieving or obtaining some of these neurodivergent diagnoses as an adult later in life. |
| 0:51.3 | And because I know it's really common people now obtaining ADHD and |
| 0:58.4 | or autism diagnoses as adults and then reflecting back on maybe signs that people missed when |
| 1:06.0 | they were young. But that's that's what we're going to be talking about today on Mormon Stories. |
| 1:10.1 | Margie's here as co-host. |
| 1:11.7 | Hey, Margie. |
| 1:12.2 | Hi there. |
| 1:13.4 | And our guest today is Paul Martinez. |
| 1:16.6 | Yeah, pleasure to be here, team. |
| 1:17.6 | Thank you so much. |
| 1:18.9 | From the sun, no, wait, is Florida the Sunshine State? |
| 1:22.3 | Florida, Diego. |
| 1:23.6 | What's California? |
| 1:24.6 | California, Golden State. |
| 1:25.9 | Bear State, Golden State. |
... |
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