Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs –
A tool for mapping Our Needs
Abraham Maslow’s theory is one of the earliest and most well know theories that allow us to map and explore our human needs. It’s often shown as a triangle, or pyramid. Human needs are complex and this theory is just a framework we can sometimes use to begin to understand and map our own needs. In mapping and seeing our needs, both what’s present and what’s missing, we might begin to explore how and where some unmet needs might become met.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs says that all humans share the same types of needs, and that these categories of needs have a hierarchy. Loosely speaking, this hierarchy goes from the basic things we need for survival through to a sense of fulfilling our potential, finding a sense of purpose in life and feeling able to be fully ourselves.
The hierarchy is important as, from a motivational perspective, it acts as a ladder. What this means is that individuals can see how their needs being met or unmet at any level will impact how able they feel to move on to exploring needs at the levels above. Put more bluntly, an individual who is struggling to put a roof over their head will focus on that before exploring their true calling in life.
Using this theory as a mapping tool: We can look at our own current experience of each aspect of each level of the map and see, what’s happening? what do we have need of in this area of our life? Noticing what might be missing or unstable, we might begin to explore whether it feels possible to access the meeting of this need, or met in ways that feel safer and more consistent.
It is important to acknowledge the complexity of human need; this hierarchy is relatively simplistic and we can build many personal layers onto it if we wish to. It also feels important to acknowledge that access to having our needs met is impacted not only by our own ability to seek this, but also by social and environmental factors that may be beyond our control, permanently or temporarily. It is still possible to use this theory as a mapping tool, but it may become one where we need to build in other rungs on the ladder or find ways to manage the lack of a certain need, with self-compassion and room for our feelings.
It might also be useful to note that, whilst Maslow saw these needs as moved through in a stepped way, moving from one to the next chronologically, as if we could achieve some state of ideal level of need met and remain there! It might be more realistic to allow ourselves room to move between these levels, to move up and down at different times in our lives and even in any one day.
Level 1: Physiological Needs
The most basic category of needs that humans have are physiological. These are our survival needs, and the first things we need to achieve before we move on towards more complex and aspirational needs in life. Our physiological needs include our bodily requirements like sleep, food and water as well as the basics of shelter and clothing. If we lack any of these needs, we need to fulfil them before we might feel more able to fully explore and attain our other needs.
In relation to neurodiversity, we can also look at our sensitive nervous system’s needs, our sensory profile and our neurological needs in terms of focus, cognitive load, executive function, burn out, task splitting etc. We might also consider here, any other physiological support needs related to disability.
Level 2: Safety Needs
The next area of needs is our safety. Fundamentally these safety needs are about removing risk from life and helping individuals maintain their physiological needs into the future. We need to feel and believe our physiological needs can be met consistently and we are not at risk of losing them.
Safety needs include physical and emotional security, housing beyond the most basic of shelters, health and financial security.
In terms of neurodivergence, we can look at masking/please and appease, hypervigilance as an aspect of this. We may also consider how we manage change and transitions, especially when any of our basic safety needs listed are in flux. Safety needs in relation to disability, in terms of support needs may also be considered under this heading.
Level 3: Love and Belonging
The third level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs introduces the need for love and belonging. The model says that once individuals have their physiological and safety needs met, their next priority could become that of social belonging.
Humans are fundamentally social animals and the need for connection to other people, animals and even to nature is seen as necessary to our overall wellbeing. Once our basic physiological needs and our safety needs are in place, consistently and without imminent risk, we are more able to fully engage with feelings and experiences of love and belonging. This area of need is all about connecting with community, family and friendships and the sense of belonging and acceptance that having access to these brings to us.
In terms of neurodivergence, we can look at our neurodivergent social experiences, our need for neurodivergent community and the possibility of exploring what acceptance of our neurodivergent selves might look like. Exploring love and belonging from a disability perspective, might involve giving thought to our need for understanding, our need to be seen fully, to have our support needs and necessary adaptations included in our communities and relationships.
Level 4: Self-esteem
Maslow’s model says that once humans have met the previous needs, it can begin to feel more possible to focus on themselves and their self-esteem.
These needs are all about having a sense of ones self and a feeling of our self as of value. Maslow divided this need into two levels. At the first level, individuals might seek to achieve a feeling of value and respect from others, to be able to set boundaries, to feel entitled to take space, make requests, be seen and cared for. At the second level, we might seek these things from ourselves. I think it can be useful to reverse this order, to first look at how we relate to and value ourselves, then move on to seeking this from others.
When this area of need is met, our sense of value, worth and esteem is experienced both from our interactions with others as well as in the ways we communicate and treat ourselves. Self-compassion is a big part of developing this in ourselves. We cannot always change our internal dialogues or critical mind completely, but we ca learn to interject self-compassion to counter balance things.
In terms of neurodivergence we may also look at internalised ableism and how this may impede any shift we can make in feeling our self as of value and to expect this from others as a result. We might explore what it means to be of value, what we may feel we have to do, whether we feel we need to perform or achieve particular thigs or in particular ways. Letting go of ideas and ideals that may be those of a neurotypical/non-disabled lens/expectation. We might also look at ableism in our social groups, workplaces, families, the wider world, how to both spot and respond to this in ways that feel manageable and meaningful to us.
Level 5: Self-Actualization
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs says that the ultimate need is that of something called self-actualization. This slightly clunky phrase simply means that humans feel able to accept themselves and others, with all that may be present for us/them. That we are able to fully feel, regulate and attend to emotions, live according to our own values and be authentic, compassionate and loving in ones relationship to self and other.
In regard to neurodivergence, it is important to factor in the added hurdles in the previous levels of need and allow for kindness and self-compassion. We might explore looking at achieving self-actualisation through a neurodivergent lens, allowing more of who we are, how we function and what we need, to be a part of this state that we might achieve.
Later in life Maslow added a further stage which he called transcendence, which he said was about giving oneself to something beyond oneself. This could be in the form of altruism or spirituality and could involve people achieving their purpose in the world.
This could also be seen as, being of service. Something, which, if we have capacity we could do at any time in our need mapping and meeting journey. Even allowing our minds to rest on the suffering of others, perhaps those with similar difficulties as us, can be an opportunity to offer feelings of kindness and compassion out into the world. For some of us this can feel both connecting and relieving of our own pain and suffering. Being of service in different ways may be something consider at any stage in our life. It also may or may not be of use to focus on this stage. It is important to note here, that having some measure of where our energy and capacity levels are, how resourced we are, needs to be a part of how we consider being of service to others.
As with all theories, they are not a one size fits all, take what if anything feels useful or interesting and leave anything that does not!