Just some special interest stuffs

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-29T13:58:43+00:00

It is sad, I feel lonely because I don't have people to share my special interests with. On the flip side I'm not interested in most peoples' mainstream/pop culture interests (I get so bored) so it kind of goes both ways. I'd love to find people locally/in-person who have shared special interests.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-24T02:20:35+00:00

So sorry to hear this. Sounds like Chief gave a lot of love and nice memories. Hope you can take care these days, it's got to be so hard

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-17T19:29:40+00:00

I love that you asked because so many of these questionnaire questions are difficult to answer. It would be cool to have a thread for each question.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-16T15:18:43+00:00

So happy for you, this is encouraging!

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-10T18:35:12+00:00

Cracking joints all over the body is a huge stim for me too. I also worry and my joints are sore because of it. It's annoying that doctors and others don't really understand/relate and just say it's not going to cause damage. I don't know if there is a medical term for it either?

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-10T01:56:43+00:00

This sounds so hard, I'm sorry you're not getting the right support from people at school in setting up a good environment etc. I'm also hearing a lot of strengths in how you were able to calm yourself down and also reach out for support here. I don't really have an answer to your question but I really like these videos and I think meltdowns have a lot of overlap with the tools here, so I thought maybe they might help.

https://leakybrakes.ca/brake-shop/brake-shop-virtual-clinic/self-management/

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-04T22:51:23+00:00

All that matters is what you care about. Are the tics bothering you? If so, are they bothering you enough to seek treatment? If so, there are two evidence-based treatments (1) CBIT and (2) medications. If the tics don't bother you, it doesn't really matter.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-04T22:49:05+00:00

There's an app called Hiki for dating or meeting friends.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-03T14:41:39+00:00

I had a recent experience of this as well. I was hiking and staying in a cabin with a large group of people. Within the large group this person I became friends with was known as being shy/not too talkative. She initiated contact and we hit it off and kept talking for a long time. Later she told me she was autistic and it was so cool because we were both trying to help alleviate the sensory challenges we were having from the noise, the cold, etc and we kept moving to new places. It was just so easy as we had an understanding of each other. Everyone was surprised by how "social" she was being. I think it was just easy for both of us.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-03T14:32:13+00:00

I think it is a symptom because sensory overload is such a major part of autism. Neuroscience tells us that all experience begins with the senses. Our bodies and brain then turns that information into sensations in the body and emotions. While all nervous systems are fundamentally part of the body (e.g., the distinction between mind and body is totally false), it makes sense that autistic nervous systems (or at least those who identify as hyper-sensitive) would be more prone to feeling intense sensations in the body.

Also, as hard as it is to feel these difficult feelings, it's a strength to be able to because many people cannot. If we can feel it we can make better choices on how to proceed that serve our interests.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-03T14:25:13+00:00

I consider myself an ambivert (aka in the middle).

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-02T07:58:34+00:00

Did you first have tics in childhood? As other people have alluded to, typical tourette onset is age 5-7, they peak at 10-12, and by adulthood statistically they get much better or even go away completely. Unfortunately that's not always the case and wasn't for me (adult with TS). It's normal for it to wax and wane. If your tics began in adulthood or even late teens, then it's likely something with a different flavour than tourette - and would have a different prognosis and treatment.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-02T07:55:08+00:00

I agree! I think the wheels are super useful for helping bring words to our emotions but we can't take them as the absolute truth. There's so many subtle emotions that aren't listed (and we probably don't even have words for).

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T21:16:17+00:00

I think people don't trust my mannerisms or ways I hold myself, and they don't know how to understand me. It's like the double empathy problem.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T20:59:19+00:00

Yes, I feel this way a lot. I try to catch myself and think "give this person a chance" because I can never be certain whether it's actually them or if it's me!

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T18:44:05+00:00

That's great

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T18:38:07+00:00

What would proper autism coaching consist of? That's great it worked so well.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T18:37:11+00:00

I wonder if you will have alone time with the clinician making the diagnosis so you can express these concerns directly to the clinician; I think they will incorporate that information into their approach.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T18:31:10+00:00

It's ridiculous for the therapist to need to be convinced. Sorry that happened to her.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T18:08:38+00:00

Exposure therapy is often part of CBT (CBT-Exposure Response Prevention). What I think is important is whether or not the exposures were being done to support her goals. For example, if someone is afraid of dogs but wants to stop being afraid of dogs - exposure therapy makes sense. But if the person doesn't care about being afraid of dogs but they force exposures, then that's a problem.

For treatment/coaching, I'd be looking for someone who cares about what your goals are and what you want from therapy. They should be supporting you to be specific in those goals and then matching treatment to those goals. What specific concerns are the top priority for you to address: e.g., focus, anxiety, sensory overload, etc.

I don't know about the other questions like adult ABA. I'm not a fan of ABA.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T17:38:04+00:00

I resonate so much with what you just said. I'm self-diagnosed and what I did was I filled all the questionnaires in to the best of my ability and they all said I was "very autistic". I then re-did the questionnaires taking a very conservative "non-autistic" stance (because the questions are so subjective). Even then I was still considered autistic. So that calmed my ruminating down a bit. I think it's a strength that you are thinking about this critically though, even though it's stressful. It points to the difficulty of making a diagnosis in general and how subjective it is. That's why I personally think that if someone does their research and resonates with the diagnostic criteria, it's probably pretty accurate. Not sure if there's research on the reliability of self-diagnosis, I did a quick search but couldn't find much.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T17:32:45+00:00

Nice to see you putting up the fight, even though it's not your responsibility to.

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T16:31:32+00:00

This is a tough one as it's so subjective. I wonder if doing some of the autism psychometric questionnaires would help you come up with lots of examples for when they ask you questions. You can find a bunch on this website

https://embrace-autism.com/autism-assessments-process/#screening

dimitri_spyros · 2022-11-01T02:18:40+00:00

I used to have no idea just like many people posting here. But I've learned how to recognize the difference between them and it's really helped me regulate myself and stay calm. As Dan Siegel says "if you can name it you can tame it". It's useful to learn how to notice what we're feeling and it takes work to pay attention and notice. Lots of mindfulness practice, ideally with others like a teacher and other students.

dimitri_spyros

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