Are your emotions out of control?
Emotions are difficult things for those of us on the autistic spectrum. Without wishing to sound too down about things, emotions for me, are usually negative and fill me with sadness and anxiety.
What is it about autism that makes us so sensitive to what’s going on around us?
Why do we over react so extremely, to our thoughts, things that people say and do, and when circumstances change? We always seem to be on the edge, trying to cope with emotions that make us angry, sad and confused. Yes its true that even Neuro typicals, (people without autism) get emotional at times, but from my observations, people with autism are generally so much more emotionally sensitive.
It makes life very hard to cope with, and keeps many of us unable to become fully functioning adults. Like many other autistic people, my ability to cope with life is only marginally better as an adult, than as a child. But as high functioning autistic adults, we are still expected to make our way in the world, get a job and look after ourselves. We are autistic people competing in a difficult Neural typical world. We may be good at our work, and even be extraordinarily talented in some way, but still, our undeveloped emotional control means that we never quite feel able to cope with everyday life as well as we should.
Some of us find that anti depressant medication helps, but it’s not a complete answer. In some ways we are just extreme versions of Neuro typicals that suffer from depression and anxiety. The psychiatric treatment for high functioning autistic people with chronic depression, is largely the same as it is for non autistic people. And the advice from doctors will be the same; do things you enjoy, get plenty of exercise, think positive thoughts and keep taking the medication!
What are your thoughts on this? Leave your comments below.
Thanks for reading Steve-www.adultswithautism.org.uk
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