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Rambling thoughts about stress

Severe stress is supposedly a risk factor for me. The problem being   what may be very stressful for one person will be water off a duck's back for another.  It's not something  that can uniformly be described as  high/moderate/low/ no stress at all. Events don't indicate level of stress IMO , reactions to those events do. 

Comments

  • Severe stress is supposedly a risk factor for me. The problem being   what may be very stressful for one person will be water off a duck's back for another.  It's not something  that can uniformly be described as  high/moderate/low/ no stress at all. Events don't indicate level of stress IMO , reactions to those events do. 
    This is so spot-on. I have this kind of atypical reactions too and can get very stressed by what others see as trivial, but not always in an actual crisis.

    You shouldn't need to justify yourself in front of anyone else, it's annoying when people are being dismissive or try to invalidate something that affects you.
  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen
    This is a good point firemonkey, stress is something that I have experienced too much of and more exposure seems to be making my mental health reations worse over time.

    It used to require prolonged stress to trigger the reactive anxiety/depression cycle.
    It almost feels like the more accomodations I give myself for being Autistic, the more I experience mental health challenges, but really I suspect that the long term consequences of living unauthentically are catching up with me.
  • verityverity Administrator, Citizen
    You may need to find out out what you main stressors are if you don't already know.

    We tend to think of stress in relation to the concious mind, but actually it is whole brain thing. It is a whole body thing too.

    Brains are either stimulated or repulsed by different things at different times, in different quantities. There is a reward punishment system in place, you can condition yourself to a certain extent, but also every function has it capacity an we have nuerodiversity., which come back to your point.

    I can't think of many universal stressors, other than lack of sleep and i'm sure thre are extremophile in that regard.
  • verity said:
    You may need to find out out what you main stressors are if you don't already know.

    We tend to think of stress in relation to the concious mind, but actually it is whole brain thing. It is a whole body thing too.


    What I would call 'situational stress' had me wetting the bed almost every day for the first three years at prep school, while not wetting the bed at home. Some boys would cry on being left by their parents  but quickly adjust to the situation.
  • I understand many of the things others have written here. It's a big and complex subject. I find that venturing into the NT world itself demands so much mental energy - and can cause so much anxiety - that it's no wonder there are few emotional resources left for unexpected stresses and setbacks. 

    One of the first books I bought on having my autism recognised was a self-help CBT guide called 'Overcoming Anxiety and Depression on the Autism Spectrum'. I am instinctively sceptical about both self-help books and CBT (brainwashing?). Yet when I picked up this one, I recognised so many of my own reactions that I bought it there and then. 

    CBT is not uncontroversial and it is not for everyone. I am not an evangelist for it. But there were some useful things for me. Our past does not necessarily have to determine our future. We can acknowledge our own feelings (without rejecting them or criticising ourselves for having them), while at the same time setting them into a different perspective. As someone who has often been preoccupied with thoughts of suicide and wondered if I were somehow irreparably damaged by sexual abuse during my childhood, this has been quite liberating.
  • AmityAmity Administrator, Citizen
    I am sorry to read of the childhood abuse Robin, as children we are more vulnerable to predatory types.

    It is true that our past does not have to define our future.
    As there is a lack of mental health support for adults with ASD, I think many of us have to figure out how to help ourselves and if we can share with each other what worked in our situations perhaps it can help others.

  • Amity said:
    I am sorry to read of the childhood abuse Robin, as children we are more vulnerable to predatory types.

    It is true that our past does not have to define our future.
    As there is a lack of mental health support for adults with ASD, I think many of us have to figure out how to help ourselves and if we can share with each other what worked in our situations perhaps it can help others.


    My situation is the opposite . First saw a pdoc  autumn 1973, first hospitalised May 1975 & dxed with schizophrenia, but not diagnosed with Asperger's till May 2019.  Like a good number of psych patients later found to be on the spectrum   treated in less than a supportive manner, for the most part, by mental health services.
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