Aspie woman diagnosed in adulthood
Nodding
I have a colleague that is very talkative and for some weird reason seems to like talking to me. Most of the times I strongly disagree with his point of view but I listen gently to him without defending my opinions. This is a survival strategy. He made me cry multiple times but he doesn’tContinue reading “Nodding”
Sorry psychotherapist, I can’t accept my emotions
As I said in my previous post about emotions, some autistic people have emotional sensitivity. We share this trait with people having borderline personality disorder, even if our peculiar way of thinking can make us responding in a different way, at least until we have a meltdown. At a very young age I started realizingContinue reading “Sorry psychotherapist, I can’t accept my emotions”
Psychotherapists should learn “Aspergerese”
Tony Attwood wrote a book named “Exploring Depression and Beating the Blues”, that is a CBT Self-Help Guide to Understanding and Coping with Depression in Asperger’s Syndrome. In the first pages he wrote a wonderful thing: The programme needed to be written in ‘Aspergerese’ – that is, in a style that would resonate with someoneContinue reading “Psychotherapists should learn “Aspergerese””
Literal thinking is much more subtle than it seems
When I started realizing I’m on the spectrum I didn’t think I’m affected by literal thinking a lot. I think that, depending on how you react when you interpret things literally, this is a trait that may be very difficult to recognize from the inside. I remember some poor figures I made because I didn’tContinue reading “Literal thinking is much more subtle than it seems”
Taking the RAADS-R and other tests
My autism diagnosis process started by taking the RAADS-R, probably the most popular test for autism in adulthood. Often autistic people have troubles recognizing some of their own traits, so it is suggested to do the test guided by a psychologist. I agree that it is often difficult to see some traits from the insideContinue reading “Taking the RAADS-R and other tests”
Accepting my limits
In my childhood and adolescence I had never thought of having any kind of deficit. I knew there was something different in me, many times I was feeling like a little alien, but I had also a few friends. My situation wasn’t that bad. However in that period I had a big advantage: a lotContinue reading “Accepting my limits”
Is having a label important?
When I went to a psychologist seeking for an autism diagnosis she told me that labels are not important and that by putting a label on myself I risked to refer to myself in a stereotyping way, forgetting about my uniqueness and my strengths. In that moment I completely disagreed with her and I repliedContinue reading “Is having a label important?”
Seeing a psychotherapist
This is the first of a sequence of posts I would like to write about the seven psychotherapy sessions I had. I had never seen a psychotherapist before and I think I’ll never see one again. Interacting with the therapist has been one of the most frustrating experience I have ever had (and probably theContinue reading “Seeing a psychotherapist”
Asperger’s nightmares
Let’s sum the following facts: Anxiety is one of the most common comorbidity in autism Nightmares can be caused by anxiety Intrusive thoughts are common in autism Suppressing those thoughts can result in manifesting them in dreams (a phenomenon called dream rebound) Autistic people often have enhanced senses Many autistic people are visual thinkers SomeContinue reading “Asperger’s nightmares”
Autistic people making too much eye contact
Difficulties in making eye contact is a very common trait in autism but I desire to point out that it is not a diagnostic criteria! When I started realizing I could be autistic I spent a lot of time thinking about eye contact. Indeed I had read a lot of experiences of autistic people describingContinue reading “Autistic people making too much eye contact”
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