Recognising Mental Health Problems

[buttons]

This is a funny topic with being diagnosed with autism i just take the social anxiety as sort of part of autism. I pretty much spend most my time stressed about simple stuff but nevet severe. Don't think ive ever had a panic attack but mental health is a serious matter not just from a personal point of view but seeing how it can affect people close its nasty.

excuse my ignorance but the link between autism and social anxiety never made sense to me. just from working and knowing people with autism, autistic people often aren't interested in socialising and i couldn't imagine the autistic people i know caring about what others think of them? but feel free to explain how they're linked to you

funnily enough, my mum thought i was autistic when i was young because i never seemed interested in playing with children but i was actually just shy and felt more comfortable being with adults.

[RuthOnToast]

excuse my ignorance but the link between autism and social anxiety never made sense to me. just from working and knowing people with autism, autistic people often aren't interested in socialising and i couldn't imagine the autistic people i know caring about what others think of them? but feel free to explain how they're linked to you :

Now that is ignorance. Autism is a very wide spectrum with some people who have severe autism and no they don't socialise then there are the not so severe who can and do like socialising they might not understand the rules but they do like to have a social life. But remember there is far more to autism than that.

Autism affects everyone in different ways. I was digonoised when i was 13 but it was really obvious so it wasnt a supprise. I wasnt shy and don't like being called shy. I do notice i make little eye contact which is probably the most noticeable. I had obsessions but not just something i liked alot it would be the only topic id talk about as a kid it was dogs and space. Now its planes and rollercoasters. There is also the need for routine and someone who has severe autism will most likely have to stick to a rountine. This guy would eat the same food in the same order at the same time. He was on a mental health ward in hospital and he would only use the same toilet he would refuse to use any other. Im not that bother about rountine ok i am i could never miss a lesson at school because it was the rountine i used to get excluded alot and i didn't like that as it changed the rountine. I swim 4 times a week but as we train on Mondays we often have to miss them for bank hoildays. When ever this happened id be stressed having the rountine Change would really make me stressed. Then there is the sensitivity. Some can't cope with lound sounds or bright lights. Im fine with them but certain smells i cant cope with like the smell of books. We had this english room that smelt like books and i hated it couldn't cope with it (but I still went cos it's rountine). People urga people i hate crowds.

I've looked into social anxiety and it explains alot of my problems pretty well. And im pretty much autisc but doenst mean i dont want to and i do i dont sit in all day and have my swim team pals but i still get stressed having to deal with people. I don't want to talk to people incase i say something stupid. Remember autism affects people in different ways and these many different parts to autism. Some of us are willing to socialise and we do care what people think.


Thats alot about me but yh sorry

[Empired]

Oh god I hate writing this on my phone but I'll give it a shot.

Firstly, anxiety (or social anxiety in my case) **** sucks. I suffered from it for years and it got to the point where my GP wondered if I had agoraphobia because my fear of the outside world (because of the inevitable social interaction, even down to just having someone look at me) was so bad. This sounds ridiculously melodramatic but it quite literally ruined my life. I had no friends because I wouldn't meet them outside of school, I couldn't walk into a shop, get into a bus, respond to a stranger, or go ANYWHERE.

But this is the bit that's important: anxiety and social anxiety, unlike some other mental health issues, can be resolved. I think someone above (cba to check on my phone) said that it's a terrible thing you have to live with. It is not something you /have/ to live with; it's not a life sentence once you've got the diagnosis. But YOU have to work to fix it, which is bloody annoying when the anxiety disorder is the reason many people feel like they can't take steps to get help.

I fixed myself with the help of a therapist and CBT. It took years of going through therapists who were no help (for example I found sitting round and ranting about my problems for an hour no help at all) but eventually I found one who I didn't actually like as a person but whose methods worked really really well for me.

I walked into the first session sure this wouldn't work, and my social anxiety meant I couldn't talk to the receptionist to let her know I was there (awks). And I walked into the tenth meeting ten weeks later chatting to the receptionist I'd gotten to know over the past three weeks or so (took me that long to be able to talk to her) and basically walked out a free woman.

Looking back it seemed like the easiest thing in the world, as Tim (my therapist) was just offering me alternative perspectives on how people see things (I'd be happy to share these if anyone wants to know) and 'simple' (with hindsight) homeworks like asking a shop assistant where I can find eggs and picking up the housephone when it rings.

So sorry for the essay because I guess I'm just making the "get help and it gets better" statement. But I can assure you it really DOES get so much better and that I wish wish wish I'd sorted myself out sooner - it's a constant source of regret that I wasted so many years of my life too afraid to enjoy myself.

Thanks ladies n gents sorry for such a long post xox and it nearly killed me on this goddamn phone

Sent from my Y635-L01 using Tapatalk