78 Results in Thoughts, Feelings & Behaviour

Linear vs non-linear thinking

I have been reading about the idea of linear and non-linear thinking. Linear thinking is "ordered thinking in which one thought follows another in a straight line". This is in comparison to more non-linear thinking in which thoughts are "a bit more varied and each thought links to another in more than one way". This is my rough summary! Of course human beings and their thoughts are far more complex than this in reality. If I illustrate these two types of thinking, it might look like this:

How to cope with not being able to integrate

Even though I always think that no one can tell I have ASD, there is at least one sign that I think should lead some people being able to work out that I do. I wasn't diagnosed with ASD when I was a child. Nobody thought anything was 'different' about me, but to be honest it was obvious there was something 'different' about me because I was...

Autism – a difference or disability?

In the UK autism is a recognised disability. I have noticed that some autistic people don't consider their autism to be a disability. This interests me as I feel strongly that my autism is a disability, however I can also see why people might think otherwise. What is meant by a disability? A disability is an impairment that affects a person's life.

What is meant by ASD ‘thought processes’?

On further contemplation about whether ASD is part of my personality or is it separate, I began thinking about my thoughts. I think that what human beings think about is linked to their personality which pushes me even further to conclude that ASD is a part of my personality. Obviously it is a deep complex… Join The Curly Hair Project Community Today This article and our podcasts are available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this article, a…

Another way of looking at “challenging behaviour”

Throughout my life I have found myself in trouble on numerous occasions. I think this is because other people think that my behaviour is strange, naughty or thoughtless and sometimes the things that I do come as a complete surprise to others. But when people look a bit deeper and try to understand me, my behaviour completely makes sense. I’m no longer “difficult” but someone that is very anxious and has quite severe and complex communication difficulties. The issues surrounding my behaviour usually happen because I have difficulty communicating with people and they have difficulty communicating with me. I have three excellent examples I can think of. The first is when my workplace was organising the local community fair. This is a fair where local shops each have a stand and the fair attracts many people from the community. My workplace had a stand and my colleagues had asked me whether I could help out on the stand. My immediate thought was "no!" I tried to say to my colleagues that I wasn't able to help out but somehow this communication was either lost or ignored and, as what normally happens, I ended up doing something I didn't want to do - in this case, I ended up helping out on the stand at the fair.

The freeze response to anxiety in ASD

I've been thinking about the Freeze response to anxiety. A lot of people know a bit about Fight and Flight and less people think to remember Freeze. Let's consider Freeze and how and why it might happen to people with ASD.

How to stop saying things you don’t mean

Saying things we don't mean is a part of masking. 'Masking' is what lots of autistic people (especially females) do in social situations. Arguably the worst consequence of masking - which isn't always talked about - is that it has the potential to destroy relationships. If you are not being your true self when around others, then how can you expect to have meaningful relationships? Let's look at some ways we can learn to stop saying things we don't mean.

A Trip Out – Short Clip

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How to reduce massive emotional swings

A lot of people with ASD have very strong, powerful emotions. For me, I have many, many ups and downs. It doesn't take a lot to make me feel VERY positive or VERY negative. I drew this graph to illustrate how I think the emotional pattern is of an ASD person vs a neurotypical person:

Sensitivity and reactivity

I've been pondering about sensitivity and reactivity, wondering what their link is, or are they the same thing? What are sensitivity and reactivity like in people with ASD?