Hello everyone.
A new member here.
First to say: I have no diagnosis, but I suspect that I may have some autistic traits.
Anyway, I'd like to ask if any of you has experienced something similar.
For example: You read a news article that is very pessimistic or sounds worrying in some way. Then you get stuck thinking about it for a long time afterwards and experiencing anxiety. You mention the same topic to your friends, family, etc... and they all agree that the article in question is worrying but they don't seem to be nearly as much concerned. They just acknowledge what's said in the article, but they are perfectly capable of carrying on living their life as usual. First I thought, I put so much importance to such articles simply because I tend to be anxious (I had such tendencies for my whole life). But, since I also have certain autistic tendencies, later I realized that the main culprit may actually be autism. Why I think so... Well, I've read articles which say that autistic brains usually have less mylin and less connectivity between distant regions. So perhaps this allows autistic people to maintain higher focus on one task. But at the same time, it maybe make us less capable of seeing the whole picture. So when you read one catastrophic sounding article, you are so focused on it, that it, at that point, becomes your whole reality, and you don't see other important things that neurotypicals see very easily, such as:
- that it's only an article
- that anyone on the Internet can write whatever they want
- that articles are intentionally made sensational and dramatic, to increase number of views and earn more through ads
- that even if it's all true, it's just an opinion of one expert
- that there may be other theories that contradict the article
- that even if there aren't theories that contradict it, there are other much more positive points of view, which allow you to see the same thing in a more positive perspective
- that you actually have other priorities in life as well
I can be aware of all these things, but maybe it takes more effort and intentional focus for me, than for someone who is totally neurotypical (it comes to them spontaneously) .
Maybe metaphorically speaking, while looking at one thing, or thinking/reading about it, autistic see the thing they are focused on with 100% clarity, but the rest (all the other facts, points of view, etc...) receive just 20% illumination. On the other hand, maybe neurotypicals have just 80% clarity, but they never really lose track of the other stuff, and it isn't so deeply buried in unconscious... perhaps it receives as much as 40-50% illumination, even when they don't think about it. Therefore, they don't obsessively cling to various worrying stuff they read about on the internet and don't give it more importance than it deserves.
Maybe this also explains why autistic people also have stronger tendency to OCD.
Your thoughts?
06 May 2017, 12:20 pm
