test

Do NTs or aspies have more overall stress level?

Page 2 of 2 [ 20 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

Willard
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Age:56
Posts: 6,030

10 May 2010, 4:53 pm

Janissy wrote:
I've noticed a type of stress that my daughter has that I do not have. It has nothing to do with interactions with other people or sensory issues but it most definately comes from autism. She gets stressed by things not going exactly according to expectations or plan or how they went the last time. She is upset by the unexpected in a way I've never seen anyone else get stressed. If she were a hermit and never had to interact with anybody else, this source of stress would still be there. Independent of people, nature still does unexpected and surprising things that have to be coped with. The tempurature suddenly drops. It suddenly rises. It's hailing. There is a hurricane. The tree fell over and crushed something important. Etc. Take away all the people and there is still the stress of the unexpected.

So, yeh, NTs are less stressed in general. I am NT and my stress level is far lower than hers. I have never actually met a person as stressed out. Most of my stress at current comes from my futile attempts to bring down her stress. But mine is situational, like you said. And I have social coping mechanisms not available to her.

There are NT people in situations of nearly unimaginable stress. I think being in a North Korean prison would be an example of that. Or being in a war zone. But when you are NT, these and other intense stressors can be helped by connecting with other people. When you have autism, that whole coping mechanism is not only unavailable, it is a source of stress in itself. There was another thread called "Lonely, but peopled out". That about sums it up. "Lonely" is a severe stress for NT people (which is why solitary confinement counts as such a horror). "...but peopled out" is rarely a stress for NT people. So when you have AS these two types of stress pile on top of each other in a way that I can't really wrap my head around, no matter how many of these threads I read. But when NT peoples' coping mechanism for stress is in iteself a form of stress if you have AS, the levels overall of stress must be higher.


Hear! Hear! I second those emotions... I have a panic attack if someone rings my doorbell.

jc6chan wrote:
I have given up trying to figure out whats going on and why people behave the way they do and even if you do it why is it so stressful? No one yells at me anymore aside from my parents.

And why are people so stressed out in social situations? Its not like you're gonna die if you make a social mistake.


Well, the fact that you live with your parents takes a lot of stress out of your life - you're not responsible for paying bills and having enough to eat and that, my friend, all depends on your ability to socialize - if you can't fit in at work, yoah fiyuuuhd, and in that instant your whole world can fall apart. When you suck at fitting in socially, that sword hangs over your head every minute of every day, especially during the eight hours or more you are forced to spend at work, pretending you like, care about and enjoy the company of people you can't wait to get away from. Realistically, you could die from a social mistake if it causes you to end up homeless, or you accidentally piss off a violent felon because you didn't realize you were looking at him funny. Enjoy Mom and Dad's place while you can - it's a freaking jungle out there...



SuperTrouper
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Jun 2009
Posts: 1,117

10 May 2010, 5:36 pm

It seems to me that anyone with a diagnosable disorder would experience more stress than someone without one. One of the critieria for diagnosing any DSM disorder is that it causes significant distress in the person's life.



Apple_in_my_Eye
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 May 2008
Age:46
Posts: 4,433
Location: in my brain

10 May 2010, 6:26 pm

Callista wrote:
Social troubles? :roll: If you're an Aspie and all you've got are social troubles, you're downright lucky. Try having the whole world overload you; every little unexpected thing throwing you completely off track; either unable to deal with your environment, or just ridiculously far behind everyone else learning things that are supposed to be simple.

No, social stuff is the least of it. I've only barely got to making enough of an attempt at socializing to have any social problems in the first place, because I'm too busy surviving. Granted, it causes less subjective distress not to be focusing on said social issues; but if you're dealing with only social problems, it's a sign you're coping a heck of a lot better than quite a few of us out there.

How much you can do hasn't got much relation to stress level. Being different, on the other hand, has a lot to do with it, because the world's not made for us.


A bit OT here:

Trouble socializing is not just partying or boy/girlfriends. If you can't socialize correctly enough to not come off as a weirdo to landlords, you're going to be homeless. if you can't socialize well enough with co-workers and bosses, you're not going to have money to survive with. If you can't socialize correctly enough to deal with beauracrats to get help because you lost your job and can't secure a place to live, you're survial is at stake.

I've lost jobs due to sensory issues, and due to lack of socializing 'properly.' The end effect in both cases was identical, so neither seems like the lesser problem to me.

I can appreciate that some folks have more more severe sensory and other issues that can threaten survival (i.e. my EF and memory are so crap I've got a "cognitive disorder NOS" dx). But "socializing" problems can also threaten survival.



Villette
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 7 Feb 2010
Age:24
Posts: 415

10 May 2010, 9:03 pm

Depends. If you're brilliant and don't feel the need for company (like my great-uncle, who is very aspie) stress is reduced. His stress is mainly work-based which NT's face, and he doesn't care about socialising because he doesn't even make an attempt. He also likes to eat the same food and controlled his wife. As he is very inventive and brilliant he is respected and had no trouble finding jobs.

I get stressed because I feel lonely and I have the pressure to talk or interact. I also dislike being out of place. Being a girl my awkwardness stands out. I am not brilliant so I fear I will not get a good job. My mum does not accept who I am. I also fear I will never know how to conduct a relationship with the person I love and get along with his friends/family. Being nerdy makes me think about exams and my obsessions.

My classmate is aspie. She doesn't talk to me on her own and I make the effort. She makes no effort to know ppl, unlike me. Ppl don't bully her, they just ignore her. So she doesn't have real social stress, except perhaps the noise. Unlike my great-uncle, she is not brilliant in the sciences, which she chose to take. In fact she's retaking most of her papers. So her stress is exam-based. I doubt she is really lonely.



katzefrau
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Apr 2010
Age:42
Posts: 1,834
Location: emerald city

10 May 2010, 10:30 pm

jc6chan wrote:
IamTheWalrus wrote:
I don't know much about NTs. But I would say aspies have way more stress to cope with. After all its a strange and alien planet to most.

But you've lived that planet for your whole life now.


= an entire lifetime of a. trying to perceive and live by incomprehensible rules, and b. being shunned / wrong (i.e. defective) for failing to adapt (or, alternately: b. adapting or mimicking, suffering loss of authenticity in order to do so).

so i'm going to go with the aspie, who needs to work harder to maintain the same level of competency.

EDIT: and .. and ..

Janissy wrote:
But when you are NT, these and other intense stressors can be helped by connecting with other people. When you have autism, that whole coping mechanism is not only unavailable, it is a source of stress in itself.


Janissy for the win.

:cheers:


_________________
Now a penguin may look very strange in a living room, but a living room looks very strange to a penguin.