Self-Hypnosis

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Hmm sometimes I can put myself in a trance type thing and then I can focus better on one thing. It means I kinda block out other things though. Also I feel less pain but I'm not sure if that counts.

Wow, that's amazing, Auntblabby. I use some self-hypnosis techniques. There's one where you imagine feelings that you want to have, like calm and confidence. It works sort of like how I get involved in a good book and start to feel things based on what I'm reading. Saying, imagine that, works better than saying, I feel so relaxed right now. I can't say anything I don't actually believe, because that just takes me right out of the experience.

Mindfulness techniques help with anxiety also. I'm analytical, and the downside to that is that I tend to try to figure out why I'm feeling the way I'm feeling. This really doesn't work for generalized anxiety disorder because it can actually create worries. Instead, I'm learning to focus on the sensations, rather than the thoughts, and imagining myself slowly relaxing. The body scan and stretches also help change my focus, and also the awareness that feelings are often based on the past or the future, not the present. Saying, this is old stuff, I'm not worried right now, that helps too, before I can invent something to worry about. The mind is a strange place, LOL.

I guess i'm not great at focus. story of my life. the few times I've gotten really focused I had difficulty changing focus to something else. mebbe this is strictly for the high-functioning ones.

Good analogy. I've never heard that before.

i suspect your steering and transmission are far freer [better lubricated] than mine.

I have always had a severe sleep disorder, and tried hypnotherapy once, back in the day where I was still fighting taking medications. It didn't seem to do much for the sleep disorder, as apparently this is almost impossible to treat as they don't know what causes it or what to do about it, but it was interesting for itself and I could see how it could be useful for other, less tricky areas. Are online sources of this information viable? I wouldn't mind looking into it again.
Auntblabby - is it possible you couldn't be hypnotised because you doing "allow" it? That's what the therapist told me - that it was impossible to hypnotise someone who did not want to be, or was not going along with the process. Apparently anxiety and so on can also create a barrier to it working.

it would be cool if some scientist studied what percentage of aspies versus NTs had trouble with hypnosis.

I know the standard "picture yourself at the beach, soak in all the heat and seabreeze etc." never worked for me, the visualization exercises I just couldn't follow. on some occasions [when my back wasn't ouching me] I just eventually got tired and fell asleep and remembered nothing.