Have troubles being in crowds?

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Have troubles being in crowds?

Yes... unfortunelately I do and I find it very awkard too....

Like last week I should say, I was at the student awards at my college and I was really scared and ever nervous that I couldn't literally speak to anyone that was around me because of the amounts of crowds they were.

I was also kind of shaking but also at the same time, I had to try and hide it from everyone else... What really also got me more like that was the fact that I was just told that it was happening and that got me really rervous...

Same with when im in a crowded buses, I don't simply talk.... some of my friends understand why i do that due to bullying what happened to me in the past and it brings me back to that part everytime im in crowds... my mind kinda shuts down as i said above...

I wonder if this is normal for someone with AS/HFA to be scared of massive crowds?

P.S:Walking in the crowded streets don't seem to really bother me as such... Its the talking part which I dont seem to like in crowds.

Yes, this is quite common on the spectrum. A large crowd means a lot of noise (not just sound, but sensory noise in general), and usually it's difficult to take it all in and make sense of it.

Unlike you, I don't handle crowded streets very well, though. Oh I can move through them fine, but at the same time, I store little bits of frustration, and when I get home, it needs to go away through some form of unwinding, (usually simply through relaxation). However, it's only a little bit these days. And in the past years I have sometimes taken the plunge and actually looked up crowds: I went into the city twice on Queen's Day (a very popular Dutch holiday) and was swimming through the crowd the first time I did it; then, about a year ago, I went to my first real concert, which was pretty crowded too, especially when everyone went to get their coats afterwards. I considered that 'training' of sorts, a little bit like seeing how lon I could hold my breath. And it was good for me, too.

Talking to others in a crowded place is something I don't do often, but when I do, it's not THAT difficult for me, especially when there are other people I already know. Then, it gets quite comfortable, and creates a 'safe zone'.

Yeah I find it kinda tricky sometimes but I'm slowly learning to deal with them.

I think it's more to do with social anxiety than the spectrum with me, but yes, I do hate crowds - though I find smaller crowds worse than huge ones. Once you get enough people in one place it's easier to go unnoticed, and no one expects anyone to interact. In a big enough crowd people become scenery rather than individuals. With smaller groups, though, such as in a waiting room or queue, I feel like there's more individual attention on me and there's a higher chance someone might try to talk at me.

Oh, in small crowds I usually try to 'look cool and nonchalant'... but I just end up 'looking weird'.

Nope no trouble at all. Only crowds I would have issues with is if the place was so crowded you can't walk anywhere or get though and also if people are crowding and shoving each other. I was given a warning at the movie premiere in London that people will be pushing on me and crowding me and I was like okay but it didn't happen. People were just polite and didn't yell and scream much and didn't shove me or crowd me. No one did to each other. I didn't see the movie, I just stayed to see the actor and then mom and I left. I didn't talk to him or anything.

My mom said I had issues with them when I was little but that was because of the noise, not the people. I got used to it.

Crowds don't really bother me, although over time the constant noise wears me down until I kind of go into shutdown. Up until that point I can talk and interact fairly normally. The only thing that really causes me stress is when it's so packed that I cannot move at my own pace. That just causes frustration to start building. Nothing is worse for me to be stuck in a crowd unable to move at a reasonable speed because I can't effectively stim while standing up, and I can't relieve that need to move by walking because of the crowd. Normally I'll be cutting through crowds and stepping around people at my own speed.

I HATE crowds with a passion. It's one of the reasons I need staff to come with me to do stuff, to keep me from having a meltdown.

I used to be scared of actually leaving the house because of it too.... I used to even have a panic attack outside which was so horrible and I would feel as if people was going to give me the worst looks, I thought at first I was really insane but I didn't thought that having HFA was going to affect me in the outside world.

I hate crowds. I'm always thinking people are following me and the noise and feel is enough to drive me bananas.

OH and that too.... Then I feel like shutting down.... When I started going to college, I had to go through alot of challenges so I could cope by the time college started...

1. I had to go to the shops independently and I start graduly get further and further (successful).
2. Had to learn how to go on the public buses by myself to a place and back and I would have to meet someone on the other end (successful).
3. I had to think of an alternative way to stop myself from getting a meltdown/panic attack (successful).
4. I had to learn how to stop being scared of roads and traffic (which ive done very successfully and find it fairly easy now).
5. Cope with crowds... (only managed in the streets and yet it still scares me and yet ive learnt how to hide it from others )
6. Find a group to hang out with or fit in with. (it was scary but i was lucky to fit in because of artistic talent).

It was all so complicated, and worst of all, I had to learn all of that in 6 weeks. WOW! But it only went down to 2 weeks because I was really ill and thought I wouldnt be able to recover, which I finally did

Thats my journey of near success.....



superboyian.

For me it depends on the type of crowd. If it is the standing around sort of crowded, then I usually get really anxious and kind of zone out in a corner or leave. On the other hand I really enjoy sparse moving crowds, like on a big city sidewalk, because I enjoy trying to navigate past it in the most efficient and unobtrusive manner.

I don't mind crowds much so long as they're impersonal (like streets, supermarkets, the cinema, big music venues). Any kind of personal interaction with more than a few people (like shops, small music venues, pubs, bars) gets to me quickly.

I can't stand crowds, period.

It depends on what type of crowd it is. If the crowds are at a venue, where I go to a rock concert, they don't really bother me. The crowds near a high school, or a shopping mall would really do me in. The reason behind me, is that I would share a common bond with my fellow concert goers. I don't share any bond with any of the modern day teenagers around my area, what so ever. They're too much into the next comming century.

It really depends on the crowd for me, if it's a huge crowd where people are almost touching me wherever I stand, then it's hard to handle. If there is some space for me to move around, I can still struggle, but I'm able to cope more.