Facial Expressions!! !!

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Are people on the Autisim spectrum not imune to pulling facial expressions? My parents say i pull a lot of facial expressions........

yup, my son does this alot

yup, my son does this alot

i have been told i look angry a lot

I do lots of facial expressions involuntarily and often inappropriately. Especially while talking. One of the worst for me is eye rolling. It often makes people think I'm snobby or dislike them, when it's not the case.

The worst problem i have is looking angry without realising it. People can tell when i am in a bad mood.

Regardless of my mood, I pretty much always look angry, bored to death, or both, haha.

Not immune at all; I pull a lot of faces because thats how I feel, but Im conscious about it and I bet that is a difference between me and a NT.
If Im unconscious for a moment people get me wrong. If Im unconscious people mostly think Im angry/annoyed/sad or in other negative conditions. People with AS understand me better. Strange? People cant understand me, but I understand them???

Inside i always feel angry about everything

Sorry to hear that

Whats the point? If you're riding the circle of depression, the way out is to break the circle... if that makes any sense?

Yes, it is common to pull facial expressions but the wrong ones, or not what others would expect as such. My son looks angry at lot of the time, especially when he has to meet someone or try to converse with them, he looks like he is going to explode. Another aspect that affects this to a great degree is the sheer amount of effort needed to focus on what the person is saying, understand it and try to think of a response. I think the 'angry' face of an ASD person can be one actually of sheer concentration on the current interaction (if that makes sense).

I have witnessed my son 13, helping me at Home Depot for instance, luckily not at a busy time of day... He confirms with me what we are looking for and says he knows which isle it is in, he goes off to look for the product and he does in this visit find what we need, he turns to come back down the store to find me. As I watch him return he looks like he might kill someone if they got in his way, but what is affecting him right at that moment is he is actually happy because he found what we need, but doesn't look it, he is so focused on telling me, he is overloaded by all the bright lights in the store and a fork lift truck has just backed up in another isle an totally startled him! If someone had passed him by and looked at him they might even have thought he was angry at them. He gets to me but doesn't have a happy look on him face, but is relieved to tell me what he found, we quickly make our purchase an leave because by now he is complaining that the 'beeping' from the fork lift truck is really getting on his nerves.

Jamsey, then next time your parents comment on you looking angry, try to think what is going on inside you at that moment. You may even be relatively happy at that point be it is not showing and it may look like anger to them, you may be experiencing some sort of sensory overload at the time too. But sometimes just the sheer concentration needed is enough. When you can get a peaceful moment alone with your parents explain to them what you think is going on and might apply to you, asure them you are NOT always angry but are maybe just so focused and overloaded at times with sensory issues. Give it a try.

My son also had emence problems in school, he look angry most of the time because he didn't understand the other kids and the noise level drove him crazy. Things are better now for us because I have realized what is setting him off or triggering these looks. Try to give your parents some insight into YOU as they don't realize what is going on.

i thought depression was feeling sad all the time not angry

wats sensory overload.

Yes, it is common to pull facial expressions but the wrong ones, or not what others would expect as such. My son looks angry at lot of the time, especially when he has to meet someone or try to converse with them, he looks like he is going to explode. Another aspect that affects this to a great degree is the sheer amount of effort needed to focus on what the person is saying, understand it and try to think of a response. I think the 'angry' face of an ASD person can be one actually of sheer concentration on the current interaction (if that makes sense).

I have witnessed my son 13, helping me at Home Depot for instance, luckily not at a busy time of day... He confirms with me what we are looking for and says he knows which isle it is in, he goes off to look for the product and he does in this visit find what we need, he turns to come back down the store to find me. As I watch him return he looks like he might kill someone if they got in his way, but what is affecting him right at that moment is he is actually happy because he found what we need, but doesn't look it, he is so focused on telling me, he is overloaded by all the bright lights in the store and a fork lift truck has just backed up in another isle an totally startled him! If someone had passed him by and looked at him they might even have thought he was angry at them. He gets to me but doesn't have a happy look on him face, but is relieved to tell me what he found, we quickly make our purchase an leave because by now he is complaining that the 'beeping' from the fork lift truck is really getting on his nerves.

Jamsey, then next time your parents comment on you looking angry, try to think what is going on inside you at that moment. You may even be relatively happy at that point be it is not showing and it may look like anger to them, you may be experiencing some sort of sensory overload at the time too. But sometimes just the sheer concentration needed is enough. When you can get a peaceful moment alone with your parents explain to them what you think is going on and might apply to you, asure them you are NOT always angry but are maybe just so focused and overloaded at times with sensory issues. Give it a try.

My son also had emence problems in school, he look angry most of the time because he didn't understand the other kids and the noise level drove him crazy. Things are better now for us because I have realized what is setting him off or triggering these looks. Try to give your parents some insight into YOU as they don't realize what is going on.

ARRG... didn't mean to re-post the same thing again, sorry!

Well the sensory overload can be anything lights, smells, sounds, touch, clothing and many others. I understand from some of your other posts Jamsey that you are feeling depressed perhaps because of some other issues in your home life, but there may be other things affecting you too. Perhaps it is even as simple as you are feeling sad but your facial expression looks as though you are mad, so then just explaining that to your parents would give them an understanding.

You may have other things that produce the angry looking facial expression though. It could be the effort it takes on your part to understand what your parents want from you if they have asked you to do something for example. It could be you don't know how to respond to them because of some of the issues you have had in the past, so you are feeling confused on what to say and to them it looks like an angry face. You may also have other outside stimulants that are sensory in nature, have a look on the Internet as that would give you a better idea perhaps than I can, but these could be affecting you at the same time as you are trying to give a response or even just in your daily life at home even when you are not trying to converse with someone. I don't think your parents are going to help you figure out exactly what is going on but you could start to do that for yourself and I'm not saying it would come easy but it can be done, my son has gotten a lot better at identifying what is happening to him to make him react in a certain way.

At the very least it would be helpful to talk to your parents to let them know you are not always feeling angry and that your facial expression is NOT matching how you are feeling at that particular moment and that there may be other things bothering you that you are currently trying to figure out. If you think you could enlist the help of your mom to help you figure out a few things then ask her, even if it's to go to the library and help find a book on ASD. I would recommend Tony Attwoods, Complete Guide to Aspergers as it helped me tremdously, but the library should be able to help you search. You can also do some searching on the Internet yourself and show them some of the articles you may find. I think it would help you a great deal if you could start to get a better understanding of what else is affecting you, it may even ease your depression a bit and give you a different outlook on life. PM me if this is not as clear as I had hoped as I am trying to be helpful and mindful of some of the other issues you have had going on.

Well one of the issues is my height and not feelign comftable in my body since i am monly 5ft10. And I HATE being around taller people so that is what makes me look angry sometimes.

I know you have talked about your height before and if you are feeling angry most of the time then it is related to your facial expression and how others see you. I think in that case it would be wise to consider some sort of therapy or counseling help as this is an issue for you that constantly seems to impact you life and I think others on this forum have tried to help before but really some professional help probably would be best.