Aspie Decision Tree

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Asperger's Decision Tree

This is brilliant; it sums up my thought process exactly, and explains why I feel depressed when I'm not learning about a particular obsession, or when I'm deciding on what to obsess about. Right now I'm in Step 2- the "lose focus" point. What about you?

This is amazing. Yes, applies to matters big and small for me.

This would be anyone's decision tree with something they're having a hard time with. The problem is aspies dwell on the failure cycle too long and are too drained of energy for the escape cycle.

Interesting, but it's not a tree.

If it works for you, fine. I can't make head nor tail of it. I'm more geared to people just sayng things as simply as possible in plain old text, without any coloured boxes or arrows. I know a picture can be worth a thousand words, but for me these aren't the right pictures. Sorry.

Spot on.

In a way, you are right. It is somewhat the way motivation works with almost everyone, Aspie or not, but there is a problem with dismissing it so quickly.

Our symptoms are constantly dismissed with the same reasoning (everyone is like that to some extent), and too often dismissed entirely just because the symptoms, when considered individually, "sound" too much like what everyone experiences regularly.

The difference with AS is a matter of frequency, degree and the fact that we have a far harder time learning how to break free of our own hardwiring. NT's don't have to LEARN as much how to break this cycle. Doing so comes more naturally to them than it does to us.

I find the explanation there pretty much spot on. Is it the same for NT's? Sometimes, yes, but the degree, frequency and ability to break free of the cycle is nowhere NEAR what it is for Aspies.

We are HARDWIRED this way. They are not.

I agree. There are times when "The Failure Cycle" makes me cry, when I was unable to decide and felt extremely overwhelmed. My parents told me that it was stupid to cry about such things, but I couldn't see why. It also explains why not focusing on anything makes someone with AS upset. Thankfully, due to school, I don't experience this cycle when it comes to being motivated to learn things, because we HAVE to, or we face the consequences. However, during the holidays, when left to decide what I should learn, this happens a lot. Just today, for example, I spent about an hour, pacing and deciding on what I should do, almost becoming tearful. Fortunately, I wasn't stuck in "The Failure Cycle" too long, I made a choice, and it paid off: I feel a lot better now I've done something in the knowledge that it was worthwhile.

Quite interesting. I have definitely lived all those stages, and I know that I get stuck in the failure cycle. Yes, the escape is usually some sort of choice made in desperation just to get me off the merry-go-round…

This. This decision algorithm applies to neurotypicals, too.

Am I the only person here who being told "Just pick one!" in that situation would only push me further away? It's not "just" picking one, that's entirely against my nature, and not something I can do. I "escape" via having someone else pick one, with justification, and me being able to rely on the fact that I trust them to not do something that'd be bad for me. Or, more often I escape by doing just that much analysis...

In a situation like food, where I don't know what I'm eating, I'll actually not eat until my boyfriend chooses something for me or until I'm in pain from hunger. At the point that I'm in pain from hunger, more things matter that hadn't before, and it allows me to make a decision based off of figuring out what food is fastest to make. It still wasn't just picking one randomly, if I was told to do that I'd end up hiding in a corner in tears, but it was turning the problem into something with more relevant information because of how long I've been fixating on it.

Maybe I'll eventually learn how to "just pick one" but at the moment it is not something I can do. I however, am very good at over-analyzing situations automatically, even while in the curl up in a blanket, hiding, and rocking because I don't know what to do state.

The pictures are so confusing. But interesting stuff. I seem to fit the ADD pattern best. Pity not all section are described.

Agree with you there. This cycle hits harder for aspies not only with the obsessive natures, but also with the frequency things we're bad at come up. Social situations are unavoidable.

Still need to practice hitting out escape cycles faster.

That describes me perfectly. Thank you for sharing this with us.

No problem.

I have no idea what it's talking about...seems to be more about learning and/or special interest study than decision-making.

My decision process:

Is proposed action logical? Will it provide benefits or minimize undesirables?
Yes ---> Let's Go.
No ---> Whatevs, then.