Doubts, bad-expreinces, etc. yet.....(RE-EDIT)

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From my own personal experiences with the Autism Spectrum, and participation here on WP, the cynicism stemming from bad social experiences, and difficulties with social skills, and friendships is understandable!

With such experiences, those doubts, cynicism, etc. etc. too easily becomes that discouraging 'self fulfilling prophecy' of sorts - those viscious cycles too often reflected here on WP.

Yes, breaking these viscious cycles it's a tall order! To "break the ice," discussion-threads (this thread, and RELATED WP THREADS) can provide good starting points.

In short, lets boost discussions which clearly encourge WP members concerend Autism Spectrum, and neurodiversity to strive to be proactive in both understanding, and meeting the challeges of social skills and friendships.


These 'RELATED WP THREADS' encouraged responses, are spot on, yet responses faded-out -- WHY?

*'I Dislike Socialization But I Crave It So Badly.'

* 'Breaking the Acquaintance Barrier.'

Any other encouraging WP discussion-threads here in the 'Social Skills, and Making Friends Forum' are welcome.

I agree that people sometimes fall into the vicious cycles of self-fulfilling prophecies—thereby dooming them to ultimate failure.

I definitely agree with the notion of the vicious-cycle. Bad experiences cause people to become avoidant of social situations. Avoidance of social situations cause people to either not improve, or get worse, in social situations. Future social interactions go equally bad, or worse. This reinforces the idea of avoiding unpleasant social interactions. Interactions get avoided even more. Social skills suffer even further. More avoidance, less practice, rinse and repeat.

Socialization is just like any other skill - you have to engage in it to get better at it. Socialization is a perishable skill. If you don't keep in practice, if you don't do it for a while, you can get worse at it. NT's went thru this during covid. People who isolate tend to lose social ability over time. Those who already have difficulty with social skills often need even more practice to get better, and will often have even greater difficulty if social interactions are avoided even further.

However...

For better or worse, often times, to those who have already given up, "encouragement" merely sounds like "bullying". A personal trainer pushing their client to do 11 pushups, even though the client "can only do 10", can be seen as either one, depending on the perspective of the individual.

Thank-you for your responses.

As mentioned in the original post, being proactive, and understanding the "why" and "hows" of meeting the challenges of social skills & friendships is most imporatant.

An older WP discusison thread (LINK) that received several responses in the 'Art Writing Music' Forum details just how arts activites might help "break the acquaintance barrier so to speak" even with the Autism Spectrum.

RELATED: My WP image is of handshake greeting in an arts program e.g., painting, drawing, sculpture.

LINK: Can Creating Art "Break The Ice" - Encouraging Friendships?
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=395602

This is "spot on." The vicious-cycles of self-fulfilling prophecies might also be discouraging new WP membership of both concerned NTs, and those on the Autism Spectrum. New WP membership would offer fresh perspectives, experiences, etc. etc. - a much-needed dynamic here on WP!

The 'Social-Skills & Making Friends Forum' might just be one of those important WP Forums of interest for new WP members.