Page 1 of 2 [ 29 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

1Biggles1
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Apr 2017
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,870

16 Jul 2017, 11:54 pm

Just recently got my formal diagnosis after 2 years of going through a hell system. However there are some questions i feel might not be entirely correct with ideologies of those on the spectrum. Below is an exert of what the specialist wrote about Episodic Memory. Even though i do tend to explain things from beginning to end like a book i also very much re experience the emotions of said incident from when these incidents happened...
What are your thoughts in this area?
When explaining a past emotional experience, do you also experience the emotions as well?

Or have i missed something here? :shrug:

''Episodic memory This is the way we store emotional memory, with episodes of the things happening in our lives being encoded alongside what is emotionally and personally meaningful about a situation. In ASD the storing of the emotional aspect of the memory is impaired. This can have the outcome that people repeat behaviours that have bad outcomes. Or they may report their experiences in a way that is lacking the emotional aspect of the event, and give the information only. ''



anti_gone
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

Joined: 18 Jul 2017
Gender: Female
Posts: 237

18 Jul 2017, 5:01 pm

No, of course I relive the bad emotions. This is what's causing my anxiety (or my anxiety is causing the rumination) and my OCD (or vice versa). I often read that aspies tend to over-analyse the same situations all over again.

Sounds more like sociopaths...



1Biggles1
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Apr 2017
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,870

18 Jul 2017, 5:33 pm

anti_gone wrote:
No, of course I relive the bad emotions. This is what's causing my anxiety (or my anxiety is causing the rumination) and my OCD (or vice versa). I often read that aspies tend to over-analyse the same situations all over again.

Sounds more like sociopaths...


Yes that what i thought, minus the sociopathic side... I did actually send her an email yesterday pretty much reexplaining what you just said. That alot of how i feel is because i have such a vivid recollection of events and am often emotionally overwhelmed by them as it is like reliving the experience all over again each time i think about them... Was backed up by someone else i know personally on the spectrum hence why i asked as what she says didn't really add up to my experience nor many others from what i have gathered thus far. The repeating of maybe not so great experiences is maybe down to giving people benefit of the doubt even when intuition says otherwise... I know what it is like being on the receiving end of someone gaslighting and prefer to make my own opinions about someone rather than rely on gossip which in turn has got me into some negative life experiences when naively i have trusted when in hindsight i maybe should have not trusted so much.



Last edited by 1Biggles1 on 18 Jul 2017, 6:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CharityGoodyGrace
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 9 Nov 2014
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,124

18 Jul 2017, 6:03 pm

I relive the bad emotions TOO much. But I often don't tell them because I'm embarrassed I was embarrassed, or think it's obvious I was sad, or whatever. Sometimes I relive the bad emotions but don't know I'm doing so too, so that's why I don't explain it.



1Biggles1
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Apr 2017
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,870

18 Jul 2017, 6:09 pm

I have thought about this also! ... For many on the spectrum it is as if many of us a living daily with what NT's only experience once in a while... So having so much emotional energy bouncing around is what also takes up alot of daily energy... So when confronted with explaining a negative past experience i am effectively already experiencing said emotion but in a more intensified way and keeping it suppressed and trying to concentrate on explaining said event....
I liken it to that of NT's emotions are like an orchestra, where the violins represent sadness, then the drums in the background represent anxiety/fear, the guitar represent an even tranquility and so on like a flowing river.. Where for me emotions are like a rock concert, always at full and hard to differentiate because they are all at max volume...
Would that be a fair representation for anyone else?



Lillikoi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Jul 2013
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 11,797
Location: The Mid-West-East-South.

18 Jul 2017, 6:13 pm

Well I used to have extremely bad anxiety, and I have had a lot of really, really bad experiences, but if you asked me to describe what it felt like, I don't recall anything at all. :(

That makes me upset, because for anyone who's going through the same experiences I am, I can't give them any advice. :oops:



1Biggles1
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Apr 2017
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,870

18 Jul 2017, 6:18 pm

Lillikoi wrote:
Well I used to have extremely bad anxiety, and I have had a lot of really, reallybad experiences, but if you asked me to describe what it felt like, I don't recall anything at all. :(


Well i suppose any negative experience is going to somewhat experience anxiety, so in essence one is already experiencing said emotion before explaining the story. Hence my orchestra/rock concert analogy...
But if you were to think back to a negative time, would you feel those bad emotions?



Lillikoi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Jul 2013
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 11,797
Location: The Mid-West-East-South.

18 Jul 2017, 6:22 pm

Wait wait wait, when explaining things, I do get overwhelmed with emotion. Often to the point that I start crying. :oops: It feels like I'm actually there.

That happens a lot when I'm having meltdowns, something from the past will well up and I'll start to relive it again and get upset about it and it's scary. :(



Lillikoi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Jul 2013
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 11,797
Location: The Mid-West-East-South.

18 Jul 2017, 6:27 pm

1Biggles1 wrote:
Well i suppose any negative experience is going to somewhat experience anxiety, so in essence one is already experiencing said emotion before explaining the story. Hence my orchestra/rock concert analogy...
But if you were to think back to a negative time, would you feel those bad emotions?
Well I think the problem is that I can't remember them at all, but I think that's a completely different story. :cry:



Froya
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 3 Nov 2015
Age: 45
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,773
Location: Norway

18 Jul 2017, 6:36 pm

1Biggles1 wrote:
But if you were to think back to a negative time, would you feel those bad emotions?

I don't. I very very rarely feel any emotions connected to memories. I don't remember much at all really. I wonder why that is. Wonder if I have experienced some kind of hell in the past that is the reason for this condition. Anyway, I have never thought this had anything to do with autism.



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

18 Jul 2017, 6:39 pm

There are times when a memory can become like something I JUST experienced.

I get emotional thinking about this girl who dragged me into an apartment vestibule because she liked that I was book-smart.



Lillikoi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Jul 2013
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 11,797
Location: The Mid-West-East-South.

18 Jul 2017, 6:40 pm

Froya wrote:
1Biggles1 wrote:
But if you were to think back to a negative time, would you feel those bad emotions?

I don't. I very very rarely feel any emotions connected to memories. I don't remember much at all really. I wonder why that is. Wonder if I have experienced some kind of hell in the past that is the reason for this condition. Anyway, I have never thought this had anything to do with autism.

Hey, that sounds like me. 8O Unless I'm having a meltdown, then it's the complete opposite...



1Biggles1
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Apr 2017
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,870

18 Jul 2017, 6:41 pm

Froya wrote:
1Biggles1 wrote:
But if you were to think back to a negative time, would you feel those bad emotions?

I don't. I very very rarely feel any emotions connected to memories. I don't remember much at all really. I wonder why that is. Wonder if I have experienced some kind of hell in the past that is the reason for this condition. Anyway, I have never thought this had anything to do with autism.


No nor did i, hence its a spectrum similar to NT's where some will be able to emotionally relate and some wont for whatever reason... But this lady feels ALL people on the spectrum cant emotionally identify but only intellectually... Thats how i read it anyway, hence the shrug and the question as im not sure if i have missed something?



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

18 Jul 2017, 6:43 pm

This lady's talking bullcrap.

Perhaps, people with Asperger's have an DISORDER, say, in experiencing empathy the "correct" way. However, it is incredibly wrong to say that people with Asperger's DON'T experience empathy.



1Biggles1
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Apr 2017
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,870

18 Jul 2017, 6:46 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
There are times when a memory can become like something I JUST experienced.

I get emotional thinking about this girl who dragged me into an apartment vestibule because she liked that I was book-smart.


Yeah, am i missing something out on what she was saying? Or was i correct in my assumption of hers? I just find it confusing as yes i feel relatively on edge alot but if i go back to a past negative memory it is like reliving the experience over again and as some have said, dont at all... I have met a number of NT's that dont emotionally connect to a past experience and many that do.. Just seems the same with the spectrum, hence why i was initially baffled by her generalization.



Froya
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 3 Nov 2015
Age: 45
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,773
Location: Norway

18 Jul 2017, 6:46 pm

Lillikoi wrote:
Froya wrote:
1Biggles1 wrote:
But if you were to think back to a negative time, would you feel those bad emotions?

I don't. I very very rarely feel any emotions connected to memories. I don't remember much at all really. I wonder why that is. Wonder if I have experienced some kind of hell in the past that is the reason for this condition. Anyway, I have never thought this had anything to do with autism.

Hey, that sounds like me. 8O Unless I'm having a meltdown, then it's the complete opposite...

It might be a form of suppression. I mean it's a way that our minds protect us against too painful memories. I think of it as the opposite of PTSD.

Sorry don't mean to derail the thread.