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The Musings Of The Lost
Toucan
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10 Jan 2018, 12:48 pm

One of the ways my ASD affects me is I have practicallyy no facial expressions. Just a completely deadpan look all the time.
Because of this, a lot of people at my school ask me if I'm depressed when they see me. It always confuses me. I will admit it makes me a little happy because they actually payed attwention to me, but regardless it confuses me because this is just normal to me.
Anyone else get this?


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NimbusNine
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10 Jan 2018, 1:21 pm

I get people saying such things from time to time. My mum once said I looked “demented” when she saw me walking across the garden on my way home, but I was feeling alright. People often ask me what’s wrong, or tell me to cheer up- often complete strangers in the street. When I was looking over the balcony at my university someone said that I looked like I wanted to jump, but I was just admiring the scenery really. I can’t help it, my resting face must look very forlorn and sad even when i’m feeling okay.

Funnily when I am in the midst of a depressive episode or if I am actually very upset no one really notices just by looking at my face. I could be on the verge of a panic attack and I’d just have a neutral expression I guess.

I have learned to smile on command convincingly which seems to work I think.



The Musings Of The Lost
Toucan
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10 Jan 2018, 1:25 pm

NimbusNine wrote:
I get people saying such things from time to time. My mum once said I looked “demented” when she saw me walking across the garden on my way home, but I was feeling alright. People often ask me what’s wrong, or tell me to cheer up- often complete strangers in the street. When I was looking over the balcony at my university someone said that I looked like I wanted to jump, but I was just admiring the scenery really. I can’t help it, my resting face must look very forlorn and sad even when i’m feeling okay.

Funnily when I am in the midst of a depressive episode or if I am actually very upset no one really notices just by looking at my face. I could be on the verge of a panic attack and I’d just have a neutral expression I guess.

I have learned to smile on command convincingly which seems to work I think.

My best attempt to force a smile makes me look like a serial killer. I very rarely have legitimate smiles.
For me mainly the people who ask me if I am alright is some of the nicer girls who just know me as the shy lonely guy.


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Piobaire
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10 Jan 2018, 1:29 pm

My mate says she wishes I smiled more. Sometimes when I think that I'm smiling, I'm not; still that blank look. When I really do smile, she's overly entertained by it.



kraftiekortie
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10 Jan 2018, 1:30 pm

My wife thinks I'm boring because I don't talk much sometimes.

She doesn't think I'm depressed. She just thinks I'm boring.



Trogluddite
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10 Jan 2018, 3:58 pm

It took me a long time to work out why I would get so many people asking me "are you OK?" in a tone of voice like they were talking to a five year old. I think it doesn't help that when I first get to a social event, I can superficially "pass" quite well to begin with, then get tired and rapidly fade away so that I end up staring blankly into space. People seem to think something bad must have happened to change my mood, when in fact I'm just a bit overwhelmed and saving my energy. "Passing" is just as good a cover for depression as it is for autism, so no-one notices the difference when I really am depressed (or I just avoid humanity so that they don't see me anyway.)


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AngryAngryAngry
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11 Jan 2018, 4:55 pm

Yep. Also when speaking on the phone, unless I have something exciting or unhappy to say my voice is monotone.
NT's have a "phone voice" they ramp up their emotional excitement so as not to bore the listener.
To me it's fake, I can do this for customer service, where I think of something happy and exciting before answering the phone.
People fake happiness (smiling, raising the emotion in their voice, using pleasentries/manners) when speaking to others to be more approcheable.
No one wants to be around unhappy depressed people.

I tend to limit my conversation lengths, so I can up my 'mood' for the other person (it's tiresome to fake), but also to stop myself from getting carried away, as I'm prone to do once someone else expresses interest (often fake) in a subject I'm passionate about.

Sometimes people call us robots, these two brothers from Top Chef is a good case. I think the brother on our right has a mild form of AS. The brother has hassled (friendly) him for being robotic on the show.
https://youtu.be/oMJsNBvZPAc



kraftiekortie
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11 Jan 2018, 7:57 pm

People used to think that I was high on speed LOL



ZachGoodwin
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11 Jan 2018, 8:04 pm

Yes even when I try to hide it.



Benjamin the Donkey
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11 Jan 2018, 11:18 pm

After 12 years together, my wife is still sometimes worried that I'm sad/angry/etc. No, that's just how I look.

I vividly remember when I was 13, my mother said, "Don't look like that. You look ret*d." "Like what?!?" "The way you always look when you're just sitting. Don't look that way."

This is why I live far, far away.


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CloudClimber
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11 Jan 2018, 11:52 pm

I have a blank look and people try to make me smile which is irritating.



Edna3362
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12 Jan 2018, 12:00 am

At least ¼s of the time, yes.
The other part goes to looking angry, the other parts could either too cheerful, too childish, or too hyper.
The last and lesser fraction part would mean suspicious or creepy. :twisted:

Do people considered that I'm not always in a mood to smile?


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Sandpiper
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12 Jan 2018, 1:20 am

Yes, it happens to me all the time. I have a very flat affect which is a common symptom of depression. I cannot do expressions on demand and only smile when there is something specific to smile about. I never really laugh either even if something is hilariously funny.

Doctors just kept telling me I was depressed, gave me some pills and sent me away. Nobody was interested in probing any deeper. They just saw my flat affect and immediately assumed depression.


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whatamievendoing
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12 Jan 2018, 2:53 am

My mother used to ask me if I was sad about something when I was only contemplating things. But that's the extent of it - my relatives and/or acquaintances have never found me to look depressed, surprisingly enough. Or if they have, they just haven't inquired about it to me in person.


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12 Jan 2018, 2:54 am

I look tired, and often am.



xatrix26
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12 Jan 2018, 3:33 am

I've had a thousand people in my lifetime tell me to smile. It was irritating the first time and it was irritating last week. My most comfortable facial expression is simply the deadpan look or expressionless look and it feels natural and it feels normal to me.

I can never properly interpret other people's emotions or intentions by looking at their face so I have never seen any reason to give that same confusion to others. If someone were to ask me a direct question then I'll give them a direct answer about what my current mood or state of mind is but the whole idea of expressing emotions via facial features was always a very confusing concept to me.


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