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Ollywog
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29 Oct 2022, 3:21 am

Do you find that you are "more autistic" when your overall mental health is worse? Do you find that manifestations of autism such as sensory sensitivity, social difficulties, and meltdowns or shutdowns become stronger?

I think this is true for me, to the point that I'm sometimes unsure whether I am autistic or whether my apparently autistic traits are part of my already diagnosed mental illnesses.


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magz
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29 Oct 2022, 4:25 am

Definitely. And my daughter, too.


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MrsPeel
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30 Oct 2022, 3:54 am

Oh yeah.
If I'm under stress I get meltdowns - and then I get depressed and then I get anxious and then all it takes is a little stress and BAM! meltdown all over again.



xxSkull_Princessxx
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31 Mar 2023, 10:56 pm

Definitely. If my mood is extremely low, then I usually find myself barely being able to speak due to not having much energy and generally wanting to avoid people or if it's extremely high (which is a rare thing for me), then I'll find myself stimming a lot more intensely than usual due to being euphoric and having too much energy.

Also, I tend to rock back and forth a lot while having panic attacks as a way of trying to calm myself down.


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colliegrace
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31 Mar 2023, 11:43 pm

I notice my sensory issues are a whole lot worse when my anxiety is bad.


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01 Apr 2023, 5:56 am

Sure.

Mental health issues causes me to be intolerant of many things. It's what led me to be evaluated -- being in a state of unable to cope no more.

But when I recovered somehow, my thresholds grew and can do more than just tolerate -- but actually take it.


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MatchboxVagabond
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03 Apr 2023, 8:27 am

Ollywog wrote:
Do you find that you are "more autistic" when your overall mental health is worse? Do you find that manifestations of autism such as sensory sensitivity, social difficulties, and meltdowns or shutdowns become stronger?

I think this is true for me, to the point that I'm sometimes unsure whether I am autistic or whether my apparently autistic traits are part of my already diagnosed mental illnesses.

High masking people will definitely have that happen to a significant degree. It's not that we get more autistic, it's that we lose the excess mental capacity to mask over it. And we have less energy with which to reset.

I don't know about folks that do less masking though.