Page 1 of 1 [ 4 posts ] 

Aet1985
Raven
Raven

Joined: 8 Apr 2020
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 104

07 Jan 2023, 4:03 pm

I was wondering this has had me very concerned lately, but is at times being emotionally unstable a Aspie issue? or I can have small PTSD from how I grew up ? I had a very stressful upbringing helping my mother who had MS my father helped though, she was emotionally unstable at times, crying and screaming, ambulances at house often, also witnessed her have a seizure growing up, and just in 2017 she was in the hospital and almost didn't make it. I also had a lot of social issues, always felt out of place, problems with dating, relationships and friendships, I never felt that my worldview or ''eccentric'' behavior was accepted. I started to ''calm down'' with my anger outbursts and emotional rage or crying, but they still occur, so I guess my question is if I didn't grow up the way I did would I still have those issues due to being a Aspie? or I would of turned out different?



FleaOfTheChill
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 Jul 2020
Age: 309
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 2,897
Location: I'm stuck in the dryer

07 Jan 2023, 7:35 pm

I wish I had some answers, but I don't. I wonder things like that about myself. I had a therapist once tell me that being autistic probably saved my life because my early years were problematic to say the least. Had I been more invested in the world outside my head, my life would have been likely much harder. I have been dx'd with ptsd with dissociative issue due to my childhood. It can be really hard to pick that sort of thing apart...is it nature, nurture, both? For me, at the end of the day, I can't focus on the cause at a certain point. I just need to focus on the symptoms and figure out how to make them manageable so I can live my best life in the here and now.

I know.. not helpful. Sorry.

For what it's worth, I hear you and I get it. It's not just a you thing.



autisticelders
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2020
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,946
Location: Alpena MI

08 Jan 2023, 3:52 pm

especially when we grow up in sick or dsyfunctional or upset households it is hard to figure out how to find peace and sanity. We never learned what healthy life, healthy choices, healthy interactions and communications were. Not our fault. This goes for being able to recognize our own thoughts or emotions. We are too busy pleasing others and trying to appease/satisfy them to figure out what we believe, think, or feel for ourselves. But we can learn ! It can be both emotions and PTSD and or CPTSD, or even other issues. The right therapist can help sort it all out. therapy to teach me how to recognize when I was being abused, intimidated, manipulated and used and learning how to say NO saved my life and my sanity. It has taken practice but things have got so much better over the years. hope you find what you need. If the first try or the second or the third does not work, please don't give up. You are worthy of finding peace, self understanding, having respect and kindness in your life.


_________________
https://oldladywithautism.blog/

"Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.” Samuel Johnson


SharonB
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jul 2019
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,733

08 Jan 2023, 5:38 pm

Both? Autism is so very similar to PTSD and yet how much do they inform each other? I wasn't diagnosed until a few years ago so spent over 40 years being invalidated (you're "too" this, "too" that, nobody else thinks, smells, senses that...) --- that's pretty traumatic. My mom and grandmother were unknowingly Autistic and passed along that generational trauma. My grandmother "handled" it by being institutionalized. My mother "handled" it by hiding in her room. I "handled" it by hiding in myself. Time to stop hiding! Hard to do in the face of decades of invalidation and fear. But here we are. We are here. :heart: