Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog! For this weeks topic, I will be writing about something called alexithymia and it’s connection to autism. Again, this is something I’m learning right along with you guys, and I’m so lucky to find actually autistic resources on Instagram to help me come up with topic ideas! Honestly, I’d be lost without them, and this blog probably would’ve already died by now! Lol!
Alexithymia is when people have a hard time describing their emotions, which can also make anxiety worse for us. It’s a common thing of people of all neurotypes, but it’s extra common in autistic individuals/individuals with autism. Approximately 50%-85% of autistics/people with autism are alexithymic. However, another source says it’s 1 in 5, so I’m not sure what to believe tbh. Interception, which is the sense of one’s body international state, is common when you’re dealing with alexithymia. (I’m thinking about planning on writing about that for a future post). Some examples of that would be acknowledging when you’re hungry, and temperature signals. For part this post, I’m using a post from the account @flappyfroggie on Instagram and they said “I’ve noticed that whilst it is known to be common in autistic individuals, there seems to be a scarcity on how to deal with it and express and understand our emotions better”. I also think this is true because I’ve never heard of alexithymia be talked about ever. We have emotions, but it’s hard for some of us to express them, and there needs to be more acceptance for that. Like I said above, alexithymia affects anxiety. Well, there are 2 reasons for this. One of them being autistic people/people with autism can have problems with anxiety coming to alexithymia is because we sometimes have a hard time sensing physical symptoms (which part of what alexithymia is) of anxiety. This may include when your heart rate changes, and adrenaline rushes. It can make thins feel unpredictable, and confusing which can worsen anxiety. Another reason is it can make it difficult for autistic people/people with autism to control their emotions. People who struggle with anxiety can accept certain levels of worry sometimes. However, an autistic person/person with autism who has alexithymia may find this more difficult to regulate than NT’s. Before I read that part, I was about to say “yeah I don’t accept worrying of any kind”, even though I don’t think I have alexithymia. I’m usually very good at advocating for myself. On another note, they may push these feelings away, which will end up making things worse! Alexithymia is one of the reasons why basic therapy isn’t always effective for autistic people/people with autism. If we’re seeking treatment for anxiety, it is important for someone to know about alexithymia if we do deal with that, but not everyone does! So that’s about it for this post. Thanks so much for reading and I’ll see you all next week! Email- [email protected] Instagram- @embracingmysuperpower Facebook- Embracing my Superpower Tik Tok- @embracingmysuperpower https://www.instagram.com/p/CXZE9a-Mnzc/?utm_medium=copy_link https://www.autistica.org.uk/what-is-autism/anxiety-and-autism-hub/alexithymia https://www.instagram.com/p/COQNFKXsVAf/?utm_medium=copy_link (another good post I didn’t use for my blog, but good information if you’re interested in learning more!)
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Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog! For this weeks post I will be writing about autism and it’s connection to aphantasia. I got this idea from an Instagram post I saw, (which I will link below) so this is one of those topics where I don’t know much about it so I’m learning right along with you as I write this!
So basically aphantasia is when one is short of “minds eye” and has a hard time visualizing images in their heads. Like for example, if someone tells you they’re going to a restaurant, you can easily visualize the restaurant in your head. Unlike people who have aphantasia can’t do that. What does this have to do with autism you might ask? Well, some research done in 2020 showed a correlation between aphantasia and autism. “Aphantastics reported more autistic traits than non-aphantastic controls”. -@theautisticlatina on Instagram. This is persistent with present autism criteria when it comes to a diagnosis, especially with mentally manipulating 3d images. Interesting fact! This study also focused on autism’s connection to synesthesia, (which is when you experience one of your senses through another according to Wikipedia), as well! There isn’t much known information about aphantasia, as it was only made to be an official condition in 2015, and scientists have yet to catch up to study more on it. The causes of apanstasia are yet to be known, but some scientists think it may be trauma, which makes sense why it’s a common autistic trait. I don’t think I struggle with this, though. Here’s some emerging research according to the non Instagram source linked down below. (Referring to aphantasia). “This lack of mental imagery was described as early the late 1800s, yet it has remained a relatively unstudied phenomenon. Francis Galton first described the occurrence in a paper on mental imagery published in 1880. In addition to noting that people experience various degrees of vividness when describing their mental visual imagery, he also reported that some people experienced no visual imagery at all”. -Kendra Cherry from verymindwell.com. This is interesting that this source says scientists been researching this for that long, yet another source says the complete opposite. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments! So that’s about it for this post. I know it’s kinda short, but there isn’t much posts and articles I could find of it relating to autism. However, if you want to learn more about it, I’ll tag the links I used for this post. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all next week! *A special announcement- I’m working on something exciting with an awesome person coming up this week that should be released in the next 2-3 weeks. Does anyone have any guesses on what it is?!* Email- [email protected] Instagram- @embracingmysuperpower Facebook- Embracing my Superpower Tik Tok- @embracingmysuperpower https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYIJORrbr6/?utm_medium=copy_link https://www.verywellmind.com/aphantasia-overview-4178710 Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog! For my post this week, I will be writing about autism and routine and changes. I’ve known this fact for a long time, but I’m still going to use an amazing post from @neurodivergent_lou on Instagram to help me with this post, and you guys can hear two points of view!
The vast majority of autistic people/people with autism do best when we know what we’re doing ahead of time, have schedules, and when everything is the same, and helps us manage our anxiety. Routines help us with our executive dysfunction, and our sensory and social skills, so without one, we’ll have to make more choices on what we do with our day. It also take SO much out of us just to make a simple decision. Routines also help us navigate your world. Aka the NT world we live in. Routines are helpful for the most part, but sometimes can be a challenge if you have too much on your routine and get in the way of us living our best lives! @neurodivergent_lou talks about how her morning routine helps her and I agree. My (workday) weekday morning routine helps me be more responsible, and a better version of me when I’m at work. This routine is that I wake up at 5:45 am, which I will probably never get used to lol. I go on my phone for a little (well, 30 mins at my dads house since the commute is WAY closer). I then get dressed and have breakfast. (Sometimes in reverse order also). When I’m at my moms, I drive my moms car with her in it so I can practice for my license. When I’m at my dads, I walk since I live 5 blocks away. (If my bosses are seeing this, please don’t switch my schools). After work no matter who’s day it is, I walk back to my dads house and spend the day there. I go back to sleep when I get home from my morning shift which is from 7-8 am. I then relax and go back in the afternoon. Then depending on the day I get picked up or I walk. This turned into my weekday (workday) daily routine lol. It’s hard for me to change my routine. When I’m at my dads house, I could technically wake up at 6, instead of 5:45 but I don’t want to since it may throw me off. This is because we don’t have much time to prepare for the change. Even though I would in this case, it’s still stressful. We focus on the details of our routine so changing it in the slightest will change the details. We tend to fail to see the bigger picture. When our routines change, it is very overwhelming. Like when I make plans with friends and when they cancel or when I have to cancel, it gets stressful because those plans were engraved in my head that this was going to happen with certain people, on a certain day, at a certain time. Even these types of changes like changes of physical space, changing your food choice, buying new things, moving houses or schools can also be stressful, and overwhelming. There are lots of ways to cope with this type of change including putting the day on your calendar and seeing that it’s there, having a pros and cons list, a list of a step by step process on how to deal with the change, etc. So that’s about it for this post. Honestly, I did not think I’d even post this week because I was hyperfixating on my newest special interest a littleeeeeee too much (week 29). Just being honest lol. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all next week! Email- [email protected] Instagram- @embracingmysuperpower Facebook- Embracing my Superpower Tik Tok- @embracingmysuperpower https://www.instagram.com/p/CO-0LXEs_CD/?utm_medium=copy_link Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog, and Happy New Year! To start off, I know I promised you guys a post about autistic love languages, but I only have one piece of information and it’s hard to reword, so I’m going to link the love language post at the bottom of this post. Anyways, for this weeks post I’ll be talking about sensory overload, and the importance of sensory breaks. I’ll be putting them into one post for you guys since they have to do with each other. Hope you guys enjoy!
All neurodiverse people have a different operating system, not just people with autism/autistics. “Our sensory processing system allows us to integrate and organize the information we receive from our environment so we can respond accordingly to it”. -@theautisticlife on Instagram. I decided to use this accounts exact words because I think they worded it so well, and I couldn’t think of a better way to word it lol. When we’re experiencing overload, our processing differences may cause stress, anxiety, pain, meltdowns, etc. In @theautisticlife’s post, they talk about how they experience sensory overload, and what it’s like for them, so I’m going to do that too. When I’m going through sensory overload, I feel overwhelmed on the inside. My brain has 1,000 thoughts going 1,000 miles a minute. At work, I get sensory overload sometimes when multiple kids try to talk to me at once. They made “gingerbread” houses for the holidays and that was crazy sensory overload for me! (Gingerbread in quotations because they used graham crackers, not gingerbread lol). I always cope with sensory overload, but I don’t have much on that since I don’t really have a specific coping skill tbh. I just do what I think of in that moment. It is also SO important to take sensory breaks when you’re having sensory overload. “Sensory breaks are intentional moments of our day when we allow ourselves to regulate our systems after being exposed to disorganized stimuli for a period of time”. -@theautisticlife on Instagram. I’m again using their exact quote because I think it’s worded so well. With our sensory processing differences, our sensory experiences can be at risk even when doing the simplest things. I want to write a post about this but another thing we struggle with is interception, so because of that, we don’t always know when we’re feeling sensory overload, but I usually do. When I’m at work, whenever I use the bathroom is my time to take some short breaks throughout the day instead of one long one. Plus, I don’t even think I’m allowed to do that lol. There’s lots of different ways to take a sensory break. Some ideas include stimming, jumping, running, skipping, sitting in a room with dimmed lights, etc. I believe this is called “control sensory input”. So that’s about it for this post. Thank you so much for reading and I’ll see you all next week! Email- [email protected] Instagram- @embracingmysuperpower Facebook- Embracing my Superpower Tik Tok- @embracingmysuperpower https://www.instagram.com/theautisticlife/p/COTFAJjMPrj/?utm_medium=copy_link https://www.instagram.com/p/CKcRRofhgLT/?utm_medium=copy_link |
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