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FaeryEthereal
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18 Feb 2011, 9:56 pm

When oh when will these dumb "psychologists" pull their heads out of the bucketful of stereotypes they're stuck in?
When will they start seeing people as individuals with unique personalities instead of just a condition that only presents in 1 way that their outdated "knowledge" knows of?

Sooooooooooooooo irritating!! ! I have AS and co-morbid BPD/Bipolar, I am also a Highly Sensitive Person, EXTREMELY empathic, hypersensitive and highly strung female, so yeah, I'm emotional in the extreme. NOT in the way that NT women are though. There are times I appear to be very cold and aloof because I cannot express my empathy and there are times I scream like a Ringwraith because I am so distressed/angry usually at something like injustice, animal abuse, or being completely MISUNDERSTOOD.



Severus
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19 Feb 2011, 7:06 am

I don't think that most psychologists are familiar with the phenomenon of mirroring and may take it for empathy.

Mirroring is when you are capable of sensing (there are different degrees though) of other people's emotions and you take them on but you can't tell whether it is your emotions that you are experiencing or somebody else's emotions, you can't manage them and you can't act adequate to the situation.
For an example, if you see a friend (or an enemy, there isn't that much difference) that is upset, you automatically become upset because you can sense it. You can't determine the source of the emotion though (it just takes over), you are unable to comfort your friend (because you feel that you are in need of comforting) yourself and you might end up screaming at your friend because it's overwhelming. Of course your friend is feeling offended and neglected because they came to you to share and seek comfort and you just yelled at them.
This is not empathy, the ability to sense how it feels inside other people's shoes. It is more like wearing other people's emotions. It is not something you do on purpose, it happens automatically and it is very hard to keep it in check.



hale_bopp
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19 Feb 2011, 7:16 am

Chenjiringu wrote:
Well I recently got diagnosed with PDD-NOS/atypical autism, but now my psychologist say I can't have that 'cause I'm to emotional. So how are you other females here? Are you emotional? 'Cause I'm very emotional and often let my emotions guide me over my logic/thoughts and she say if you are autistic you can't be like that. I kinda think so too but I wanted to hear with you here too.


I think that she needs to lose her licence, I am extremely emotional and hormonal, and I'm not that logical. I have enough aspie traits to say I have it for sure, but I wouldn't worry about it.. get another opinion.

I don't always display emotions relevant to a scene though. Like if someones crying it's easy not to get emotional or sympathetic.. seems unnatural.



Severus
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19 Feb 2011, 7:30 am

hale_bopp wrote:
I don't always display emotions relevant to a scene though. Like if someones crying it's easy not to get emotional or sympathetic.. seems unnatural.


My first reaction at someone crying would be to back away, leave the room, if possible and return only after the person is reasonable again. I would expect the same treatment from others so I get a nasty surprise and get annoyed if someone tries to stay and comfort me. It took my husband ages to understand that I don't need anyone and anything if I am crying and staying with me may cause spiralling into a total meltdown. I acknowledge that this is not what normal people do though.

Point is, people on the autism spectrum do have emotions but they are mixed, ambivalent, unappropriate, wrong object, wrong intensity, etc. It is very primitive notion to view autistic people as emotionless. They might only show a couple of emotions but it does not mean that they do not feel them.
I may type in the air when I am happy and that is the surest sign that I feel good - not smiling, not laughing, not punching the air, just playing the invisible piano.



Kiseki
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19 Feb 2011, 11:08 am

I am a very emotional person too. But they aren't normal emotions, I guess. Little things really upset me. Other peoples' problems don't (unless it's my immediate family). If a friend or family member cries in front of me I ask them "Do you need a tissue?" and maybe talk to them a bit. I cannot physically console people. I cannot say 'I love you" to people, even when I do love them. I have to make them pieces of art or buy them things instead.

I cry all the time at movies and TV shows. I get crazy when things don't go my way, or when I screw stuff up. I feel things very deeply but I am really only good at expressing this through writing or art.


_________________
Your Aspie score: 161 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 55 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie


Chenjiringu
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20 Feb 2011, 6:16 am

FaeryEthereal wrote:
When oh when will these dumb "psychologists" pull their heads out of the bucketful of stereotypes they're stuck in?
When will they start seeing people as individuals with unique personalities instead of just a condition that only presents in 1 way that their outdated "knowledge" knows of?

Sooooooooooooooo irritating!! ! I have AS and co-morbid BPD/Bipolar, I am also a Highly Sensitive Person, EXTREMELY empathic, hypersensitive and highly strung female, so yeah, I'm emotional in the extreme. NOT in the way that NT women are though. There are times I appear to be very cold and aloof because I cannot express my empathy and there are times I scream like a Ringwraith because I am so distressed/angry usually at something like injustice, animal abuse, or being completely MISUNDERSTOOD.


Exept that I don't have BPD (but been misdiagnoced with it) that sounds very much like me. I'm also a HSP.



Chenjiringu
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20 Feb 2011, 6:19 am

Severus wrote:
I don't think that most psychologists are familiar with the phenomenon of mirroring and may take it for empathy.

Mirroring is when you are capable of sensing (there are different degrees though) of other people's emotions and you take them on but you can't tell whether it is your emotions that you are experiencing or somebody else's emotions, you can't manage them and you can't act adequate to the situation.
For an example, if you see a friend (or an enemy, there isn't that much difference) that is upset, you automatically become upset because you can sense it. You can't determine the source of the emotion though (it just takes over), you are unable to comfort your friend (because you feel that you are in need of comforting) yourself and you might end up screaming at your friend because it's overwhelming. Of course your friend is feeling offended and neglected because they came to you to share and seek comfort and you just yelled at them.
This is not empathy, the ability to sense how it feels inside other people's shoes. It is more like wearing other people's emotions. It is not something you do on purpose, it happens automatically and it is very hard to keep it in check.


Nah that's not how it is for me. It's only sometimes I don't know if the feeling is mine or someone else plus even if I'm not sure I always try to comfort the other one before thinking about me. 'Cause I know if ppl areounde feel good and are happy it's a bigger chance that I feel better too, plus I don't want others to feel bad 'cause I know how much that can hurt and I don't wish others to feel that pain.



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20 Feb 2011, 7:59 am

Well maybe this explains the PDD-NOS diagnosis. NOS is basically a diagnosis given when not all features of a disorder are present or if some or all of them are atypical. Also called diagnosis by exclusion, when the signs nd sympoms do not match the diagnostic criteria completely.
I guess that adult patients get much more often the PDD-NOS diagnosis as they can't always remember crucial details from their childhood and the close relatives who could remember aren't always available.



jaderabbit
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22 Feb 2011, 8:23 pm

I'm a guy, and consider myself to be very emotional.
I think it's just that they don't present on the surface as expected.
...still waters run deep...



FunnyFairytale
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06 Mar 2011, 4:22 pm

Im better at feeling them than showing them and when I try to show them, it probably comes across weird.
I still deeply care and love but I dont always find the right ways to let it show.

Oh and then I get angry.I dont get meltdowns( I did as a kid and almost as a teenager) but I get annoyed instead and frustrated and THAT, will show...guaranteed.It may appear as if it isnt justified and maybe judging the current situation, its not but I still very much feel it.

I also get nervous and worried quite a bit.



poopylungstuffing
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07 Mar 2011, 12:15 pm

Both males and females on the spectrum are emotional...I can have trouble feeling appropriate emotions at appropriate times...sometimes my perspective can be badly skewed by my emotions..sometimes I can have harsh feelings towards myself for feeling what I perceive as irrational feelings..and it can really eat me up inside...going around and around in circles on whether I am entitled to feel certain ways about things...I have seen the way that emotional NT females can be...I know I am not like that...My business partner's girlfriend has Borderline issues..and she can scream hysterically for hours, and then turn around and act like nothing happened...it DRIVES ME NUTS...

I may have trouble expressing myself appropriately or understanding what appropriate is, but that is not the same as "Absence" of emotions..

It can stink..I sorta relate the difficulties I have with emotions to the problems I have with theory of mind..I have trouble relating to the motivation for people's emotions...I find it to be very confusing..

I can also have trouble differentiating between what I perceive to be rational and irrational emotions..(or have i already said that?)....and I will not be able to undertstand things that are not said..so a person's Stoicism, I can take quite literally, cause I am very bad at reading between the lines or under the surface....This can cause trouble for me....



zelephant
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12 Mar 2011, 10:16 am

FaeryEthereal wrote:
When oh when will these dumb "psychologists" pull their heads out of the bucketful of stereotypes they're stuck in?
When will they start seeing people as individuals with unique personalities instead of just a condition that only presents in 1 way that their outdated "knowledge" knows of?

Sooooooooooooooo irritating!! ! I have AS and co-morbid BPD/Bipolar, I am also a Highly Sensitive Person, EXTREMELY empathic, hypersensitive and highly strung female, so yeah, I'm emotional in the extreme. NOT in the way that NT women are though. There are times I appear to be very cold and aloof because I cannot express my empathy and there are times I scream like a Ringwraith because I am so distressed/angry usually at something like injustice, animal abuse, or being completely MISUNDERSTOOD.


I hear ya, sister! I am also bipolar co-morbid, and I'm hypersensitive to physical and emotional stimuli. As you reported, I too can appear aloof and "cold" because sometimes I just can't verbally express myself. But I can become overwhelmed with empathy for others to the point that I literally feel their pain and obsess over it. Great injustices also have brutal effect on my psyche and either make me cry or seethe with rage, or both. Animal abuse is a big trigger for making me break down, for some reason it hurts me even more than child abuse or rape, both of which are more likely to make me sick to my stomach than freak out.



FaeryEthereal
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14 Mar 2011, 4:25 am

zelephant wrote:
I hear ya, sister! I am also bipolar co-morbid, and I'm hypersensitive to physical and emotional stimuli. As you reported, I too can appear aloof and "cold" because sometimes I just can't verbally express myself. But I can become overwhelmed with empathy for others to the point that I literally feel their pain and obsess over it. Great injustices also have brutal effect on my psyche and either make me cry or seethe with rage, or both. Animal abuse is a big trigger for making me break down, for some reason it hurts me even more than child abuse or rape, both of which are more likely to make me sick to my stomach than freak out.


Yay, someone else like me! :D



V10L3T
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14 Mar 2011, 5:19 am

I only get very emotional when someone is yelling at me or when I can just tell they are fed up and angry with me :/ But my emotions are pretty strong otherwise.. Things that would simply please a person make me REALLY happy :P I'm just ~enthusiastic~. I do get very nervous in certain situations but that's not a problem. the problem is how my BODY reacts lmao D: I get really sweaty and my face turns beet red, making me even more anxious!! !

Coming off as cold has never been a problem for me because my face is so expressive. If 80something percent of communication is body language, what does it matter if I don't talk much? :lol:



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22 Mar 2011, 7:56 pm

Oh, I'm extremely emotional, to the point where I can be reduced to screaming and writhing over what would strike most as merely a mild inconvenience.

I'm unusual, I think, in the emotional reactions I have, as well as in the triggers that can set these off. In particular, I easily fall prey to irrational anxiety and an inability to manage stress. The former is known to lead me to spend whole days (or nights) pacing agitatedly, with very little other than an obsessive focus on the source of anxiety in my mind until the issue is somehow taken care of; the latter generally results in the sort of uncontrollable outbursts that one might expect from a toddler.
Much of it is related to my AS, I suspect, in that I have a deep-seated need to feel as though I'm in control, and things like uncertainty concerning scheduling, unpredictability on behalf of other people, and unexpected changes to plan can destroy this sense of control very easily.



Shiloh
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25 Mar 2011, 5:41 am

I definitely feel emotions but I can't describe them. It's like trying to find something by sticking your hand in water and just waving it around. I also don't know how to read other people's emotions. Things either don't affect me enough or they affect me too much for NTs, all the time!