I don't understand what's happening to my brain.

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So please have a look at my previous post if you have not seen it yet.

Take it easy on yourself, be nice to yourself and get the grades you need.

Can you arrange for the CBT to start after your exams finish.

You can concentrate solely on exams now and spend the summer on yourself, assuming you don't need to work.

I can give my experience. I have wasted years blocked, so I hope it helps anyway other people.

No experience with CBT. Classical therapy didn't work. I am self confident and have no lack of self steem (though I had, when I was younger). Therapy helped me to deal with confidence and self-steem issues (that is a very possitive outcome, by the way), but it didn't help with the 'block'. Why? Have no idea. There's almost no information when it comes to adults aspie psychology. My personal (and subjective) theory is that the problem lies someway in having both asperger and OCD. I need to solve some things first in order to be able to focus in another. If, for some reason, I'm not able to solve it, I stay mentally blocked, as a computer that crashes. It's more complex than that, but that could be very simple way of explaining it.

During the university, for example, I had different periods that went from being 'blocked' in someones to feel 'intelligent' again. The difference between them was as big as not being able to pass exams during the first ones and being at the very top of the exam mark's lists during the secon ones. So I'm talking about a serious block.

I also sometimes wonder if I haven't got dumber over the years. Some of the academic assignments that didn't use to be a big problem for me years ago seem impossible to carry out nowadays.

You should really differentiate between your cognitive ability, understanding, intelligence, etc. and performance though. Anxiety doesn't make you stupider, yet it affects your performance, and since your intelligence develops as you do things, continuously performing poorly won't make you more capable or knowledgeable either.

Concerning failed exams, do you have a clear idea why you failed them? Is it possible to find out so that you can properly in the way that corresponds to the expectations?

I have heard of dopamine deficiency lower IQ. Vitamin D deficiency causes both brain damage and depression. Both can be verified by a doctor.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the ... deficiency

Here's a study which says that those with slow-acting dopamine enzymes have higher IQ's, but this advantage disappears when they are under pressure. In one study of Taiwanese children, many A and B students literally traded places between high school and the national exam.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magaz ... anted=all&

If I had to guess, you have

1. dopamine issues related to handling stress

2. possibly a Vitamin D deficiency

Maybe you should consult with your doctor and discuss the possibility of trying a dopamine supplement such as L-Tyrosine or L-DOPA.

I just feel like I'm stupid since nowadays (the past year when things have gotten really bad again) it's like my brain can't take in and process information as well as it used to and things like that. Also, I have no motivation anymore. Do you know what I mean?

The reason I failed my physics exam is because:

1. I'm really bad at physics
2. I have no interest in physics (except astronomy)
3. I find it very difficult to get started with studying (and things in general) though I studied a lot for this exam
4. I find it very difficult to move on if I don't understand things fully so instead I give up whenever I don't really understand things (don't know why)



That's the first thing they ruled out about 7 months ago. Vitamin D deficiency as well as hypothyroidism.

Could still be a dopamine issue though. Get a tincture bottle of St. John's Wort from the grocery store and try it. Within 1-2 days, you should know if it helps you. If so, you can go back to your doctor and ask about dopamine/serotonin issues.

Could try B-Complex also. Lots of autistics have a shortage, and a shortage causes anxiety and depression.

Be careful with St Johns Wort if you are taking medication.

Yes, very true. Consult a doctor, especially if you are taking SSRI's, as the two together may cause Serotonin Syndrome.

If SJW + multivitamin/B-Complex works, then you've narrowed your issue to either a dopamine or a serotonin dysfunction. It's better to go to a doctor with knowledge than without. Serotonin deficiencies can be fixed through a prescription medication like Zoloft while dopamine dysfunction can be helped by your doctor prescribing L-DOPA or taking L-Tyrosine over the counter.

I have in the past and still sometimes do experience what you describe. Some of the causes and remedies I have experienced are:

1. Sensory Overload - Solution: Avoid overly-stimulating things (duh). For me this may be either loud or rambunctious music, or even being around people too much. In setting such as work where being around people is not avoidable, I find it helpful to consciously avoid looking at people, and instead do like some contemplative religious and keep my eyes on the path I am walking instead of my surroundings.

2. Depression/Anxiety - these will lock my brain up very quickly, and kick off a vicious downward spiral. The solutions that work best for me are prescribed medications and psychotherapy. The worst thing for me is self-medicating with something like alcohol.

3. Sleep & Nutrition - I just bought a new mattress out of concern that a recent lack of mental acuity may have been a quality-of-sleep issue. Nutritionally, I try to avoid any form of sugar, and instead keep my protein intake at the recommended 75-ish grams per day.

I reckon all of those are things which contribute to my "brain blockage". Especially depression, anxiety and nutrition. I'm not eating too well which I know is a bit of problem. The reasons for me eating poorly (often irregularly and not too healthy) are:

1. I live in a student dorm and I share the kitchen with 11 other people. As soon as I feel the need to eat something but I realise people are in the kitchen I just don't go there. I want to avoid people because I want to avoid awkward smalltalk and things like that. Sometimes I don't even know why but it's like I can't make myself go to the kitchen if I hear other people are there. I'm not even sure if and what I'm afraid of. It's just like I freeze, turn around, get back to my room and lock the door.

2. I find it very difficult to get started with things. I need structure and plans. I reckon it would probably get better if I had a very strict schedule to follow but for some reason I can't make one myself and then stick to it (not when it comes to these kinds of things). That's one of the things I hope I'm going to get help with as soon as I get in contact with the people who are going to assess me for ASD and ADHD (they usually help with these things before assessing people as well so that people can function "normally") which will probably be within a month.

3. Comfort eating.

I didn't have time to read the other replies so I don't know if anyone's pointed this out already, but it is extremely common for people with ASDs to do very well in high school, achieve high grades and be praised for their intelligence, then completely flunk college, or at least struggle enormously with it. This isn't because their intelligence dropped, it's because they can't manage the change in environment and expectations because of the executive funtioning issues which are part of autism. Unlike school, which has a fixed structure, college is much bigger and looser, has far less structure, and is very self-directed. It also gets more so as you go along. So if you have difficulties with organisation, planning, concentration on non-special-interests and so on the probability is high that you will hit a wall.

This is unrelated to your level of intelligence and if this is what is going on with you it means you need help and advice to manage the aspects of higher education which become increasingly difficult for autistic people. It sounds like you are quite proud of being intelligent, which isn't a bad thing, but you may need to surrender some of that pride in order to admit that you need some help. People with disabilities are entitled to assistance, for example a quiet place to work away from others, a note-taker, an advisor to help you plan and follow through on projects, and so on. The best thing is to take advice from an advisor or counsellor who has experience with these issues - if you are lucky, there may be someone there who has experience working with autistic people, or at least people with ADHD, who have some overlapping issues. You should take as much advantage of this as you can. The good thing about this situation is that you are asking for advice and have the opportunity to do something about it before it gets to the point where you fail your courses.

Hope you are able to get somewhere.

I thought about this yesterday. Before I started high school I was doing great in school. I had really good grades and it was all very easy for me (except for the social aspects of school that is). When I got to high school I sort of "hit a wall" and I think that's because I was tired of school + high school was less structured than secondary school (or whatever it's called in English). When I got to university it got even worse. It all turned into complete and utter chaos. No one told me what to do and when to do it. No structure, new people, new city etc. I'm obsessed with plans and structure and if I don't have plans nothing gets done. I'm really good at planning things in general but when it comes to studies and general chores such as cooking and cleaning I'm really not that great.



I am quite proud of being intelligent, yes. Or at least I was until I started to doubt it and now pretty much think I'm stupid. I have, however, asked for help. Both from psychologists and from people at university. I've recently gotten a mentor who's helping me to plan my studies (she helps me make a schedule each week etc) which helps a little bit but she's not really a good fit for me for several reasons. I also get help with taking notes, exams in a quiet room and an hour extra exam time. Those things really help which I'm grateful for. I just need to figure out how to make my life less chaotic. I have over the years found different strategies for different situations but I haven't managed to figure this out yet. My parents are really surprised I'm doing this bad when it comes to planning and such since I've always been very obsessed with rules and plans etc.

Well, it sounds like you've sussed out the cause of your difficulties, which is great, and it's also great that you have got the help already. There is definitely a stepladder of increasing difficulty in progressing through education for autistic people - I experienced the same thing (and failed several years of university because of it, as I wasn't diagnosed at the time).

The feeling of chaos is hard to overcome but I find it helps to simplify your life as much as possible. De-clutter your belongings, get rid of as much as possible and keep the rest always in the same place so they are easy to find, eliminate unneccessary tasks or errands, make sure there is a single priority in your life and make that your sole focus, make daily task lists so you know exactly what you are doing when. Always make sure there is a plan/list for you to follow so you don't get lost. I did/do all of these things and they have helped. Good luck with your course, I hope you can manage things.

I personally do not deny the possibility, but it is probably not so significant.
Most drugs that treat these, however, do have tend to make people more sedated.

Except for SSRI's which have many side effects, but becoming stupid isn't always one of them. Zoloft had the opposite effect on me, but the other side effects were horrendous.