Meditation & Mindfulness

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I have been seeing a psychologist lately who has recommended I try out meditation & mindfulness. He does not have any specialist training or experience working with people on the spectrum so he says he cant guarantee it will help me but he thinks it could be worth a shot. Im just wondering does anybody on here who is on the spectrum have any positive or negative experiences of this type of treatment?
Im trying to be more postive and upbeat so I dont want to dismiss it before I try it but having researched it abit, I wouldnt think it looks too promising

Meditation and mindfulness helps me. It is something I've done for many years but it is part of my personal philosophy (I'm Zen Buddhist) rather than considering it a treatment as such. A number of other members on WP also practice meditation and mindfulness, not all of whom are Buddhists. It helps to quiet the mind and reduce the impact of various problems that can plague one's mind. I used to have problems dwelling on negative experiences or obsessively worrying about stuff that might or might not happen. Meditation and mindfulness can act to clear away such obsessive thoughts and bring about a sense of perspective and inner peace.

Edit: Just noticed you cross-posted your thread to Random too. Please don't create the same thread in more than one forum it is against the site rules.

Sorry about the double post. I didnt mean to post it in Random Discussion. Is it possible to delete a post? I couldnt see how to.

Problems dwelling on negative experiences sounds exactly like my main problem. I also have terrible problems getting over issues where I get no closure. I just can't move on from things. I always need to know "why" somebody acted like they did or "why" something turned out the way it did. I think in such black and white terms that anything that happens that I think shouldnt really troubles me

I am now really encouraged by your positive experiences and thank you for your reply.

One of the things I've noticed about meditation and mindfulness in relation to this obsessing with events (past and future) is that with time you start to see the inner workings of your own mind at work. You see where there are negative ruts that your thinking slips into. The curious thing is that simply the act of observing these negative thought processes is enough for them to lose their grip on you and to become less powerful or to vanish completely; without any conscious effort on your part. It is a bit like turning on the light in a dark spooky room - the dark menacing shadows are gone.

Bear, I can strongly recommend meditation, and as the moderator Tallyman noted, Zen meditation in particular. Though I now consider myself a cultural Christian, and no longer meditate, I will always be grateful for it since it started me on my path to sanity, and long before I ever heard of AS.

For me, sitting zazen not only helped me slow down my wildly racing toxic thoughts, but allowed me to put them in perspective. Even today, when I am down, I remember back to the Zen idea that our dark thoughts are like dark clouds in the sky: They come and they go, and just as dark clouds bring rain, our dark thoughts have something to tell us about ourselves if we will only see them for what they are. As with everything else, they are about coming to be and passing away.

Here is the first book I ever read on Zen, and still hands-down my favorite. It is one of the most important books I ever read:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... ers%20mind

Finally, I would add that, not knowing your own religious convictions, Zen can be considered a philosophy as much as a religion. So, it need not conflict with your own religious values, if any. True Zen would neither confirm nor deny being either.

Last edited by Thelibrarian on 03 Jul 2013, 11:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

meditation is an effective stress-buster. I've never been Buddhist. I focus on my breathing while trying to fall asleep at night. it works.

My previous therapist specialized in DBT: http://www.behavioraltech.com/resources/whatisdbt.cfm

Part of the program is mindfulness, ( http://www.behavioraltech.com/resources/mindfulness.cfm ) and this helped me greatly, especially since this is the biggest thing I learned. It really helps with people who get emotionally overwhelmed.

My neuroscience professor got me into meditation. I usually do concentration meditation, but there are others. I get into a deep relaxation and live in the present (sometimes I don't think about anything, which is a huge feat for many people). I go on and off the regimen though. I just started again last night and I finally feel like I'm recovering from the emotional shutdown I had several nights ago.

Overall, it can't hurt to try.

My new therapist does CBT and I hate it. I don't want to change, I just want to be able to deal with the downs and stay with the benefits.

Thanks to all who commented on my post. I really appreciate all your help. I will look into all the links and info you gave me and hopefully, I will gain some relief from the ruminating

There's a real benefit, but the key is to stick with it. I'll forget for a while until I notice my resistance to stress has become nonexistent again.

Meditation is fine, if I can relax enough to do it which is easier said than done. But the mindfulness stuff just confuses me, somehow looking around and observing whats around to try and get back in 'the current moment' doesn't seem to calm my mind any.

You can note what's going on in your mind, but think of it as an impartial observance-- you're separate from your thoughts, if that makes sense. It helps if you can focus on physical sensations periodically during the day.
It's always been more preventive for me. If I'm really stressed, then I try to do something physical instead.

I like DBT- I'm working through a DBT self help book atm and finding it really useful, especially the mindfulness part of it. It's really good for anxiety and combating negative/destructive thoughts. The therapist I used to see used CBT and I never really got on with it, mainly because I couldn't identify the thoughts in the first place so found them impossible to challenge. With DBT, you don;t have to pinpoint exactly what you're feeling, and it's more about dealing with the feeling at the time instead of identifying what that feeling is, if that makes sense. I couldn't get into meditation though, my attention span isn't good enough and it makes me ironically more nervous.

I did that for a while but for some reason fell out of the habit. I did think it was helpful.

I think Mindfulness and Meditation can help you objectively look at the behavior of your mind and emotions. Especially things related to Desire, Anger, or Attachment.

The trouble is sometimes the physical sensations just overwhelm me even more...like if I am in a darkish calm sort of room for instance then I might find focusing on physical sensations pleasant or if I am outside in cloudy weather. But say there are florescent lights and noise and chaos then I just get further overwhelmed trying to focus on the physical sensations.

Yeah, I have trouble with that too.

This would be the kind of situation in which you might want to focus on something else, like the movement of your own breath, or the sensation of a raisin (or orther small food item) in your mouth. The idea is not to get focus on sensation for it's own sake, but as a means of interrupting the flow of thought that typically absorbs your attention. I think mindfulness is mostly about learning to be in control of where and how you pay attention and this is sometimes the only thing that helps with sensory problems.

The idea of focusing on the moment is not to let your attention be overwhelmed by sensation, but to prevent it from being lost in imagined future or past events. That is why breathing is a good focus--it's usually a low stress, subtle experience and focus on it tends to be calming.