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OlivG
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02 Jan 2014, 10:26 am

I have heard that there is a poor connection between the emotional and thinking brain in the aspies, meaning that attempting to calm yourself with thoughts may work poorly for us.

I managed to pull myself out of a negative thinking cycle this morning, but I'm not sure how far it's possible to reprogram the aspie brain to think consistently positively. What are your experiences with cognitive self-therapeutic methods?



franknfurter
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02 Jan 2014, 10:35 am

i usually find that thinking is what leads to negative emotions such as anxiety in myself, but CBT helped me try and think differently.

I find logic thinking is what helps the most, for example when i get anxious about something specific i can use logic to tell myself that everything is OK and in reality this has happened before and nothing bad has happened. i have not heard of there being a poor connection in aspies, i think when you get to a certain level of an emotion such as anxiety using thoughts to calm down no longer works.



foxfield
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02 Jan 2014, 12:11 pm

I have an imaginary friend or "alter ego".

This imaginary person is kind, practical and does not over-think.

When I am worried about something, I tell this imaginary person and she says something cheerful like "Nothing to worry about, you and me will sort this out together easily"

Then when I think about the problem, I do it in the form of a dialog. Me the worrier, telling my fears to the imaginary optimist.

Since my thoughts are like a dialog, it stops them from spiralling out of control. I also find it very comforting (even though I fully understand this person is not real).



eggheadjr
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02 Jan 2014, 2:52 pm

CBT helped me quite a bit as did relaxation visualization (I have a virtual japanese garden in my head I talk a walk in sometimes to reduce anxiety).

I like to think we can chose how to feel and that the emotions will bow down to the thoughts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've had greater susccess with focusing on happiness and trying to live in the moment.


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Threore
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02 Jan 2014, 3:26 pm

I don't know if you're referring to a specific method, but as for the general idea of using thinking to control emotions, that totally works for me. I don't have certain emotions at all anymore because each time I would have them I rationalise them away and they disappear. It doesn't work as well for others but I can't say there's a poor connection.



goldfish21
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02 Jan 2014, 4:05 pm

CBT didn't work as intended for me. It did teach me that I was continuing to get more and more depressed and negative. I knew there had to be a reason. Eventually I figured it out - it was chemical. It was a sensitivity to salicylate acids that had built up and caused the worst prolonged depression of my life. I stopped consuming anything with them and detoxed them via absorbing epsom salts through my skin in order to replenish magnesium and sulphate deficiencies that allowed the buildup in the first place. It took months to detox them completely, but the major depression that lasted 5 months was all but gone after about 5 days.


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MjrMajorMajor
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02 Jan 2014, 4:20 pm

There is a definite disconnect between the two for me sometimes. I can "reframe" situations all I want, but it's not that helpful. I try to notice but not be reactive to negative situations and emotions. Easier said than done, but it gives me a method of distraction at least.