does asd make it harder to get over anxiety/depression...

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I have severe social anxiety, depression and paranoid thoughts that get so bad that i cant talk in social situations/i cant keep a conversation going. I also want to badly hurt myself at times and i constantly think that everyone is against me . I cant just change my thoughts or anything like what my therapist said. Is it true that people with AS have rigid thinking (The inability to change thoughts or think of more rational outcomes)? If so, then does that make it harder for someone with Asd to stop having the negative/paranoid/irrational thoughts that cause social/general anxiety, depression and paranoia?

From what I have learned in my research about how ASD works, I would have to take a guess and say that the answer to your question is probably going to be yes, ASD would make it harder to over come these feelings and emotions. And when I look at how it is for me compared to the NTs I am close to, I would definitely say that I have a much harder time than they do with those things. I also deal with them much more frequently than they do. They tend to deal with them every now and then and pretty rarely as much as i can tell. I might deal with them more like every couple of days.

Is your therapist asking you to counter a negative thought with a more positive one? That's CBT, it's a common treatment for anxiety and depression, but it completely and utterly fails with me. I think it's because the verbal 'thought' is just the tip of the iceberg of a mostly nonverbal thought/emotion state, and the interaction between my verbal thoughts and my emotions is mostly just one-way, emotion->thought.

Maybe try something like mindfulness or DBT instead. I've just started doing those and seen progress that I haven't seen before with anything else.

I would say no.

ASD means you may have additional struggles but it doesn't mean anxiety and depression are more difficult to end. If you can get a therapy then it will likely help, but you must be fully ready to change your life for it to work. Many people suffer with anxiety and depression longer than they have to because they don't get help or are afraid of change. They become comfortable with anxiety and depression. You can do it though if you take small steps. I used to think similar things like everyone wants to harm me and stuff.

If you accomplish something that gives you some anxiety but then you find everything is okay it will boost your confidence, then you can do something more. For example if you slightly worried about saying good morning to someone, do it and you will find its not so bad. You have nothing to lose in trying to change bevause you'll be as you are now or better, no worse. Other people cannot make things change only you can.

After reading the post above, I reread the title of the thread. I think, in light of what was stated above, when I think about it, it is actually easier for me to get over my bouts of depression and anxiety than for the NT's I know. But I do have mine much more often and much more severely. So it seems like I am perpetually dealing with this which is true. But I do get over each actual episode much more easily than my NT counterparts. I think that is because of my childlike nature. I fall easier but I am pulled back up much easier as well.

Ah, that's really good.
Seriously though I can't help but think that what your struggling with is like me. The truth is though that other people are not all against you, it just feels that way. I really think you can reduce how anxious and paranoid you feel. It's something that must be worked on all the time though because when you've been thinking a certain way for a long time it becomes your default way of thinking. That's why we must take on smaller tasks and accomplish them so we know we are in control and can get over the bad feelings. If you take on too much at once it can't be done but small steps is easier.

That is excellent advice. I actually don't think that people are against me and even though I struggle with anxiety and depression I don't have paranoia. I mean, every now and then I might over a specific situation but I don't struggle with paranoia in general. It's just not one of my chronic issues.

I do understand that many people do have that as a chronic issue, actually one of my family members has that as part of his mental illness so I think you give very good advice about it. My depressions tend to come from mental and emotional exhaustion from constantly being overwhelmed with sensory overload and from having miscommunications with people where hurt happens easily usually because I have difficulty in processing a lot of verbal speech and people who don't have the patience to understand that jump to erroneous conclusions. Or they think I am saying things I am not saying or I don't understand what they are saying so we end up hurting each other. Those hurts are deep for me because I have no filters to dampen the effects of emotional content. So when I have a painful miscommunication with someone of when someone I love says something that was not meant to be taken literally and I don't know that, like if they just say something rash out of their own frustrations and it is very painful, it can cause me to become very depressed and anxious.

But I don't struggle with paranoia. I never think people are just out to get me or hurt me just for the sake of hurting me or getting me. Those thoughts have never crossed my mind really and I don't even comprehend them. They make no sense to me. If I am depressed or anxious about a person it is because of an issue in communication and it is always specific and once we talk about it and work it out, it's over and all is good again. But I understand that people do struggle with that and perhaps the OP does, so I think that your advice is good.

Unfortunately since most of my depression and anxiety is based on exhaustion from sensory overload, there is not much I can do about it except move to a quiet location but that won't happen until I have loads of money or an opportunity is handed to me which will probably not be anytime soon.

ASD has given me nothing but obstacles in life and is overwhelming, of course it's going to be harder to get over anxiety and depression.

I honestly don't know since I don't know what I'd be like if I didn't have ASD. I think having ASD does cause me to obsess over things in a way I might not if I did not have it but at the same time, anxiety does run in my family so I could possibly suffer from the same anxieties I do now if I were a NT but I think I could probably cope with them better since I probably wouldn't obsess nor have the qualities about me that cause some of my anxiety. So yes and no I guess is my answer.