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AdamLain
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24 Aug 2016, 9:21 pm

I thought making a thread like this could help some of us learn more coping mechanisms to help our struggle with the everyday difficulties of Autism. Not sure if this will help anyone else but...

Since I was in elementary school I have been using a coping mechanism that has helped with what I now know are meltdowns, also just general depression and anxiety. I cross my arms over my chest and lay against the back of the couch face first, to me it feels like someone is holding me, it's comforting and seems to help the feelings of dread, loneliness, anxiety and panic that come often in my life.



ASPartOfMe
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25 Aug 2016, 3:15 am

Try to remember from experience that the worst case scenario does not usually happen.


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BirdInFlight
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25 Aug 2016, 4:54 am

This is a good thread idea!

One of my coping techniques is my love for, and spending time with, animals.

have found that the company of animals boosts my sense of well-being enormously, and seems to give me a respite from my depression, which is of a constant "low-grade" nature not enough to medicate, but enough that I need to implement home-grown coping techniques to keep myself above the water line of the depression rather than sinking under it.

Animals, interacting with them, feeding, caring for, be it pets, or wild birds in your garden or at the local park, can be very good therapy for feelings of mild depression, stress, anxiety. I find that they "take me out of myself." They are like my medication.

I feel happier and probably have the "feel good" hormones and chemicals releasing in my brain and body, after being around animals.

So if you like animals, they can help enormously. Emotional support animals and service animals, animals that are taken to care homes, hospitals and hospices, having a pet, all of these are because animals can be so beneficial to well being.



EzraS
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25 Aug 2016, 5:16 am

Deep breathing with my eyes closed and making my body go limp as possable. Like an intentional shutdown.

Talking to myself second person and saying comforting things.

Using my hug pillow.

Try to plunge myself into my gaming world and become absorbed in it.

Eat comfort food.



goatfish57
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25 Aug 2016, 5:49 am

I have happy places in my mind that I go to when things get tough.


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AdamLain
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25 Aug 2016, 6:53 am

BirdInFlight wrote:
This is a good thread idea!

One of my coping techniques is my love for, and spending time with, animals.

have found that the company of animals boosts my sense of well-being enormously, and seems to give me a respite from my depression, which is of a constant "low-grade" nature not enough to medicate, but enough that I need to implement home-grown coping techniques to keep myself above the water line of the depression rather than sinking under it.

Animals, interacting with them, feeding, caring for, be it pets, or wild birds in your garden or at the local park, can be very good therapy for feelings of mild depression, stress, anxiety. I find that they "take me out of myself." They are like my medication.

I feel happier and probably have the "feel good" hormones and chemicals releasing in my brain and body, after being around animals.

So if you like animals, they can help enormously. Emotional support animals and service animals, animals that are taken to care homes, hospitals and hospices, having a pet, all of these are because animals can be so beneficial to well being.


Absolutely, having a puppy makes me feel so much better. Unfortunately my old dog died 2 years ago and right now I can't have dogs where I ive, but as soon as I can I am going to get two dogs so they can keep each other company when I'm not home.



AdamLain
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25 Aug 2016, 7:15 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
Try to remember from experience that the worst case scenario does not usually happen.


I totally tell myself that as well, "at least this, that, and the other thing didn't happen so it's still manageable". That's how I start to organize my thoughts and come up with a plan after something goes wrong and I have a meltdown.



AdamLain
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25 Aug 2016, 7:24 am

EzraS wrote:
Deep breathing with my eyes closed and making my body go limp as possable. Like an intentional shutdown.

Talking to myself second person and saying comforting things.

Using my hug pillow.

Try to plunge myself into my gaming world and become absorbed in it.

Eat comfort food.


Yes, I talk to myself for motivation like Tony Robbins and I do basically meditate taking deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, I took Tae Kwon Do as a kid and learned the breathing techniques and meditation in those classes. Although it may sound silly to some, Bruce Lee's book 'The Tao of Jeet Kune Do' is amazing motivational philosophy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLriSM0VlJ4



Aisha
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25 Aug 2016, 7:46 am

For everyday anxiety, I run or do hard exercise for at least an hour a day. This is not easy as I have asthma, and it feels awful, but I find that afterwards I am much calmer, perhaps due to the total exhaustion of my body. Many autistic crave pressure, and I find that the "just got hit by a bus feeling" is a very similar experience. If i'm at home and am coping badly, I fill the bathtub with freezing water and float with the lights off. If I'm around people, usually doing inane, repetitive things helps, like touching each finger to my thumb in order over and over.



AdamLain
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25 Aug 2016, 8:42 am

Aisha wrote:
For everyday anxiety, I run or do hard exercise for at least an hour a day. This is not easy as I have asthma, and it feels awful, but I find that afterwards I am much calmer, perhaps due to the total exhaustion of my body. Many autistic crave pressure, and I find that the "just got hit by a bus feeling" is a very similar experience. If i'm at home and am coping badly, I fill the bathtub with freezing water and float with the lights off. If I'm around people, usually doing inane, repetitive things helps, like touching each finger to my thumb in order over and over.


I have read many people with Asperger's exercise regularly as one of their daily routines and it seems to be accurate, I have had a strict exercise routine since elementary school and have added to it as I've gotten older. I walk 4 miles in early morning then depending on the day start lifting weights either upper or lower body for a half hour, then I walk the same 4 mile stretch at night. I like lifting weights because I get to count and it totally makes me focus on that and I have to actually forget what I had been worrying about before or I'll lose my place.



The_Dark_Citadel
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25 Aug 2016, 9:21 am

Watching docus about something that interests me while touching an object I like.


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Edna3362
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25 Aug 2016, 1:18 pm

For less questionable or 'distracting' stimming, get a clay. If you have enough fine motor skills, you can do some crafting.

For frustrations in general, take a deep breath and try again. Or take a break if time allows you to.

For executive functioning, always remember that if you get dirty, you can wash again. And if you can't finish the task before you have to move on, do a quick clean up or return things before leaving.

For anxiety in general, have a comfort item. Be a bit of a temporary fatalist and do your best.
But then, take your time on this.

For depression, whenever you say or thought on the lines of 'I don't want to--', count it. :lol: Seriously.

For occassional/major changes, associate the current with any color of your choice. If there is a change, switch the mental color. It's ok if it's too sudden or on real time change of 'by seconds/minutes' unless you have a processing speed of a supergenius.

Lastly, if one doesn't want to 'cope' with an unnatural state of socializing, make it feel right not forcing yourself to. Masking won't work well, but making your inner self do things right would.
You can make a greeting less comfortable, jarring, or some culture shock is not with repetition or conditioning, but making it feel right. Because that's what a greeting do, to make others feel welcome.
Do not dodge mistakes, learn from it and figure it out. I know people are fed up with that. Learn from your 'actings' if you had.
Forgive yourself, then you can remember what happened and have the time to learn later. See your mistakes.


Yes, I prefer long terms than every day short terms. :|
But that doesn't mean I never been there before. These were just some of my coping techniques back when I needed one.


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AdamLain
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25 Aug 2016, 3:04 pm

Edna3362 wrote:
For less questionable or 'distracting' stimming, get a clay. If you have enough fine motor skills, you can do some crafting.

For frustrations in general, take a deep breath and try again. Or take a break if time allows you to.

For executive functioning, always remember that if you get dirty, you can wash again. And if you can't finish the task before you have to move on, do a quick clean up or return things before leaving.

For anxiety in general, have a comfort item. Be a bit of a temporary fatalist and do your best.
But then, take your time on this.

For depression, whenever you say or thought on the lines of 'I don't want to--', count it. :lol: Seriously.

For occassional/major changes, associate the current with any color of your choice. If there is a change, switch the mental color. It's ok if it's too sudden or on real time change of 'by seconds/minutes' unless you have a processing speed of a supergenius.

Lastly, if one doesn't want to 'cope' with an unnatural state of socializing, make it feel right not forcing yourself to. Masking won't work well, but making your inner self do things right would.
You can make a greeting less comfortable, jarring, or some culture shock is not with repetition or conditioning, but making it feel right. Because that's what a greeting do, to make others feel welcome.
Do not dodge mistakes, learn from it and figure it out. I know people are fed up with that. Learn from your 'actings' if you had.
Forgive yourself, then you can remember what happened and have the time to learn later. See your mistakes.


Yes, I prefer long terms than every day short terms. :|
But that doesn't mean I never been there before. These were just some of my coping techniques back when I needed one.


I wish I could find some way to hone my motor skills, I feel like I'm drunk many times and stumble when I walk. I walk every morning and my neighbors must seriously think I'm already drunk real early haha.



RabidFox
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25 Aug 2016, 8:05 pm

I don't cope very well with my own problems. I really like to give advice to other people, but then it is really easy for me to think about someone else's troubles.

I tell myself, if someone misunderstands what I say, then I can always clear up the misunderstanding. That is something that I have been trying since I first started posting here. Before coming to Wrong Planet, I didn't talk about my problems with anyone other than my therapist. So, yes, it's very hard, and I have to push myself past my own anxiety to see that any social difficulties ultimately don't matter in the end.

Other than that? Well.... I'm trying. I'm trying really hard. I have been studying photographs, attempting to categorize my own emotions. It's helping a lot. Greatly even. I use Pinterest to search through hundreds and hundreds of images. I pick the ones that I relate to the most and I put them into one of several categories of feelings. It is a very interesting study of myself, to see that I pick so very few images from literally hundreds of pictures, and to come to the understanding that my way of thinking is very abnormal. Sure, I pick a lot of photographs that other people do, but to clearly see my mind processing information, to see it constantly rejecting everything but a handful of pictures to describe my emotions... it's extremely enlightening. I also find it really disturbing.



raisedbywookiees
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26 Aug 2016, 1:40 am

RabidFox wrote:
So, yes, it's very hard, and I have to push myself past my own anxiety to see that any social difficulties ultimately don't matter in the end.


Yep, nicely said, and I've found that if you make those difficulties a big deal, you give others permission to also make them a big deal.

I'm socially inept, and if I've had a painful social experience, it's usually something awkaward or confusing I've said or done or misconstrued, so I'll later try and turn it into an amusing anecdote.

AdamLain wrote:
Although it may sound silly to some, Bruce Lee's book 'The Tao of Jeet Kune Do' is amazing motivational philosophy.


Thanks! Will grab myself a copy.



Edna3362
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26 Aug 2016, 5:51 am

AdamLain wrote:
I wish I could find some way to hone my motor skills, I feel like I'm drunk many times and stumble when I walk. I walk every morning and my neighbors must seriously think I'm already drunk real early haha.


Hmm... First try to know why are you clumsy: Could be because your mind and body doesn't seem to sync? Or your vision, awareness, balance, or perception is a bit screwed? Or something more physical like being frail or having a weak grasp?

I don't know how to hone one's motor skills because I'm was not clumsy to begin with. :( I don't know how to help you with this one...


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