Is the autistic subconscious mind more powerful?

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Qi
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21 Jan 2009, 12:31 am

It seems to me that everything I do, I do because my subconscious tells me to. If I want to do something, I have to convince it. If I try to defy it, it destroys me with depression and confusion.

The good thing is that I have a much greater sense of how the subconscious mind works. I have a better understanding of what bothers people. This would make me a good psychologist, or good at managing people/customers in general, beause of my ability to understand the small things that can leave an impression on people maybe without them realizing it.

So what do you think? Is this a personal trait?



Tahitiii
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21 Jan 2009, 12:38 am

I'm not sure.

How old are you? (I wish everyone would give an age in that thingie on the left, under you name. It says more than you might think. And while I'm at it, an avitar helps me to keep track of who is who. If you don't change it too often.)

Something in your post rings a bell, but I'm not sure how to respond.
I think we have something in common. Something pre-verbal.



Qi
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21 Jan 2009, 12:41 am

I'm 22, but I couldn't figure out how to put my age there. (Or just didn't try hard enough)

It took a lot of time trying to think the words out.



jawbrodt
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21 Jan 2009, 12:46 am

My mind works much in the same way, but I'm not sure if it is an aspie thing or not. In my case, I think it comes from years of subconsciously(and consciously)analyzing others. After a while, it becomes instinct or second nature, to be able to understand how others react to certain stimuli, or lack of. I have an unsatiable desire to understand things, and I am pretty positive that's due to AS, so there is a good likelihood that there connected. :)


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Tahitiii
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21 Jan 2009, 1:00 am

Qi wrote:
I'm 22, but I couldn't figure out how to put my age there. (Or just didn't try hard enough)
Just fill it in where it asks for your birthday. Some people worry about identity theft, so they give the wrong month or day. Only the year matters. It took me a while to figure it out because it doesn't explain itself. It's not you.

Qi wrote:
It took a lot of time trying to think the words out.
It's hard. First, I have to figure me out for myself, then I have to translate.

For example, my emotions are both a) slow to emerge, and b) qualitatively different from NTs. It's not that I'm stupid. I really am different.

Just keep talking.

jawbrodt wrote:
...I think it comes from years of... analyzing others.
Same here. I give up. At the moment, I think most people are dangerously insane, and that there is no pattern or reason for the way they behave.



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21 Jan 2009, 2:03 am

Qi wrote:
The good thing is that I have a much greater sense of how the subconscious mind works. I have a better understanding of what bothers people.


This would be unusually for an Aspie. Our weakness is vested in our subconscious. Out cognitive abilities are normal or even supreme to most NTs, but the automatic processes of NTs in their subconscious of analysing social clues and situations are much weaker with Aspies.

E.g.:It is for me not very difficult to analyse the financial situation of my friend and give him fact-based advice on his circumstances, but it is for me almost impossible to figure out when he wants to talk about such issues. NTs can do so much better, because they have a better subconscious understanding for the right moment.



Pobodys_Nerfect
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21 Jan 2009, 2:22 am

I think they just understand their own kind better.



Tahitiii
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21 Jan 2009, 2:22 am

Dussel wrote:
NTs can do so much better, because they have a better subconscious understanding for the right moment.
Not because they are better at figuring things out, but because they already feel the same way. Put two NTs together who DO NOT feel the same way and they will never figure each other out. They don't even know it because they're not listening to each other.



animal
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21 Jan 2009, 2:30 am

Qi wrote:
It seems to me that everything I do, I do because my subconscious tells me to. If I want to do something, I have to convince it. If I try to defy it, it destroys me with depression and confusion.


I'm exactly the same. Sometimes I even have meltdowns when I try to do something other than what my impulse is. I am impulsive. I thought it was just because I had poor self-control. I don't know what I want to do ahead of doing it, most of the time, maybe that's the reason for it. I don't know if it's because of autism. It might be partly to do with age, as I'm nearly the same age as you (I'll be 22 in a month). That's just an unthoughtout hypothesis though.

I also have trouble getting the words out. I can figure out the basic phrases to say when someone talks to me, but I can't communicate my own thoughts without a significant amount of translation.



criss
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21 Jan 2009, 3:25 am

I can connect here.

I thought I was the only one (My grandiosity) who as an aspie had a deep cognitive and emotional understanding of others needs and desires.

Because of extreme early trauma, (I had no pre-trauma personality or self), so as my brain was still being 'wired up' my very neurology was being shaped around the need to survive (meeting the need of others in order to be fed and loved) at the expense of my autistic expression (being self-contained and self-centered)

I think in many ways I have developed ways of adapting that have made to me too NT for the aspie world and yet remain too Aspie for the NT world...

I did write a book, called 'A Painful Gift' - The Journey of a Soul with Autism (more details in my website below) in which I throughly explore at great depth the neurological and psychological dimensions of the inner landscape of my autism.

Thanks Qi


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2ukenkerl
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21 Jan 2009, 6:29 am

animal wrote:
Qi wrote:
It seems to me that everything I do, I do because my subconscious tells me to. If I want to do something, I have to convince it. If I try to defy it, it destroys me with depression and confusion.


I'm exactly the same. Sometimes I even have meltdowns when I try to do something other than what my impulse is. I am impulsive. I thought it was just because I had poor self-control. I don't know what I want to do ahead of doing it, most of the time, maybe that's the reason for it. I don't know if it's because of autism. It might be partly to do with age, as I'm nearly the same age as you (I'll be 22 in a month). That's just an unthoughtout hypothesis though.

I also have trouble getting the words out. I can figure out the basic phrases to say when someone talks to me, but I can't communicate my own thoughts without a significant amount of translation.


Same here!



ToughDiamond
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21 Jan 2009, 11:08 am

Qi wrote:
It seems to me that everything I do, I do because my subconscious tells me to. If I want to do something, I have to convince it. If I try to defy it, it destroys me with depression and confusion.
So what do you think? Is this a personal trait?

I think it's normal for the unconscious to call the shots. I think most people are under the illusion that most of their actions are the result of conscious thought, they rationalise their behaviour even though it isn't really all that rational. So maybe the only difference is that you're more aware of what's going on in your head than most people. Autistic people probably pay more attention to the workings of their own brains than neurotypicals who (I guess) are more extravert.

For example, adverts are full of appeals to the unconscious, linking a brand name to symbols of happiness. They seem to work, i.e. they can increase sales, but it's hard to find a single customer who admits they were persuaded to buy because of seeing the ad.



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21 Jan 2009, 11:24 am

I can't relate.

I always found that my subconscious mind and concious mind aren't separated much.

Which is what leads to many of my altered perception and abilities/disabilities.

As far as I can tell, that is a (maybe THE) core to my autism.


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