Survival Mindset

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I encountered this line of discussion, in an alt news site, and thought it would be applicable, here, because of the sense of emergency, which seems to follow NT people, everywhere they go, everything they do, on an everyday basis.

The three typical responses, in case of fear or an emergency:
fight (hyper-aggressive, combative)
flight (kinetic movement, work in progress)
freeze (hypo-active, has to be told basic things.)

Each one of these emotions has it's own, separate language, allowing you to relate to each kind of person.

It doesn't literally have to be the end of the world (but, they won't want to be told that.)

Those are applicable to every animal in the Animal Kingdom.

Yeah this isn't "NT" exclusive -- this is wired into everything sentient....

Fight, flight or freeze is something all living beings do, each of them at different times according to the instinct or requirements of the moment. From humans to geese to buffalo to cats to....you get the picture.

I've been thinking very much about what you call the 'survival mindset' recently, as I believe A LOT of the symptoms I experience with Aspergers are the result of hyperarousal of the sympathetic system, including:

-Chronic Dry Eyes
-Digestive Issues
-Increased physical strength and endurance compared with others at the gym
-Hyposensitivity to pain
- Alexithymia (Difficulties recognising/being aware of emotions other than fear, sadness and anger)
- Sensory Hypersensitivity and the need to isolate.
-Comorbid illnesses such as OCD, depression and chronic anxiety.

It is being recognised that those with autism spectrum disorders do have 'overall autonomic hyperarousal', possibly related to the differential brain development compared with NTs. This effectively means that those with ASD may be more or less permanently locked into fight or flight mode. Its recognised that long term, this can lead to more serious illnesses, such as Chronic Fatigue and AutoImmune Disorders.

PTSD groups have published a lot of recommendations about how to cope with hypersensitivity of the sympathetic nervous system, including natural methods such as yoga and meditation and medications, including some such as Risperidol which have been used to treat sensory difficulties in ASD sufferers. I notice that variations on massage is often used to treat PTSD, which incidentally has been cited somewhere as one of the few treatment methods that prove helpful with ASD. I'll put some links to academic papers/resources below:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4099494/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4676885/

http://www.ptsdupdate.com/treatment-hyp ... -symptoms/

I agree with harriet, that, if anything, it's people with ASD that experience more of the "emergency" mindset than Neutypical people. I'm wondering, now, if the OP actually didn't mean to say "NT" in his post but in fact neurodiverse. Because it's NTs who seem to be more laid back in life and don't have as much flight-or-fight anxiety.

My husband reads a lot of those Bear Grylls and Les Stroud type things. He has some book where you can pick up on your own sense of fear in certain situations and use that to be more observational. Some of what he was pointing out as things he had trouble with were things that I thought were natural. Like ways that people speak that clue you in that they are a predator, for example. As a female who has spent a lot of time in bars with other females (not recently), usually as the sober one, I have witnessed a lot of this predatory language directed toward them. It was scary that usually no one tried with me because they saw that I was sober.

But anyway, my point is that these survival things can be really good to teach yourself ways to sort out the intentions and actions of neurotypicals. What are they doing? Which one can be trusted? Lots of helpful tips.