I used to try and tell my parents (esp. my mother) my thoughts and feelings. Everytime I tried, she would usually just belittle me, laugh at me, or tell me "that's not the right way to think", "you're so unemotional" blah blah. Occasionally she would physically hurt me also. So after awhile, I've stopped telling her things. We certaintly don't have the best relationship. I think i resent her abit. When she talks to other people, she always acts like poor me, I have an autistic daughter and tells them basically what a terrible person I am because of the autism. I do this wrong, I do that wrong. She has to put up with me, etc. I think the reason i don't tell them things anymore is more to do with how they treat me, rather than the autism. I can and do share my thoughts and feelings with my friend. It might take me a little while to explain my feelings and thoughts, but she is pretty patient and understanding. She understands if I shutdown and don't want to talk about the situation for a little while to get my head round it and try to make sense of whatever it is. My parents, on the other hand, think I'm being rude and yell at me. If my parents were more understanding and accepting of my condition, I think our relationship would be very different.