Am I sliding into mental illness?

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OCD obsessional thinking no motivation to do anything.

I was off work this week and I got drunk four times and alcohol changes me in a negative way like it never use to.

I have a feeling my subconscious wants me to self destruct.

Last edited by sharkattack on 18 May 2014, 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You might be in a depression and not realize it. Sometimes when I get depressed I have a kind of self destruct mode.

What type of alcohol were you drinking? Many are high in salicylate acids, some very high. I've read that 70% of people on the spectrum are sensitive to salicylate acids - myself included, but almost not at all now compared to a couple years ago.

Simple cheap fix to test it out: Soak in a tub of hot water and epsom salts, especially the bottoms of your feet. Use an epsom salt lotion on your skin if you can as then it absorbs continuously throughout the day vs. only when you're soaking. The magnesium & sulphur are required to detox the acids so you can urinate them out. On that note, also drink plenty of water.

If it is an acid buildup, it's possible to notice a significant improvement in a matter of a few days or so by stopping eating/drinking anything with them in it & detoxing them via topical epsom salts and drinking plenty of water.

I think you are in a lot of emotional pain, Shark Attack, and you are trying to self-medicate with alcohol. Believe me, it might make you feel better in the short term, but it leads to a very dark place. I speak from experience on that. I am glad that you are reaching out here, because it's important that you don't stay isolated. You are in quite a dark phase, I think, but there is a way through, and you will find it by reaching out. Take care, SharkAttack. You will come through this.

I have to agree that self medicating with alcohol really isn't helpful....and I certainly should not drink at all when I am upset about something so avoiding that now but I do like beer so entirely avoiding alcohol isn't exactly my intention just not abusing it is my goal. But it certainly can be a sign of mental illness because what are you self medicating? Maybe it would be a good idea to look into some sort of treatment to help, I've been in therapy for years and I wish I could say its been working but honestly I don't feel I've gotten much out of it...but it is helpful for some. Currently I am trying to find if there are any sorts of groups for people with autism or any of the other disorders I have and perhaps group therapy, but not sure what I'll find or if it will be helpful.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 18 May 2014, 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You should talk with your therapist about your concerns.

At least you're going back to work.

Read a good novel. Take a walk in a park.

Please stop drinking. That could cause you MAJOR problems in the future.

Drinking is my enemy.

Possibly, just possibly, you are your own worst enemy at the moment... the question is what has happened in your life for this to be happening now.

There is an old saying in the therapeutic community:

Alcohol (and drugs) suppresses pain, smoking suppresses anger, and coffee keeps the whole suppression process going. There is some truth in that. The substances we use are not the cause of the problem, but the effect - the path we take to evade dealing with issues that feel too hard or too painful to deal with. But (another old saying) "the only way out is through".

I fully understand how easy and tempting it is to deal with problems by taking the path of least resistance - ie burying them under substance abuse. However the path of least resistance tends to be the most costly in the long run.

Get help. You can come through this and out of it, stronger than ever. Take care.

Force yourself to do things even if you don't enjoy them. Even if it's just going for a walk - it'll help distract you from your obsessions.


Time to talk to your doctor. If you're missing work because of alcohol, you have a problem. Alcohol is a terrible self medication. It makes everything much worse.


Maybe consciously too. Best to get help.

...
I seriously doubt you're sliding into mental illness, it doesn't really work like that.

It IS highly important for all humans including those with ASD to have intellectual validation for their thoughts, opinions, decisions and etc.
Being alone for long periods can make a person (even ASD) go quite nutty.

Being around people who think significantly different than you can do the same.
Though the time-line may be faster if they're very different and very vocal about it.
Or much slower (and more subtle to notice) if they're quiet about it or if the significant differences are less dramatic.


Others are mirrors for ourselves, if they are too different we'll start to feel weird about ourselves.
Kind of like exercising fanatically for months or years, but looking at ourselves in a Fun-House mirror and thinking, "Why am I still so fat!?"


(except that the fun-house mirror keeps assuring us that IT -is a normal and well adjusted mirror)



Maybe... it's just a thought... been there several times myself though and it's seriously harmful.

I've wondered along similar lines. Very aptly put.

Yep....you have to keep yourself firmly grounded in Reality. You're going to be okay. Fully use your support system, including your buddies on Wrong Planet.

By the way I did not miss work because of drink I had a week of work and used drink to fill the time.

Have to go to bed now back to the grind in 7 hours.

l

Oh that's different then. Never mind. But still I think getting out may help. I used to struggle a lot with OCD - it's important to distract your thoughts from the compulsions and try to ignore them.

Where I come from the statement above is suicide talk... and when people talk about suicide they aren't kidding. Time to get some real help. Call a hotline.

I don't know about anyone else but when I feel suicidal, I have no desire to talk to some person I've never even heard of on the phone...so they can try to talk me down if it was that bad I'd just call 911 rather than bothering with that especially since they could say the wrong thing or I could take something they say wrong and if I am by myself that just wouldn't be good. Also though it is possible to feel self destructive without being actively suicidal...I have experienced both.