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Dealing with Anxiety

lallerskates

Hi everyone, first post here so hope it's OK to post this here!

I am the NT partner of a person who is currently going through assessment, and we highly suspect has ASD, likely falling around the Aspie side of the spectrum. 

She is currently experiencing a lot of issues with anxiety as there are a lot of changes going on her life currently - she will be starting a new job, moving house soon, and obviously going through the assessment process is a big thing in itself!

We have explored several ways of trying to help her when she does get anxious, including things like mindfulness, journalling, etc. However we have found that these really don't work, I suspect because mindfulness is quite an imaginative approach to things rather than literal, and because journalling is quite hard who you don't really understand your own feelings sometimes. 

What strategies do you use when you are feeling anxious about something? This could be something as simple as replying to somebody's email, all the way up to feeling anxious about the diagnosis itself.

Thanks in advance for your help. 

  • For me most of my anxiety tends to centre around uncertainty, so anything that can be done to either make things more certain (ie. knowing lots of detail about the new job or new house etc.) or making concrete plans to deal with uncertain things is probably what helps me the most. If you Google "Worry Tree" that's something that I find helpful (I'm new here, so not sure what they're like about us sharing links, but there's a good one on getselfhelp.co.uk)

    Also good on you for coming on here to ask about this on behalf of your partner, I think that's a really great and supportive thing to do and she's lucky to have someone who would do that for her. I hope all goes well with the new job, house, and assessment process.

  • lallerskates said:
    experiencing a lot of issues with anxiety

    Hi, I have been recently diagnosed Aspie and my wife has dyslexia. I have had CBT therapy for anxiety and some counselling. Though there are many methods you can use to try and calm your nerves nothing for me has been better than meeting up with like minded people who have shared experience. I went to a Dyslexia support group (neurodiverse group with my dyslexic wife) where there were around 20+ people and partners who have or support someone with these conditions. It was amazing being around people who had the same struggles, issues, skills and disabilities as your own. No need to keep on explaining to others how you felt because we have been through most things already. No need to worry about making mistakes, people making you feel useless or stupid. Just  sharing ways to overcome issues and giving real usable support. I am also looking for Autistic meet-ups and various online sites that give great advice and support without making you feel like an alien. Hope all goes well...