Published on 12, July, 2020
Looking for some support/insight. My partner is autistic (recently diagnosed) and has become obsessed with the Coronavirus debate. He consumes every item of media he can - Radio 4 on the alarm clock, 24 hr news in the background (both currently working from home), listening to podcasts whilst cooking/doing chores, news are on when we’re having dinner. I might be able to wrangle one hour’s worth of a TV programme out of him. He is extremely anxious about food shopping and is self- medicating quite heavily at the moment. I suffer from OCD and my compulsive behaviour and rumination have worsened over the last few weeks. i know that this has now become a special interest and I can’t expect him to just ‘snap out of it’ but is there anything that helps others distract themselves? I have compiled a monthly plan of activities and weekly plan but he does not want to engage with that. I feel utterly drained by it all - we talk about nothing else - and my mental health is worsening to the point where I am now shutting down. many thanks in advance and stay well everyone x
Hi
I suspect what your experiencing is the classic need for us to make sense and order out of something that is chaotic. He's gathering as much data as he can to build a mental picture of 'the truth' but in these times of uncertainty, 'the truth' is very difficult to pin down and the information is conflicting and changing all the time. This will be overloading his ability to cope with it so it's literally blowing his mind. He's trying to work out what he should be doing but the way forward is not clear. The provisioning is normal for us - we like belt, braces and a piece of string solutions that give us peace of mind so the current craziness in the shops is messing up his stability.
I would suggest going through your current status with him - count up you toilet rolls and pasta, look at your food stocks and create a shopping list together of things to get you through the next couple of weeks - your input on this will give him confidence that you're both on the same page and you understand what he's concerned about - and you have an agreed plan to go forwards.
I think that once you go through all this with him, you'll be able to redirect his interests.
Again I agree with plastic! As I seem to be doing on all threads I read lately lol.
When you run through stocks of foodcetc with him you may ease his mind. Maybe add a meal planner using the items you have available. It may add a little more structure
No worries I'm glad it helped. I'msearching media for ways to get over the corona quicker as still hard to breath. Obviously no data on this as yet! Meltdowns and flapping more atm which doesnt help the breathing issue. Everyones just starting lockdown and I've been in isolation 2 weeksish plus was super ill so its lonely tbh. I'm angry right now my fuse and energy are low!
I hope your situation improves, knowing that I may have helped you guys just a little helps me feel a bit better today.
One more thing, if you live in a rural area a nice walk away from people could help.
Take care
Thank you both of you for your extensive replies. Funnily enough we did a ‘big shop’ together today. Some close calls when people weren’t distancing as much as they should have, but overall avoided a meltdown. He is very upbeat now and has said exactly the same - he feels very relieved now and is much happier, which is all I wanted. Still having to work on the exposure to media but it’s baby steps I guess. Thank you again and hope you are keeping well x