Anxiety overload

You have hit on the key to the problem though, chocolate buttons, we tend to think only negative thoughts. We lack enough positive good thoughts to keep us off the negative.

Whether its the way people react to us in social situation, the way people take advantage of us, the assumptions people make about autism that leads to overly simplistic solutions, the environments we live in that suit NTs but don't suit us, and the people who think we are missing out if we don't get involved in NT life.

You need to start your own personal library of positive thoughts. Everybody needs positives, but people on the spectrum need to work hard at it. I used to try to remember a few good points out of each day before going to sleep (I still do but I've built up a strong positive library now).

You'll probably have to go out of your way to find, develop or acquire these positives, but it is beneficial.

Otherwise it is very easy to build up anxieties with one negative consequence after another, or six different directions of negativity to explore for each level of negativity. Try to think of six positive directions as well, and try to spend just as much time on the six positives each level as you do on the negatives. Eventually you will find it easier to block the negative options with positive ones.

I have suffered from severe anxiety thoughts about death ie how do we die ,what happens to us after we die and will i go to heaven or hell. Dont know why i worry about that as not religeous. sorry am rambling! The point is these negative thoughts that are anxiety provoking doesnt help us in anyway. when you think like that try and think of something else,like a funny film you have seen or go and do something distracting ie watching a dvd or chatting to a friend. This is the best thing to do if like me you have aways had an unhappy life.

your body is just a bunch of limbs and bits & pieces...

the body dies. god lives forever. there's no problem.

So sorry to hear about your anxieties. Being scared is so exhausting and upsetting. But there is a way out. Remember, you won't always feel like this. It will pass. I think reassuring yourself it will pass could be the first step. Just saying the words 'This will pass. I am going to feel better soon,' can help.

Then, as longman says you need to try and break that anxiety spiral with phrases to make you stop dwelling on your fears and replace those negative thoughts with positive ones. You could perhaps ask a friend or support worker to help you with this. You don't have to do this alone. 

I agree that going for a walk, doing something active can really help. A friend of mine hoovers the house.

Remember, you successfully got this under control before, so you have the inner strength to do it again.

Anxiety spirals seem to be one of the hazards of ASD and come and go.

I wonder if the predisposition is down to the need to read between the lines/work out what's going on in conversations, especially if you feel someone has said something harsh. We analyse all the possible interpretations to work out what has really been said.

Having got the propensity from everyday communication coping strategies we then readily analyse every situation. We become very good at following all the possibilities through their outcomes, often well beyond reason. And because negative routes are often more numerous than positive we tend to dwell on the negative.

The way out is either to break the anxiety spiral, or try to acquire positive messages. To break the spiral you need to arm yourself with some positive reassurances on the lines of "I know this is daft", "thse things rarely happen" "don't be daft" or just STOP. Start thinking about lots of good things. Get active - go for a walk, play badminton, dig the garden etc.

Hope this ramble helps. I've spent massive amounts of my lifetime exploring every doom filled outcome of situations, and you just end up unable to think any happy thought at all unless you can arrest the decline.