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Can't See The Forest For The Trees (Bottom-Up Thinking)

Pikl

So I've been diving back into researching (one of my special interests) and have gone back to the topic of autism. No real surprise that might be a topic of interest. 

This time I'm exploring specifics, rather than generalised adult related information. 

I've been looking for explanations and information regarding why my head is so noisy, and why I think the way that I do. My recent information gathering informed the title of this thread.

I was wondering who else has thrown themselves into research to help explain their experiences. Has it helped? And have you found gems of information that made greater sense of things for you?

Grinning

Parents

  • When I was trying to get diagnosed, I read quite a few first-person accounts to compare with my own experiences, to try to convince myself, and the psychiatrist, that I was on the spectrum. I didn't really read anything scientific though and still have not. To be honest, it scares me a little, as my limited exposure is that those papers relate experiences that I so different to my own that I fall down the "I'm not really autistic, I'm just rubbish at life" rabbit hole. Difficulty comparing myself with others (autistic and allistic) doesn't help. I suppose I intuitively think my head is "noisy" (to use your example), but then I think that I have no way of knowing what's going on in other people's heads (autistic or allistic) for comparison, so what is the basis for that assertion?

  • in reply to Luftmentsch

    I had assumed that everyone was like me, just a lot better at it. Some articles I read hinted at internal noise and so I started asking people I knew if they experienced the same, and they didn't. So I started actively looking for more information. 

    I've read things about sensory difficulties, and thought well that doesn't relate to me. Then I found it explained in a different way, and I could relate that to me. 

    I'm just starting to believe my diagnosis, after almost 2 years. Finding traits explained in a different way has helped, and finding explanations for things that I thought were because something was very wrong with me has helped.

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  • in reply to Luftmentsch

    I had assumed that everyone was like me, just a lot better at it. Some articles I read hinted at internal noise and so I started asking people I knew if they experienced the same, and they didn't. So I started actively looking for more information. 

    I've read things about sensory difficulties, and thought well that doesn't relate to me. Then I found it explained in a different way, and I could relate that to me. 

    I'm just starting to believe my diagnosis, after almost 2 years. Finding traits explained in a different way has helped, and finding explanations for things that I thought were because something was very wrong with me has helped.

Children
  • in reply to Luftmentsch

    I have difficulty with understanding that also. How can you know how someone else feels to then compare it. There are times when my emotions are so jumbled that I have no idea what I'm feeling, or sometimes why I'm feeling certain emotions at a given time.

    I love researching, or collecting information. And I have a need to try to make sense of myself. It's hard to take generic autistic traits and apply them to your own experiences. Every now and again I stumble upon something that is described in a way that makes sense to me.

  • in reply to Pikl

    It's possible that seeing things explained differently would resonate with me more. I still feel somewhat suspicious of the subjective criteria some autistic people use for comparing themselves to allistics e.g. I've seen a couple of people say that they "feel things more intensively" than others which I struggle to conceptualise let alone prove.