Does Anyone Else Always Say Sorry or Is It Just Me?

For years I have had this habit whenever I feel like I have done something wrong that I just say sorry no matter what it is. I have CPTSD as I have dealt with trauma since my childhood, my father was physically abusive to my mother and my brother is physically and mentally handicapped because of it, my father blames me to this day for my brother, when I was 5 I was SAed by my 13 year old neighbor and he told my grandmother that it was my idea and she whipped me for it severely and my first relationship I was domestically abused, r*ped and blamed for it. All my life my mother used my diagnosis against me to invalidate my feelings whenever I was upset and constantly pushed me into sensory overloads and would always tell me that I don’t understand social “norms” and that I needed to accept things that were hurting me. I put all this out here because I know that a lot of this plays a role in why I constantly apologize for things but I have wondered if other Autistics who haven’t been through what I have have a habitual habit of apologizing for things or is it just me?

  • I apologise for everything too. Not sure if it is an autistic thing or because I just feel constantly like I am not good enough and to blame for everything. I'm very insecure and feel like I get things wrong all the time, I'm very self-conscious and I worry about offending people or saying the wrong thing. All of these factors make me obsessively apologise... 

  • I'm sorry you were abused. I went through abuse as well and I'm sure it's one of the reasons why I feel I need to apologise all the time.

  • I'm terrible with this. I've had people look at me strangely and ask me why I'm apologising when things have happened and it clearly wasn't my fault! Somewhere along the journey of childhood I was conditioned to just say sorry for absolutely everything! I think it stems from the bullying and abuse from my childhood, but I'm not sure exactly.

    The best part is when someone picks up on the fact that you apologise too much and they get mad at you for apologising, you say sorry again and so you get stuck in an apology paradox.

    Lol, vicious cycle.

  • I instinctively say sorry.

    I was abused, as a boy, but I'm sure that so many in this world endured s**tty childhoods. Demons were unleashed, and attack the chosen ones.

  • Sorry to hear that enflores 

    That is a big thing to have to deal with. As I Sperg said I used to a lot but force myself not to now (unless it’s deserving of an apology). I do think Nt’s see it as a weakness and I’m sure some would come to expect you to back down over everything going forward 

    I’m lucky to have good parents and can’t imagine how tough it must be for you and I’m very sorry that you had to go through that. 
    I hope you have found some peace now and that you manage your life in the best way possible. 

    Take care

  • Who decided that people with Autism feel things more intensly?

    There is a faiily widespread agreement for this amongst therapists but it is more nuanced than this - it is more considered that many autists struggle to connect to their emotions (Alexithymia) but the emotions which the are able to connect with more easily (fear and anger being the primary ones) are heightened, and the poor emtional regulation that normally accompanies alexithymia results in more extreme exhibitions of the related behaviors.

    Not all autists exhibit alexithymia but from what I have read on this discussion forum over the last few years, it is remarkably common.

  • I used to, but then I realised that the NT's just see apologising as weakness... 

  • Is our trauma really worse? I don't say this to belittle what anyone has gone through, but as a former counsellor I find things like this a difficult idea.

    Who decided that people with Autism feel things more intensly?

    Do people with Autism experience their emotions more fully?

    Are many NT's emotionally blunted?

    Those are the first questions that spring to mind, people experience some horrible stuff, the stuff of nightmares, stuff that makes you question what being human means. People recover from stuff like this, you can't make it like it's never happened, but you can help someone come to a place where they accept it and can say, 'this happened in the past, but I don't live there anymore'. Some people are emotionally blunted, some seem to have alwways been this way, but I often wonder if this isn't a mask and inside they're really screaming? If they've always been this way then whats going on in their brains?

    As well as Autism I have PTSD and have had for most of my life, due to various ongong childhood trauma's, but the more I've explored it and spoken to some other PTSD survivors th more I've come to think that its the people who see a massive emotional response to trauma as a bad thing who are actually wrong. I also wonder if at some point in our evolution we weren't all more tuned in to our surroundings, that all the things that we see out of the corners of our eyes, the senses that extend beyond that that many seem to experience is/was normal? I wonder how well our species would have survived if we weren't all this aware? What's wrong with being fully aware and why is it discouraged, what are people afraid they'll find?

  • Atm, no, I don’t have a therapist. But it’s good to know that I am not the only one who feels like I do and has gone through abuse like what my mother did. Yeah my self esteem is very low.

  • I’m so sorry for what you went through and I can relate to a lot from what you described. Shame and guilt is my daily basis, I was abused since childhood and I was always wrong either not good enough or too much sensitive, I was told that my brain is not functioning properly, that I’m socially disabled (which is actually true, but in that case it was in a malicious way to hurt me). This is how many of us grow up with low self esteem and feel guilty and often apologize. In my case I often ask my husband if he is angry at me, even for things that have nothing to do with my actions or decisions. I’m gonna talk to a therapist about it, soon I have my appointment. Do you have any therapy? 

  • The worst part is the Autism making the trauma 10 times worse. I‘ve worked through a lot of my childhood trauma but my mother was the worst of it all and anytime I get traumatized and then it’s just neurotypicals with their lack of communication like I am some mind reader who can’t tell if I’ve upset them or not because they just don’t say and I automatically assume that I have said something wrong and upset them and apologize because I am so use to that being the case it’s really all I know.

  • When you're constantly told you're wrong then what else would you do but appologise?

    I think part of it is the trauma you've suffered, part of it is being British, we appologise for everything, I've walked into a lamp post and appologised to it, I also thank ATM's for giving me my money.

    I think you should see a therapist if you're not already doing so, these things are like a splinter thats worked its way under your skin and turned into a boil, you need to lance the boil and let all the bad stuff and extract the splinter, in order to heal. There may be a lot of splinters too.

  • I used to get told off saying sorry and challenged me not to say it. Both of us found it hard. A habit.