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Anxiety

Dana

Hi. I am looking for any alternatives to get rid of anxiety and negative thoughts that constantly occur about any situation. The actions that followed make me doubting family and friends, and I ask them if something is wrong. They always assure me that nothing is wrong. They explain to me that they are busy. It made me realise that it was only in my head.

Any advice on how to get rid of negative thoughts? It would be helpful. Thank you! Blush

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  • Dana said:
    It made me realise that it was only in my head.

    Why not create a checklist for yourself to use when you find yourself getting into the situaiton. This is a simplified version of mindfulness and should help you override the doubting.

    Have a checklist that is relevant to the different sort of situations that you fixate on, for example if you have not heard from a family member for a while and you think you should have:

    1 - Are they away, busy on a project, got company staying or are otherwise unavailable?

    2 - Did they say they were going to get in touch by now or am I just assuming this.

    3 - If I'm assuming they should be in touch, how long was it the last few times for them to get in touch (ie establish a trend).

    4 - Is there any reason for getting in touch or is is just social. If social then it really isn't that important to wait.

    5 - Is it my turn to get in touch with them instead?

    etc

    Work through all the reasonable, rational reasons they may not be in touch and if any of these apply then it is OK - it isn't a problem so move onto something else.

    By laying it out in black and white this way it lets your rational brain kick your irrational brain and hopefully shuts it up.

    If you find you cannot do this (not everyone is rational enough to use mindfulness) then I would suggest reading the following book:

    An Aspie's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety - Attwood, Tony, Evans, Craig R., Lesko, Anita (2015)
    eISBN 9781784501198

    There are a lot more tips in this.

    Lastly I would suggest getting a therapist (with autism experience) to work through the issues with - they should be trained to do this. They are not cheap but probably the most effective way.

Reply
  • Dana said:
    It made me realise that it was only in my head.

    Why not create a checklist for yourself to use when you find yourself getting into the situaiton. This is a simplified version of mindfulness and should help you override the doubting.

    Have a checklist that is relevant to the different sort of situations that you fixate on, for example if you have not heard from a family member for a while and you think you should have:

    1 - Are they away, busy on a project, got company staying or are otherwise unavailable?

    2 - Did they say they were going to get in touch by now or am I just assuming this.

    3 - If I'm assuming they should be in touch, how long was it the last few times for them to get in touch (ie establish a trend).

    4 - Is there any reason for getting in touch or is is just social. If social then it really isn't that important to wait.

    5 - Is it my turn to get in touch with them instead?

    etc

    Work through all the reasonable, rational reasons they may not be in touch and if any of these apply then it is OK - it isn't a problem so move onto something else.

    By laying it out in black and white this way it lets your rational brain kick your irrational brain and hopefully shuts it up.

    If you find you cannot do this (not everyone is rational enough to use mindfulness) then I would suggest reading the following book:

    An Aspie's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety - Attwood, Tony, Evans, Craig R., Lesko, Anita (2015)
    eISBN 9781784501198

    There are a lot more tips in this.

    Lastly I would suggest getting a therapist (with autism experience) to work through the issues with - they should be trained to do this. They are not cheap but probably the most effective way.

Children
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