Therapies for people with Aspergers?

from The Imp of the Perverse

I hope you don't mind Easy but I have to disagree with you slightly. I think some form of deliberate slowing down by contemplation or meditation may suit some people, for those suffering real anxiety and also OCD, concentrating on one's breath, which is a form of meditation practice, might be completely unsuitable. I know of one person who has Aspergers, tried mediation, focused on their breath and then found it hard to re-establish normal breathing without feeling anxious. The simple awareness of breathing became a further source of anxiety. This can be amplified even more if one reads about deeper mediatation, where a number of breaths per minute is often casually mentioned as well as a time-limit for meditation practice. An anxious person with OCD could easily become fixated on this and so defeat the purpose completely. I have also read about one other person who lost control of their natural breathing mechanism completely and became totally scared when falling asleep as they were frightened of stopping breathing when unconscious. Meditation is also problematic because some of those who will offer to teach it can have ulterior motives, so on that point I would agree with Easy about keeping this sort of thing private.

Hope...I would suggest you try something milder, a form of contemplation, just sitting, focusing on an object or a thought or a maxim that you like and just try to isolate yourself with the latter. Forget about breathing...just try and maintain a singular focus on SOMETHING to make you aware of how your anxious thoughts crowd in but I would suggest only doing this when you FEEL like it. Don't force it. 

I messed around with meditation for a few years and it had both good and bad points but my OCD was past me at the point, though the anxiety was still there. I think you are right about CBT, you seem too bright for that to be effective and anyway the success rate is not as great as some, in the media anyway, would have us all believe.

I think you mentioned exercise a while ago...does that not have any effect at all? I've become more active recently and it's allowed me to cut down on Diazepam use substantially (and easily, despite the doctors telling me how addictive is it, I find it isn't at all). A last thing, you may sound desperate to be rid of anxiety but I would take some comfort and hope from your obvious can-do attitude to trying to beat it. You're still young, you may find it lessens as you find your way in life a bit more (yes, I'm being deliberately optimistic...). 

from The Imp of the Perverse

I hope you don't mind Easy but I have to disagree with you slightly. I think some form of deliberate slowing down by contemplation or meditation may suit some people, for those suffering real anxiety and also OCD, concentrating on one's breath, which is a form of meditation practice, might be completely unsuitable. I know of one person who has Aspergers, tried mediation, focused on their breath and then found it hard to re-establish normal breathing without feeling anxious. The simple awareness of breathing became a further source of anxiety. This can be amplified even more if one reads about deeper mediatation, where a number of breaths per minute is often casually mentioned as well as a time-limit for meditation practice. An anxious person with OCD could easily become fixated on this and so defeat the purpose completely. I have also read about one other person who lost control of their natural breathing mechanism completely and became totally scared when falling asleep as they were frightened of stopping breathing when unconscious. Meditation is also problematic because some of those who will offer to teach it can have ulterior motives, so on that point I would agree with Easy about keeping this sort of thing private.

Hope...I would suggest you try something milder, a form of contemplation, just sitting, focusing on an object or a thought or a maxim that you like and just try to isolate yourself with the latter. Forget about breathing...just try and maintain a singular focus on SOMETHING to make you aware of how your anxious thoughts crowd in but I would suggest only doing this when you FEEL like it. Don't force it. 

I messed around with meditation for a few years and it had both good and bad points but my OCD was past me at the point, though the anxiety was still there. I think you are right about CBT, you seem too bright for that to be effective and anyway the success rate is not as great as some, in the media anyway, would have us all believe.

I think you mentioned exercise a while ago...does that not have any effect at all? I've become more active recently and it's allowed me to cut down on Diazepam use substantially (and easily, despite the doctors telling me how addictive is it, I find it isn't at all). A last thing, you may sound desperate to be rid of anxiety but I would take some comfort and hope from your obvious can-do attitude to trying to beat it. You're still young, you may find it lessens as you find your way in life a bit more (yes, I'm being deliberately optimistic...).