Some advice please. Not sure where to start as I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed myself. My 23 year old ASD son is struggling with anxiety and other mental health issues. He has done for several years and has been in much more difficult places than he is now. He is not working but is volunteering for a local IT charity. He is getting support to help him find paid work (he is a graduate with a good degree) and has been having counselling with an NHS psychologist. This seems to have been helping him to the point that he has got back in touch with friends (albeit on line) for the first time in a year. Just recently he literally woke up one morning and his anxiety was back. His on line socialising seems to tire out his social tolerance so that he has no energy for anything else. Add in to that mix is a spouse who doesn't 'get'' the fact that our son can go from being able to help with stuff outside and communicate with us to not being able to even though he is socialising on line. he feels that our son should "get a grip and get on with it, and stop hiding from the world" which gets our son angry and is counterproductive.
Our son feels he is having pressure put on him to engage with the neurotypical world and get on with life even though he finds that a bit scary. i'm left trying to explain to my spouse how our son feels and what is going on because he doesn't 'get' it and also being sympathetic to my son and letting him know that I support him. Add into that an unwillingness of our son to discuss how he feels and makes it clear he doesn't want to be disturbed when he is on line ( for many hours at a time). In a way he is hiding from the world, is ambivalent about finding paid work and has a very comfy life living at home.
I guess - help!!!! Howe do other cope. What can I do to help my son? Is it unreasonable to try and help him move forward with his life - he doesn't seem to want to yet he is very capable intellectually. Struggling to see a way forward.
