Does anyone else ever feel Anhedonic during or after a shutdown?

[Lilacleia16]

Does anyone else ever feel Anhedonic during or after a shutdown? I had a shutdown because I broke routine due to it being a rainy day and since then I just don’t enjoy anything I usually enjoy like music or movies etc…

 

[Fino]

Yes. for a while.

 

[George Newman]

Yes.

I’ve been trying to regain perspective quicker but this is normally in retrospect and not quickly in the moment.

I’m so centered on myself during these post episode situation's that relating to me is very difficult for those around me.

Have you developed any coping mechanisms that are either proactive or reactive?

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Makes sense. If it was depression, at least in part, that contributed to a shutdown, then it would make sense that coming out of your shutdown, you're still in a depressive state. It's going to take a while to get back to your baseline.

 

[Rodafina]

@Lilacleia16

From what you wrote elsewhere, it sounds like it's very difficult for you to make a plan on the same day that you need the plan. When you were thrown off your routine for one day, the next few days were affected.

You said in your blog:

I can’t seem to plan my day the day of…only in advance and since I didn’t plan today I can’t motivate myself to get out of bed.

Is there any way that you could have a Mixed Up Routine plan? So that would mean that you have a standing plan for what to do the day following one where your routine is messed up. Anytime that your plan for a day is destroyed, you could plan for the next day to be a recovery day and have a plan for what that looks like.

---

I think anhedonia is a key element of many autistic shut downs. It can be difficult to avoid, but the important part is resilience. When we cannot prevent a shutdown and the difficulty they cause, resilience becomes the next most important thing. How will we bounce back?

I wonder if having a Recovery Day Plan (or something like that that works for you), could help get you back on track after a rough day or two.

 

[marc_101]

@Lilacleia16 It could also be backwards. You were not feeling well (sad, depression, burnout, physical/mental, fatigue, etc) and then the rainy day made it worse.

Sometimes we don't understand how we feel, but brains are meaning-making machines so we need to come up with an explanation. Unfortunately, cause and effect explanations on ourselves are never easy, autism or not.

The other part is more difficult to explain: As part of the meaning making process, we could attach a clinical label to the experience -- shutdown, anhedonia, etc. The risk with that is that then the experience feels inevitable. It's the disease/disorder that is causing it. The risk, even if somewhat correct, is that it removes our agency -- our sense that we have some control over the experience.

I hope it makes sense. I can try to clarify.

 

[Richelle-H]

Joy? Happiness? I am not sure I have ever experienced either. After an emotional shutdown I sink into a mental hole where I am unable to do much for varying lengths of time depending on what triggered the meltdown in the first place. Not depression but more of a minor fugue state in which I mentally wade though every memory that impinges or intersects with the recent episode. That slowly helps bring me back to normality (or at least what passes for normal for me). However, when my mind is so engaged, I lose interest in dealing with reality.

What can I say, I am mental in interesting ways, and one who has always regarded one's self as completely normal. Oops!?!?!?

Isn't life just utterly fascinating?

 

[Lilacleia16]

Yes.

I’ve been trying to regain perspective quicker but this is normally in retrospect and not quickly in the moment.

I’m so centered on myself during these post episode situation's that relating to me is very difficult for those around me.

Have you developed any coping mechanisms that are either proactive or reactive?

My therapist said my coping mechanisms are poor. I just sleep.

 

[Lilacleia16]

@Lilacleia16

From what you wrote elsewhere, it sounds like it's very difficult for you to make a plan on the same day that you need the plan. When you were thrown off your routine for one day, the next few days were affected.

You said in your blog:


Is there any way that you could have a Mixed Up Routine plan? So that would mean that you have a standing plan for what to do the day following one where your routine is messed up. Anytime that your plan for a day is destroyed, you could plan for the next day to be a recovery day and have a plan for what that looks like.

---

View attachment 126001

I think anhedonia is a key element of many autistic shut downs. It can be difficult to avoid, but the important part is resilience. When we cannot prevent a shutdown and the difficulty they cause, resilience becomes the next most important thing. How will we bounce back?

I wonder if having a Recovery Day Plan (or something like that that works for you), could help get you back on track after a rough day or two.

A Recovery Day Plan sounds like a great idea!!! Any ideas for what I might do on such a day? I have to have something besides food that can motivate me to get out of bed.

 

[Rodafina]

A Recovery Day Plan sounds like a great idea!!! Any ideas for what I might do on such a day? I have to have something besides food that can motivate me to get out of bed.

I'm not sure what would work for you.
Things scheduled on my Recovery Day would be:

- Walk my dog (he is very motivating to me)
- Stretching (helps me feel activated and less lethargic)
- Do something that brings JOY - watch a funny video, listen to good music, watch the animals in my yard
- FInd a photograph... I like to take pictures and sometimes, I can tell myself, "Get out and take 1 picture you like."
- Focus on drinking water
- Do one task that feels productive - maybe take a shower, tidy my room, organize my belongings.
- Journaling - get my feeling out - your blog would be good for this!