Gustopherson
New Member
Hello everyone,
My name is Gus. I am 21 years old, and I have been treated for anxiety and depression in the past, and I am still receiving treatment via therapy and medication to this day. Lately I have been questioning whether or not I am on the autism spectrum.
I’ve always had a difficult time communicating with other people, and often people are quick to read me as odd or “quirky”. In most social situations, I just stay very quiet and try to imitate what others are doing. When I am with friends, and I’m comfortable, I feel ok being myself, but every time I am myself, everybody sees me as strange. I don’t understand why people see me as such. I never have.
I’m often the one who doesn’t get emotional during sad or powerful movies. I often find myself over analyzing people’s behaviors to try and decode them and then tailor my responses accordingly. I often feel emotions but forget to express them, or have to force a reaction (except when it is a strong emotion, then it bursts out and takes every one off guard).
I feel like I’m rambling at this point. Generally, I feel like everybody else knows how to react and respond and gets social cues so easily, whereas I am tiptoeing on a tightrope of normalcy and one slip up will let everybody know that I’m a weirdo. Sometimes I feel like an alien just trying to blend in.
I’ve never been diagnosed with autism, nor have I talked about it with my therapist yet, and I really don’t want to jump to conclusions. I would like to talk to some of you folks to get a better understanding of autism and your experiences to see if it’s worth pursuing a diagnosis, or at the very least, bringing it up with my therapist.
Thanks
My name is Gus. I am 21 years old, and I have been treated for anxiety and depression in the past, and I am still receiving treatment via therapy and medication to this day. Lately I have been questioning whether or not I am on the autism spectrum.
I’ve always had a difficult time communicating with other people, and often people are quick to read me as odd or “quirky”. In most social situations, I just stay very quiet and try to imitate what others are doing. When I am with friends, and I’m comfortable, I feel ok being myself, but every time I am myself, everybody sees me as strange. I don’t understand why people see me as such. I never have.
I’m often the one who doesn’t get emotional during sad or powerful movies. I often find myself over analyzing people’s behaviors to try and decode them and then tailor my responses accordingly. I often feel emotions but forget to express them, or have to force a reaction (except when it is a strong emotion, then it bursts out and takes every one off guard).
I feel like I’m rambling at this point. Generally, I feel like everybody else knows how to react and respond and gets social cues so easily, whereas I am tiptoeing on a tightrope of normalcy and one slip up will let everybody know that I’m a weirdo. Sometimes I feel like an alien just trying to blend in.
I’ve never been diagnosed with autism, nor have I talked about it with my therapist yet, and I really don’t want to jump to conclusions. I would like to talk to some of you folks to get a better understanding of autism and your experiences to see if it’s worth pursuing a diagnosis, or at the very least, bringing it up with my therapist.
Thanks
