Was this an intrusive thought or a very short delusion?

[silivrentoliel]

Originally Posted by rockydaydreamer

I've heard some high functioning autistic people say that sometimes they enter into their own little world (through stimming, if I recall correctly). This "other world" is described as being an alternate reality in which they view it in third person (or merely as spectators) and replay social situations (or something like that). However, they never mentioned taking meds. You can hear autistic people talk about this stuff on youtube.

Wait... that's not normal? I say that in all seriousness... I do that quite a bit but snap out of it when my immediate environment changes (traffic lights change color, someone says my name, someone touches me, etc) I always thought it was daydreaming....

[Geno]

Originally Posted by silivrentoliel

Wait... that's not normal? I say that in all seriousness... I do that quite a bit but snap out of it when my immediate environment changes (traffic lights change color, someone says my name, someone touches me, etc) I always thought it was daydreaming....

Yeah, what's the difference between the thing he was talking about and just plain old day dreaming?

[Zevispaz]

One of my friends is autistic, and she would be able to self induce comas where she would be in a strange world where things were turned inside out. She thought it was fun, but the doctor told her she couldn't keep doing it or one day she wouldn't be able to wake up from it.

One time she slept away her summer vacation, that was a bummer.

I don't think that's quite what Rocky was refering to, but that's what she did when she was stressed and wanted to escape.

[fracturedstory]

A shutdown is not self induced no matter what autistic people will tell you. It's a coping strategy against stressful situations.
What is happening is the brain is reacting to stress by changing the source of that stress, i.e the environment by making the person imagine something to distract them from it. The more severe type of this is derealisation and is less about a willed imagination and more hallucinations. But shh, I really do live in a futuristic Sydney with rocket cars and the odd T-rex does go rampaging down the streets lifting up cars in its teeth as it passes.
I would never in a million years tell this to my doctor. Again.

What I think is happening is your friend isn't fighting against the shutdown but allowing it to happen, so they think they can will themselves to go into a coma. It's actually the most severe form of a shutdown and it can cause cognitive damage. However minor. Stress itself can cause damage too. It's a two-edged sword...I think. Your friend must be under a lot of stress to just blink out like that. Stress causes seizures in me, losing speech and temporary paralysis, but very rarely have I passed out. Except for this one time when my sister was visiting from the USA and I pushed myself to hang out more, stay up late, and I collapse on the dinner table.

The difference about us going into a fantasy world is that it's the preferred reality. We don't just visit but live there. We have such poor communication and connectiveness to other people that we have to escape and go to a world where things make sense.

Autistic people process the world differently, all senses at once so we must focus on one thing at a time, even if it's in our own heads. We don't pick up on certain information about the world like other people so we try to come up with a way to understand it. We focus more on details so these fantasy worlds are rich environments.

My world is an alternate reality NSW with a few hops to space, some other planets that I won't tell the names of in case someone steals them before my book is released. These fantasies are probably the only reason why I'm a writer and attempting to write a sci-fi trilogy.

From what I see people with ADHD zone out, people with autism escape. The more severe you get the more constant this 'living in their own world' gets.

Oh, and I will add that in my world past experiences do turn out better. It's good to plan how situations will turn out too. By thinking both positive and negative outcomes. If I focus too much on the negative though it wills care me out of actually putting myself into that situation.

People with autism have extremely intense emotions and stress can do all kind of things to us. Being almost mugged has me in fear of other people, fear of walking down deserted streets. I won't even go back to the city. I once I thought I saw someone leaving the cafe carrying a gun - in Australia - they are illegal here. I have hallucinations and intrusive thoughts , really gruesome ones. That is probably by only OCPD symptom. I can get so stressed out I will lose the ability to feel emotionally and sometimes through touch. Or I'll regress into that of a six year old.
I have a lot of anxiety about some things people never think about and it's probably the most irrational stuff ever.

I don't stim when I go into my own world. I stim when I'm still in this world, where such actions are required to restore some functionality.

[yellowflowers]

Just want to say I hear how much this scared you, I've feel in the past at times that I'be danced the edge of reality, my random thoughts can be Off the wall, sounds like it felt diff tO other intrusive thoughts you've had? Was it the content of the thought or the kind of biger context, like the nature of it... If you get me. My mind pretty unruly place, and pit like what others said, associations fly through my mind rapidly. If in good form it makes me find thinks hilarious(unfortunately others don't see what so funny), but if I down and stressed they stick in my head, can get upsetting/disturbing. Are you stressed at the moment? Or sleep deprived?

Ive been really scared that I'm stepping over the egde before, and it's been times where I really really stressed, very scary experience for me back as undergrad where maybe a bit like u another reality superimposed on top of the real one, would not wish it ony worst enemy. It happened again and again Thourough, probably only lasted v.short but I was like 'this is it' 'I'm loosing my mond'. It also came with horrible physical sensations, pins and needles, then my whole face and arms numb, I learned to see the signs of it coming and seemed to b able to manage it a bit better, so the images would flash but I'd be able to hold on to were I was. I don't know what this was, I was under crazy stress trying to force myself to sit still in lectures and sit for hours writing assignments.

Sometimes I think it's dimensional, as in their isn't a 'line' and under enough stress any of us could skip over 'tI the Other side'. Sometimes I think these were flashbacks, because of the intense fear during it, but the images didn't make much sense, as in if it was a situation I was in I can't remember it.

I think it's worth sharing this stuff with your doc, even if just to reduce some of the fear about it. Sorry I just thinking this probably wasn't helpful, I guess just wondering what was the 'nature' of it rather than the actual content?

Meds could also play a part, just wanted to say Inknow the fear xxx