How common is avoidance amongst aspies/autistics?

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i_wanna_blue
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21 Dec 2010, 8:34 am

A character trait of mine, for as long as I can remember, has been avoidance of people and social situations. Sometimes I'm not even sure why I feel this need to isolate myself from people, it's just so in grown in me that it's just a natural trigger reaction of mine. Anyone else find the same in yourself?

I'm wondering if it's more than just anxiety and social phobia. Do autistic's have a tendency to run away (for lack of a better term) from social situations and people in general? Your responses will be appreciated...



Mindslave
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21 Dec 2010, 10:00 am

I do it. Santa Claus certainly does it. I'm just a lot happier when I'm hanging out by myself. Nobody to act normal for, nobody to impress, nobody to engage in pointless conversation.



kfisherx
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21 Dec 2010, 10:18 am

I am guilty of avoiding people...... as much as I can get away with it anyway..



seriousfoolishness
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21 Dec 2010, 10:57 am

I get nervous in a room with more than 3 people. If I have to attend a family gathering or other social function with a dozen or more people, I get in a sour mood days in advance and shut down and endure it when I have to. I don't talk to anyone and engage as little as possible.

I've always been alone in a crowd.



Moog
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21 Dec 2010, 10:59 am

I'm pretty avoidant.


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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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21 Dec 2010, 11:03 am

One social skill I've added is giving a person space. A person needs space, I can go ahead and give him or her space, without that intervening step of asking if the person 'should' need space.

And presumably, the same applies to myself, when I need space myself.

Another skill I'm working on is light-touching social events and social interactions and ping-ponging back and forth. A person invests slightly, I can invest slightly. He or she invests a medium amount, I can invest a medium. And not as an obligation, merely as a possibility. And a remedy to me downloading this tremendous amount of information as a conversation 'starter'! (Wow, yeah, I really used to do that. kind of like I was auditioning and I had to do something extra to be accepted. I should be accepted merely because I'm a human being. And if the other person doesn't, he or she has a problem. Or is preoccupied or whatever. He or she needs space, I can give space, but that is not a conversation)



Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 21 Dec 2010, 11:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

Kaybee
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21 Dec 2010, 11:09 am

I do this.


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wavefreak58
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21 Dec 2010, 11:35 am

I avoid social functions. But no longer out of any particular anxiety they create. I don't care enough anymore about what people think of me to get too anxious. I do get agitated because of the noise and such. But that's a sensory thing.


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Verdandi
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21 Dec 2010, 12:30 pm

I don't mind some social situations, as long as I'm not expected to interact with a lot of people (especially not a lot of people at once), but sometimes I find it very difficult to follow through on going to social occasions.

Since I avoid people who are in the same house as I am most of the time, I think yes, I do.



Philologos
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21 Dec 2010, 12:49 pm

My limit is about 6 known and good people. Even then I will hide in a corner.

Too much to process, too few rewards.



ecoronin
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21 Dec 2010, 12:49 pm

I always need to have my alone time. I can stay in small social groups for a short amount of time like a few hours. When Im in HUGE gatherings I completely shutdown... I useraly have a camera with me so I focus on that. It helps me cope with it.



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21 Dec 2010, 2:00 pm

I did this a lot as a kid when we go to peoples houses to visit or for parties. I preferred to play alone. I was never interested in joining other kids. I rarely hung out with other kids and I can remember watching kids playing Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo at one of my dad's friend's houses and Battletoads/Double Dragon. I think that is the only thing I did with other kids.

I can be around people but I do my own thing. I ignore people around me but of course I don't ignore them if they talk to me. Then I feel so bad when I don't want to talk to anyone but I am forced to respond or else I am being rude. I don't tell them to leave me alone. But luckily they don't keep trying to talk to me, sometimes I wonder if they pick up on it or they are just decided to talk to other people.


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MidlifeAspie
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21 Dec 2010, 2:20 pm

I'm pretty sure that avoidance, regardless of the reason or motivation, comes with the territory.



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21 Dec 2010, 2:25 pm

I avoid social gatherings myself, I think maybe because they don't interest me. I can act NT and socialize but I would rather not, because I usually have how I want to spend my time planned out for the day and heavy socialization isn't on my agenda. If it's brief, I have no problems with it like saying hello and a few words about this or that to my neighbors and the people who work at the stores/shops I visit frequently.


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Your Aspie score: 167 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 35 of 200
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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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21 Dec 2010, 2:27 pm

ecoronin wrote:
. . . I useraly have a camera with me so I focus on that. It helps me cope with it.
Oh, I kind of do that with my writing and my notetaking (at political events it fits in very well). And I guess some people do this with their Google Androids or whatever the latest and greatest are!



Simonono
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21 Dec 2010, 2:27 pm

I avoid social situations as much as possible, and retreat to the solitude of my fortress to slumber and feed