Wanting to have conversations but avoiding it?

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FearOfMusic
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06 Jun 2011, 10:54 pm

Not sure really how to explain this but... I feel like I often think about conversations I want to have with people, what to say, what they might say, etc. But then when I actually have the opportunity to have a conversation I just can't seem to do it. I just feel like there is an invisible wall or something and
I just can't get the words out, even though I know what I want to say. It mainly is just a problem with personal topics, I really don't have trouble with this when it comes to more 'fact based' conversations (e.g. weather, cars, etc). There just seems to be so many things I would like to say that I just never do. :? Who else experiences this and how do you get past it?

I would really like to talk to my parents more about Asperger's/Autism but I just kind of feel stuck. I had talked to a psychologist a few times and also had my parents go with me last time so I guess they are somewhat aware and I know that my mom suspects I have Asperger's. I just can't seem to bring it up on my own for whatever reason. I have the same problem talking with the psychologist, I just sort of answer his questions and have trouble elaborating.

It kind of seems silly that I am able to describe this here but not elsewhere... then again it has taken me a while to even actually sign up here and then actually say something significant. Frustrated, confused... advice?



MooCow
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07 Jun 2011, 1:18 am

who are you, and what are you doing in my head? :D

but seriously, I have to same problem and I don't know what to tell you. I often imagine conversations with people, but when I get a chance to have said conversation I can't make the words come out. or I will start talking, but then cut the conversation short. it's not that I want to stop talking, I just can't make the words come out. it's frustrating to have more that I want to add and not be able to say it. and those times that I do manage to start again the person(s) I was talking to have moved on.

It's gotten so bad that I don't talk much anymore, I can't seem to get the words out in an intelligible manner, and even if I do it's not like anyone pays any attention to what I said.


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MollyTroubletail
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07 Jun 2011, 1:25 am

Conversation is a social skill that does get better with practice. Maybe you are better with writing to people than vocalizing to them. Maybe you'd do better sending them e-mails than speaking to them face to face. But yeah.....you need practice in a supportive environment. I used to not be able to even ask someone the time. With practice I can now have almost normal conversations.



Jory
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07 Jun 2011, 1:48 pm

Yep. You're basically describing me, and I'm guessing a lot of people here. I'm much better at communicating through writing. You'd never know what an utter train wreck I am in conversations based on the messages I post here. Even when I think about what I want to say before I say it, I have trouble getting it out. Since I've had such little success with this problem, there isn't much advice I can give, but there's one thing I can say: don't rehearse what you're going to say in a conversation before it happens, because it never goes the way you're picturing it going in your head. The trick to being good in conversations, as far as I can tell, is coming up with things to say on the spot.



SammichEater
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07 Jun 2011, 3:32 pm

Yea. I'll have everything planned out and be eager to talk about X, Y, and Z, and then just before I start to say something it's like why even bother with it.


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jmnixon95
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07 Jun 2011, 3:33 pm

SammichEater wrote:
Yea. I'll have everything planned out and be eager to talk about X, Y, and Z, and then just before I start to say something it's like why even bother with it.


Exactly.
I get really anxious for some reason, and just don't do it. But that's about half of the time. Maybe 60%



Dots
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07 Jun 2011, 3:40 pm

I often have full conversations with people in my head. Like, I'll be walking down the street with a friend, and in my head we have a whole conversation but in reality we're silent. And even though I've planned out this whole conversation, I never start it.

I think it's because the other person is not going to reply the way I've scripted them to in my head, so I wonder why bother.


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Jory
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07 Jun 2011, 4:13 pm

Dots wrote:
I often have full conversations with people in my head. Like, I'll be walking down the street with a friend, and in my head we have a whole conversation but in reality we're silent. And even though I've planned out this whole conversation, I never start it.

I think it's because the other person is not going to reply the way I've scripted them to in my head, so I wonder why bother.


Precisely. Another problem I have is that I'll assume the person in real life will know what I said to them in the fantasy conversation.



FearOfMusic
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07 Jun 2011, 9:04 pm

I do the 'fantasy conversation' sometimes, not often though. More so though I just think about conversations and when I have the opportunity to have them it just kind of feels 'right' not to say nothing and 'wrong' to actually start talking. I guess it just takes practice like MollyTroubletail said, but does it actually start feeling 'right' with practice, or do you just kind of learn to get past being stuck?



_Square_Peg_
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07 Jun 2011, 9:07 pm

I often want to discuss my interests with others, but I'm always so worried that they might not be into the subject as much as I am and that I'll just end up prattling on about stuff they don't even care about.



mynameisledzeppelin
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08 Jun 2011, 1:56 am

It's like OP said, I can talk about non-personal things, like the traffic to and from school, pretty easily, but I'll skirt the actual subject of school itself.

Also, like Dots, I'll rehearse conversations in my head, but mine are pretty one-sided as I can't guess what the other person would say, or even sound like.

Needless to say, I don't talk much.