Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / AUTISM in GIRLS 5 Social Anxiety Traits (YOU need to know)
Transcript
- 0:00In this video whether we're looking at autism in girls and
- 0:02specifically 5 social anxiety trait coming up.
- 0:09Hey I'm Dan, I have Asperger syndrome, ADHD and OCD and
- 0:12dyslexia. I make weekly videos on this
- 0:13type of content. So if you're new around here and
- 0:15want to learn more, consider subscribing.
- 0:17Hey guys I'm Shaw and I have a diagnosis of autism and today
- 0:20I'm going to be sharing some personal experience of my social
- 0:24anxiety traits. Leave us a comment in the
- 0:26comment section below. Let us know if you're on the
- 0:28spectrum or I feel like a person who has a loved one or whether
- 0:31on the spectrum when you're looking at this year to kind of
- 0:33gain some health and experience for them.
- 0:34Hey guys, welcome back to the Astley world.
- 0:36I'm super awesome to actually have a guest here today.
- 0:38This is the first call I've done this year.
- 0:40I've never had another influencer.
- 0:43So Charl is actually quite well known for her MTV show on just
- 0:48the two of us, which I'll leave some links down below and some
- 0:51stuff on the screen here if you want to see that.
- 0:52Also, she's under call Instagram account, but importantly, she's
- 0:55launching a YouTube channel. So I'll be leaving the link for
- 0:57that in the description below that you all have to go down and
- 1:00subscribe and show some love because we mean more females on
- 1:03the spectrum on this platform. So it's super cool.
- 1:05We wanted to do a video for a while and one of the things we
- 1:07wanted to do was talk about autism and girls and different
- 1:09things. We decided to talk about social
- 1:11anxiety since it's such a huge issue or it's a big well talked
- 1:15about topic. But I feel like it's not us talk
- 1:17about for girls, you know, I feel like it's always male
- 1:19dominated. There's always males kind of
- 1:21doing this and the other. So in this video, we're
- 1:22listening actually talking about Charles's perspective of those
- 1:26traits and her personal insight and things like that.
- 1:28Because I think this could be really valuable to all of you
- 1:30guys. So we're going to go through
- 1:31five different things just really set up by the end of it
- 1:34and talk about have a discussion.
- 1:35And if you want to jump in at any single time and add anything
- 1:38in, put it in the comment section below and give this
- 1:40video a thumbs up if you're enjoying this type of content.
- 1:46So #1 is masking. So Charles, do you want to take
- 1:49us through a little bit about masking and some of your
- 1:51personal insight and experience with?
- 1:53That so one of the things that affects me is masking, and this
- 1:56is something that I'd say most women do on the spectrum
- 2:00actually. It's really, really common
- 2:01trait. And basically it's hiding your
- 2:06traits and pretending to be a version of yourself that is
- 2:10socially acceptable. Masking and hiding my traits so
- 2:13that the other person can't suspect anything odd or weird or
- 2:17anything. And what I tend to do is I copy
- 2:21and mimic other people's behaviour so that I can
- 2:24represent a socially acceptable version of myself.
- 2:27Would you say that this is you'd pick up masking from watching
- 2:30like TV and film because there's an interesting topic.
- 2:33Like would you say that you learn social kind of masking
- 2:36from like mimicking people on movie?
- 2:39It's basically from years of being rejected socially, and so
- 2:43you take characteristics from other people.
- 2:46You're adopting other people's behavior and characteristics and
- 2:48applying it to your own. It's basically just lying and
- 2:52putting on a front you. So you're pretending to be
- 2:55somebody else. You're pretending to be
- 2:56something that is socially acceptable so that you can
- 2:59connect with someone, but then you're actually hiding your true
- 3:02self. What kind of effect is, what
- 3:04kind of effect does does actually masking have on you as
- 3:06a person? So if you go through your day
- 3:08and you're masking, obviously you're not being comfortable in
- 3:10your own skin and you're not being you.
- 3:12What kind of effect what, what repercussions can that help?
- 3:14Well, if I've had massive repercussions on me, especially
- 3:16as an adult, because over the years I've, it's something that
- 3:19I've done so long that you start to lose sense of self.
- 3:23And this actually led to me having identity problems because
- 3:28I was hiding my traits so often and putting on this front where
- 3:32I was somebody completely different just to fit in that I
- 3:37didn't know who I actually was. That's fascinating because like,
- 3:39I think one of the main factors for why females have been not as
- 3:44diagnosed as males is because masking is apparent and they
- 3:47say, oh, well, you know, they're fine here, they're fine there or
- 3:49whatever. You know, it's, it's weird that
- 3:51it's now what, like masking was a thing that we didn't even know
- 3:54existed, but it's now that we're able to put an actual name to it
- 3:58and say it's a sting. But now they're quite
- 3:59fascinating. It's a bit of a tricky thing as
- 4:01well and I I know that there's not a lot out there on women on
- 4:06the spectrum especially, so that's why I'm doing my bit to
- 4:08raise awareness. So the reason it's a tricky
- 4:10thing is because it's a massive trait, but it also goes against
- 4:15being diagnosed. So if you're actively seeking a
- 4:17diagnosis, then you're so good at hiding it that sometimes not
- 4:21even a professional can diagnose you because you can't see it.
- 4:25You've got so good at, especially as an adult as well
- 4:27on the spectrum, you get so used to hiding your traits that you
- 4:31are now this brilliant actress that you didn't even.
- 4:35Know and another thing about masking is that like you develop
- 4:37coping or like work around strategies right so this is this
- 4:40is something I found fascinating so in terms of like a lot of
- 4:44people say oh I go and diagnose X amount of years and they say
- 4:47oh I didn't know you had an issue with that but then they
- 4:48make like work around coping mechanisms for instance, like if
- 4:51you were you didn't want you didn't want to talk you anxiety
- 4:53talking about phones all the pizza yeah so anytime you'd be
- 4:56anywhere with you on all the pizza you always say to me oh
- 4:58can you do first I just got to go to the toilet or I'm just
- 5:00going to go to do something else and it's.
- 5:01Simple. So that's what.
- 5:03About behaviours. I am absolutely the worst piece
- 5:07in the world to pick up the phone and I I I can't make
- 5:09conversation on the phone. I can't do anything that
- 5:13requires an immediate response because I find that is is far
- 5:16too much pressure. So or let somebody else do it.
- 5:18Or for example, if I have to pay for an item, I'll let somebody
- 5:22else do it. You know, it's little things.
- 5:24Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think that it just fascinates
- 5:27me and I think that this is one of the reasons why we're having
- 5:29a huge gap in the more females to males being actually
- 5:32diagnosed. But I think that gap is small,
- 5:34getting small and small. And so having things like the
- 5:36National Autistic Society have a new program and training program
- 5:40for Autumn girls, it's really good and people like yourself do
- 5:43more advocacy on it. It's going to be awesome.
- 5:44Guys if. You are interested in knowing
- 5:46how I became confident, got that BDE energy?
- 5:49Then make sure you download my free Autism Building a
- 5:53Bulletproof Brain Starter Kit. You can go to
- 5:56bulletproofbrain.org right now. Click the card here, link in the
- 6:00description or in the bio. Or you can just go to
- 6:02bulletproofbrain.org. Make sure you put www.beforeit
- 6:06and download the free checklist starter kit right now.
- 6:09I promise you, you're going to be amazed.
- 6:14OK, so #2 is selective mutism. Do you want to talk to us a bit
- 6:18about selective mutism? Yeah, selective mutism, it's
- 6:21something that affects humanely when I mean groups of people.
- 6:25So one to one speaking to someone, I'm pretty good.
- 6:28I'm actually pretty great, especially if we've got
- 6:30something in common to talk about otherwise.
- 6:33Not really. Nothing.
- 6:35Yeah, you don't go to say anything.
- 6:37This is actually something that led to my diagnosis because
- 6:42while I was away filming for on TVI went out for a meal as a
- 6:45group with some of the other artists and I literally became
- 6:50stuck. I was trapped inside of myself.
- 6:52And it got to a point where I was so overwhelmed by everything
- 6:56in my in my environment and socially especially that I
- 7:00physically couldn't speak. And it's hard because when
- 7:05you're trying to explain this this summer, because you have to
- 7:08be in that situation to experience it and there's no,
- 7:10there's no way they can test it really.
- 7:12So. How often does how how often do
- 7:14you say you experience kind of selective mutism and and what
- 7:16type of situations would you experience it?
- 7:19Probably we and and I mean like for some bizarre reason and it
- 7:25tends to be more around people my own age and I'm not sure if
- 7:28that's because I said no, people are age.
- 7:30Maybe I think it's because, you know, maybe you feel like
- 7:32expected to be a certain way you're under people.
- 7:34Yeah, an. Age to act a certain way and
- 7:36behave a certain way. Yeah.
- 7:37And not be Yeah. And and the extent acting is
- 7:40that way being that kind of like typical person when you're not a
- 7:43typical person. So you might feel like, you
- 7:45know, like I can't contribute to this situation, so you just kind
- 7:48of climb up or something. I don't.
- 7:49I'm just trying to figure out, but it's fascinating.
- 7:51Like I've experienced this and it wasn't until you'd said it to
- 7:53me, we were like, what's up and talking about doing this video
- 7:55and talk about different things are so from utism.
- 7:57And I've experienced this when I go to Naomi's mum's house and we
- 8:01have like do like family dinners or like a.
- 8:03Family dinners. Oh my.
- 8:04I just like, we're an enormous system.
- 8:06We're like, Dan, you don't speak like you don't.
- 8:08Why do you engage with who I am speaking and stuff?
- 8:10I'm like I have no idea like, no idea like.
- 8:13There's that pressure there to have to be social and to have to
- 8:18make conversation, and then you're applying even more
- 8:21pressure on your salad. Yeah.
- 8:22And it's it just just spirals down to, OK, this is never going
- 8:25to happen. Like I guess like.
- 8:28I always have this really intense fear of being judged on
- 8:32anything that I say. So then it's it gets to the
- 8:35point where it's so bad and I've cammed up so much that anything
- 8:38I do actually say, like any sentence, I can actually go out,
- 8:41give myself a little pat in the back and like, yes, say
- 8:44something. I totally get that.
- 8:46I mean, I can appreciate that. And you know, it is a difficult
- 8:48thing to overcome. So I mean, maybe you're noticing
- 8:51this in say you're a parent watching this or a guardian or a
- 8:53loved one or whatever, and you're noticing these kind of
- 8:55traits in somebody. It's quite interesting.
- 8:56If you're coming across this for the first time, then it may be
- 8:58possible that they have a factional condition because I
- 9:01find this is very valuable. OK, so #3 is making small talk
- 9:08and this one I kind of rings to me as well.
- 9:10I know a lot about kind of like how it's difficult to make small
- 9:13talk when having a special condition because that is just
- 9:16like it's super difficult. So do you want to talk a little
- 9:18bit about your of the experience of being a female inspection?
- 9:20Yeah, sure. I mean, like a lot of people
- 9:22would probably doubt this and a lot of people that have met me
- 9:25personally, and that's because I mean, I, I will make the effort
- 9:29to chat to them. But what I'm actually doing is
- 9:32running off a script of stuff I've learnt to say over the
- 9:37years that is socially acceptable.
- 9:40And I'm just repeating myself basically in every conversation
- 9:44with every single person because I when that script runs out,
- 9:48what do I say now? Yeah, I.
- 9:50I can totally, I can totally relate.
- 9:51And like I have a few things that I talk about.
- 9:53One I'll I'll talk about a series of people and then and
- 9:56when they're not interested in that, I'm like, OK, well, I'll
- 9:58talk about politics because I know all about politics, right.
- 10:00And if they're not interested in politics, I'm kind of all out,
- 10:02you know, there's somebody says to me, I always talk about cars.
- 10:04I'm like, there's no way. There's like no way this
- 10:06conversation going to go in that I find like those situations are
- 10:09like the panic situations are like, oh, what am I going to do
- 10:11now? It's because as well, like, I
- 10:13mean, it's a common autistic trait that people's authors
- 10:16intend to speak about themselves and speak about their interests.
- 10:19And then you've also got the added factor where you have to
- 10:22actively try to pretend to be interested in that other person
- 10:25when actually you don't care. You don't care, OK?
- 10:28And it's not that you're not a caring person, it's just that
- 10:30you you're very strict on your interests and that's all you
- 10:34enjoy talking about. It, you know, it's really very,
- 10:36very interesting and I love kind of having conversations with
- 10:38other autistic individuals because you can relate to them
- 10:41so much. And it's interesting because
- 10:42like he goes through life, just think about things yourself.
- 10:44And he talks to me like, yeah, I mean, because, yeah, you can
- 10:47talk. That's right.
- 10:49Because we can talk about the things because we have that kind
- 10:50of common ground. But it's interesting when
- 10:52there's, yeah, you with like typical people who want to talk
- 10:54about like cars, work and going out.
- 10:55It's like so weird and. Especially like I mean I don't
- 10:59have typical interests the girls have, for example, having my
- 11:01nails done or. 1. No idea what to talk.
- 11:07No, it's totally true. Like, so I don't drink alcohol
- 11:10and like a lot of guys like love drinking beer and all this
- 11:12stuff. So if I meet like nobody's
- 11:13family members or they talk about beer and drinking, like
- 11:15I'm completely out of the field. Yeah, I have no idea what's
- 11:17going on. You know, like it just it's.
- 11:19Really difficult. I think it's probably more
- 11:21difficult to find for people to find common ground with me.
- 11:24Yeah, Jerry, it's only hard to talk about because yeah, they
- 11:28must. I mean, they must be able to
- 11:30sense when I'm not actually interested because.
- 11:33Well, look, I mean, it's a, like you said, it's a very typical
- 11:35trait of autism. And I feel that like if you're,
- 11:37if you're experiencing this yourself and you can relate to
- 11:39this, then this is definitely a video for you.
- 11:42And leave us a comment down below as well.
- 11:43If your experiences. I love to talk to people about
- 11:44the different types of experiences they're having.
- 11:50OK, so #4 is fear of socialising?
- 11:53And this is, this is a huge one. I mean, socialising for anybody
- 11:56on the spectrum is a very difficult situation, especially
- 11:58for the people. You don't know if it's a large
- 12:00group of people. So let me know what you know.
- 12:03How do you experience that fear of social?
- 12:04Well, I mean, it's not something that other people could notice
- 12:08because like I said earlier, hiding traits, and this applies
- 12:12to this one massively because I'm basically absolutely, I've
- 12:16got like a limp in my throat and I, and I feel absolute dread
- 12:19when I know that I have to be social with someone or speak to
- 12:22someone on a personal level. And it's not because they're not
- 12:26interesting people. It's just because I generally am
- 12:28extremely intimidated by people when I, when I first meet them
- 12:32as well. So yeah, it it just builds up
- 12:37avoidance issues as well. Do you do you feel like it?
- 12:40It kind of builds up a frustration or an anger.
- 12:43So like if you're forced to be in social situations, you also
- 12:45have a fear of it. And then masking comes into
- 12:47play. Does that have a kickback?
- 12:48Like, Oh my goodness, you know, because because with me, because
- 12:51it's different, because males on the spectrum, I just, I just
- 12:53don't, you know, from the situation where people expect
- 12:55something of you, we don't really technically have that
- 12:58masking ability, I guess because, you know, the female
- 13:01and male brains do work slightly differently in that respect and.
- 13:05I think it's because like where in general women are more
- 13:07socially aware I think. Right, right.
- 13:09Yeah. So I mean, it would really
- 13:12matter to me what other people thought.
- 13:14So yeah, I know that matters anyway.
- 13:16Like no. But it's a thing that you
- 13:18instantly think about at that moment in time to be like, OK, I
- 13:20need to get through this and I need to do this.
- 13:22And again, masking comes into play.
- 13:23But I'm wondering like, does that have a kickback?
- 13:25So you do the you know, you do masking you go you force is
- 13:29obviously a fearful situation of socializing Then like later on
- 13:31at home. Did you ever kick you in the
- 13:33head and just yes. Absolutely.
- 13:35So like anything that happens, like any, any social event that
- 13:39happens during the day, I will go home and I will really sit
- 13:42and think about it and I'll think like, well, I shouldn't
- 13:45have said that or I should have said it differently or perhaps
- 13:47did I offend that person? And and and then it just, it
- 13:51just makes you so scared of just socializing.
- 13:54Yeah, yeah, yeah. And even trying to do it.
- 13:56Yeah, because you just think that I'm useless at this and I'm
- 13:59going to fail. So then it just instills an
- 14:02absolute fear in you, and I don't know what it is.
- 14:04I don't know what makes me so scared to connect with other
- 14:08people. I know, I think it's it's
- 14:09because it's the unpredictability of people
- 14:11because you don't have people going to react to anything.
- 14:12I think that that's the fear that I don't know how they're
- 14:15going to react. And you know, at the signal you
- 14:17just to figure this out and working on this channel and
- 14:18working with professionals is how I've come to that
- 14:20conclusion, but that's what I think it is.
- 14:21I think the intense fear as well comes from being socially
- 14:24rejected over the years. No, because you're rejected so
- 14:27often and you get used to that fear.
- 14:29You get. Yeah.
- 14:30And and then it gets to a point where, I mean, I, I wasn't
- 14:32treated very well in school. I was, I was quite believing in
- 14:34school for being the quiet one, believe it or not.
- 14:36And then you're even more scared of speaking because it.
- 14:39Becomes a bigger thing, you know that's crazy but like and that
- 14:42that is the thing. If you know schools are probably
- 14:44the worst place like typical mainstream schools.
- 14:46Kids can be mean as heck. So this doesn't help, especially
- 14:48for females who are trying the best to mask it because again,
- 14:51the females, they're so clever in the way that you know, you
- 14:54know, female with autism is like you said, they're trying to do
- 14:57all these things and that the guys are just like lazy
- 14:59typically in that respect. They don't try those things
- 15:01because I have no idea why, but that's how it works.
- 15:03And I just find it. It's crazy because bullies can
- 15:05be so horrible, especially if someone who's already trying to
- 15:07harvest, you know, that's great. When you have to make the active
- 15:10effort as well, and you have to, I mean, as people on the
- 15:13spectrum, we do actively have to make more of an effort than the
- 15:16average person because it does, it requires a lot.
- 15:19Yeah, it takes way more effort. It's like do you seem going like
- 15:21there's the storm picking something up is like way more
- 15:24effort involved for some of the autism.
- 15:25It would be for a typical person because all that interaction for
- 15:27life sound to stimulate the people socializing the then
- 15:30copying the money, the the worrying, the the anxiety of
- 15:33just being outside like it's all of those things are there.
- 15:35But I think it's just, yeah, it's crazy, guys, I.
- 15:38Wasn't always this confident and I definitely wasn't always this
- 15:40able. I'm able to hold down having a
- 15:43full time self-employed job. I have children and a
- 15:46relationship across the Atlantic.
- 15:47How did I do this? I teach all of this this in
- 15:50Coping Secrets which is my entry level program that everyone can
- 15:53get. You can get it right now for
- 15:54$27.00. The link is in the description
- 15:57or you can just go to learnautism.net/coping Secrets.
- 16:01I'll make sure it's linked everywhere in this video and the
- 16:04link in my bio so you can get your hands on it.
- 16:06But honestly, the feedback I got, people love it. #5 is
- 16:12isolating or isolation and talk about how you isolate yourself
- 16:16and what I'm facing. Is so I mean, this is probably a
- 16:18follow on from the fear of socializing because what happens
- 16:21is you get such a big fear of socializing that you become
- 16:25socially avoidant. And this can lead to other
- 16:28mental illnesses as well, like depression, for example.
- 16:31But sometimes you know what, I can be at home and I can be
- 16:34really, I can feel really low in myself because my social life's
- 16:37gone out the window because I've just, I've just not got the
- 16:41energy to be able to invest in that because I'm busy during the
- 16:43day. And then what happens is I avoid
- 16:46everyone. I start to become depressed.
- 16:50Yeah, because it's kind of like a caption.
- 16:51So you don't want to go out because you're feeling kind of
- 16:53that fear of like, you know, the social anxiety and stuff, and
- 16:55you feel like it's going to take more effort.
- 16:56But then when you don't go out and do those things, you become
- 16:59a bit more recluse. And then it gets worse.
- 17:01And then it kind of plays in your mind and you and then your
- 17:02mood starts to dip and then you just sort of downward spiral.
- 17:05Also another thing as well, like I mean, I for example, I can go
- 17:09out with my friends, right? And I have an amazing time out
- 17:11with my friends. We'll have a great laugh and
- 17:13then I will come home and I'll just cry.
- 17:17And it's because like, like you said, I said earlier, all those
- 17:20environmental factors, everything that yeah, everything
- 17:23that's your, all the information your brain is trying to process
- 17:26at one time. It gets to a point where if you
- 17:28want to see me, you're just going to have to come to my
- 17:30head. I'll deal with the fact that
- 17:32text messages are the way to go, but like, and you know, I
- 17:35interviewed a guy I was doing a collaboration video with a guy
- 17:38called Kevin Chapman, who's a really big YouTube and autism
- 17:41advocate on the, on the platform.
- 17:43And, and Kevin's got a son called Andy who has autism.
- 17:45And he said to me that every day Andy came, every Monday, Andy
- 17:49would come home from school and just throw up.
- 17:51Like like every Monday he'd come throw up and he's like, why not
- 17:54going on? No, no other day, just the
- 17:55Monday come home, throw up on the floor and he's like, damn,
- 17:57what's going on? I said, well, he's had, you
- 18:00know, Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday to just chill out and
- 18:02be in his own zone and be comfortable.
- 18:04Then he goes into a school environment, which throws them
- 18:05all out and he's having to deal with that all day and he just
- 18:08goes crazy sick. So it's kind of like I can
- 18:10totally understand what you know about that.
- 18:12I've not really experienced that myself from because I just, I've
- 18:15been used to actually myself for ages.
- 18:17So I can't remember the last time I'd foster in this
- 18:18situation because like you, you want to go out and have that fun
- 18:22with your friends. I'm not really bothered.
- 18:23I'd rather just kind of like separate myself.
- 18:25And I think that is the difference between the male and
- 18:28the female in the spectrum. The friends I have are the
- 18:31friends that just know how useless I am maintaining
- 18:36friendships and they kind of accept down.
- 18:38They just think, well, Charlie is the way she is and if I want
- 18:40to see her, I'm just gonna have to give her a call or.
- 18:42Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that.
- 18:45And I think that, like, being proud of who you are as well is
- 18:47going to definitely help overcome any kind of like stigma
- 18:50of all those things. OK, so just want to say thanks
- 18:52for Charlotte to come down and actually do.
- 18:54This video is super awesome. And I'm looking forward to
- 18:56getting a tattoo from you sometime in the near future.
- 18:59If you want to check out the next video, it's all about
- 19:01autism symptoms in girls. I'll leave it in the next video
- 19:04card. And don't forget to subscribe if
- 19:05you want more. See you next time guys.
- 19:07Guys.