Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Repetitive Behaviours_ What YOU Need To Know
Transcript
- 0:00Hey guys, welcome to this episode.
- 0:02Today we're talking about autism and behaviour and routines of
- 0:05repetitive behaviour. All that plus more is coming up.
- 0:09Hey guys, welcome back to the Aspy world.
- 0:10What's going on? My name is Dan and I have
- 0:12autism, ADHDOCD and selects here and I'll make weekly videos all
- 0:16about this stuff. So if you're new around here and
- 0:18you want to learn more about that, remember to hit that
- 0:20subscribe button by clicking the notification bar below this
- 0:22video. Awesome.
- 0:24So repetitive behaviour and autism.
- 0:26This is really interesting because we all know that
- 0:29autistic interviews like repetitive behaviour, but why?
- 0:32What is it? What what is it that what what
- 0:34is ticking there? Why does that happen?
- 0:35And actually it's a very complex process, which is pretty
- 0:39fascinating when you think about it.
- 0:41Now, before I get super diving into this part of the video, I
- 0:46just want to say thank you to today's sponsor, which is magic
- 0:49mind. Not Magic Mind is this small
- 0:52little kind of green juice drink shop that you take every morning
- 0:56with your morning coffee or morning tea, and it's really,
- 0:58really awesome. This is a superfood nootropic
- 1:01supplement that really helps stimulate your brain and give
- 1:04you everything you need to wake up in the morning.
- 1:06I've been using Magic Mine now for six days and it's just
- 1:09unbelievable. I don't know if I can survive
- 1:11without it now, especially when I'm doing work because I just
- 1:13pour it over ice, give it a bit of spin and clunk down the five
- 1:16of my morning tea. Absolutely amazing highly
- 1:19recommend checking them out. Now there is a discount for you
- 1:21if you use the code down below which is the ASP will 20.
- 1:25You can get a percentage off using my link and my code for
- 1:28magic mind. Now I find it really interesting
- 1:31and it's specifically because my ADHD allows me to not focus on
- 1:34my work that often so I take different supplements throughout
- 1:37the day, but in the morning it's really hard to get up to speed
- 1:40in the morning and I find magic mind a real good fit for that
- 1:43gap. OK guys, definitely check out
- 1:45Magic Mind in the description below.
- 1:47Let's go down with the still autism and routine.
- 1:49Still, why repetitive behaviours?
- 1:51Why do autistic people have repetitive behaviour?
- 1:54Well, it's really simply down to a security or a potential lack
- 1:58there of security. You know, if you like the same
- 2:00food, say you like eating pizza, right?
- 2:02And you want to eat pizza. You know when you know that you
- 2:05eat pizza and it's fine. And if you go to a fancy
- 2:07restaurant and they don't have what you want, you sit there
- 2:09thinking, mad. If I just had pizza, I'd be so
- 2:12much happier right now rather than trying to find some like
- 2:14fish souffle off the off the menu, which you don't even know
- 2:16what it is even. What is that like?
- 2:18OK, I'm just made that up, but you know what I mean?
- 2:20And so autistic individuals will find repetitive behaviour a form
- 2:23of security or self security because you know that thing,
- 2:27it's comfortable, it's relatable, you've had it before,
- 2:30it's easy and you don't have to worry about it.
- 2:33And you've got to think the mind of an autistic person is going
- 2:35like here, there everywhere all the time.
- 2:38It's got these sounds and inputs and and lights and everything
- 2:40coming at you at 1000 miles an hour.
- 2:43The last thing you want to do is worry about what I need to eat
- 2:46for dinner that day. So you it's simple, you pack a
- 2:49freezer full of the same thing you want all the time pizza,
- 2:52easy peasy. Check a pizza in the oven, you
- 2:54know, a few minutes, it's done. That is the security measure
- 2:57that autistic people have with certain things.
- 3:00Now that can be actually applied to anything.
- 3:03It's not just food, it's where they sit, the clothes that they
- 3:06wear, the the shows that they want to watch.
- 3:09Like as an autistic person, I love watching the same things
- 3:12over and over again because those things bring me joy and
- 3:17also the they allow me ability to just be in that moment and
- 3:22not worry about all the other things.
- 3:23It's kind of like taking away a potential worry measure.
- 3:26Now this is just one of a few things, right?
- 3:29You know, autistic people don't try any foods anyway.
- 3:31So, you know, I guess the chicken nugget scenario is is
- 3:35going to be always the the winner here.
- 3:38But in terms of other things, there are dopamine chasing
- 3:41abilities that follow autism. Now, dopamine is this kind of
- 3:45awesome chemical that's released into the brain when you find
- 3:47pleasure in something. Now this could be, you know, I
- 3:50don't play sports or you know, eating awesome foods or
- 3:54something that just makes you feel really engaged in the thing
- 3:58you really love. Now this is what happens with
- 4:01autistic individuals. They are dopamine deficient,
- 4:03meaning their brain is burning through many amounts of energy
- 4:05constantly. And I did a video all about the
- 4:07autism brain, which I'll link to at the end of this video and
- 4:10I'll put it in the description down below.
- 4:11But they're they're wanting to chase all this dopamine all the
- 4:14time. That's why the autistic
- 4:16individual could become obsessed or, or really, really, really
- 4:20into one thing because that's basically, you know how their
- 4:24brain works if they're trying to find dopamine all the time.
- 4:27So if you're finding that eating a pizza every day gives you
- 4:29dopamine or sitting on that part of the couch gives you dopamine,
- 4:34then what are you going to do? If you're a dopamine deficient
- 4:37person chasing dopamine constantly, you are going to do
- 4:40the things that bring you dopamine.
- 4:42So it's kind of like a why wouldn't you?
- 4:45You know what I mean? It's like if you drink your
- 4:46favorite cup of coffee or favorite cup of tea every day,
- 4:49you're going to because drinking dopamine is why we do all these
- 4:51things is why we do things repeatedly.
- 4:52But in terms of assisting individuals, they will do things
- 4:55again and again repeatedly because they want that dopamine
- 4:57hit constantly. Now there is a downfall for
- 5:00chasing dopamine assisting individuals could get obsessed
- 5:03with things like alcohol or illegal drugs, even prescription
- 5:07drugs. And because they're giving
- 5:09dopamine hits. This also goes for like, you
- 5:11know, pornographic imagery and and stuff like that, which isn't
- 5:14the best and you can see why this happens because they're
- 5:16giving short spurts of dopamine constantly.
- 5:18So This is why it happens. Another factor is the control of
- 5:21unpredictability. Now autistic individuals do not
- 5:24like unpredictability. They like routine.
- 5:27You know, they like knowing what they're going to do because a
- 5:29surprise in unpredictability. You know, if you're saying I'm
- 5:33going to go to the store, I'm going to go down there, the
- 5:35store's going to be open and going to pick up bread and walk
- 5:37home. You get to the store and it's
- 5:39closed panic stations because you didn't predict for the store
- 5:44to be closed. You actually thought it was
- 5:46going to be open. So that unpredictability within
- 5:48your routine of what you thought was going to happen has just
- 5:50disrupted your whole day and like a whole pack of dominoes
- 5:54just wipes out the rest of your day.
- 5:55This is kind of what happens when an assistant person
- 5:59appearances burn out from a sensory input, and this sensory
- 6:03input in this time could be emotional overload from going
- 6:06somewhere and having the routine cut short or, or changed or
- 6:09something different about it. So having a structure where you
- 6:11do the same thing over again, it's predictable.
- 6:14I know that I'm going to wake up and drink the same coffee I've
- 6:15always drunk. I know that I'm going to sit in
- 6:18that part of the couch. I know that I'm going to put
- 6:20those clothes on. That predictability allows ease.
- 6:23Again, it goes back to the first point where it's taking away
- 6:26from the struggle of choice and thinking, oh, I have to do this
- 6:29or I have to do that, or you know, what choice do I want?
- 6:32Well, the choice is already made-up.
- 6:33You've already planned it. You've done it 1000 times.
- 6:35This is why it's easy. So autistic people find this
- 6:37really soothing and very comforting.
- 6:39Now there is another factor. Now, this is the control factor.
- 6:43Now autistic individuals find they have somewhat of a lack of
- 6:46control within life. And it's not because other
- 6:50people are controlling their lives.
- 6:51It's because the world seems so chaotic to the autistic brain
- 6:54that it's hard to know when you're in control something when
- 6:58you're not. Because everything feels out of
- 6:59control. The tip, the lights, the sound,
- 7:01the smells, the people, conversations, academia,
- 7:04everything is overwhelming but and it's out of control.
- 7:06You can't control those things. They're just happening
- 7:08simultaneously all the time and it's just jamming your eye full
- 7:11of input. But there is certain things you
- 7:13can control, like when you're in your house, you can control the
- 7:16temperature of the thermostat, you can control what you're
- 7:18going to eat. You can control where you're
- 7:19going to sit. You can control what you want to
- 7:21watch on television. You can control what you're
- 7:22going to wear. All of these things opened up
- 7:25the sea of possibilities that autistic individuals can control
- 7:28certain things. Now, if you felt completely out
- 7:31of control all of your life, and then somebody said, well, you
- 7:33can control that part of your life, you'd want to constantly
- 7:36control that part of your life. Now there are ways that we can
- 7:39implement other parts of control into our life so that we can
- 7:43experience more to life than just a repetitive routine in
- 7:46certain areas. But what I'm trying to highlight
- 7:48is this is the reasons why autistic people have repetitive
- 7:51behaviors or why it's not actually a bad thing.
- 7:53Then this is similarly to how people get into obsessive topics
- 7:56of interest or special topics of interest.
- 7:57Not autistic people are notorious for having a specific
- 8:00type of interest or a topic of interest.
- 8:02And this again is down to the fact that it's dopamine, you
- 8:06know, efficient, it's soothing and self kind of like
- 8:09controlling, you know, it, it's repetitive, it's comfortable to
- 8:12you. And this can be actually a
- 8:13lifeline if you're going through a difficult time.
- 8:15If you start focusing on the things that bring you joy and
- 8:19dopamine, then the difficult time kind of moves away and he
- 8:22starts to feel more at ease or calm in a situation.
- 8:25It's a good way to calm somebody down if they're having a
- 8:27meltdown. No, I find all this stuff
- 8:29fascinating, but I want to know, are you a person of routine?
- 8:32Are you a person, not a routine? Drop me a comment down below and
- 8:34let me know which one you and remember to check out Magic Mike
- 8:37in the description down below and use my promo code for Magic
- 8:41Mind. OK guys, see you in the next
- 8:42one. Peace.