Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Repetitive Behaviours What YOU Need To Know

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Autism Repetitive Behaviours What YOU Need To Know · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

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  You have arrived. Welcome to the Aspy world.
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  Here's where we talk about anything and everything ASD in
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  an upbeat and informative way. And now here's your man on the
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  spectrum, your autism ambassador, Daniel Morgan Jones.
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  Hey guys, welcome to this episode.
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  Today we're talking about autism and behavior and routines of
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  repetitive behavior All out plus more.
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  It's coming up. Hey guys welcome back to the
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  aspy world. What's going on?
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  My name is Dan and I have autism, ADHDOSD and select here
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  and I make weekly videos all about this stuff.
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  So if you're new around here and you want to learn more about
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  that, remember to hit that subscribe button by clicking the
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  notification bar below this video.
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  Awesome So repetitive behaviour and autism.
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  This is really interesting because we all know that
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  autistic individuals like repetitive behaviour, but why?
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  What is it? What is it that what is ticking
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  there? Why does it happen?
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  And actually, it's a very complex process, which is pretty
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  fascinating when you think about it.
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  Now, before I get super diving into this part of the video, I
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  Let's go down with the so autism and routine.
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  So why repetitive behaviors? Why do autistic people have
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  repetitive behavior? Well, it's really simply down to
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  a security or a potential lack there of security.
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  You know, if you like the same for you say you like eating
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  pizza, right? And you want to eat pizza.
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  You know when you know that you eat pizza and it's fine And if
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  you got to a fancy restaurant and they don't have what you
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  want, you sit there thinking mad.
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  If I just had pizza, I'd be so much happier right now rather
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  than trying to find some like fish to filet off the off the
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  menu, which you don't even know what it is even.
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  What is that like? OK, I'm just made that up, but
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  you know what I mean? And so autistic individuals will
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  find repetitive behaviour a form of security or self security
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  because you know that thing, it's comfortable, it's
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  relatable, you've had it before, it's easy and you don't have to
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  worry about it. And you've got to think the mind
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  of an autistic person is going like here, there everywhere all
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  the time. It's got these sounds and inputs
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  and and lights and everything coming at you at 1000 miles an
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  hour. The last thing you want to do is
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  worry about what I need to eat for dinner that day.
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  So you, it's simple, you pack a freezer full of the same thing
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  you want all the time. Pizza.
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  Easy peasy. Check a pizza in the oven, you
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  know, in a few minutes it's done.
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  That is the security measure that autistic people have with
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  certain things now that can be actually applied to anything.
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  It's not just food, it's where they sit, the clothes that they
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  wear, the the shows that they want to watch.
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  Like as an autistic person, I love watching the same things
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  over and over again because those things bring me joy and
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  also the they allow me ability to just be in that moment and
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  not worry about all the other things.
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  It's kind of like taking away a potential worry measure.
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  Now this is just one of a few things, right?
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  You know, artistic people don't try new foods anyway.
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  So, you know, I guess the chicken nugget scenario is going
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  to be always the the winner here.
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  But in terms of other things, there are dopamine chasing
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  abilities that follow autism. Now, dopamine is this kind of
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  awesome chemical that's released into the brain when you find
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  pleasure in something. Now this could be, you know, I
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  don't play sports or you know, eating awesome foods or
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  something that just makes you feel really engaged in the thing
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  you really love. Now this is what happens with
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  autistic individuals. They are dopamine deficient,
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  meaning their brain is burning through many amounts of energy
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  constantly. And I did a video all about the
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  autism brain, which I'll link to the end of this video and I'll
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  put in the description down below.
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  But they're they're wanting to chase all this dopamine all the
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  time. That's why the autistic
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  individual could become obsessed or, or really, really, really
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  into one thing because that's basically, you know, how their
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  brain works if they're trying to find dopamine all the time.
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  So if you're finding that eating a pizza every day gives you
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  dopamine or sitting on that part of the couch gives you dopamine,
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  then what are you going to do? If you're a dopamine deficient
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  person chasing dopamine constantly, you are going to do
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  the things that bring you dopamine.
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  So it's kind of like a, a, why wouldn't you?
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  You know what I mean? It's like if you drink your
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  favorite cup of coffee or favorite cup of tea every day,
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  you're going to because drinking dopamine is why we do all these
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  things is why we do things repeatedly.
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  But in terms of autistic individuals, they will do things
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  again and again repeatedly because they want that dopamine
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  hit constantly. Now, there is a downfall for
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  chasing dopamine assisting individuals could get obsessed
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  with things like alcohol or illegal drugs, even prescription
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  drugs. And because they're giving
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  dopamine hits. This also goes for like, you
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  know, pornographic imagery and and and stuff like that, which
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  isn't the best and you can see why this happens because they're
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  giving short spurts of dopamine constantly.
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  So This is why it happens. Another factor is the control of
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  unpredictability. Now autistic individuals do not
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  like unpredictability. They like routine.
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  You know, they like knowing what they're going to do because a
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  surprise in unpredictability. You know, if you're saying I'm
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  going to go to the store, I'm going to go down there, the
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  store's going to be open. I'm going to pick up bread and
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  walk home. You get to the store and it's
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  closed panic stations because you didn't predict for the store
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  to be closed. You actually thought it was
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  going to be open. So that unpredictability within
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  your routine of what you thought was going to happen has just
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  disrupted your whole day and like a whole pack of dominoes,
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  it just wipes out the rest of your day.
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  This is kind of what happens when an assistant person
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  appearances burn out from a sensory input and this sensory
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  input and this time could be emotional overload from going
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  somewhere and having the routine cut short or, or changed or
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  something different about it. So having a structure where you
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  do the same thing over again, it's predictable.
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  I know that I'm going to wake up and drink the same coffee I've
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  always drunk. I know that I'm going to sit in
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  that part of the couch. I know that I'm going to put
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  those clothes on. That predictability of allows
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  ease again, it goes back to the first point where it's taking
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  away from the struggle of choice and thinking, oh, I have to do
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  this or I have to do that or you know, what choice do I want?
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  Well, the choice is already made-up.
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  You've already planned it. You've done it 1000 times.
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  This is why it's easy. So autistic people find this
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  really soothing and very comforting.
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  Now there is another factor now this is the control factor.
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  Now autistic individuals find they have somewhat of a lack of
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  control within life. And it's not because the people
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  are controlling their lives. It's because the world seems so
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  chaotic to the autistic brain that it's hard to know when
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  you're in control something when you're not.
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  Because everything feels out of control.
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  The tip, the lights, the sound, the smells, the people,
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  conversations, academia, everything is overwhelming but
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  and it's out of control. You can't control those things.
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  They're just happening simultaneously all the time and
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  it's just jamming your eye full of input.
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  But there is certain things you can control, like when you're in
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  your house, you can control the temperature of the thermostat,
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  you can control what you're going to eat.
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  You can control where you're going to sit.
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  You can control what you want to watch on television.
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  You can control what you're going to wear.
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  All of these things opened up the sea of possibilities that
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  autistic individuals can control certain things.
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  Now, if you felt completely out of control all of your life, and
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  then somebody said, well, you can control that part of your
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  life, you'd want to constantly control that part of your life.
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  Now there are ways that we can implement other parts of control
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  into our life so that we can experience more to life than
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  just a repetitive routine in certain areas.
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  But what I'm trying to highlight is this is the reasons why
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  autistic people have repetitive behaviors and why it's not
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  actually a bad thing. And this is similarly to how
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  people get into obsessive topics of interest or special topics of
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  interest. Not autistic people are
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  notorious having a specific type of interest or a topic of
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  interest. And this again, is down to the
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  fact that it's dopamine, you know, efficient, it's soothing
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  and self kind of like controlling you, you know, it,
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  it's repetitive, it's comfortable to you.
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  And this can be actually a lifeline if you're all going
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  through a difficult time. If you start focusing on the
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  things that bring you joy and dopamine, then the difficult
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  time kind of moves away and he starts to feel more at ease or
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  calm in a situation. It's a good way to calm somebody
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  down if they're having a meltdown.
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  No, I find all this stuff fascinating, but I want to know,
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  are you a person of routine? Are you a person, not a routine?
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  Drop me a comment down below and let me know which one you and
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  remember to check out Magic Mic in the description down below
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  and use my promo code for Magic Mind.
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  Okay guys, see you in the next one piece.
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  Hey guys, thank you so much for checking out this podcast.
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  Okay guys, see you in the next one.
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  Piece.