Mastodon Feed
brib@bribstodon.xyz ("brib :neofox_floof: :Nonbinary:") wrote:
Looking back at my recent anxiety episode I realise I do tend to make (and run away with) inferences that don't quite exist and don't always hold up to scrutiny. This probably doesn't help with the anxiety. I read online once that this can fuel OCD symptoms.
Trying to deal with them when I am middle of an episode though is... another thing.
Not helping is that there's definitely been times when I need to pick up on inferences that don't necessarily read as obvious. Things like social cues, for example, where what people think and what they say never quite match.
So I basically there's some kinds of inferences I'm supposed to know (for example, if someone says they're "fine" and not acting fine, which am I supposed to believe, and more to the point, how am I supposed to act?) and some kinds which are cognitive distortions.
The result is the hypervigilance; a sort of always-feeling-on-edge because it seems as if the world works to invisible rules I do not know yet I am supposed to, and as a result there's an arbitrary reward/punishment scheme. In that hypervigilance it's easy to make incredibly spurious inferences because, you know, this time it might be real. You never know. never.
No wonder people with autism are prone to anxiety and OCD.