Read - Mental health, autism and me - Autism Ideas in Midlothian

I wish this blog could be a story of how I’ve overcome my health issues but it’s not. I have anxiety, which varies in severity, along with a diagnosis of autism which I’ve had since childhood. It gets better and worse, more manageable and less manageable, but doesn’t go.

I avoid a lot of things that would cause me to have a high level of anxiety, even if they would help me to get on in life. I avoid driving by myself, going on holiday by myself or even something as simple as taking a phone call, when I don’t know who is calling and I haven’t had time to prepare for it. A coping mechanism I use for this is to try and schedule calls for a certain time so I know who I’ll be speaking to and when.

Feeling out of control

I remember a time this year where my anxiety got to the stage where I didn’t feel in control and felt like something bad was going to happen. Being autistic, I find it hard to manage and recognise my emotions. I also find it hard to know if how I’m feeling is down to my anxiety or to me not being able to keep up with processing everything in my busy life, so it can be hard to know what the most appropriate type of support is.

It takes me time to feel comfortable with someone and start to delve into the issues that I need support with, so while useful, I feel I am very constricted by counselling services that offer six one hour sessions.