Autism and negative thinking: what to do?
You can function well in society and take good care of yourself and perhaps even your family and you have autism. Adults and children with autism can suffer from negative thoughts that keep repeating, even if you can just take care of yourself and your family or just go to high school without too many problems. These negative thoughts can be very bothersome. In this blog, I discuss what you can do if you function normally with autism and still suffer from negative thinking
Autism and negative thoughts
People who have autism or are on the autism spectrum are more likely to develop depression, anxiety, and get stuck ruminating on their thoughts. Negative thoughts can become repetitive, which for people with autism can lead to internalizing their problems. This means you don’t talk to others about it and try to solve your problem or deal with the negative thoughts on your own—something that is actually very difficult if you have a form of autism.
Those around you recognize this by withdrawing from social life, avoiding eye contact, and you find it difficult to control or regulate your emotions.
Those negative thoughts are often thoughts about yourself, emotions or past events, such as "I can't do this" or "I'm just not smart enough." Precisely because it is difficult to change thoughts when you suffer from a form of autism, this can be dangerous because these thoughts start to repeat themselves which only leads to more pain.
Consequently, thoughts often break in at times when you can't use them at all, such as during work. Because it is difficult to turn off those repetitive negative thoughts, they can also affect your work.
Because those thoughts in turn affect your social behavior, you can also get signs from those around you that you're not doing something right, which in turn can reinforce negative thoughts. Difficulty in social situations, for example, can reinforce avoidance of an awkward situation, which can cause problems in the future which in turn can cause more negative thoughts.
Reducing negative thoughts with mindfulness
There are several ways to reduce negative thoughts, and one of those ways is through mindfulness. Mindfulness is a technique in which you try to keep your thoughts in the here and now. Usually, you find yourself thinking about something from the past or fantasizing about what your future might look like. For example, you might be worrying about the presentation you have to give the next day, or you might be thinking about how you could have handled things differently in the past.
Some conversations, for example, you conduct 100x in your head like how you should have handled a particular difficult conversation.
Research[1] shows that when people on the autism spectrum take a course involving 9 weeks of mindfulness attention and master this technique it reduces depressive symptoms, anxiety and mind milling compared to people on the autism spectrum who do not take mindfulness training.
In addition, people also had positive experiences more often. As a result, they more frequently experienced positive emotions such as pride, joy, happiness, enthusiasm, and a feeling of energy.
Reducing negative thoughts with cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy requires that you be able to identify your own thoughts. For example, you can recognize when your thoughts are depressed or happy. For example, when you find yourself worthless and think "I can't do anything" that can be recognized as a depressive thought.
Research[2] shows that people on the autism spectrum can recognize these types of thoughts from childhood, which is very important for cognitive behavioral therapy.
In the process, cognitive behavioral therapy helps make thought processes more flexible. Many people with a problem on the autism spectrum suffer from inflexible thought processes. Treatments that enhance flexibility are therefore also recommended[3]. This is precisely something hypnosis helps with.
Reducing negative thoughts with hypnosis
In the field of hypnosis, the question has always been whether empathy is important for inducing a hypnotic state in individuals. It was long assumed that people with autism—particularly those with reduced empathy—would be difficult to hypnotize, but studies show that people with autism are also susceptible to hypnosis[4].
Hypnosis is already being used to treat problems related to autism[5]. For example, hypnosis can be used for relaxation and to enhance a sense of control when suffering from autism.
First and foremost, hypnosis for relaxation can help you escape the repetitive negative thought for a while. Generally, relaxation is promoted with a guided visualization of a fine place that encourages relaxation. Before this guided visualization takes place, you often have a conversation with the hypnosis expert in which you tell more about places that relax you, colors you like or have other meanings, and the hypnosis expert then uses this information for the guided visualization.
For example, this one can go as follows:
"You are in your favorite place in France on the Atlantic Ocean. The wide beaches are all but deserted and the sun gives off a pleasant warmth. You feel the sand between your toes, which is also nice and warm. You walk into the sea which is also a nice temperature and the current is not so strong for a change. You lie down in the warm water and float wonderfully in the sea. The warmth relaxes your muscles and you relax completely. With each breath you take, your thoughts also settle further and you enjoy."
This is just an example of a guided visualization. Depending on your fine spots and the meaning you can give to colors, such as when you can give energy a color, the guided visualization may become different.
Enhancing sense of control
The feeling of losing control is very unpleasant, and to reduce—or even stop—those repetitive thoughts, it’s important to increase your sense of control. Mindfulness is one technique that can strengthen your sense of control over your thoughts, but control is also valuable outside of that mental realm. This means, for example, that you can exercise more control over your work and how you spend your time.
To strengthen your sense of control, the hypnosis expert will first explore with you what beliefs you hold about control. These beliefs are, in a sense, your views on how the world works and how you function within it. Your views on controlling your thoughts can also be explored if that is your biggest challenge. After this brief exploration, a hypnosis expert can assist you with hypnotic suggestions and post-hypnotic suggestions.
With hypnotic suggestions, you gain new beliefs, so to speak, that can improve beliefs about control. This changes your view of the control you have in a positive way. You get the feeling that you have more control. To make the hypnotic suggestions work well, you are often given them to take home to listen to during self-hypnosis. Self-hypnosis you practice first with the hypnosis expert.
Suggestions may include:
"You are in control with mindfulness to reduce negative thoughts," says Dr. K. K., who is the director of mindfulness.
"You can practice social interactions."
"You are in control of your behavior."
"You are allowed to make mistakes."
"You can learn from moments that didn't go so well," says Dr. K. K., who is a member of the community.
These are just examples. Depending on the beliefs you have about control and how that works with your autism, you can get other suggestions from the hypnosis expert to improve your sense of control.
In a post-hypnotic suggestion, you receive a suggestion that affects your behavior. A post-hypnotic suggestion is usually given at the end of a guided visualization. For example, in the case of autism and negative thoughts, the post-hypnotic suggestion might be:
"You find yourself thinking negatively about yourself again. The moment you notice this you focus your thoughts on what you see and feel. You start applying your mindfulness to reduce these thoughts and get back to enjoying what you're doing in that moment."
Thus, a post-hypnotic suggestion is a clear assignment to ensure that you suffer less from negative thoughts.
Autism and negative thinking are common. From about age 9, children with autism can suffer from this, and especially in high school and during adult life, it can cause disruptions in functioning. Mindfulness is recommended as a technique to reduce negative thoughts and with hypnosis you can increase relaxation and a sense of control. In doing so, hypnosis can also help you apply mindfulness when needed.
Would you like to learn more about how hypnosis works and what techniques you can use to help yourself or others? Then come to a hypnosis workshop or sign up for one of our training courses.
Pin this handy infographic as a reminder:
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891422212002156
[2] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-013-1937-1
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5461967/
[4] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2015.1103204
[5] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2013.768197