In addition to difficulties with understanding emotions, individuals with ASDs may become angry quickly and may have difficulty calming themselves effectively. They often need to be taught skills to cope with an increase in irritability once they have been able to identify these emotions.
Emotion is another realm that befuddles people with Asperger's. It is often said that they lack empathy. If, by empathy, you mean a deep understanding of other people's specific emotional states and how to respond appropriately, this is true.
For example, a person with Asperger's may have flat affect, meaning that they appear to be sad or down. However, this affective state may not match what they feel on the inside; rather, they might actually feel normal or like nothing is wrong.
As a result of this condition, he is often unaware of others' mental states and has difficulty attributing beliefs and desires to others. Lacking in this ability to develop a mental awareness of what is in the mind of his partner, the Aspergers man is often viewed as emotionally detached.
The Asperger's mind enjoys and focuses on details, while the normal mind is more skilled at assembling whole concepts from details. Some people with Asperger's are visual thinkers and others are math, music, or number thinkers, but all think in specifics.
A child or an adult with ASD may not seek the same depth and frequency of expressions of love through acts of affection, or realize that an expression of affection is expected in a particular situation and would be enjoyed by the other person.
In the past, it was believed that a diagnosis of Asperger's or autism was incompatible with love and relationships. But love is an emotion that can be fully experienced by nearly anyone, despite differences in perception, social interaction patterns, or emotional expression.
Aspies tend to express love through practical actions, whereas NTs are more likely to express love through words or symbolic actions.
Asperger's in adults typically causes issues with communication, emotion regulation and interpretation, social interactions, and behavior. People who have Asperger's may also experience other conditions, such as depression, anxiety, or OCD.
Angry outbursts or crying fits may erupt when an Aspie's emotional reservoir overflows. Perhaps in part because Aspies cannot easily access our emotions, we cannot easily regulate them.
Meltdowns can look like any of these actions: withdrawal (where the person zones out, stares into space, and/or has body parts do repetitive movements) or outward distress (crying uncontrollably, screaming, stomping, curling up into a ball, growling, etc.).
Mental health issues. Anxiety and depression are common with people with Aspergers. You may also see mood swings. Their behavior may appear to be erratic at times.
A significant number of people with Asperger's Syndrome have been perceived to display either an over-sensitivity or an under-sensitivity to sensory stimuli. This includes all, or a combination of: touch, taste, smell, sound, sight and movement, as well as possible problems with motor co-ordination.
Aspies are not “mind blind,” and they do have a common language. They can intuit each other quite easily. 2. Aspies are much more complicated than just “taking things literally.” They all know that something out of context in speech will cause them to focus on and interpret that thing until they've figured it out.
How do people with Asperger syndrome see the world? Some people with Asperger syndrome say the world feels overwhelming and this can cause them considerable anxiety. In particular, understanding and relating to other people, and taking part in everyday family, school, work and social life, can be harder.
Most Aspies: are able to easily forgive others.
Autistic people overwhelmingly report that they want friends. And they have shown that they can and do form friendships with both neurotypical and autistic peers, even if their interactions sometimes look different from those among neurotypical people.
What is the Silent Treatment? Silent treatment is when a person is not willing to communicate with the other person verbally. People, who make use of it, tend to ignore the presence of the other person. Autistic individuals may use this often to manipulate others, but also due to multiple other reasons.
I have found, as an Aspie among neurotypical folks, that having realistic expectations of others is of critical importance in order to be happy. The higher your expectations are of the people around you, the more likely you are to feel let down by them at some point, even when they haven't done anything wrong.
Dating can be hard for adults with High-Functioning Autism or Asperger's. Many autistic adults struggle with discerning if their romantic interest is being honest. When their partner is not open and vulnerable from the beginning, they assume that means they are being dishonest.
How Does Autism Affect Intimacy in Sexual Relationships? Intimacy is the sharing of emotional, cognitive, and physical aspects of oneself with those of another individual. People with autism often have problems with rigidity and the need for repetition, which may limit the spontaneity and playfulness of sexual contact.
Partners have reported problems with sexual knowledge and intimacy. Adults with Asperger's syndrome tend to be at the extremes of sexual knowledge, having either remarkably little information on sexuality and few sexual experiences, or a great deal of knowledge from pornography or being sexually abused.
People with Asperger's also have strengths that make them wonderful partners. They tend to be honest, loyal, humorous, and champions of the underdog. Autistic people don't often get caught up in social constructs, so they can see right to the heart of what matters.