Reddit mentions of Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety: A Guide to Successful Stress Management

Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety: A Guide to Successful Stress Management by nick dubin
https://www.amazon.com/Asperger-Syndrome-Anxiety-Successful-Management/dp/184310895X

Shadow Syndromes: The Mild Forms of Major Mental Disorders That Sabotage Us
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Syndromes-Mental-Disorders-Sabotage/dp/0553379593

And I'm currently reading 'the autism revolution' which is starting out pretty helpful. The library has got some good stuff. I've been going to several different libraries as their selections vary.

Temple Grandin is a prominent author in the autistic area. She leans heavily on her own experience, is tinged with her viewpoints, but it's good to read about aspergers and all that lot.

Hey, I'm really sorry that I took so long to reply, I just kept overthinking my reply, so I'm just gonna do it

So actually the book is on anxiety and stress management, and it holds so much information throughout the book about how our minds are wired. Throughout it you gain more and more understanding of how you work and it really does help to have that level of awareness. I mean it's invaluable to gain such a comprehension of inner workings, in fact it works towards a mastery of yourself. That's what I got from the book but it also helped me realize to seek that kind of understanding in whatever I happen to be looking for or struggling with.

Boundaries, however, I got from a man named John Bradshaw, I happen to have had access to some of his lectures which are all amazing and fantastic, but that helped me to see that I completely had things undeveloped in that respect. That's the kicker there as well, it's undeveloped.

On assertiveness, a lot of that were people saying that I was too nice, well, specifically my mother telling me that I was too nice, and I'm super happy she said that because that really opened my eyes. Down the line, Jordan B Peterson's lectures on YouTube helped greatly with countless things, and also assertiveness.

Growing up in a dysfunctional family and dealing with enmeshment, unhealthy relationships, not being able to tell yourself from a stranger, etc. Identity has always been an issue, and in many ways I've known it needed to be developed but, like for all of these things, there's always a catalyst, you know that. Anyways, looking into the subreddit for OCD and the description there really spelled it out for me in a way I hadn't considered before.

Yeah those burnouts man, and starting over, I think it's often because it's hard to move onward and outward from a pattern, especially a pattern of thinking. You're often met with depression at those moments, and one of the reasons you feel depression is because it feels like you didn't learn anything. So maybe one question is, how do you go about life and also learn from it?

I'm sorry that this all seems so all over that place and that it's also probably quite subjective to me, but another thing I've noticed is that life is a dream, and you've got to interpret it for yourself, to me that is significant to understanding yourself

You probably aren't manic since the phases usually last longer than a day, but you very likely have at least anxiety, if not depression as well. Anxiety among asperger's sufferers is fairly common since part of the syndrome is a necessity for order, simplicity, and repetition, and obviously life doesn't always work that way. A kid I used to sit for with asperger's got this book for his birthday. Might be worth a read.

Do research, not just reddit, and if you ever doubt the advice or decision of a doctor, get a second opinion. No doctor's word should be taken as the final law- they're human and can only know so much, plus their own biases and judgement will always come into play with their diagnoses. I have a severe neurological disorder in addition to depression, and when I was trying to find a diagnosis for my neurological symptoms that I know didn't fit with my depression symptoms, I was told many ridiculous things from blaming my symptoms on being a woman (and apparently women are usually over stressed) to being allergic to my shampoo.

Doing nothing is a guarantee you're making the problem worse. You may not need medication, but, especially since you are not a "standard teenager" with "standard teenage behaviour" since you have aspergers- so that right away sets you apart from the expected social behavior standards (and I'm not saying that in a negative or disabling way), you are going to experience problems- be they with dating, learning, dressing, etc- that "standard teens" will not understand.

I highly suggest finding a teen Asperger's support group in your area (look on the internet). It's done a world of difference for the boy I used to sit for, not necessarily in teaching him things he didn't know, but in finding like-minded friends who understand and can relate to his specific way of thinking. And it was in this group that he identified his anxiety and getting on the medication Paxil has more or less changed his life.