Episode #35: (Mini-podcast) Riding High
Episode #35: Riding High
Today, I am talking about what I call “riding high.” No, I am not talking about bicycling or getting high, even though I live in Oregon.
I am talking today about our neurobiological systems working on overdrive and I call this “riding high.” I see most of my clients “riding high” so frequently and so often that it is their norm - so that others around them do not even know it is happening for them. I had an older client once tell me, autistics may not know what “safe” really means so I should reframe the conversation to simply “avoiding danger.”
As I am producing this in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic and the 2021 Inauguration of our new administration, I am going to guess that a few of you, my listeners, may be able to relate with this “riding high” while still having to semi-function at work, in your families, and communities.
You might equate this with driving a car too fast in a lower gear, if you’ve ever driven a manual transmission. I like to use the analogy of feeling flooded. Again, using a car analogy, if you just keep trying to start a dead car by pumping in more gas, you are going to flood the engine. And similarly, sometimes you have to fix something major but other times, you just have to take a deep breath, give it a few minutes, and try again.
So why am I talking about this today? Well, like I said, we all feel this way sometimes but people on the autism spectrum seem to feel this way most of the time. They report feeling like they are in constant hyper-vigilant mode - their sensory systems on fire - detecting perceived danger so they can be ready to fight or flea from the offending situation. To use more neurobiology tems, their systems are in what we call the sympathetic nervous system response most of the time rather than the parasympathetic which helps us relax.
Consider this: the sympathetic nervous system response (or the hypervigalent response) is responsible for such things as shutting down the parts of the brain that are responsible for planning, considering options, relating to others, and even unnecessary digestion in the moments of imminent danger. Doesn’t this sound familiar? When we are in danger, we need to stay alert and ready for quick action. Our thinking needs to be rigid and specific. There is no room for contemplation.
And the parasympathetic nervous system in responsible for calming our bodies, bringing digestion back online so that we can think, process, and consider the world around us.
If you are a counselor, teacher, or otherwise knowledgeable about Trauma Informed Care and Teaching, this will sound familiar. We need to start thinking about our autistic friends and loved ones as “riding high,” also known as living in a vivid trauma response. This will lead us to prioritize their nervous systems being at their best before teaching, guiding, or connecting.
Common ways to bring an autistic person’s nervous system into the calmer, more regulated zone, or the parasympathetic zone are to:
Calm your own system
Do not add to their flood - use your words judiciously and mindfully
Give them space and time alone to regroup
Keep expectations that they are completely capable with attention first to their own self care
Help them discover and understand their own nervous system responses
Listen. Allow them to feel and be seen by you rather than dismissed.
Remember that their reaction is neurological
Do not take their reactions personally
Comments
Post a Comment