r/AutisticPeeps • u/Murky-South9706 ASD • 2d ago
Crosspost Do you get stuck in loops a lot?
/r/autism/comments/1jr54vm/do_you_get_stuck_in_loops_a_lot/2
u/Curious_Dog2528 Autism and Depression 2d ago
I have all my life I have had perseverative interests all my life they bring me immense happiness and pleasure
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u/Chamiey ADHD 2d ago
Happens all the time with ADHD. Is it the same thing? I use Pomodoro.
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u/Murky-South9706 ASD 2d ago
Sort of but not really.
I don't know what pomodoro is
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u/Chamiey ADHD 2d ago
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.\1]) It uses a kitchen timer to break work into intervals, typically 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. Each interval is known as a pomodoro, from the Italian word for tomato, after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Cirillo used while a university student.\2])\1])
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u/OrphaBirds Asperger’s 1d ago
Pomodoro helps me a lot when I have a hard time focusing or finding motivation to keep going in my studies. It gives order when your mind is a mess.
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u/Late_Inevitable_9956 ASD 1d ago
i get stuck in verbal loops repeating same few words over and over i can’t control it when it starts and it’s frustrating being stuck it happens when i’m talking to someone and i can’t get out the loop or continue conversation or think or do anything else, i get fixated on a part i’m not getting the meaning of or i got anxiety with i get stuck on it and can’t stop it gets exhausting
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u/OrphaBirds Asperger’s 1d ago
Yes, often I have a hard time getting out of it to eat or simply to go to the toilets. I am lucky to have a few people helping me with that. Sometimes, these loops continue for several days, and it's like the outside world doesn't exist anymore.
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u/yappingyeast2 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yes, I did and still do get trapped in perseverative thinking, barely eating and sleeping for days. Not the "special interest" version of it.
I'm working on reducing the intensity of the tunnel vision, making it so I can actually take breaks or switch tasks, and I've seen some (not a lot, but it is some) progress. I think of breaking out of the loop as a skill to be practiced, so it's not about theoretical understanding. This is how I see it – this is just how our brains are wired, so adapting through neuroplasticity takes a lot of time and repetition, and there's no way around it but just repeatedly trying (and failing) to stick to a routine, to stop doing what you're currently doing. It's taken me five years so far to go from a loop of sleeping 2-3 hours a night, and eating once every few days, to my current loop standard of sleeping 5 hours a night, eating once everyday, being able to sort of take 15 minutes breaks once or twice a day. I used to refer to this (practicing routines and breaking out of loops) as "brainwashing myself"... it's taken years to see incremental results. Maybe other commenters will have better ideas.
It has always been bad for me. Having someone around to break me out of the loop (physically) helps.
It is quite bad. I'm lucky to be in a position where I'm not required to turn up at the office at set timings. I'm doing freelance work now, so I work when I can. And before that, in my research job, I was judged on the quality of my work, not how present I was, so I was able to submit high quality work produced at random hours. And before that, in university, I just turned up for exams and skipped all my classes, and before that, so on and so forth... I'm just a lucky person haha.