Advice Wanted

[Twilkes]

Hi there,

 

I’m writing a piece which isn’t directly about Asperger’s, but mentions Asperger’s in the context of social interaction.

 

There are a few things that I believe are Aspergic traits, but obviously want to clarify them before I include them in the script:

 

• Sensitivity to rough clothes, like jeans and woolly jumpers

• Sensitivity to heat and moisture, i.e. having to get dressed straight out of a steaming hot shower

• Sensitivity to loud noises, e.g. fireworks

• Difficulty in picking out conversations in loud environments, such as a nightclub or busy office.

 

And the one I’m unsure about:

 

• People with Asperger’s can find it difficult to track the relationships between people in large groups – e.g. in a group of 8 they may still be working in 1-to-1 mode, and get lost in the ebb and flow of the conversation.

 

If you identify with the last point, please elaborate on your experience as I’m sure I read this somewhere. It makes sense in a way, similar to an Aspie focusing in on a set of hinges, rather than conceiving of the door as a whole.

 

 

Thanks in advance for your help,

 

Tony

[Guest featherways]

• ...People with Asperger’s can find it difficult to track the relationships between people in large groups – e.g. in a group of 8 they may still be working in 1-to-1 mode, and get lost in the ebb and flow of the conversation.

...

Tony

 

Simplest way I can explain it is this: Most people have a dedicated 'people-centre' in their brains, near one of the ears. It acts like a superfast broadband connection to eyes, ears etc, and retrieves info on people in a lightning-fast and deadly accurate way. Who are they, what do they look like, what was our last meeting, what mood are they in, who they like, what they like. It's just there. And then, amazingly, it can load up the data for other people in a group and swap between them, at lightning speed. All automatically, all whilst using a massive range of non-verbal signals with eyes, face, body, tone of voice to keep that group of people interested and know when to talk or not talk. Incredible!

 

Our people-centre has been converted to the most amazing data centre instead. Specialised interest info? Oh yes - loads of it. Lightning fast retrieval of that data? Yup. But all the people info is shunted off onto the dial-up speed wiring, and bunged into any old corner of the brain in a fairly random way.

 

Thus, we look at person A and have to manually scan their face....go fetch the data on the face....hope it doesn't move a lot whilst we're doing this...get the data on who they are...what they look like...what they think of us....and then hope we can piece it together fast enough Not To Say Something Stupidly Incorrect. You want us to talk with someone else too? Wow, how are we going to do that?! Our whole dial-up speed wiring is already working flat out, working out the details for person 1. And now there's another person! The only way we can do that is to improvise the conversation and hope we don't get it too wrong.

 

It's no wonder we end up so exhausted we could cry, or scream, or go silent and be unable to talk at all.

 

I'm generalising a little, you realise, but that's the principle. Does it help?

[Willow-Tree]

Hello,

 

I am 17 and I have Aperger's.

 

I'll comment on what I personally feel about the points you have made, rather than saying it is true for AS on the whole, because each person is unique.

I definately have sensitivity to clothing, various styles and materials I find intolerable, and they cause me a lot of anxiety. Rough wooly jumpers, most certainly, lambswool I find is particularly horrid. I also can't wear polyester, or anything that is really baggy. I actually like jeans, they are one of the only things I can wear, but not real denim or jeans without some sort of stretch in them. But overall, clothing is one of my biggest issues.

 

Not sure about the sensitivity to heat, I actually find that I can barely tell the difference between freezing cold and boiling hot, as they make me feel the same, but both shock me. I dislike moisture though, I can't go out in the rain and if I find myself outside when it starts to rain, I panic and run for some form of shelter and try to control my breathing. I can have showers, because I control the water.

 

Sensitivity to loud noises; I relate a lot to this. Fireworks are a problem for me, they scare me a lot. I find that I also can't handle smaller noises if in a silent room, for example, if I am in a kitchen eating food and someones fork clinks the side of the plate it makes my ears feel terrible. I also don't like rooms with a lot of noise in because I can't pick any on out, but one the rare occaision that I have managed to focus my attention on one noise, it is usually that of a ticking clock, and then I can't hear anything else at all, aside from the clock, which isn't helpful if in a classroom where I'm meant to be listening to a teacher. Because once I have foucsed and singled out a noise I find it hard to revert back to hearing everything.

 

My previous paragraph links to the next point. Picking out a conversation within a loud environment. As I said, if I do manage to pick any noise out of a situation it is usually coming from an object rather than a person. If I can manage to listen to a person however, I don't hear all of what they are saying, so it usually doesn't make sense to me anyway, and I have to ask them to repeat what they said, until eventually I manage to get all their words.

 

I'm not entirely sure what you mean with your last point. In a large group of people, which I try to avoid finding myself among, I can only really follow one person's conversation. And I try to comment on point occaisionlly but by the time I have thought of something to say, the group has moved off of that point and on to something else which I haven't heard because I've been thinking of something to say, so when I say it, they look at me with an odd look on their face. I usually don't end up in group situations unless I am with one of my close friends, then I just sort of attach myself to them and try and say things in response to them.

 

I hope this helps you, feel free to ask me anything based on what I have said. I also have a video blog that I do on youtube, if you wanted to look at that, I sometimes cover a few of these issues, should they have arisen in that particular day. This is the link to my main page: http://www.youtube.com/user/WillowMarsden

 

Willow Marsden

Edited July 31, 2009 by Willow-Tree

[Twilkes]

Simplest way I can explain it is this: Most people have a dedicated 'people-centre' in their brains, near one of the ears. It acts like a superfast broadband connection to eyes, ears etc, and retrieves info on people in a lightning-fast and deadly accurate way. Who are they, what do they look like, what was our last meeting, what mood are they in, who they like, what they like. It's just there. And then, amazingly, it can load up the data for other people in a group and swap between them, at lightning speed. All automatically, all whilst using a massive range of non-verbal signals with eyes, face, body, tone of voice to keep that group of people interested and know when to talk or not talk. Incredible!

 

Our people-centre has been converted to the most amazing data centre instead. Specialised interest info? Oh yes - loads of it. Lightning fast retrieval of that data? Yup. But all the people info is shunted off onto the dial-up speed wiring, and bunged into any old corner of the brain in a fairly random way.

 

Thus, we look at person A and have to manually scan their face....go fetch the data on the face....hope it doesn't move a lot whilst we're doing this...get the data on who they are...what they look like...what they think of us....and then hope we can piece it together fast enough Not To Say Something Stupidly Incorrect. You want us to talk with someone else too? Wow, how are we going to do that?! Our whole dial-up speed wiring is already working flat out, working out the details for person 1. And now there's another person! The only way we can do that is to improvise the conversation and hope we don't get it too wrong.

 

It's no wonder we end up so exhausted we could cry, or scream, or go silent and be unable to talk at all.

 

I'm generalising a little, you realise, but that's the principle. Does it help?

 

Wow, that's fairly comprehensive! That makes a lot of sense.

 

Is that a perception of what happens, or is this based on medical research?

 

The piece I read (or I think I read!) suggested that, for a group of 6 people, an AS person could be trying to track the fifteen 1-2-1 relationships, rather than treating it as a single group. The result is that the group conversation moves far too quickly for them, which would also tie into the description above.

 

Any more thoughts are very welcome.

 

Tony

[Mumble]

Can I ask what this is for? The problem with listing, as you call them, traits, is that you swiftly verge on stereotypical. Individuals on the spectrum are, first and foremost, individuals. There will be ASD individuals who identify with some of your items but there will be NT (non-ASD) individuals who also do. Similarly there will be ASD individuals who do not identify with your list as there will be for NT individuals.

 

 

[Tally]

Asking anonymous message board users hardly counts as academic research

 

Sensitivity to heat and moisture, i.e. having to get dressed straight out of a steaming hot shower

I have never heard of this in connection with Asperger's. It certainly is not the case for me, I am the opposite. I also love fireworks and jeans. Often simultaneously!

 

I do have difficulty following a conversation when there is background noise, but so does my mother, who is most certainly not autistic!

 

I've never really thought about whether I would be able to work out the relationships between people in large groups. I can't really judge as I have never really tried it.

Edited July 31, 2009 by Tally

[baddad]

Hi twilkes -

one of the biggest errors made in films etc about / including autism (assuming that's what you mean by 'script') is that every 'trait' that's ever been ascribed to any autistic individual is ascribed to a single individual or (in the case of an ensemble piece like 'Mozart and the Whale') to a small collective... This happens even in the 'good' films

On the one hand, these kinds of stereotypes provide a useful kind of shorthand that viewers can immediately identify and sympathise with or react to, but on the other they provide all sorts of negative, unhelpful and often inaccurate 'labels' that unwittingly tap in to existing prejudices and expectations.

So some of the things you describe could be relevant to some autistic people to some degree and depending on circumstances and situation. All of those things could be relevant to some degree to a small percentage of autistic people. Any one of the things you describe could be an area of profound difficulty for some autistic individuals, while the other things would not be relevant to them whatsoever.

My own advice, if you're trying to 'invent' a fictional autistic character would be to keep it subtle. If you're trying to portray (i.e.) social unease/confusion do so by showing third person reactions/responses to slightly 'odd' social behaviours rather than through a dramatic 'meltdown' or social misunderstanding. The reality is that a person with Aspergers is much more likely to get a smack in the mouth for doing something slightly wrong (smiling when they should be looking sympathetic, looking at someone behaving aggressively instead of looking away) than to be freaking out and throwing things at people because they've not been able to 'handle' the social pressure of a works night out. That's not denying the possibility that the latter can happen of course, but IMO it's nowhere near as likely as the former, and, in any event most independent adults with AS who did have those kinds of social anxieties would have developed strategies for avoiding those kinds of situations. Similarly an Asperger's adult living independently would be very unlikely to have an issue with clothes etc, because they simply wouldn't buy clothes that made them feel that way.

 

Hope that's helpful, and good luck with your project.

[NobbyNobbs]

its not only course and rough fabrics- i wont touch silk or velour. i think its very hard to be so specific about something as wide as the autistic spectrum

 

i can't follow any conversations if theres a lot of people talking ie my family of 13 round the table at christmas, i just sit in my own merry world with my funny hat on unless someone calls my name and speaks directly to me. its not intentional rudeness, i just can't follow all the words going different ways and have trouble working out who is talking in what conversation

[KezT]

From a parent's PoV, all those traits appear in my son - but by the time he makes it into full adulthood, (I expect) he will have found ways of coping with most of them. My brother (who is not DX, but is pretty obviously ASD imo) has a wardrobe full of exactly the same clothes from exactly the same shops and has done for 20 years (maybe slightly easier being a boy?), doesn't attend large social functions and I don't think he has taken a bath for 25 years (he DOES shower!).

 

Regarding conversations - certainly one of the "defining" characteristics of ASD is a difficulty with following complex social interaction. Both my son & brother have one conversation at a time, with one other person, regardless of how many other people are involved. It has caused problems in the past - but people accept eccentricities after a while. My brother is likely to remove himself from a loud or difficult situation, whereas my son will try to rearrange it to suit his view of the world, usually with violent results. Brother has learned that doesn't help in the long run!

 

On some specific points, my son is sensitive to heat - he screams he is being burned if I run a bath hotter than 27C (which is freezing to me - below body tempreture can't be good for you LOL). He also wears T-shirts & sandles in the snow! He won't wear baggy clothes, nor wool or most jeans. However, he can't stop stroking my velvet trousers - very inappropriate in some places!

 

He also does not have a "compensatory genius" which it seems all scripts seem to like giving ASD people He is pretty intelligent, and I am confident he will get a job in IT or science or something like that, but he does not have any great abilities to counteract his social ineptitude. My brother works in IT, where he has found a very good job which has promoted him by default several times LOL. He is very good at what he does because he doesn't get bored/sidetracked/hung-over.

[Guest featherways]

Wow, that's fairly comprehensive! That makes a lot of sense.

 

Is that a perception of what happens, or is this based on medical research?

 

The piece I read (or I think I read!) suggested that, for a group of 6 people, an AS person could be trying to track the fifteen 1-2-1 relationships, rather than treating it as a single group. The result is that the group conversation moves far too quickly for them, which would also tie into the description above.

 

Any more thoughts are very welcome.

 

Tony

 

Partly research from the brain scientists looking at how the brain handles info on people (fMRI scans in realtime, etc), partly from a lifetime of living with Asperger syndrome and noticing how I react in a group, partly from myriad accounts of others with Asperger syndrome reporting similar feelings of not being able to process group conversations and interactions fast enough. I certainly personally relate to the comment about a group of 6 people being 6 individual relationships, not one group. The whole group-mentality thing is totally beyond me.

[Tally]

He also does not have a "compensatory genius" which it seems all scripts seem to like giving ASD people He is pretty intelligent, and I am confident he will get a job in IT or science or something like that, but he does not have any great abilities to counteract his social ineptitude. My brother works in IT, where he has found a very good job which has promoted him by default several times LOL. He is very good at what he does because he doesn't get bored/sidetracked/hung-over.

This is a very important point. The diagnostic criteria for Asperger's and High Functioning Autism state that the person has an average to above average IQ. This does not mean that they are especially intelligent. It means that if the person has a low IQ, then they have a different diagnosis. Sometimes when autistic people excel in a particular topic, it is simply because they find it very interesting and have dedicated a lot of time to studying it, rather than because they have a special skill.

[smiley1590]

for me sensory overload is loud noises backgorund noise etc sums me up with how i'm affected it can be very frustrating and annoying when miss conversation socially when find ixing with other people especially peers difficult i find hard to 'switch off' and keep my anxiety 'calmed down' to level which i can manage keep under control this can be very difficult to challenge to 'overcome' fireworks,doors banging anything unpredictable sudden and intense to my ears makes me jump and shake it unbearable overwhelming at times! just wishing praying it go away really!

 

when have large social group the demands step up a level and this makes social interaction and skills we have harder to cover and adapt to and feel lost and confused yet pressured to 'be normal' and understand language communication used which cause great stress worry anxiety fear paranoia so many things thoughts and feelings in one BIG pot within how socially we are expected to conform in mainstream world! like a brick wall in our way trying to prevent us from getting there! so many things socially that brains naturally already know and learn't that our don't due to AS that need extra guidance and encouragement to seek any kind of social company if any can become bitter struggle and fight can become 'uneasy and uncomfortable' when hear noises background noise i struggle to concentrate and focus due to attention span too! as many issues involved within subject area of how AS affects our minds lives etc

 

i found jeans hard to wear and get comy in the past and velvet type clothing anything tight and restricting i can't bear against the skin due to sensory defaults we can't stand it causes us to 'meltdown' body and mind blows can't handle it too much to cope with at one time! i'm cried begged and screamed it takes ages to finally 'accept and agree' to the chosen material of clothing or style!

 

i try 'zone out' and use my own coping tools for different types situations like ones listed sometimes works abit other times anxiety beats me to it with low self-esteem! to complicate things and low self-image! hard to think of things which could improve on these areas alone! and your family only know so much to help support comfort you in way then everyone's lost NAS are now helping me find coping tips that work! and work on confidence etc

 

 

XKLX

[smiley1590]

difficulty picking out converstaions in loud environment like a night club i struggle to keep up with the flow sometimes left behind get mixed up with subject topics and just say when think has been said and miss some of what has been said which leads to major paranoia,social anxiety ,self-doubting etc feeling scared worried all night you 'stand out from crowd' etc which upsets you as fixate on alot and keep going over in your mind! XKX

[Twilkes]

Thanks to everybody for their posts, made for some great reading.

 

It is a script for a documentary about stress and depression, but touches on Asperger's syndrome in the section dealing with other people.

 

My take on AS is that if it's a spectrum then everyone is on it, even if their 'score' is zero. So many people will have mild experiences on the AS spectrum without ever seeking or needing a diagnosis.

 

I've uploaded the part of the script I'm talking about, so please tell me how it comes across from an NT to someone DXed with AS (see, I'm getting the lingo already... ). Remember though that the whole script is about mental health and happiness generally, and this is a very small part of it:

 

http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/otherpeople.rtf

 

Traits are defined as 'distinguishing characteristics of a personality' so I think that word fits, but if you can think of a more appropriate one then please let me know.

 

The film as a whole is a mix of theory, interviews, comedy sketches and monologues, so although this section is in first person, much of the rest of the film isn't.

 

 

Regards,

 

Tony

[Willow-Tree]

Hiya,

 

I read through the script. I can't really make that much sense of it, I can't really picture things in my head, characters and things. But the parts I read sounded okay. I'm not sure the traits you've picked out are the most prominent, for me anyway. I'm not sure. I think it will be better on screen. I'm still not sure about the shower thing.

 

Anyway, I'm just rambling.

 

Willow

[Twilkes]

I've actually decided to take the file down, I've shown different people different parts of it, and it just seems to confuse them! A bit like showing someone a recipe and then asking them if they like the taste of the cake.

 

I've taken on board people's comments over the weekend, so that's been a great help, thank you.

 

Tony

[Tally]

Have you tried reading some books about Asperger Syndrome or contacting the National Autistic Society? The information you are likely to get that way is more likely to be accurate, representative and backed up than what you would get from strangers on an internet forum.

[Twilkes]

Have you tried reading some books about Asperger Syndrome or contacting the National Autistic Society? The information you are likely to get that way is more likely to be accurate, representative and backed up than what you would get from strangers on an internet forum.

 

I don't really need that level of research - I've read books previously, and as long as a few people here recognised a few of the things I mentioned it means I'm not entirely off the mark, especially as it's incidental to the main content of the film. I also used to volunteer with an Asperger's student at university so I've got some first hand experience.

 

Thanks,

 

Tony

[Mumble]

I don't really need that level of research - I've read books previously, and as long as a few people here recognised a few of the things I mentioned it means I'm not entirely off the mark, especially as it's incidental to the main content of the film.

If it is incidental, why mention AS at all? Why has AS been chosen over the multitude of other conditions?

 

By portraying AS in an unresearched manner you risk running into stereotypes (as I'm afraid I think your script does in part) which will serve to alienate those dx'ed with the condition and strengthen public mis-understanding.

 

Contacting the NAS for information seems like a perfectly reasonable suggestion to me and suggesting you don't need such research seems, to me, rather arrogant. You have worked with one person with AS, therefore you know, quite simply, one person with AS. It is such an individualised condition that you cannot generalise from him to others.

 

[Willow-Tree]

If it is incidental, why mention AS at all? Why has AS been chosen over the multitude of other conditions?

 

By portraying AS in an unresearched manner you risk running into stereotypes (as I'm afraid I think your script does in part) which will serve to alienate those dx'ed with the condition and strengthen public mis-understanding.

 

Contacting the NAS for information seems like a perfectly reasonable suggestion to me and suggesting you don't need such research seems, to me, rather arrogant. You have worked with one person with AS, therefore you know, quite simply, one person with AS. It is such an individualised condition that you cannot generalise from him to others.

 

I agree completely. We all gave you our advice on here and you've kind of ignored it. Which is sort of already a step in the wrong direction.

That's just my opinion anyway.

Willow

[Twilkes]

I agree completely. We all gave you our advice on here and you've kind of ignored it. Which is sort of already a step in the wrong direction.

That's just my opinion anyway.

Willow

 

I haven't ignored anyone's advice, I've taken it on board - much of it backs up the understanding I already had, and a few comments caused me to change the angle of one of the scenes.

 

AS is brought up in the film because it's relevant to the overall topic of mental health, particularly in relation to socialising, and is something I have personal experience of. I may not be diagnosed but I can relate to those feelings.

 

Mumble, there seems to be a double-standard here, about not perpetuating stereotypes but also that any representation of AS must be representative of the condition as a whole. Asperger's is essentially diagnosed from a set of characteristics, so it's difficult to portray it in any way without being accused of perpetuating them!

 

This boils down to effectively a few comedy sketches making a point about mental health, and at no point is any fun poked at Asperger's syndrome - I could have not done any research at all and just dropped in a few gags about wearing the same clothes and counting toothpicks, but I chose to ask some real people and did genuinely listen to what they told me.

 

Tony

 

[Willow-Tree]

I may not be diagnosed but I can relate to those feelings.

 

Which feelings, exactly?

 

And why did you mention comedy? I thought you were making a documentry? Why would comedy be AT ALL approriate for talking about mental health? And, I hope your not going to put Asperger's together with a mentally ill person, and make them seem similar.

 

From Willow

Edited August 6, 2009 by Willow-Tree

[bid]

AS isn't a mental health problem, it's a neurological developmental disorder...completely different!

 

Bid

[Willow-Tree]

AS isn't a mental health problem, it's a neurological developmental disorder...completely different!

 

Bid

 

Yeah, thanks Bid. I thought so, I attempted to be calm and collected in my previous post though and didn't really make any kind of point well. Although I am kind of annoyed. I spent aaages typing out relevant information in my first post on the topic, and the person who started the topic didn't respond to me until I said something negative. And now I'm rambling. Mumble help me out, you're good at getting the point accross!

[Mumble]

Mumble, there seems to be a double-standard here, about not perpetuating stereotypes but also that any representation of AS must be representative of the condition as a whole. Asperger's is essentially diagnosed from a set of characteristics, so it's difficult to portray it in any way without being accused of perpetuating them!

Please show me where in my above postings I have stated that "any representation of AS must be representative of the condition as a whole". In fact in stating that we are all individuals, I have stated the complete opposite. There is no 'whole' to AS that immortalises what the 'true' AS being is. We are as unique as NT individuals.

 

Now, if you'll excuse me, my leader is waiting to beam me up. Us true beings have work to do analysing those confused soles they call 'NT'. Our model NTs we're working from (constructed from tooth picks - 27, 629 in each and all dressed in identical clothing) are almost ready to put through a dummy run.

 

Oh, and please do not either link AS with mental health (as Bid has said it is a neurological developmental disorder) or suggest there to be comic value in mental health. There are many forum members here who are going through or have been through things that would be difficult for some to imagine. I can tell you from personal experience that they are definitely not funny.

 

[Willow-Tree]

I can tell you from personal experience that they are definitely not funny.

I agree with that. I'd like to see people go through what I've been through and then portray it as humerous, as I'm sure many would agree, it's just not the case.

[Mumble]

AS is brought up in the film because it's relevant to the overall topic of mental health

Sorry, I'm not happy with this answer. Aside from what a number of us have already said about what AS is/isn't, I still cannot see why you appear to think it is relevant?

 

Some individuals with AS have mental health issues.

 

Some individuals with AS do not have mental health issues.

 

Some individuals without AS have mental health issues.

 

Some individuals without AS do not have mental health issues.

 

Yes, there is a statistically greater chance of having mental health issues if you are on the spectrum, but this is generally considered to be social rather than psychiatric in origin, i.e. caused by being unsupported in society rather than a hard-wired characteristic of the AS individual.

 

Many of us here, particularly those not diagnosed in childhood, have had to endure (and endure does not always seem strong enough) years of contact with mental health experts simply because we haven't been understood/recognised. There is a huge lack of understanding about where AS fits and we can be sent to mental health services because primary physicians are really not sure what to do with us. Many of us carry a huge stigma about with our diagnoses and experiences within the mental health services that have in themselves been traumatic and are not things we can simply put behind us.

 

I doubt you intended/intend harm but you risk it by perpetuating the link between the autistic spectrum and mental health issues because it would be aired on the back of poor public understanding. We have to fight seemingly daily to be understood and people such as yourself are potentially in a position to help us, but there has to be two way communication. What we are saying might not make great television though, I suppose.

 

[bid]

Mumbley, well said!

 

Bid

[Willow-Tree]

Mumbley, well said!

 

Bid

Agreed

[Twilkes]

Okay, I apologise if I have offended anybody with what I have written. That was not the intention, the intention was to clarify a few things about my understanding of Asperger's, and following that, to outline where I was coming from on this project because people seemed interested. I'm quite troubled that I managed to upset some people.

 

I can assure you that I don't think AS is a mental health issue. I've read quite a bit about Asperger's over the last ten years, partly through some of the jobs I've had, and partly because so much of it resonated with me. Reading about a ten year old boy who had to have the labels cut out of his t-shirts and couldn't wear jeans struck a chord with my own childhood. In my teens I missed my cousin's wedding because it was a hot day and I was getting too worked up and agitated about having to wear a shirt, tie and jacket; even now I have to have cold showers on a hot day, because if I'm all sweaty and have to get into my work suit I get too anxious while I'm on the train. I feel strange looking into people's eyes, and notice ridiculous details about them when I'm supposed to be listening to what they're saying; and can get lost in groups of 6-7 or more, particularly if there's background noise. The more I was aware of some of the characteristics of Asperger's Syndrome, the more I could manage them, accept them, and make them less of a problem.

 

The reason this links into mental health is because of the effects this kind of stuff can have on a person's thoughts and emotions, as I'm sure many of you know too well. There won't be any big statement about AS, nor will I be claiming that I should be diagnosed or that it is the cause of my mental health problems - just that this is some of the things I experience, and this is how they make me feel. It's less than 3 minutes in a 90 minute film.

 

The reason there's comedy involved is because every video or TV show I've seen about anxiety and depression has been flippin' depressing in itself! If you've ever seen a standup comedian talk about this kind of stuff, you'll know what an honest and cathartic experience it can be. When anxiety and depression hits it can completely floor a person, and I've been down there with the best of them, but I know that, when I wasn't at rock bottom, if I'd let myself laugh and enjoy myself a little more I would have been better off. If someone ends up watching this film and thinking 'I know what you mean' with a smile on their face then it will have done its job.

[smiley1590]

i agree mumble i have anxiety and depression so i know how it can be for 'us' to go through !