I had to smile when I heard your alarm to go outside go off, because I do something similar! I set the stopwatch on my phone for whatever amount of time I feel would make it feel safe for me to go outside (for example if a parcel has been delivered to my house). I really struggle when people sneeze or cough - just the sound of someone sneezing makes me stressed (and angry if I'm honest). I live on a small terrace and I sometimes can hear one of my neighbour's sneezing (she is very loud) and even though I'm in my own home, it gives me a contaminated feeling. OCD is horrible. I'm really interested in how autism is diagnosed in different places and wonder if some countries are more lenient or stricter than others. I have seen people online mention their assessments and was quite shocked by how different they seemed from my own experience. I've seen some people describe assessments in which no attempt to interview family members took place, assessments that only last an hour etc. Maybe there needs to be more standardisation that allows for clinical judgment but which would give everyone a very similar assessment.
Apologies if sound in background distracts - I have to have ''white noise'' on to focus when doing videos, although I turn it down in video number 2 as had it on too loud lol
I had to smile when I heard your alarm to go outside go off, because I do something similar! I set the stopwatch on my phone for whatever amount of time I feel would make it feel safe for me to go outside (for example if a parcel has been delivered to my house). I really struggle when people sneeze or cough - just the sound of someone sneezing makes me stressed (and angry if I'm honest). I live on a small terrace and I sometimes can hear one of my neighbour's sneezing (she is very loud) and even though I'm in my own home, it gives me a contaminated feeling. OCD is horrible.
I'm really interested in how autism is diagnosed in different places and wonder if some countries are more lenient or stricter than others. I have seen people online mention their assessments and was quite shocked by how different they seemed from my own experience. I've seen some people describe assessments in which no attempt to interview family members took place, assessments that only last an hour etc. Maybe there needs to be more standardisation that allows for clinical judgment but which would give everyone a very similar assessment.
I suggest the book "Overcoming unwanted Intrusive thoughts " helped me a lot with my ocd
Thanks Anna. Yes I am a kiwi (New Zealand citizen). I have lived in Australia for a bit. The accents sound similar to people overseas.
Apologies if sound in background distracts - I have to have ''white noise'' on to focus when doing videos, although I turn it down in video number 2 as had it on too loud lol