ABSTRACT
Left unsupported, people with Asperger's often drift into negativity and harmful thinking patterns, sometimes leading to breakdown or collapse of confidence. The author had a lot of experience in attempting to coach people forward from this position, which is a rather specialised process. This specialisation is one of the most stressful areas of work for me, although it is largely and prosaically no more than very intensive listening and reflecting. Often a strong crisis is associated with a level of obsessive-compulsive thinking, paranoia and other distorted thinking. People in crisis are experiencing inner turmoil: their thoughts are incoherent, their feelings are strong, their feeling of control weak. Coaching the system can sometimes include encouraging a person to call time on an unacceptable piece of behaviour. The linguistic tools around distortion, generalisation and deletion are probably the main tools the author uses, inviting the person to explore the falsity of the connections he perceives.
