Dealing with Aggression - Part 1- Conflicting Ages

Anger

The weather is pleasant again

at the end of the hailstorm

as it's late summer

bright and beautiful 

everything else is the same

yet the crops have suffered

That fit of rage

that boils the blood

in your nerves

and takes over your mind

That drives you

to aggression

to achieve what you think

is only freedom

Builds up like a storm,

pours down and abates

Of that I live in constant fear

for I have sowed and I have toiled

and I put up a fight as I ought to

Except it crushes me

to you, however,

the world remains unchanged.

By, Anagha Jawalekar


I request everyone not to be judgemental while reading this post. The purpose of writing this post is to share my experiences. Autism has taught me a new lesson every day. Be it awareness, acceptance, perseverance, resilience, patience, hope, or detachment in attachment.

 No, I do not intend to become a monk, but yes, over the period, these qualities have developed while working with Akshat. I am sure other fellow parents would agree with me and feel the same.

 It was in the year 2020 when Akshat started showing aggression. Whenever he got aggressive, he starts screaming, biting one of his hands, and banging the other hand on the head. Most of the time, the reason was mobile. He likes to watch songs on YouTube and listen to FM. He wanted it for an unlimited period and did not want anybody to interfere (typical teenage behavior). In the beginning, we managed it somehow, but soon it grew intense. He wanted it for unlimited time, and we want to limit his time. That was and is the main reason for conflict. Therefore, I made a schedule to regularize his mobile time, but he was so desperate that he did not want to listen to anyone.  The main problem was YouTube. He always wanted to watch it. Although he uses earphones, he keeps the volume full because of his auditory needs. As he matured, he started watching all types of songs. Therefore, that also became a headache for me. The schedule  also worked for a few days. Still, I stuck to it though it led to conflicts many times. I realized that only the schedule will not work, and I have to address the problem differently. He is so passionate about listening to music that I could not keep him away from it.

Gradually, his aggression became more intense, and he started pulling my hair. Now the anger was not only for music, but it could be for anything, anytime. He wanted freedom. He wanted to do everything as per his likes and interests (like any other neurotypical teenager). I realized that, it was the time, when he needed to learn the responsibility, but, due to lack of motivation, limited interest, and exposure, it was difficult to make him understand.

He is very inclined towards his interests and mentioned to me several times that he cannot do work that does not seem interesting to him (so is the case with all of us I think). Now, the problem was that he was only interested in music (listening and watching songs) and did not want to do anything else. However, I told him that there are several things, which you need to do sometimes out of interest.

Day by day, his anger increased, and sometimes, apparently, he got aggressive for no reason. He did not want to listen to 'NO' for anything.

The anger attacks started happening quite often when he did not have control on himself, and out of that anger, he started pulling my hair and banging his head, to both my husband and me. Since then, he pulled my hair several times and some of the times, he pulled them from the scalp. One can imagine the intensity when a 18 year old adult shows his aggression physically. It took 2-3 months to regrow the hair but it had become difficult for me to deal with all this mentally as it was happening frequently. 

Meanwhile, I was (am) also dealing with hormonal changes (probably pre-menopause). I observed that during my menses, I also had mood swings, and if he got aggressive that time, I reacted more than usual. However, I used to feel guilty about it but it had an intense effect on me too. His frequent anger attacks started affecting me. I used to cry and sometimes had panic attacks.

All three of us were aging and it is affecting each one of us differently. I concluded that it is high time that I have to understand Akshat’s phase thoroughly and prepare myself to deal with it.

In the coming post: How I am dealing with aggression

 Sharing a chat between Akshat and his counsellor, Suhasini, from his counselling session...

S: How's the weather there Akshat...

A: Its very hot...

S: Hmm...What do you do to remain cool...

A: Drink water, use fan and take bath in cold water...

S: Ok...so all these measures you use to keep your body cool...isn't it...

A: Yes...

S: And what about mind...does it also get hot in summers...

A: Yess...

S: How do you feel that heat...

A: Mood swings, anger, tightness in body...

S: Ohh...anything else...

A: There is intense trigger happen in my mind...

S: Oh...so what do you do to cool your mind...

A: music and sleep...


And on a lighter note, few days back I asked him to write something on adulthood as he completed 18...This is what he had come up with... 

  11-3-22

Adulthood

my heart open for love

good girl in nature

like katrina and madhuri

to bring love and beauty.

I laughed and laughed after reading this...Sometimes, we take disability too seriously and forget that our kids can have natural growth too...Really, I was amazed to see the scope of his thinking...

Experiencing autism everyday...

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