Mood Surfing Workshop – I need it!

by Seana Smith on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Have you heard of ASPIA? As far as I am aware (corrections welcome) ASPIA is the only organisation in Australia providing support and information for those living with a partner who has Asperger’s Syndrome.  ASPIA is based in Sydney and it runs some terrific workshops and information sessions.

The next workshop is to be presented by Clinical Psychologist Dr Julie Peterson, who runs the Embracing the Other Half Psychology Clinic in Sydney.  It is called:

“Mood Surfing:  The Art of Emotion Regulation” Challenges and Interventions.”

Here’s what the flyer says:

Individuals in everyday life regularly experience both strong positive and negative emotions within themselves and those around them. While strong emotions themselves are not inherently bad and often serve a very important role in our daily lives, the over-expression of strong emotion can at times be confronting, challenging, terrifying and exhausting for all involved if emotions are not regulated well.

Emotions often take on a wave like quality with some individuals experiencing larger and more frequent waves. Unfortunately, without the appropriate knowledge, skills and strategies many individuals, couples and families find themselves being dumped or drowned by the waves. This is particularly so for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD and other significant mood disorders.

This workshop incorporates the latest neuroscience and clinical research in the area of emotion regulation and covers the essential knowledge and skills needed to surf, negotiate, ride and survive emotional waves.

This is a workshop I really need to attend as we are currently having all sorts of challenges and I certainly need some assistance with interventions.  Here’s an example:

My son Tom is 13 years old now and he has discovered girls and is most interested in the entire topic.  In fact, he has a huge crush on one girl.  He gets incredibly agitated when he thinks and talks about her, his emotions explode, he can’t keep still and needs to jump around. Tom’s language skills certainly can’t keep up with his emotions and it’s clear that this adds to his frustration.

I’m sure most 13 year old boys don’t discuss their crushes the way Tom does with me, but he just cannot contain himself.  He is a seething mass of hormones and emotions- a very volatile mixture.

Having a lovestruck teenager in the house has made the decades crash away and I can vividly recall my own feelings as a teenager, when I was first succumbing to the charms of the opposite sex.  (Sadly my first crush never succumbed to mine and gave me up so he could spend more time with his ferrets.)

I, too, was a wreck… but I kept it inside most of the time, and certainly didn’t give my mum a blow-by-blow account of the gory emotional details.

Tom had been sending a text to the (oblivious) object of his emotional explosions one evening and was all a’flutter and then dashing about the house…. I made the silly error of then suggesting he get on with some homework… he really did explode and in fact I thought he was going to land a huge punch on me.

Well, I wouldn’t really have blamed him.  I chose the worst possible moment to discuss homework.

Anyway, oh dear… teeangers with ASD plus hormones plus a love interest… a mere mum can’t be expected to cope alone.  I need that workshop!

If anyone reading has information about similar organisations and workshops, please do pass them on and we will add them to the archives here.