You really get Temple Grandin’s enthusiasm when she talks about brain differences. Just knowing how your brain is unusual can help people with autism better understand and control their behaviours and emotions, Grandin says in her latest book, The Autistic Brain.
She gives the example of her own brain. For instance, the amygdala is the part of the brain that processes emotions like fear. Just so happens, Grandin’s amygdala is enlarged. Since this is the part of the brain that signals the fear emotion, Grandin credits this brain anomaly with her hyper anxiety.
Because she now knows that her brain construction is probably responsible for her high levels of anxiety, she finds that anxiety easier to deal with.
Grandin gives the example of students talking under her bedroom window at night. This creates anxiety for her regardless of whether they are talking softly or loudly.
Knowing that this state of anxiety is not caused by any real threat, she can reassure herself that the problem is not outside; the problem lies within her brain.
She can then deal with the fact that threat is not real. What is real? How she feels about it. And that she can deal with.
Margaret Jean 