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Two kinds of anxiety — completely different sources. 🧠 Psychological (top-down): all sensors green, but the cortex generates a loop anyway. "What if..." Cognitive strategies can help here. #autism #actuallyAutistic #neurodiversity 🧵

🚦 Physiological (bottom-up): subcortical sensors are natively running above the normal alert baseline — even when everything is safe. Cognitive regulation doesn't fix it. The loop didn't start in the cortex.

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When the hardware runs at permanent 97% alert status, you don't crash from worry. You crash from biological burnout. Don't confuse a hardware alert for a software bug.