Adults with Aspergers Seem 'Normal' to Me

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XFilesGeek
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29 Apr 2012, 11:55 am

Sweetleaf wrote:
XFilesGeek wrote:
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But this is highly hypothetical anyway, I very much doubt many people would seek a diagnosis if they didn't have a need for support on some level or another. Few people want labels unless the label would improve their situation.


Have you read the board lately?

Several posters are going after DXes for a "sense of belonging" or to "explain why they don't fit in." I keep seeing posts popping up that are describing garden-variety introversion, but it's being regarded as "autism." I think that's a bad thing.

This is the attitude I'm specifically addressing. "Autism" is not a "personality type."

Quote:
Also, regarding economy: While working on social skills (or any other problem) with your shrink is possible with no diagnosis, it is expensive. In those countries where appointments are covered *if there is a medical reason for them*, that is most definitely a significant need for support. In such case, a diagnosis would secure future therapy - I would not be able to afford a psychologist without coverage.


An unfortunate reality of life, but DXes of actual disorders should be reserved for people who are specifically experiencing impairments.

I don't see the value in DXing someone with a mental disorder because they "might" experience impairments in the future and because "medical care is expensive." It makes about as much sense as diagnosing someone with cancer who hasn't been shown to have cancer, but who MIGHT get cancer and who MIGHT need treatment.

Technically, everyone MIGHT experience mental dysfunction in the future; however, everyone probably shouldn't be DXed with a mental disorder as a preventative measure.


I think I have mental disorders, because I am experiancing impairments right now in this part of my life. Still can't afford an official diagnoses probably, though I found a place that might be able to help for little or no cost, which I am considering. I think most people that go after a diagnoses are experiancing impairments, not worried about experiancing them in the future but actually currently experiancing them.



Well, I think it'd be pretty hard to find out how many people going for official DXes are really experiencing "impairments" and how many are just going for "self-discovery," which is why I'm largely limiting my observations to what I see here on WP.

In any case, good luck with your appointment. Yes, the U.S. healthcare system is messed-up.


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29 Apr 2012, 11:56 am

XFilesGeek wrote:
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Not everyone who 'needs' support has it, so what do you do with that....I mean luckily I am not totally alone in the world and have some friends and family who can help me, but if it was not for them I don't even know where I would be.


Not trying to be rude, but if your family is taking care of you, then you have "support," which is why I mentioned that "support" doesn't necessarily involve government welfare (which I absolutely don't have a problem with----my mother and I were on foodstamps for a time).

I occasionally volunteer at a soup kitchen for the homeless. It's obvious that many of the homeless people I see have cognitive impairments. That's where people end-up who have absolutely no support in life.

My family does not take care of me, some of them help me with some things.....but there is only so much any of them can do. I also have to deal with a lot of family that's not very supportive and who i don't really have any connection with. But yeah I do have some support...in my life but I have a lot of non-support and painful memories of being in an unhealthy social environment much of the time.

Quote:
But I cannot afford professional 'support' regardless of how much I do struggle with my symptoms and not just AS.....with the AS I've learned it is how my brain functions so I have to try to work with that.....not against it other then that my co-morbid disorders can be hell. If one has a consistant disorder, I would think it would actually be detrimental to just try to push through issues until there is no doubt about it that you need help....with some disorders the longer you post pone adressing it the worse it gets. That's what's happened with my depression, anxiety and PTSD.....as for the AS it was never identified when I was a child so it might not have gotten 'worse' but the differences it caused between me and most people seemed to bring on mis-treatment from other students and some teachers and I had to cope with feeling like I don't belong and the lonliness and pain it caused certainly took its toll.


Based on your what I know about you from your posting history, I think you fall into the category that you pretty obviously need support and thereby SHOULD receive a DX. :wink:

To reiterate, I'm mainly addressing the attitude that AS/ASDs are just "introversion" or that people should seek a DX of a mental disorder in order to "explain why they feel different."

Alright well that makes a bit more sense, though I will admit part of why I wondered what was 'wrong' with me or whatever was because I wondered why I felt so different from everyone else, certainly not the only reason but it certainly was part of it. So I am not sure there is anything nessisarily wrong with that question leading one to seek out a diagnoses.

My own experiences are probably coloring my view because my DX didn't happen because I decided to stroll down to the local shrink's office on a Sunday afternoon for the purposes of "self-discovery." Being DXed is kind of a big deal.


Yeah that could be, and I can kind of see your point I mean it seems like some people think its just a personality type or whatever that doesn't cause anyone problems so I can understand your frustration with that...because I also actually struggle with things and so the idea that its just a personality type and my issues are just due to being too lazy or whatever does bother me as its horribly inaccurate.


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nessa238
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29 Apr 2012, 12:00 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
XFilesGeek wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
Not everyone who 'needs' support has it, so what do you do with that....I mean luckily I am not totally alone in the world and have some friends and family who can help me, but if it was not for them I don't even know where I would be.


Not trying to be rude, but if your family is taking care of you, then you have "support," which is why I mentioned that "support" doesn't necessarily involve government welfare (which I absolutely don't have a problem with----my mother and I were on foodstamps for a time).

I occasionally volunteer at a soup kitchen for the homeless. It's obvious that many of the homeless people I see have cognitive impairments. That's where people end-up who have absolutely no support in life.

My family does not take care of me, some of them help me with some things.....but there is only so much any of them can do. I also have to deal with a lot of family that's not very supportive and who i don't really have any connection with. But yeah I do have some support...in my life but I have a lot of non-support and painful memories of being in an unhealthy social environment much of the time.

Quote:
But I cannot afford professional 'support' regardless of how much I do struggle with my symptoms and not just AS.....with the AS I've learned it is how my brain functions so I have to try to work with that.....not against it other then that my co-morbid disorders can be hell. If one has a consistant disorder, I would think it would actually be detrimental to just try to push through issues until there is no doubt about it that you need help....with some disorders the longer you post pone adressing it the worse it gets. That's what's happened with my depression, anxiety and PTSD.....as for the AS it was never identified when I was a child so it might not have gotten 'worse' but the differences it caused between me and most people seemed to bring on mis-treatment from other students and some teachers and I had to cope with feeling like I don't belong and the lonliness and pain it caused certainly took its toll.


Based on your what I know about you from your posting history, I think you fall into the category that you pretty obviously need support and thereby SHOULD receive a DX. :wink:

To reiterate, I'm mainly addressing the attitude that AS/ASDs are just "introversion" or that people should seek a DX of a mental disorder in order to "explain why they feel different."

Alright well that makes a bit more sense, though I will admit part of why I wondered what was 'wrong' with me or whatever was because I wondered why I felt so different from everyone else, certainly not the only reason but it certainly was part of it. So I am not sure there is anything nessisarily wrong with that question leading one to seek out a diagnoses.

My own experiences are probably coloring my view because my DX didn't happen because I decided to stroll down to the local shrink's office on a Sunday afternoon for the purposes of "self-discovery." Being DXed is kind of a big deal.


Yeah that could be, and I can kind of see your point I mean it seems like some people think its just a personality type or whatever that doesn't cause anyone problems so I can understand your frustration with that...because I also actually struggle with things and so the idea that its just a personality type and my issues are just due to being too lazy or whatever does bother me as its horribly inaccurate.


I never said people were being lazy - I said they needed to be aware that ALL people struggle with varying difficulties and focusing on the solution rather than the problem is more constructive

You dont need a diagnosis to develop coping strategies - you say 'what is my problem and how can I try and deal with it?'



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29 Apr 2012, 12:03 pm

nessa238 wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
I think I have mental disorders, because I am experiancing impairments right now in this part of my life. Still can't afford an official diagnoses probably, though I found a place that might be able to help for little or no cost, which I am considering. I think most people that go after a diagnoses are experiancing impairments, not worried about experiancing them in the future but actually currently experiancing them.


And we all know they can be experiencend on and off from minute to minute right?


Well not quite sure what you are implying, but more or less.....I mean I am not constantly in the midst of a panic attack 24/7 I might be my general anxious/depressed self and then all the sudden a panic attack can come on un-expectedly. Or if I hear a sudden loud noise it will freak me out and it can take quite some time for me to recover....there are however some things that are more consistant like I struggle with eye contact in general, I process things more slow in general my sensory issues are pretty consistant. But to put it simply it is true some days are worse than others.

But no its not as though I have symptoms of mental illness/disorders one minute and then not the next.....the severity of the symptoms can vary at times but I am never without symptoms/impairments. I have found some ways to help reduce some of the symptoms but that is about it.


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Last edited by Sweetleaf on 29 Apr 2012, 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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29 Apr 2012, 12:08 pm

nessa238 wrote:

I never said people were being lazy - I said they needed to be aware that ALL people struggle with varying difficulties and focusing on the solution rather than the problem is more constructive

You dont need a diagnosis to develop coping strategies - you say 'what is my problem and how can I try and deal with it?'


That was not even directed at you, I was just saying people assume that....if you don't then that is a good thing. But I know all people struggle with varying difficulties, but for one the solutions are not always apparent...not to mention there might not even be a great solution. I do try to figure out what my problems are and how to deal with it or cope with it...for the depression, anxiety and PTSD there isa drug that works quite nicely so the solution is to use it.

Now of course not everyone would agree with that solution......some people might think it's the worst possible solution(even though doctors prescribe people drugs all the time). But its a coping stragedy none the less.


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Last edited by Sweetleaf on 29 Apr 2012, 1:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

nessa238
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29 Apr 2012, 1:01 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
nessa238 wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
XFilesGeek wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
Not everyone who 'needs' support has it, so what do you do with that....I mean luckily I am not totally alone in the world and have some friends and family who can help me, but if it was not for them I don't even know where I would be.


Not trying to be rude, but if your family is taking care of you, then you have "support," which is why I mentioned that "support" doesn't necessarily involve government welfare (which I absolutely don't have a problem with----my mother and I were on foodstamps for a time).

I occasionally volunteer at a soup kitchen for the homeless. It's obvious that many of the homeless people I see have cognitive impairments. That's where people end-up who have absolutely no support in life.

My family does not take care of me, some of them help me with some things.....but there is only so much any of them can do. I also have to deal with a lot of family that's not very supportive and who i don't really have any connection with. But yeah I do have some support...in my life but I have a lot of non-support and painful memories of being in an unhealthy social environment much of the time.

Quote:
But I cannot afford professional 'support' regardless of how much I do struggle with my symptoms and not just AS.....with the AS I've learned it is how my brain functions so I have to try to work with that.....not against it other then that my co-morbid disorders can be hell. If one has a consistant disorder, I would think it would actually be detrimental to just try to push through issues until there is no doubt about it that you need help....with some disorders the longer you post pone adressing it the worse it gets. That's what's happened with my depression, anxiety and PTSD.....as for the AS it was never identified when I was a child so it might not have gotten 'worse' but the differences it caused between me and most people seemed to bring on mis-treatment from other students and some teachers and I had to cope with feeling like I don't belong and the lonliness and pain it caused certainly took its toll.


Based on your what I know about you from your posting history, I think you fall into the category that you pretty obviously need support and thereby SHOULD receive a DX. :wink:

To reiterate, I'm mainly addressing the attitude that AS/ASDs are just "introversion" or that people should seek a DX of a mental disorder in order to "explain why they feel different."

Alright well that makes a bit more sense, though I will admit part of why I wondered what was 'wrong' with me or whatever was because I wondered why I felt so different from everyone else, certainly not the only reason but it certainly was part of it. So I am not sure there is anything nessisarily wrong with that question leading one to seek out a diagnoses.

My own experiences are probably coloring my view because my DX didn't happen because I decided to stroll down to the local shrink's office on a Sunday afternoon for the purposes of "self-discovery." Being DXed is kind of a big deal.


Yeah that could be, and I can kind of see your point I mean it seems like some people think its just a personality type or whatever that doesn't cause anyone problems so I can understand your frustration with that...because I also actually struggle with things and so the idea that its just a personality type and my issues are just due to being too lazy or whatever does bother me as its horribly inaccurate.


I never said people were being lazy - I said they needed to be aware that ALL people struggle with varying difficulties and focusing on the solution rather than the problem is more constructive

You dont need a diagnosis to develop coping strategies - you say 'what is my problem and how can I try and deal with it?'


That was not even directed at you, I was just saying people assume that....if you don't then that is a good thing. But I know all people struggle with varying difficulties, but for one the solutions are not always apparent...not to mention there might not even be a great solution. I do try to figure out what my problems are and how to deal with it or cope with it...for the depression, anxiety and PTSD there isa drug that works quite nicely so the solution is to use it.

Now of course not everyone would agree with that solution......some people might think it's the worst possible solution(even though doctors prescribe people drugs all the time). But its a coping stragedy none the less.


Which drug is it?



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29 Apr 2012, 1:11 pm

nessa238 wrote:
Which drug is it?


cannabis, so obviously there are a few issues with that considering its legal status.


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29 Apr 2012, 1:20 pm

nessa238 wrote:
You dont need a diagnosis to develop coping strategies - you say 'what is my problem and how can I try and deal with it?'


You're right, not all coping strategies require diagnosis.

What you're wrong about is that some help does require a diagnosis.

I knew about my Asperger's, worked on coping skills with on and off identification with a label for 9 years before I was diagnosed. I was told at age 13 by a professional that I probably had Asperger's, yet she'd not be capable of diagnosing me. Even before that point I'd been developing coping strategies, though that had been a turning point (for other reasons, like swapping me into a school where I dealt with far less bullying).

However those coping skills, all that work, wasn't enough for the situation I ended up in in the past few years. In the past few years things have gotten to the point where I needed professional therapy. We tried me with a few different counselors, and none of them worked at all, one even made things worse because of the assumptions she made about me (which would be true for most NTs). I needed my diagnosis, because my diagnosis is what finally allowed me to see a therapist who can actually help.

I'm still in really bad shape now, and in some ways in worse shape now than when I started this process, but this is finally giving me a method of improvement where I'm actually seeing improvement. Seeing someone who knows about the autistic spectrum, which required a diagnosis, has helped me work on things I need to, and while I don't have many solutions yet, that was professional help was necessary for me to identify some of the internal problems. One of the most recent things I've figured out is through conversations on here, and then work with my therapist, is how the guilt from being dependent on people affects me.

That's one of the things you seem to be overlooking. I don't want to be getting the help I am; I don't want to need the help I'm getting from people. I actually have huge problems with guilt because of needing the help you're accusing me of taking advantage of people to get despite not needing.

There are other things I've gotten that are allowing me to work on things in ways I couldn't have before my diagnosis. The insurance industry has put me in the situation of now that I've gotten a diagnosis they will cover Occupational Therapy for me, which is something that actually could help my severe sensory issues. Reduced fare public transit is the only thing that lets me get to some places that I go in order to work on issues (both with professionals and not), because I'm not employed, despite that being something I'm working on and trying for. My diagnosis has completely changed how my dad interacts with me, into a way that is far more functional and allows me to work on issues around him (because before that point he had been projecting his mental health problems onto me and claiming I was dealing with things I wasn't, and should be medicated for things that I've been evaluated for and don't have.)


You're right, you can absolutely develop coping strategies without a diagnosis, and everyone should do so. But the diagnosis can allow someone far more coping strategies as well as professional help that is really a game changer when it comes to us working on the situations we're in.



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29 Apr 2012, 1:51 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
nessa238 wrote:
Which drug is it?


cannabis, so obviously there are a few issues with that considering its legal status.


Interesting

I tried it once but it didn't suit me



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29 Apr 2012, 1:58 pm

Tuttle wrote:
nessa238 wrote:
You dont need a diagnosis to develop coping strategies - you say 'what is my problem and how can I try and deal with it?'


You're right, not all coping strategies require diagnosis.

What you're wrong about is that some help does require a diagnosis.

I knew about my Asperger's, worked on coping skills with on and off identification with a label for 9 years before I was diagnosed. I was told at age 13 by a professional that I probably had Asperger's, yet she'd not be capable of diagnosing me. Even before that point I'd been developing coping strategies, though that had been a turning point (for other reasons, like swapping me into a school where I dealt with far less bullying).

However those coping skills, all that work, wasn't enough for the situation I ended up in in the past few years. In the past few years things have gotten to the point where I needed professional therapy. We tried me with a few different counselors, and none of them worked at all, one even made things worse because of the assumptions she made about me (which would be true for most NTs). I needed my diagnosis, because my diagnosis is what finally allowed me to see a therapist who can actually help.

I'm still in really bad shape now, and in some ways in worse shape now than when I started this process, but this is finally giving me a method of improvement where I'm actually seeing improvement. Seeing someone who knows about the autistic spectrum, which required a diagnosis, has helped me work on things I need to, and while I don't have many solutions yet, that was professional help was necessary for me to identify some of the internal problems. One of the most recent things I've figured out is through conversations on here, and then work with my therapist, is how the guilt from being dependent on people affects me.

That's one of the things you seem to be overlooking. I don't want to be getting the help I am; I don't want to need the help I'm getting from people. I actually have huge problems with guilt because of needing the help you're accusing me of taking advantage of people to get despite not needing.

There are other things I've gotten that are allowing me to work on things in ways I couldn't have before my diagnosis. The insurance industry has put me in the situation of now that I've gotten a diagnosis they will cover Occupational Therapy for me, which is something that actually could help my severe sensory issues. Reduced fare public transit is the only thing that lets me get to some places that I go in order to work on issues (both with professionals and not), because I'm not employed, despite that being something I'm working on and trying for. My diagnosis has completely changed how my dad interacts with me, into a way that is far more functional and allows me to work on issues around him (because before that point he had been projecting his mental health problems onto me and claiming I was dealing with things I wasn't, and should be medicated for things that I've been evaluated for and don't have.)


You're right, you can absolutely develop coping strategies without a diagnosis, and everyone should do so. But the diagnosis can allow someone far more coping strategies as well as professional help that is really a game changer when it comes to us working on the situations we're in.


I see what you mean

"I'm still in really bad shape now, and in some ways in worse shape now than when I started this process"

Can you be more specific as to why you feel 'in worse shape' than before you started the process?



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29 Apr 2012, 2:03 pm

nessa238 wrote:
"I'm still in really bad shape now, and in some ways in worse shape now than when I started this process"

Can you be more specific as to why you feel 'in worse shape' than before you started the process?


They're not to do with the process, just to do with what life has given me.

There are things going on around me that are very much not good and that are affecting me a lot, and along with that someone betrayed me badly and can't understand this and can't understand how its affecting me.

It's just that I can't say everything is better because of going through this, I can just say that there is improvement and potential for improvement and that the ability to improve has been solidly increasing, while improving itself hasn't necessary been because of other issues.



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29 Apr 2012, 2:55 pm

nessa238 wrote:
Quote of the day:-

"With things like ADHD, a pill will resolve most of the problems in a huge majority of cases."

:roll:


Well, in a *majority* (not all) of cases, medication will resolve *most* (not all) problems. I am very much aware that severe ADHD can't be medicated away, but for every such case I hear about, I hear about several others where Ritalin (or similar) resolved most of the problems.

I also notice you ignored the rest of my arguments, and singled out a quote that was meant as a *comparison* to autism (and what resources it takes to manage it). That's a commonly used technique to avoid replying to arguments, without admitting you don't really have anything more to say.



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29 Apr 2012, 3:07 pm

RLgnome wrote:
nessa238 wrote:
Quote of the day:-

"With things like ADHD, a pill will resolve most of the problems in a huge majority of cases."

:roll:


Well, in a *majority* (not all) of cases, medication will resolve *most* (not all) problems. I am very much aware that severe ADHD can't be medicated away, but for every such case I hear about, I hear about several others where Ritalin (or similar) resolved most of the problems.

I also notice you ignored the rest of my arguments, and singled out a quote that was meant as a *comparison* to autism (and what resources it takes to manage it). That's a commonly used technique to avoid replying to arguments, without admitting you don't really have anything more to say.


You evidently know me so well!

What did I have for dinner this evening btw? Surely you know that too

I was pointing out the ADHD quote because of the sheer irony about autistic issues being gone into to such a level of pedantic detail as to blow a person's mind and yet for ADHD it's just 'Take a pill!'

The contrast is hilarious!

People don't reply to whole posts of mine, so there's no incentive for me to pedantically reply to every part of any of your posts, just to please you!

I'm having to reply to a lot more posts on this thread than the average poster anyway, so it's more time consuming, as in case you hadn't noticed I've been keeping this thread going!

My intellectual input has stimulated a lot of debate and the moment I lose interest in it it will sink like a stone I can assure you! :)



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29 Apr 2012, 3:09 pm

Tuttle wrote:
nessa238 wrote:
"I'm still in really bad shape now, and in some ways in worse shape now than when I started this process"

Can you be more specific as to why you feel 'in worse shape' than before you started the process?


They're not to do with the process, just to do with what life has given me.

There are things going on around me that are very much not good and that are affecting me a lot, and along with that someone betrayed me badly and can't understand this and can't understand how its affecting me.

It's just that I can't say everything is better because of going through this, I can just say that there is improvement and potential for improvement and that the ability to improve has been solidly increasing, while improving itself hasn't necessary been because of other issues.


Can you quantify what the exact benefits of the therapy are then?



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29 Apr 2012, 3:21 pm

For me, the diagnosis helped me figure out the sources of my problems, so I could take actions to function bester.

For eggsample, I used to have daily shutdowns after an hour or two spent in lab, and I never knew what was the problem eggsacly, only that I felt discombobulated and seemed to lose more and more of my cognitive functions as the day went on. One of the functions that I lost quickly was the ability to communicate coherently with other people in lab. It takes a lot of mental resources for me to speak my thoughts, so when my brain is not functioning well, communication is the first function that goes.

Anyway, I never figured out what was my problem with the shutdowns until I got diagnosed and researched autism and related to other autistic people eggsperiencing the same things. I had always hated the brightness and flickering and humming of fluorescent lights, but prior to getting diagnosed, I had never made the connection between sensory hypersensitivity to brightness, flicker, and background noise and mental fatigue caused by overstimulation. In my case, these sensory stimuli caused frequent shutdowns that really limited my functioning. So when I traced back the problem to its source was when I could finally take action to counteract it. For me, counteracting the problem means limiting my exposure to fluorescent lights, other overhead lights, and background noise, such as by planning my shopping trips so I spend as little time in the store as possible, and taking precautions against the stimuli, such as by wearing a baseball cap and earplugs to block out the stimuli. I also learned by accident that doing some repetitive activities when I feel overloaded helps to reset my brain back to a functional state, so I play Bejeweled Blitz whenever I feel a shutdown coming on.

In terms of social functioning, I never made the connection between facial eggspressions and states of mind of people before my diagnosis. For me, part of autism was not picking up on really simple social stuff like this on my own. Now that I know this important fact, I can actually pay more attention to what facial eggspressions mean instead of thinking that they are just parts of people's faces moving while I watched and thought nothing of them.

These coping mechanisms I developed after my diagnosis, which allowed me to understand the sources of various problems that I had.

Talk therapy with an understanding therapist who accepts that I am autistic and does not try to make me non-autistic has also helped me a lot lot lot, because I learned to verbalize my thoughts not in words, so I could finally communicate more spontaneously from my real-time thoughts instead of relying on short scripted responses.



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29 Apr 2012, 3:23 pm

XFilesGeek wrote:
Have you read the board lately?

Several posters are going after DXes for a "sense of belonging" or to "explain why they don't fit in." I keep seeing posts popping up that are describing garden-variety introversion, but it's being regarded as "autism." I think that's a bad thing.


"Several posters" doesn't equal "many". I didn't say they don't exist, I said they weren't "many". As a parallel; While most MMO boards are full of people complaining, threatening to sue the developer for minor (and sometimes major or intermediate) problems, the majority of the player base might be happy with the game. A forum is to a game what a hospital is to a city. Here, the situation is somewhat different, but of course (most of) the few that are of that attitude in the general population, will be drawn toward this kind of forum. That doesn't mean they're many in the general population.

Quote:
This is the attitude I'm specifically addressing. "Autism" is not a "personality type."


To that I agree.

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An unfortunate reality of life, but DXes of actual disorders should be reserved for people who are specifically experiencing impairments.


If you need psych help to get your social skills straight, you are specifically experiencing impairments.

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I don't see the value in DXing someone with a mental disorder because they "might" experience impairments in the future and because "medical care is expensive." It makes about as much sense as diagnosing someone with cancer who hasn't been shown to have cancer, but who MIGHT get cancer and who MIGHT need treatment.


Bad comparison. The ones I'm speaking about DO have AS, but they're not currently in need of support. If you don't have cancer, you don't have cancer. A better (but not perfect) comparison would be being HIV positive. In most cases, people with the virus don't need antiretroviral medication until after several years. Yet, if they test positively for HIV, they don't postpone the diagnosis until meds are needed.

And as I've repeated twice, I AGREE that an assessment should be postponed if someone isn't in need of support at the present time. But if an assessment *already is under way*, for some reason or another (trigger happy general practitioner or school, non-strategic thinking by the patient, workplace insists), the specialist shouldn't conclude that the person *does not have* AS due to the lack of need for support. That could, and most probably will, make things hard for the patient if that need arises later. However, it could be the specialist would be wise to advise the person to cancel the assessment for now. What I'm talking about, is not that, it's concluding the patient *doesn't have* a genetic disorder when he or she actually has it.

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Technically, everyone MIGHT experience mental dysfunction in the future; however, everyone probably shouldn't be DXed with a mental disorder as a preventative measure.


Most mental disorders aren't congenital and permanent. ASDs are. If you have an ASD, you have it, even if you don't need support. If you don't need support, you don't need the diagnosis, but that doesn't mean you don't have the condition.