Mild Autism + Highly Sensitive Person

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Well, the APA didn't accept it into the DSM-5. My understanding is that SPD was not sufficiently distinguished from ASD.

Understandable. I mean that SPD was defined in significant part by observations of autistic children.

Yes. Someone would need to conduct research showing that SPD can be found outside of ASD.

The APA tries to be careful. They have made lots of mistakes in the past. For instance, schizoid disorder of childhood or adolescence was in the DSM-III. The diagnosis was removed from the DSM-III-R. The APA argued that the characteristics in schizoid disorder of childhood or adolescence were not separate from pervasive developmental disorder. Originally (going back a hundred years), the APA also supported eugenics.

HSP isn't only SPD and needn't even include the SPD aspects, as I understand it.

Yea, I think SPD traits severe enough to warrant a diagnosis are going to be more extreme and debilitating, and are usually associated with autism, not HSP. The vast majority of HSP people don't have severe sensory issues, especially if the definition supposedly includes 20% of the population. 20% seems kind of arbitrary to me. I don't get where that came from. I'd rather say it's something like 5%. I haven't bothered to actually read all the info/theory though.

Join the club! I don't like being hugged, as a rule, but Dr. Aron's checklist for an HSP fits like confortable pair of shoes, as far as I'm concerned.

This whole thread is awesome i am going to bump so i can find it later..

they are shorthand for how you feel, and most people have many different feelings of which the selection of emoticons here barely does justice.

This is funny, it is such an old post!
To be honest emoticons have always been confusing to me. Those are the ones I have figured out:

quite impressive uh? hehehe I am proud

the rest is just nonsense to me, like those:


what the hell?

also what is the difference of things like:
and ; and

go figure!

This is funny, it is such an old post!
To be honest emoticons have always been confusing to me. Those are the ones I have figured out:

quite impressive uh? hehehe I am proud

the rest is just nonsense to me, like those:


what the hell?

The first one means "shame on you," the second is a "salute." The third, I believe, means someone has an "idea." The fourth I have no idea about.also what is the difference of things like:
and ; and

In the first group, the first one is frowning, and the second one looks like the Devil. In the second group, the first one is sticking out his/her tongue; the other is a wide grin.

you have a right to be proud of your accomplishment the first smiley is when somebody says something rude or cuts one to the quick about something they couldn't help. the second one is a salute for a good deed. the 3rd one is an expression of lust or intense desire or wanting something a lot. the fourth one is an expression of determination, AKA "i'll win!"


the first one is angry, the second one is VERY angry, the third one is saying "NYAH NYAH NYAH" and the fourth one is a very happy smiley.

I can relate 100%. I am a HSP and I have Aspergers also. I don't see how they could be on opposite sides of the spectrum. I am sure I am both.

when Marshall said "Aspies" can be divided into two different types. There's the highly sensitive type and there's the blunt "logical" type. Both types may be emotionally sensitive inside, but the former have more cognitive empathy and are less black-and-white than the latter. It seems these two personality types clash like oil and water on here - it made me think or realize that I have both inside of me that behave sorta like dr. jeckel and mr. hyde, IOW they both struggle for supremacy.

I was wondering who brought this old thread back to life! Poor auntblabby. It's too hard to stealthily resurrect a zombie thread in this forum without somebody noticing. People on the spectrum pay too close attention to minor details like dates on posts.

it was from last September, it wasn't so old, it was in suspended animation so I just woke it up rather than reanimated it.

Wow, that was actually my first post! It sure isn't that old but so much in my life changed in those months! By that time I had just discovered aspergers and to be honest I didn't pay much attention and didn't use to participate in WP much. And now not only I have discovered I have aspergers but also got my diagnosis! Crazy. I am a completely different person now.
one of the reasons I didn't consider aspergers back then was exactly your question. I thought aspies were cold and non-emotional. Nonsense!
Tania Marshall has experience with more than a thousand female aspies, and guess what! One of the common traits was hyperempathy! You read it right! http://taniaannmarshall.wordpress.com/2 ... perpowers/
my theory is that many autistics have hyperempathy but humans are just too complicated, so they may manifest it in animals and nature instead.
about the post question, now I can answer it properly because I learned so much in those months. The theory that aspergers and hsp are opposites: again, nonsense! I have both and I am not a rare case! Many topics here in WP are about highly-sensitivity, even if they are not talking about Aron they are describing the experiences and traits of sensitivity. I discovered specialists also show highly-sensitive traits seem to be very common in aspies! Tania Marshall, Rudy Simone.
about the sensory sensitivity of hsp's, it is usually low limiar of input, for instance, they are not distressed by certain sounds but rather in a party with loud songs they get tired quickly.

Last edited by linatet on 22 May 2014, 11:27 am, edited 3 times in total.