Autism and paranoia

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Sometimes I experience severe paranoia or what I think is paranoia. Just remember just because you are paranoid does not mean they are NOT out to get you. Yesterday was one of those days and so was at Arts Walk in my area. I am pissed at the people who deliberately singled me out to kill me through depression there. They went to the other artist and totally blew me off like I was someone that wasn't meant to succeed. They hated me because of who I am. I am serious here people, 90% of the people went to the artist in the front of the building and ignored me. That made me so angry. Sometimes I was trying to wave them over but even seeing that they looked and walked away. I hated being there. I thought it was going to be the best art show I have ever done (tens of thousands go to this event) but it turned out it was the worst. Then yesterday I was eating at a restaurant next to a window and for awhile there I was scared to death that someone was going to kill me by doing a drive by shooting. Then things got worse from there. I went to my art class and started experiencing weird symptoms. I started smelling weird things and then I thought someone was sending chemical weapons into the classroom. I felt something enter my body and I don't know what it was. So, does anyone here experience paranoia? Is there a connection to autism?

Yes I experience it a lot. I see stuff that really isn't there at all and I get very paranoid.

I know I analyze things to the point it is like being paranoid. I always try to see things in a perspective of IF this were to happen and not WHAT is happening now. I think it might me an anxiety thing.

I don't think what your describing is from paranoia as much as anxiety. If you were t describe these symptoms to a DR who was unfamiliar with AS, they would probabky assume that you were "paranoid schizophrenic". I have been in a similiar situation when I was under a great deal of stress. No one at the time(1988) knew about my AS and they called it a "psychotic break", stress induced. It also lead to periods of simi-comatose states were I could not move...it was pretty scary, (which can lead to your mind trying to figure out what is causing it and that can be paranoid thoughts...like I was being poisened, I could actually smell the gas in my apartment but the land lord did not.

My point is htat you might want to get some professional help for this but only from some one who understands adult AS. Do not go to a "general psychatrist" unless you want to be put on anti-psychotic meds. Do you have someone like that to see? If not, you should check to see if you have a local autism/aspergers group that can give you refereences to see a specialist in adult AS...(There are not many of them and it can take a long time to get an appointment )

If the anxiety becomes to over-whelming, you can consider seeing someone to perscribe anti-anxity or anti-depressant meds until you can see a specialist.

i get that too. had it since i was in primary school, and assumed that the kids picking on me were part of a wider conspiracy. also convinced that the conspiracy was the reason why i got disappointing marks at uni, and why i've not had a job since graduation.

i think most of us have it, but we use logic to back up our paranoia

Me too, I do the same thing for ANYTHING social. I've been known to plan out conversations for the whole day, with people I probably will talk too...

i know that experiencing strange smells can be indicative of a brain tumor

I feel a little paranoid, as kids make cat calls, as they walk past my apartment building, doing their mongoloid act. I know that they're the ones with the problem, and that there are no defective people, only defective attitudes.

Or a migraine, or a seizure, or plenty of other things. I smell phenoxyethanol when I have a migraine, and I can smell and taste burnt almonds (among all sort of visual disturbances) when I would have a partial seizure. Those seizures were actually caused by an antipsychotic I was taking.

About the paranoia. I do experience it quite often in little spurts. Like fleeting terror that some crazy looking monster is in my bathroom when I'm taking a shower, or outside my bathroom door when I'm brushing my teeth. Sometimes I think I'm being followed if I keep seeing patterns in licence plate numbers.

I'm also paranoid all the time about if I did the right thing, said the right thing, had the right expression on my face, was my stimming too noticeable, does everyone at work think I'm a freak, and I ever going to get an other promotion, are they talking about me in Russian over there.....that's all part of going with the territory though....constantly pretending to be someone you aren't....constantly faking it, thinking one day you'll be found out. that's a different type of paranoia I think than thinking you are being poisoned by some poisonous gas, unless you really have a reason to think something like that.......

My father has an ASD and was misdiagnosed in 1972 as a paranoid schizophrenic. He was convinced in a government conspiracy because he kept seeing patterns in license plates...it's not that uncommon for auties and aspies to recognize patterns in things that NT's don't.