Can you become autistic from being on Wrong Planet too much?
I remember reading that before. It's all true.
Quote:
Upon learning you are autistic, you might feel relieved of some degree of pressure that stems from having to push yourself hard and not knowing why. Without even meaning to, that relief can cause you to drop your guard a bit, or even be unable to continue pushing yourself as hard now that you know why you were doing it. You might spend more time around autistic people, learning autistic ways of dealing with things and possibly picking up some of their mannerisms. Behavior you have suppressed for a long time might re-emerge now that you know it's not caused by being stupid or something.
You might also be so scared that you won't be accepted as a real autistic that you start, as one person who had done so once said to me, become a "super-autistic", claiming every autistic trait you come across whether it applies to you or not. You might imitate yourself to the point of self-caricature. You might stop doing things you like doing because they don't seem autistic enough or don't conform to the stereotypes you've heard of autism. You might try so hard to regain your "lost self" that you end up creating a new facade. You might act like the autistic people you've known, figuring it's safe to act like them but not safe to do anything they don't do.
These things are fairly normal when you're learning about autism, and are not shameful. They may, in the long run, lead to self-doubt when you realize you can't tell who you are from all the stuff you're now saying and doing because you want to be sure you're really autistic. This can be a vicious cycle: First you doubt yourself, then you do something autistic-seeming, then you wonder if you were acting, then you doubt yourself, then you act, then you wonder if you were acting, and so forth. This doubt does tend to settle after awhile, and so does the acting. In fact, they often settle at the same time, when you become more comfortable with yourself and with the idea that you are autistic.
You might also be so scared that you won't be accepted as a real autistic that you start, as one person who had done so once said to me, become a "super-autistic", claiming every autistic trait you come across whether it applies to you or not. You might imitate yourself to the point of self-caricature. You might stop doing things you like doing because they don't seem autistic enough or don't conform to the stereotypes you've heard of autism. You might try so hard to regain your "lost self" that you end up creating a new facade. You might act like the autistic people you've known, figuring it's safe to act like them but not safe to do anything they don't do.
These things are fairly normal when you're learning about autism, and are not shameful. They may, in the long run, lead to self-doubt when you realize you can't tell who you are from all the stuff you're now saying and doing because you want to be sure you're really autistic. This can be a vicious cycle: First you doubt yourself, then you do something autistic-seeming, then you wonder if you were acting, then you doubt yourself, then you act, then you wonder if you were acting, and so forth. This doubt does tend to settle after awhile, and so does the acting. In fact, they often settle at the same time, when you become more comfortable with yourself and with the idea that you are autistic.
Ironically, what has helped the most has been finding alternative explanations to my behavior. Spreading out my eggs in multiple nests, so to speak, has made me care much less. I don't need an aspie label to justify my aspieness in certain instances, and likewise, if I don't need an aspie label, why do I need to convince myself every 2 minutes that I'm autistic? I don't, and realizing that has been the most liberating experience since discovering AS to begin with.
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Remember, all atrocities begin in a sensible place.
swbluto
Veteran
Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,899
Location: In the Andes, counting the stars and wondering if one of them is home to another civilization
