Do you think some comorbids are actually Autistic traits?

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ASPartOfMe
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22 Apr 2019, 12:31 pm

I do.

I think saying "that is not caused by autism, but by co morbids" is used by autistic supremacists and shiny aspies and just people trying to fight off "ret*d" stereotypes to dismiss difficulties other autistics are having.

Sensory sensitivities was once considered a co morbid, now it is in the DSM 5
Enough Autistics have Executive Dysfunction that I think it is a trait.

Anxiety and depression is not so clear cut, these are probably not caused by autism but just being a small minority in an NT world.


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littlebee
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22 Apr 2019, 12:53 pm

Hi. Interesting, but I am having trouble soring out what you are trying to say. Sometimes when I try to untangle the tangles I get it all even more tangled. It would maybe be a good idea to define autism first, but that is probably not so easy to do:-)



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22 Apr 2019, 4:14 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:
I do.

I think saying "that is not caused by autism, but by co morbids" is used by autistic supremacists and shiny aspies and just people trying to fight off "ret*d" stereotypes to dismiss difficulties other autistics are having.

Sensory sensitivities was once considered a co morbid, now it is in the DSM 5
Enough Autistics have Executive Dysfunction that I think it is a trait.

Anxiety and depression is not so clear cut, these are probably not caused by autism but just being a small minority in an NT world.


I saw somewhere in an autism talk that the average autistic amygdala is 3x larger than the average NT amygdala. This would suggest there is an intrinsic link between autism and anxiety.

Executive dysfunction seems to be common as well.


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Edna3362
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22 Apr 2019, 4:29 pm

Of course it does. I've seen more than enough of it and how it makes sense.

Sometimes they are playing in my mind though, trying to untangle weird wires of concepts of thoughts and it's not limited to tangles but what I may find to said tangles if the wires are merged instead of separated yet knotted all over.

Autism can cause said comorbids, not only some environmental and internal triggers and circumstance.

Initial comorbids are different from circumstantial comorbids.
The former IS caused by autism's influence and usually subtle and likely undetected, and it usually comes out as a learning disability to work around with.
The latter is easy to be mistaken by the latter and is more or less overt -- these comorbids are usually treatable if not preventable.

Then there's the vulnerability comorbids as the name suggests "prone to X", "likely will have Y". It's either the two or the combination of the above, and can happen at some stages of life -- and yet this varies from autistic to another.


This is what I would really like to see -- the difference between allistic GDD from autism's GDD. The same logic with giftedness and savantism.
The difference between allistic sensory disintegration from autistic sensory disintegration, there are many questions here.
The same said what makes a learning disability common within the spectrum and what makes it different from allistic populations other than the usual social stuff. What's the 'why is learning disabilities as an outcome'?
The line between autism's 'dyspraxia' from allistic dyspraxia. The line between autism's/asperger's NVLD, from allistic NVLD. The line between autism's emotional dysregulation and social delays from mood and personality disorders.
What explains autism's nonverbal echolalia, from mechanisms or causes different and unrelated to autism. What made ADHD and autism that seem to be related? Etc...
I can go as far as autistic's concept of sociality from allistic's concept of sociality -- and how are they still similarly human.


It explains learning disabilities, sensory and cognitive processing, and the variation of aptitude and personality profiles.
And I do think that autism would need an entirely different section of biological studies, seeing that autism research can cause discoveries not related to autism. :lol:


As for the OP? Hmm... :twisted:

It shouldn't limit itself to 'sensitivities' or even the concept of 'sensory' at all. I do think it's deeper than that, but I cannot say which is except perhaps a form of dysregulation, but not all a form of dyaregulation but it's the closest word for it.

Executive dysfunction is can be a two way thing unlike learning disabilities that doesn't get 'worse', but the energy and access on work arounds matters more in which an EF skill itself that gets 'worse' along with the learning disabilties, it can have the same logic with autism itself -- whether it is caused by usually medical comorbid(s) to worsen EF or is a form of autistic learning disability trait should the 'dysregulatory' part is severe enough and even without any other factors than the neurology itself.
The question here is which is more common? -- Executive Dysfunction via neurological severe enough comorbids (learning disabilities) that gives an autistic with lesser work arounds regardless of his/her environment and state of self, or Executive Dysfunction worsen via comorbids and/or other influences? Then the possibility that the latter may cause the former growing up. What are the odds on this? I'd like to know this.
As someone who'd yet to see any person that is resembled aspergian in real life, and had seen other autistics and otherwise healthy in mind and body (yet just as 'sensitive' and 'vulnerable') the former is likely.


In anxiety and depression, I'd say very likely yes -- this is more of a circumstantial and yet highly vulnerable comorbid than anything else. Being prone of is the main word for it, not a whole part of it is only autism.
And it and itself more of a human reaction thing than an autistic thing, can be prevented and overcome, yet it's not something that one should ignore or deny given the consequences and how common it is.



A supremist would will deny or never looked at the disability angles.


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MrsPeel
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23 Apr 2019, 3:19 am

It's an interesting question.

Been thinking about it myself, because of some mental health issues I've been having, and come to the conclusion that (speaking only for myself):

- executive dysfunction is a part of my autism, which I can only work around and not eliminate
- emotional dysregulation is a part of my autism (which I agree may be related to differences in amygdala function), and which creates a vulnerability to:
- neuroses (anxiety/stress reactivity and depression), which are not inherent to the autism, and can theoretically be
reduced or eliminated by self-care and a positive environment

But I'm interested to hear if others have a different opinion or experience



EzraS
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23 Apr 2019, 7:17 am

The thing is though a person can have sensitivity issues, executive dysfunction, anxiety etc without having autism.



jimmy m
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23 Apr 2019, 8:50 am

The key link that ties all these conditions together is STRESS. If you want to understand how all these comorbidities are tied together; the best examples are found in the animal world.


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23 Apr 2019, 9:12 am

> Do You Think Some Comorbids Are Actually Autistic Traits?

I think it's unlikely that "autism" as currently understood is really a single thing — it's probably a whole family of associated phenotypes with a variety of genetic bases. But to the extent that it is a single thing (or a few things), I think it's a very low-level genetic and neurological phenomenon that manifests itself in a range of complex pleiotropic social and behavioral effects; i.e., "comorbids." The actual underlying basis of all the social and behavioral effects may turn out to be something very obscure, such as (to make up an imaginary example) the packing density of cells in the retina (or something like that).


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kraftiekortie
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23 Apr 2019, 9:14 am

I would stick to that notion of autism, too:

"A whole family of associated phenotypes with a variety of genetic bases."

That's an excellent definition.



ASPartOfMe
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23 Apr 2019, 9:25 am

EzraS wrote:
The thing is though a person can have sensitivity issues, executive dysfunction, anxiety etc without having autism.

One can have any diagnostic trait and not be autistic. You are supposed to have most of the traits and have them impair you life to the point of needing supports in order to get a diagnosis. Most autistics do not have every trait. So what percentage of autistics need to have a trait in order to be considered an autistic trait?


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23 Apr 2019, 10:06 pm

EzraS wrote:
The thing is though a person can have sensitivity issues, executive dysfunction, anxiety etc without having autism.

Yes. But in autism, it's deeper than that... Something that most researchers hadn't touched yet it seems.

And the three 'traits' described is commonly a 'cycle' itself -- thus an allistic can have those 'traits' without being autistic or having autism.


Severe enough anxiety alone in NTs?
Causes sensitivity issues (actually more like sensory intolerance -- their filters don't change, but how they took it as) and cycled with executive dysfunction. In turn, making them less social and to a point resembling autism.

Sensitivity issues do cause anxiety in many respects. Of course in turn worsens executive function, and bad EF would mean bad socializing.

And executive functioning alone? See ADD/ADHD cases.
If that's not even enough, an NT with executive dysfunction would likely fail over and over in life. Bad working memory and inattention? He or she'll be unreliable. A bad planner and organizer? He or she'll be overwhelmed. Bad self-regulation and impulsiveness? He or she'll be known for 'immaturity'.
Did I say anxiety alone can cause 'sensitivity' issues and may resemble autism?

And one pointed out about stress. But anxiety causes stress and stress causes anxiety. :lol:


I myself do not have all traits. I don't suffer from anxiety, and yet I still have sensory issues and executive functioning issues -- stressed or not.
But I lose those issues by having restorative sleep. And lack of restorative sleep can resemble ADD...



How do people untangle these cycles? :twisted:


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EzraS
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24 Apr 2019, 4:12 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
EzraS wrote:
The thing is though a person can have sensitivity issues, executive dysfunction, anxiety etc without having autism.

One can have any diagnostic trait and not be autistic. You are supposed to have most of the traits and have them impair you life to the point of needing supports in order to get a diagnosis. Most autistics do not have every trait. So what percentage of autistics need to have a trait in order to be considered an autistic trait?



At the time I was thinking back to a forum I was on that had a sub-forum called Island of Misfits. There was one non-autistic member who had hypersensitivity. Another who was primarily nonverbal, and so on.

However thinking about it further, when it comes to autism I believe the lines can be blurry at best in many areas when comes to what's a comorbid and what's autism.

I had a lot of testing done over time to try figuring that out. I have autism and dyspraxia... but is that really the case? Maybe it's just all autism.



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24 Apr 2019, 4:19 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
EzraS wrote:
The thing is though a person can have sensitivity issues, executive dysfunction, anxiety etc without having autism.

One can have any diagnostic trait and not be autistic. You are supposed to have most of the traits and have them impair you life to the point of needing supports in order to get a diagnosis. Most autistics do not have every trait. So what percentage of autistics need to have a trait in order to be considered an autistic trait?


I don't think I would of been Dx with ASD when I was younger as my traits did not impair my life ( or I didn't realise it did ), possibly due to lack of responsibility ( less responsibility when you're younger ).

I believe my comorbids are autistic traits but because I've had them so long they have manifested into their own beast i.e anxiety , depression & OCD


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24 Apr 2019, 4:23 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
EzraS wrote:
The thing is though a person can have sensitivity issues, executive dysfunction, anxiety etc without having autism.

One can have any diagnostic trait and not be autistic. You are supposed to have most of the traits and have them impair you life to the point of needing supports in order to get a diagnosis. Most autistics do not have every trait. So what percentage of autistics need to have a trait in order to be considered an autistic trait?


I think atypical autism covers meeting some ,but not all, of the criteria. At least it does in the UK.


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