This is exactly why I said that that "statistic" doesn't mean a whole lot.
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Asperger's Syndrome
- Thread starter Ramblin Wreck
- Start date
This is exactly why I said that that "statistic" doesn't mean a whole lot.
Yeah, um... it really shouldn't matter what they are 'labeled' as... statistics are just that... statistics. What matters much more is how these people are helped when coping with regular society (if they can not already do this on their own, because some can).
I think "obsessive interests" is one of those things that is a trait of Asperger's, but is also a trait of being a human. Being passionate about a subject or activity isn't in itself a sign of any mental disease or defect!
I just don't get why people who are into things go "oh it's my aspergers" instead of "oh, i really like pokemon"... Yes I know an Asperger's obsession is different than just an interest in something, but I think a lot of people who just get easily and deeply interested in stuff mistake mental curiosity for a mental disorder.
Everyone needs a hobby. I'm not sure I really agree with the characterization, to be honest.
That "oh it's my aspergers" line isn't just used to justify obsessions. I've seen a few people use it to justify virtually everything, even stuff that it doesn't actually have much bearing on.
Never got officially diagnosed with Asperger's - but my psychologist says I definitely present traits of Asperger's. Since my form is mild, he recommended I just go about my business without doing any further research on it - it is not like I need a MORE regimented lifestyle.
I pretty much echo jumpluff on most of her statements, except the fact I am way less of a sensory wreck. Traits of aspergers that manifest in me are:
-obsessive behaviour: obsessions with greek/roman mythology, football, music, pokemon, the solar system, dinosaurs, mathematics and spelling were and are mine.
-extremely crude and uneven motor skills
-social ineptitude
-being unable to locate sarcasm correctly and often taking jokes seriously or vice versa
- turning eye, impairing depth perception
there are a few more that manifest themselves but i don't really want to go down a list and check off any more right now
I pretty much echo jumpluff on most of her statements, except the fact I am way less of a sensory wreck. Traits of aspergers that manifest in me are:
-obsessive behaviour: obsessions with greek/roman mythology, football, music, pokemon, the solar system, dinosaurs, mathematics and spelling were and are mine.
-extremely crude and uneven motor skills
-social ineptitude
-being unable to locate sarcasm correctly and often taking jokes seriously or vice versa
- turning eye, impairing depth perception
there are a few more that manifest themselves but i don't really want to go down a list and check off any more right now
I don't think you can really say "I get intensly interested in things, and therefore i have aspergers". Like chris is me said, it's human nature to have hobbies and interests about something. In fact i'd say every human has at least one interest, whatever it may be.
If you met a person with aspergers, you'd understand how severe the obsession with certain things is. You're not just interested in football, or find mathematics problems interesting and fun. It's all you fucking do 24/7 if you can.
there's a guy i used to know who was obsessed with Newton's laws of motion. If i talked to him, it would always come up at some point in conversation: how he'd had some great new model ideas or how he wanted me to look at his notes on relative momentum change or what not. He was a nice guy but he was obsessed with motion and how it worked. That's the difference between a normal human who likes maths and someone diagonsed with asperger syndrome who hardly does anything but physics.
Maybe some of you are mildly affected, but you'd know if it was really bad. Someone will have probably told you by now.
If you met a person with aspergers, you'd understand how severe the obsession with certain things is. You're not just interested in football, or find mathematics problems interesting and fun. It's all you fucking do 24/7 if you can.
there's a guy i used to know who was obsessed with Newton's laws of motion. If i talked to him, it would always come up at some point in conversation: how he'd had some great new model ideas or how he wanted me to look at his notes on relative momentum change or what not. He was a nice guy but he was obsessed with motion and how it worked. That's the difference between a normal human who likes maths and someone diagonsed with asperger syndrome who hardly does anything but physics.
Maybe some of you are mildly affected, but you'd know if it was really bad. Someone will have probably told you by now.
I think we all know that pinpointing certain traits and blaming it on a diagnosis is wrong. I'm not really sure why people keep bringing it up. People make up excuses for anything and everything because they can. Nothing's going to change that.
In a lot of ways, it's like Garchomp. No one trait describes why (it was voted that) Garchomp is Uber. It is the combination, the full package, that achieves that. But you can still talk about Garchomp's bulk or Sand Veil or whatever as a part of that package.
In a lot of ways, it's like Garchomp. No one trait describes why (it was voted that) Garchomp is Uber. It is the combination, the full package, that achieves that. But you can still talk about Garchomp's bulk or Sand Veil or whatever as a part of that package.
Yah, but the point is I think, the diagnosis isn't truly what matters... it's what help you get that is really important... the diagnosis is just a bunch of paper. The psychologist you see (if you see one), how your family treats you, what you do yourself is the important parts.
Oops, I completely forgot about this thread.
I think I was misunderstood; I was not saying that an obsessive interest=Asperger's. I was saying that when I got that obsession with Asperger's after my diagnosis, I looked up everything I could on the subject, and it was a complete revelation. There was so much stuff that I did that I never suspected was different, and there was so much stuff I found that described me almost word-for-word, and this is despite the limited (almost non-existent, really) social trouble I had.
It's pretty easy for me to tell if someone is just claiming Asperger's as an excuse, because they never go beyond one or two of the diagnostic criteria ("Well, I really like computers and I'm not good with people"), and they don't have that same revelation as a lot of people do.
I think I was misunderstood; I was not saying that an obsessive interest=Asperger's. I was saying that when I got that obsession with Asperger's after my diagnosis, I looked up everything I could on the subject, and it was a complete revelation. There was so much stuff that I did that I never suspected was different, and there was so much stuff I found that described me almost word-for-word, and this is despite the limited (almost non-existent, really) social trouble I had.
It's pretty easy for me to tell if someone is just claiming Asperger's as an excuse, because they never go beyond one or two of the diagnostic criteria ("Well, I really like computers and I'm not good with people"), and they don't have that same revelation as a lot of people do.
Interesting, I exhibite practically all of the characteristics talked about in this thread, but am diagnosed with ADHD, which is a mild form of Autism. Right now it just seems like thse are all different words for the same thing but in varying degrees. Somethign interesting I feel the need to bring up whenever discussing these subjects is the affect of your diet on the subject matter. I honestly suggest that anyone experiencing ADHD/Aspergers/Autism remove caseine (found in milk), and gluten (found in bread), from your diet for the most part. First off, it has shown to have an affect on all 3, secondly, I did it, and it worked wonders, turning me from a practically socially unbearable child to a slighlty hard to bear social child :D. And it is not just witch doctory, it has scientific roots, and it actually may be that ADHD, Aspergers and Autistism exist only because of these unnatural proteins.
lol who told you that ADHD is a mild form of autism
maybe it has some characteristics in common but the functioning affects totally different things
autism is a PDD, pervasive developmental disorder and ADHD is an NDD, neurobehavioral developmental disorder
sorry i just sort of dont want anyone to be misinformed here.
i personally believe that while some people may maintain 'autistic' tendencies, mild cases of autism like aspergers can be 'conquered' in a sense where it seems as though you were misdiagnosed at first.
maybe it has some characteristics in common but the functioning affects totally different things
autism is a PDD, pervasive developmental disorder and ADHD is an NDD, neurobehavioral developmental disorder
sorry i just sort of dont want anyone to be misinformed here.
i personally believe that while some people may maintain 'autistic' tendencies, mild cases of autism like aspergers can be 'conquered' in a sense where it seems as though you were misdiagnosed at first.
I don't really get the environmental factor argument much of the time. People assume that the brain is completely vulnerable to a little bit of mercury preservative used in child immunization, and they end up endangering everyone around them. People see words like "chemical" and "unnatural" attached to certain foods, processes, etc. and assume that it's bad for them. I'm not saying that I'm certain that diet doesn't help, but whenever I see/hear something of that nature I get Kevin Trudeau vibes.
My obsessions are pretty consuming, but I've learned restraint, since relatives always disapproved of me rambling about them at the dinner table during reunions when they wanted to talk about the family tree, and I repelled a lot of people who thought I was just plain disturbed. xD; I think the fact that I sort of repress some of my most severe tendencies gives people the idea I'm joking when my diagnosis comes up in conversation.
I couldn't agree more. Of course, my diet is pretty whack, but that's because of unrelated issues largely (except the foods I refuse to eat because their texture makes me quite nauseous). While people have the right to choose, it really bothers that they hold off on immunising their children because of an unproven theory. Catching normal seasonal influenza once a year usually isn't terrible unless the child has abnormal health issues or catches something like swine flu (though even that isn't all as bad as everyone thought it was), but catching something like meningitis is, and it's depressingly easy for kids to pick that up, especially if they're the type who shares their drinks with other people (a lot of kids do it). At least the vaccinations are part of a standard school package nowadays, and most parents don't withhold them from their kids. /rant
Autism is genetic. I have no idea why there aren't official scientific studies backing this up, as I've met 84 autistics now and 100% of them had relatives with autism.
Hasty generalisation - it is possible for the 85th autistic you meet to have no known relatives with autism.
That's not a hasty generalization. Most scientific studies sample from less people. Mind you, most studies are a crock of shit but I'm not trying to shake the world, just doing some research on my own condition.
Forbidden to Starve you have no idea what you're talking about.
I'd be more convinced if you'd sampled 1000.
In due time. Someday I'd like to publish something with my findings, but I'm a game designer and not a psychologist, so it's hardly a priority.
Well it seems my post was met with a rather bad reaction, but I do know what I'm talking about, sort of. I was told that ADHD is a mild form of autism by research; both of them can be managed through dieting.
Now I suppose that I should go more into the dieting thing. Gluten and Casein are both proteins, found in foods humans would not naturally be eating, aside from a variant of Casein found in HUMAN breast milk. Now, when our bodies attempt to digest these proteins, a variety of thing can happen. Most times these effects are practically unnoticeable, and generally can only be noticed if you go off (both my mother and father had slight skin issues, but when they stopped eating bread and milk these went away). However, in others, when you digest these you produce a chemical similar to opium. Now when these chemicals reach your brain, they bond with your brain's opiate receptors, and as such you react. This is also why some may be addicted to bread (though you would never call it an addiction without going through it). This is not mumble-jumbo, me and my family have done extensive research in this area, and this includes reading of a study where autistic children were put on the diet and returned to normal, and several unofficial cases where parents put their "aspie" on the diet and reported good results. Another important thing to add is that the people who react to gluten/casein as I described also cause some major damage on their intestines by eating these things. (Again, there is a valid reason ADHD kids are 3 times more likely to develop crones).
Now I suppose that I should go more into the dieting thing. Gluten and Casein are both proteins, found in foods humans would not naturally be eating, aside from a variant of Casein found in HUMAN breast milk. Now, when our bodies attempt to digest these proteins, a variety of thing can happen. Most times these effects are practically unnoticeable, and generally can only be noticed if you go off (both my mother and father had slight skin issues, but when they stopped eating bread and milk these went away). However, in others, when you digest these you produce a chemical similar to opium. Now when these chemicals reach your brain, they bond with your brain's opiate receptors, and as such you react. This is also why some may be addicted to bread (though you would never call it an addiction without going through it). This is not mumble-jumbo, me and my family have done extensive research in this area, and this includes reading of a study where autistic children were put on the diet and returned to normal, and several unofficial cases where parents put their "aspie" on the diet and reported good results. Another important thing to add is that the people who react to gluten/casein as I described also cause some major damage on their intestines by eating these things. (Again, there is a valid reason ADHD kids are 3 times more likely to develop crones).
No, I'm afraid you don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know what you're talking about. Everything you just posted was complete gibberish. ADHD has no connection to autism whatsoever, and autism has no connection to dieting. If I didn't have a sense of humor, I'd honestly say the notion was downright offensive. But I appreciate a bit of complete absurdity every now and then.
The cure to autism is a low-carb diet? Who the fuck knew!
You must publish your findings in a medical journal TPM. You and your family have cured the seemingly incurable. You guys must be really gifted in order to find that cure before some of the top medical researchers.
Strange though. Despite your great medical knowledge you misspelled Crohn's disease.
You must publish your findings in a medical journal TPM. You and your family have cured the seemingly incurable. You guys must be really gifted in order to find that cure before some of the top medical researchers.
Strange though. Despite your great medical knowledge you misspelled Crohn's disease.
Personally I thought his post was insightful.
With regard to causes ("genetic" and whatnot), let's keep in mind that like all psychiatric diagnoses, there is no evidence that Apserger's Syndrome even has a common etiology. In other words, there is absolutely no reason to believe that two people who both meet the broad criteria to be diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome actually have the same underlying condition. This does not rule out talking about Asperger's Syndrome as a construct, but it does mean that there's no reason to believe there is a single "cause", since there's no reason to believe it is one thing.
With regard to your genetic argument, consider this analogy. Everybody I've met who enjoys novels also has a relative who enjoys novels. Therefore, reading novels must be genetic. The problem with this argument isn't that my sample size is too small; it's that I haven't considered people who don't enjoy novels. In other words the prevalence of reading novels might be high enough for my claim to be true without the relative factor being a causal factor. Seeing as the DSM criteria are wildly broad, this may well be the case for "Asperger's Syndrome" as well.
With regard to Asperger's Syndrome itself, it is a classic case of psychiatry acting to pathologise perfectly normal behaviour. The only reason any people exhibit "impairment in social interaction" (to use the DSM term) is that they choose to, and that's not a bad thing. Consider this: if you really wanted to understand "body language", you could easily notice connections between people's gestures and their mood. It's simple inductive reasoning. If somebody were actually unable to pick up on this, it would mean she lacked basic inducting reasoning skills, and her main problem would be that, not "Asperger's Syndrome". The reality is these people are simply uninterested in learning these so-called "social skills", because there's nothing inherently important about them.
What baffles me the most is that some people diagnosed by a psychiatrist with "Asperger's Syndrome" choose to embrace it as an identity. The diagnosis is basically an attack on your interests and your choice of what to prioritise in life. If we want to celebrate differences in personalities, let's come up with a movement with no psychiatric baggage.