Atypical Neurologies in the Playground thread 1(let's try to keep this in one thread)

[bluewind95]

I've been suspecting I COULD be on the autism spectrum for a long time now. The results I got do suggest there's something to my suspicions. So I downloaded the detailed results on a PDF and I'll be taking that to my therapist.

[Juggling Goth]

The great thing about phoning in sick is that even if you were feeling guilty about it, the stress of explaining your humiliating mental health problems to a stranger on the telephone makes you properly crazy and then you don't feel guilty any more.

[Teddy]

well I guess (and this is really just guessing) that that Talent indicates how focused you are on your interests and how much you develop them.

Compulsive sort of indicates, I think, the amount of unconscious, particular behaviors and patterns you have, things of habit and such.

Social sort of indicates whether your more Aspie or more neurotypical in how you socialize- its less that Aspies are incapable, its that they do it in different ways.

Communication I guess is how good you are at communicating, or maybe whether your more neurotypical or aspie in how you communicate.

Hunting, I have no idea about.

but Perception I'm pretty sure is how different your perception is- if you can't stand a lot of loud noise, or wear sunglasses more often than most people, things like that, it probably indicates your senses are more sensitive than most, but there are hypo-sensitive cases...

Hmm, I think hunting may in parts be sexual, romantical "hunting", but also in a more literal sense. I wouldn't be surprised if the question about traps factor into one of them, for example (fun fact: I loved to build pit traps as a kid. Before the age of 10, I could build an practically invisible and fully functional pit trap in the sandbox, given enough time to dig a sufficiently large hole (not always easy, because the sand usually turned into hard clay a pair of decimetres down)).

Also, the fact that you can score high in both sides at the same time indicate that they aren't mutually exclusive, at least not completely. And I'm still curious to examples of what each trait indicate... :smallhmm:


Speaking of something else, I found this quite interesting study about a treatment to help people with Autism Spectrum empower their empathic abilities referenced from an article in my union's magazine a week or so ago.

[Juggling Goth]

Maybe it's like 'seeking' in animal psychology/behaviourism - an active, pleasant anticipation/curiosity. It does seem a very odd word choice though. The question about building traps just baffled me. I mean, yes, I've always been interested in automata and Rube Goldberg machines, but I also like animals better than most people, so words like 'hunting' and 'traps' are kind of repulsive to me.

[Miriel]

Actually, if you look at the complete report, it tells you which questions count towards which score.

[GuesssWho]

Just noticed this thread and am chiming in.

I have dysthymia, Asperger's, Tourette's, low-grade anxiety and God knows what else. I spend most of my time in bed with a laptop. I still live with my folks.

On the other hand, I'm smart, I read a lot and I can come up with some brilliant comments on a good day.

ETA: I wasn't diagnosed until I was in high school. Which sucked.

[Miriel]

Does anyone have tips on telling my parents about my Asperger's syndrome diagnosis? I was diagnosed about a year or two ago, and didn't tell them about the process (or even about my suspicions), but I'm trying to open up to them, and I think it could be useful for them to know this. They seem to think, for some reason, that whatever problems I have are the result of bullying (about which I told them recently), and it would be useful to correct them.

[Reality Glitch]

Show them this thread and make sure they read through the whole thing.

Plus, How do they not know, aren't parents the ones who get you diagnosed?

[Mina Kobold]

Show them this thread and make sure they read through the whole thing.

Plus, How do they not know, aren't parents the ones who get you diagnosed?

If you're under a certain age, they usually need to be involved, but the only ones needed for an adult to be diagnosed are the adult herself and a professional with the credentials to diagnose it. Occasionally, parents won't notice or won't know that their child could be neuroatypical, so they won't think of it.

Mine actually only got me diagnosed because a friend (who is a doctor) of my mum asked if they had considered it, they had no idea Asperger's Syndrome even existed prior to that.

[Serpentine]

My mother's a doctor who thought I had it (previously thought I had OCD), and I still never got taken to be diagnosed...

[Miriel]

Plus, How do they not know, aren't parents the ones who get you diagnosed?

I was diagnosed at 21/22 (I'm bad at time), so I just went to the clinic and asked.

[BladeofObliviom]

On the off chance that it's still relevant, I'll add to the consensus that it's probably best to just come right out and tell the parents what's up if they don't already know. I've found that when I tell people I have Aspergers, the usual reaction is either "Okay, that makes sense" or "what's Aspergers?", and never "Liar!"

But that's just me, and I'm lucky enough to live in a fairly progressive area. YMMV.


Anyway, I went and saw Frozen the other day! It was good, as I've been hearing from just about everyone I know, but it hit uncomfortably close to home in some places.

(Spoilered below for potential length, mild violence triggers, and y'know, actual spoilers.)

Spoiler

Show

For those of you who don't know the plot, shame on you! I warned you about the spoilers, didn't I?

Anyway, Princess/Queen Elsa's story in particular was just something I found particularly moving, for reasons that probably weren't quite intentional on the filmmaker's part. This is because, if you cut out some of the details, the story is ultimately about a person born with an unusual trait that could be considered a gift, but ultimately causes them to build up a wall of isolation between them, their families, and the outside world. Further, the fear and mistrust of one's own emotions is established as a major cause of the barrier becoming more and more problematic. From there, the condition manages to worsen over a period of years, until the person begins to actively hide their own emotions and push other people away at all costs. Finally, things come to a head and the individual retreats as far away from human contact as they can manage, before building their own little world where they don't have to deal with other human beings in person.

While this is clearly a very selective take on what's going on in the story and outright ignores the second half, it's also a pretty good summary of my life and struggles with social anxiety and (to some degree) AS. But that's not the worst of it.

By some strange coincidence, I happen to have a younger brother, which isn't disconcerting in and of itself. However, the character of Princess Anna, Elsa's sister, is frighteningly similar to his real personality! He's outgoing, usually cheerful, and somewhat naive but with his heart in the right place. While he'd probably become very angry if you were to tell him this to his face, he's also very much in love with the idea of being in love and VERY impulsive, which are basically Anna's defining character flaws. (It should be noted that his girlfriend is a wonderful person whom I'm fairly sure is not manipulating him for personal gain, but the point stands.)

Just to drive the nail in a little bit deeper, the opening scene of the movie shows Elsa accidentally causing a life-threatening injury to Anna while playing thanks to an accident. Unfortunately I did something very similar as a child, when I clubbed my brother in the head with a hard toy after a misunderstanding that broke out into violence. It wasn't quite as deadly as magic ice cancer, mind you, but it still made a large, bloody forehead laceration that required a trip to the emergency room and six stitches to treat.

The point, though, is that I've felt that same sense of guilt and self-hatred for letting my emotions run out of control, and once went to the same extremes to "fix" it and protect myself from being exposed to the world, and...

...urgh, this is getting hard to write about properly. Suffice it to say that I usually end up derisively laughing at dramas and tragedies in fiction, but this one had me in tears, and no one else seems to understand why.

[Miriel]

On the off chance that it's still relevant, I'll add to the consensus that it's probably best to just come right out and tell the parents what's up if they don't already know. I've found that when I tell people I have Aspergers, the usual reaction is either "Okay, that makes sense" or "what's Aspergers?", and never "Liar!"

But that's just me, and I'm lucky enough to live in a fairly progressive area. YMMV.

I guess that's a plausible result. However, I just came out to them as transgender, so it seems like too much new stuff. And I don't know, I don't really feel the need to tell them at the moment about AS.

[BladeofObliviom]

I guess that's a plausible result. However, I just came out to them as transgender, so it seems like too much new stuff. And I don't know, I don't really feel the need to tell them at the moment about AS.

...Oh. Yeah, I can see why you might not want to hit them with a one-two like that, especially if they haven't quite adapted to the first one yet.

I'd assumed based on your initial phrasing of the question that it was something you wished to share but weren't really sure how to go about it. My apologies if that's not quite the case.

[Lord Raziere]

I guess that's a plausible result. However, I just came out to them as transgender, so it seems like too much new stuff. And I don't know, I don't really feel the need to tell them at the moment about AS.

yea about that.

I'm starting to wonder if Atypical Neurologies have a relation to LGBTA stuff. like I'm wondering if the different wiring of the brain gives it a higher chance of LGBTA thinking. its just an unfounded hypothesis for me right now, but there is enough relation between the two (both atypical neurologies and LGBTA stuff have to do with ones mind) that I think it would be worth investigating.

Edit: searched on google about it. probably no link. oh well. guess I was just being suspicious.

[Reality Glitch]

LGBTAQ don't forget the Q. No, the other Q.

[Miriel]

...Oh. Yeah, I can see why you might not want to hit them with a one-two like that, especially if they haven't quite adapted to the first one yet.

I'd assumed based on your initial phrasing of the question that it was something you wished to share but weren't really sure how to go about it. My apologies if that's not quite the case.

You didn't misunderstand me, I think, or at least it's a valid reading of what I said. However, I want less to share this than to help them understand (and, incidentally, to stop explaining everything by "bullying trauma").

yea about that.

I'm starting to wonder if Atypical Neurologies have a relation to LGBTA stuff. like I'm wondering if the different wiring of the brain gives it a higher chance of LGBTA thinking. its just an unfounded hypothesis for me right now, but there is enough relation between the two (both atypical neurologies and LGBTA stuff have to do with ones mind) that I think it would be worth investigating.

Explanation involving "the brain" seem easy. Few of them are scientifically sound. I don't think the brain is involved in gender identity/sexual orientation, and it's better not to dwell on it.

But I agree that there seems unusually many GSRM people, and especially trans* people, who are also on the autism spectrum. What sounds more likely (to me) is that people who are "different" and go through painful introspection to understand who they are tend to explore many different aspects of their identity and their personality. And once you come to the conclusion or understanding that you are "different" in one way, it's easier to understand your differences in other ways. This is obviously not what happens to everyone, but it would help explain.

[tallonRook]

I haven't actually read the whole thread yet, so I don't know if anyone else has posted this, but newer studies do seem to show a link between being transgender and autistic. Here's a link to one of them!
Also, I think I remember reading something about there being a connection between being autistic and bisexual, but I don't have the link for that one on hand.

Also, hi thread! I have aspergers and have diagnosed for a while now, and I've always been really into the community sort of thing. I actually run a club for autistic students at my university, where we also try to inform the general population about autism, as they can be pretty misinformed.

[Reality Glitch]

Hello TR, we hope you enjoy your stay at Autistic's Anonymous (AA).

[Thornonymous]

AA probably isnt the best term for this, as we are not really anonymous, nor are we affiliated with AA, NA, Alanon, or any other group.
Also, that label implies that having autistic traits is an inherently bad thing to avoid, and I don't actually feel that way.
Just saying.

[Reality Glitch]

It was a joke, I was trying to be silly.

[sktarq]

a joke meant to be taken in a non-literal way in a thread about autism.

[Reality Glitch]

Oh, right

[Miriel]

I haven't actually read the whole thread yet, so I don't know if anyone else has posted this, but newer studies do seem to show a link between being transgender and autistic. Here's a link to one of them!

Oooooh nice catch!

[alaalba_123]

Let's see, I'll sort my conditions into two categories:
Diagnosed by a proffesional: ADHD, Bipolar, Insomnia, Repetitive Motion Disorder, PTSD, General Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Schizophrenia(disputed by another professional), and Asperger's syndrome(disputed by another professional)

Self-diagnosed: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Short-term Memory loss, and severe anger management issues, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Mental Hypochondria.(I kid, I kid. All of these,(but this last one) are real things I have very good reasons for believeing I have and have done research on).

All in all, it's surprising I actually function on any kind of normal plane. Much less hold a stable job.

[Reality Glitch]

Mental Hypochondria

Oooowwww....

It hurts like a bad pun.

[Mina Kobold]

That does remind me that I really have only ever been to one professional (technically two people, but in the same sessions). I suppose a gender specialist or equivalent will count once I get the chance to begin transitioning, but still.


On another note, anyone here heard of Disability Studies Quarterly? I've been reading some of their articles recently and they have some about atypical neurologies, particularly autism. The specific one I've read (Clinically Significant Disturbance: On Theorists Who Theorize Theory of Mind) can be quite triggering (involuntary commitment to a psych ward, dehumanising treatment and similar triggers), but quite informative and talks about rhetoric and psychology from the perspective of an autistic person, rather than a neurotypical person's ideas about an autistic person.


PS: Ala Alba, normal is vastly overrated. From what I've seen, you function on a pretty spectacular plane. ^_^

[Miriel]

Diagnosed by a proffesional: ADHD, Bipolar, Insomnia, Repetitive Motion Disorder, PTSD, General Anxiety Disorder, Borderline Schizophrenia(disputed by another professional), and Asperger's syndrome(disputed by another professional)

Self-diagnosed: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Short-term Memory loss, and severe anger management issues, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Mental Hypochondria.(I kid, I kid. All of these,(but this last one) are real things I have very good reasons for believeing I have and have done research on).

Hum, I don't know how you feel about these diagnoses (I'm talking about the official ones), so sorry if you like them, but you seem to have too many for them to mean much. In my experience, such a thing happens mostly when the doctor(s) is/are confused. Several of these are just different ways to look at the same symptoms.

And "borderline schizophrenia" is a strange diagnosis. Once again... Psychiatrists who don't understand what's going on default to saying you're psychotic.

If I were you (but I'm not so... yeah), I wouldn't worry about finding more labels that could fit you. You have special traits and issues, and that's what matters. So... What makes you special? What are your problems?

[Temotei]

And "borderline schizophrenia" is a strange diagnosis. Once again... Psychiatrists who don't understand what's going on default to saying you're psychotic.

It's a perfectly valid disorder. It's usually known as borderline personality disorder, though, unless borderline schizophrenia is something I don't know about. I haven't had a look at the DSM-V yet.

[Miriel]

It's a perfectly valid disorder. It's usually known as borderline personality disorder, though, unless borderline schizophrenia is something I don't know about. I haven't had a look at the DSM-V yet.

Alaalba already has half the DSM. He doesn't need "borderline" ones as well -- especially since whatever symptoms of that might be explained by other diagnoses (I'm thinking of Asperger's for the negative symptoms of SZ and BP for the positive symptoms). Most diagnoses with the word "borderline" in them are often thrown by doctors at patients when something's wrong, but they don't know what. Something, it's appropriate, but not always. In my experience, it never was.