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OCD and the nature of autism

royinpink

Well-Known Member
So, today my therapist suggested that the root of a lot of my anxieties was actually OCD. I was curious about how to identify, in my own behavior, what is OCD versus aspie 'rigidity' versus social anxiety, etc. She recommended I watch this video, and I thought I'd share it here because it's quite perceptive (and relates to my earlier post about neurodiversity!). He talks about the suggestion that what ought to be treated is comorbid conditions, not autism, because autism is just as nebulous a quality as personality traits like 'charismatic'.


As to the OCD thing, I recognized that behavior in myself as a child but didn't think it still applied to me, so it's really interesting to hear that I've somehow managed to suppress some of the behavior but not rid myself of the sense of guilt or threat of impending doom. A new direction to go in, at least, in trying to help myself manage life. :rolleyes:

So I'd also be interested to hear how people cope with OCD, but I'm not sure if that's a specific enough question to ask. I'm just in info-gathering mode of trying to update my understanding of what OCD actually is.
 
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Good questions, good post, and prompts me to add more questions as a means of thinking about it.
Because I also have been aware of and struggling with a sense of threat of impending doom - to quote part of your post above, I'm curious as to whenther you associate it with OCD, or did your therapist make the connection?

Like the man in the video, I was diagnosed with a mild form of autism, and in my case anxiety, and NVLD. Therapy was offered to me for the conditions, but I can not afford it. Plus, after the testing and diagnosis I felt I needed to get a sense of being who I am before starting therapy for changing myself. If that makes sense.

It - the dread - is one of the factors that was on my list when deciding to seek a.diagnosis. It has always been what first greets me, so to speak, when I awaken 3 hours too early. I've considered whether it's what drives some of the stims I have. Could it also, (again, wondering about myself) even be fueling creativity. If I were to somehow control it: channel it towards my art work, would this be the path to taming the fear and dread.
 
I have suggested what this video stated that the diagnostics are too subjective ;)
 
Kestrel, I'm sorry to hear you can't do therapy right now. I'm fortunate enough to have some assistance. Of course, finding a good therapist is a bit hit or miss, but it's good to have the option.

Because I also have been aware of and struggling with a sense of threat of impending doom - to quote part of your post above, I'm curious as to whenther you associate it with OCD, or did your therapist make the connection?

My therapist made the connection originally. We were talking about a couple things...one was leaving the country and how I felt about having to break my lease. Because yes, it's a planning problem of how will I get through all those steps, and yes it's a social problem of how do I tell my landlady, but I think more than either of those it's a 'the rule is two years and you are breaking the rule which means you are bad' thing. The other thing...I forget how it came up but she mentioned dripping faucets, which was a major thing with me as a kid (preschool/kindergarten age)--I couldn't sleep because of the 'waste' and how it was going to deplete the world's water supply.

So I explained how I had so many rules as a kid, that whenever I get the feeling of 'rules coming on', I am very apprehensive and filled with dread. Because I can remember how it felt not to be able to, say, go in a car without counting up how many lines passed on each side and getting them to equal each other exactly (I'd explain, but it would be tedious), and not be able to sleep because of all the thoughts of how bad I was, and I never want to feel like that again. That's the best explanation I have anyway. Does that make sense to anyone else?
 
Your problem makes sense to me. It's not the way my own OCD manifests, but I can definitely sympathize with your struggles. The feelings OCD engenders can be overwhelming.

I was diagnosed with OCD, Perfectionist type, by a former therapist I greatly respect. It presents as near inability to complete creative projects. Nothing is ever good enough. Nothing is ever finished. I can't leave out any detail or thought I think is important. This word or that sentence still needs refining until I run out of options, and it's still not right. In college, writing a simple two-page thesis could find me spending 24 hours straight in a corner of the library, just struggling to get past the first paragraph. Those sessions always ended in tears and a feeling of implosion. Whenever I had to sit down to write a paper, I would be so filled with dread that I would suddenly become too sleepy to keep my eyes open. My brain simply shut down to avoid the work. I would do this several times until I finally forced myself to start; thus going to the library as opposed to working at home. I felt truly traumatized every time.

These symptoms derailed two attempts at earning a degree, though I could have easily stood in front of a class and lectured on my topics without any notes. I never have found a way to cope well with it. I am much better at non-academic writing, but I still compulsively edit almost every post I put here at least once before I can let it stand. I still think about what I've written hours later.

It sucks, because I genuinely enjoy writing and other forms of creative expression. But the feeling of anxiety and disappointment I feel whenever I look at even the most trivial things I've done is exhausting. If anyone has experience overcoming this problem, I sure would appreciate hearing about it.

I found the video interesting. I agree with a lot of what he said, but I can think of sound opposing arguments for some of it. It's a very big subject to respond to on a thread with a more specific question. Otherwise, I'd enjoy a healthy debate.
 
In college, writing a simple two-page thesis could find me spending 24 hours straight in a corner of the library, just struggling to get past the first paragraph. Those sessions always ended in tears and a feeling of implosion. Whenever I had to sit down to write a paper, I would be so filled with dread that I would suddenly become too sleepy to keep my eyes open. My brain simply shut down to avoid the work. I would do this several times until I finally forced myself to start; thus going to the library as opposed to working at home. I felt truly traumatized every time.

Wow, yes, this. When the stress becomes insurmountable, I shut down. Of course, prior to the ASD diagnosis, I had no idea what a shutdown was, so I assumed my lethargy was due to depression (even after diagnosis, it took awhile to make the connection to the kind of shutdowns others describe). I hardly ever bother starting early anymore, but when I do, I have similar levels of productivity (24 hours with a paragraph to show for it). My only coping mechanism has been procrastination, but it's awful because that only increases the stress. And yet attempts to deal with the 'procrastination problem' are unproductive because they don't address my real source of anxiety. I feel like I'm caught in a catch-22.

I am kind of in shock because no one has ever described something so similar before.
 
"YES".

How my spectrum of traits and behaviors have influenced my social interactions is something to consider in a nebulous way, in terms of how it has impacted the quality of my life. But in the final analysis, whatever it translates to isn't anywhere nearly as significant in comparison to my comorbidity.

My social anxiety. My clinical depression. And my OCD.

It's my comorbidity that has "devalued" me in my own estimation. Not simply having ASD in itself.
 
"YES".

How my spectrum of traits and behaviors have influenced my social interactions is something to consider in a nebulous way, in terms of how it has impacted the quality of my life. But in the final analysis, whatever it translates to isn't anywhere nearly as significant in comparison to my comorbidity.

My social anxiety. My clinical depression. And my OCD.

It's my comorbidity that has "devalued" me in my own estimation. Not simply having ASD in itself.
Yeah, I realize now that pretty much everything that could be related to OCD--whether it's the intrusive thoughts or the perfectionism and procrastination--is what I experience real shame about (not just guilt or thoughts of being a failure/bad). I was intending to write a different post about shame, as I've been reading Cynthia Kim's Nerdy, Shy, and Socially Inappropriate, and at first I struggled to relate to her feelings of shame over not showering and the like...until I realized that for me, this was the shameful part.

Of course sometimes the comorbids seem causally or environmentally linked, like how learning every social thing by 'punishment' for your mistakes is a recipe for poor self-esteem and depression, or how autistic thinking styles can be related: attention to detail makes us prone to noticing mistakes and being critical, all or nothing thinking can mean thinking something is perfect or crap, and associative thinking can lead to superstition ('I saw a blue car before I had a good day at school so blue car days are good days...'). Sometimes we just seem to be born with comorbids--and parents who have them are more likely to give birth to an autistic child.

But if you could somehow separate out the rest of being an aspie...to me that's the part that doesn't need treatment, that is not really a disorder at all, just a difference. The times in my life when I have been truly happy are the times when I've felt free to show that side of myself and be accepted for who I am.
 
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Perfectionism is one trait I wish I didn't possess. I constantly marvel at those who do not see the level of detail in things that I do. It acts as a counterbalance in accepting things as they are. Including things that I know I can't change...yet I dwell on them anyways. It's what sometimes keeps me from enjoying my hobbies, or thinking about giving them up. That I set too high a goal for my own standards.

It's such a draining thing...and yet that's just ONE in this instance when there are others.

Such as my constant sense of dire consequences over ridiculously nebulous things...like superstition on steroids. And having the sense to know it's absurd, yet as a compulsion I repeat them over and over and over again.

It's one very private hell. ASD itself? No...not in comparison. At least this is my perception of it all. Take away my social anxiety, depression and OCD and being on the spectrum for me amounts to the same as being gay, left-handed or green-eyed. Different- not deficient.

However in stating as such, I must also acknowledge that those much further along the spectrum of autism may likely have a different perception. With or without comorbidity factors. And that we must remain sensitive to such perceptions and experiences as well.
 
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I am kind of in shock because no one has ever described something so similar before.


What makes it especially frustrating is that there is very little literature on this perfectionist type of OCD. It is critical to personal success of those who have it that it be understood and that specific therapies be developed. Nobody seems to be interested in taking this on. Not one of a dozen therapists at my large university had even heard of OC Perfectionism before. I had to pull what little I could find from academic databases in support of my claim to get it taken seriously. All they could offer me was standard CBT, which failed miserably. :emojiconfused:
 
Writing this before reading through all the way. This pertains to Slithytoves and Royinpink's and Nitro's posts at the top.
Thank you Royinpink. I did find someone who I talk to, and charges me what I can afford. It is the neuropsych office's therapy that I cannot afford.

I have a painting that represents how I feel about my diagnosis and it is a depiction of an empty glass coffee mug. Post your art (I painted it before diagnosis though)

The dreaded freeze-up, brain-fog, or intense fatigue when working on creative projects, or a new goal such as as project at home, or a challenging social issue: for me, this has only recently had any light shed, meaning any positive progress, any new confidence. I keep working on a painting, for example, and when it hits that junction where usually my mind says, "it's wrecked", now, I keep going anyway. Perhaps this will lead to no paintings selling, and a giant bonfire in a year or two. Not sure yet. I have to have caffeine, but have to be careful how much. I have to endure the embarassing and imperfect results of my art work. It's why I've posted some things here, because I have to win this fight, or climb this hill, or whatever metaphor is apropos and germane.

Edited to add, is my constant low to medium to occasionally high level of fear from autism, or is it from social anxiety and resulting fatigue being mis-interpreted as fear, or is it really my mind making itself feel it is breaking or pushing the envelope of its own set of rules? Does creativity instantly also create a rule set for how things should proceed, and then I can't live up to those standards, I instead feel that I've failed and my work is crap? And this extends to social interactions, as royinpink stated above.


[For example it took me 5 years to decide, research, travel a lot, plan, (literally torture myself with various worries), and then finally sell a house and move away from an area we literally hated to a place in which my son and I can thrive. I'm ashamed of so many parts of it. I did accomplish it. Thanks to help from my grown daughter, who accompanied me to realtor meetings and when I had been nearing meltdown levels, took over showing the house to sellers, the goal started seeming real. What I learned was to rip the perfectionism away from myself and get down to the survival mode of "I have to Do This Thing" - even if it is setting off all my unbalanced, inaccurate, unsymmetrical, unacceptable behavior etc., alarms in my mind. In this case, it was worth it, though it wore me down and aged me. Asking and accepting help was a big hurdle.]
 
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I am much better at non-academic writing, but I still compulsively edit almost every post I put here at least once before I can let it stand. I still think about what I've written hours later.

Just a guess, but I think the level of self-editing of posts in this thread is significantly higher than average. ;) You are not alone. Not gonna admit how many times I edit nearly everything I post... :oops:

I found the video interesting. I agree with a lot of what he said, but I can think of sound opposing arguments for some of it. It's a very big subject to respond to on a thread with a more specific question. Otherwise, I'd enjoy a healthy debate.

Oh, I don't know if I 100% agree with him either, I just thought the general idea of it was good/of interest. I wouldn't mind healthy debate either...sometimes I shy away as I am quite conflict-averse and afraid I won't be able to express my thoughts well enough, but in this case I don't really have a set opinion I'm worried about defending, just interested in learning more.

However in stating as such, I must also acknowledge that those much further along the spectrum of autism may likely have a different perception. With or without comorbidity factors. And that we must remain sensitive to such perceptions and experiences as well.

From what I've read from others further along the spectrum, there are other issues to deal with, notably apraxia, but actually apraxia isn't one of the criteria for autism. I don't know what that means about whether people view it as part of/caused by autism or something comorbid or what. I do know it can occur for other reasons and is a condition in its own right, so I would guess that makes it comorbid. How people view the issue may have less to do with functioning and more with how they interpret autism and understand it to apply to themselves. Just my initial thoughts.

It can mean I don't know where to put a pen when I sign into a doctor's office and agonize over whether I just put it down in the appropriate place. I pick it up again and move it slightly to the right. Eventually I can sit down but stare at it from across the waiting room and am both upset that anywhere I put it will be wrong AND that I know the entire situation and thought process is absurd.

Yes. I think I do this so much I don't always notice it? I am really bad at noticing my body and my thoughts, partly because I don't think in words much. But I can make anything into a big problem to solve, and I can't let go of things. Sometimes it blurs into executive functioning issues with decision-making, like spending 3 hours worrying about what the right thing to eat is, but... I've heard it explained that a pure executive functioning issue would just present as, 'none of the options seems better than the others, there's no way to decide,' whereas a perfectionist issue would be about making the 'right' decision. I think I have both, and it is incredibly distressing.

When things like order and schedule are rooted in autism, it's not that I don't feel they are a little odd, but that's all. I might feel they are a little odd, but they are generally acceptable to me.

Yeah, exactly. You said what I wanted to say upthread much better--that there are tendencies in autism that are superficially similar to a comorbid condition (involve the same thinking styles, etc.) but aren't themselves a disorder or ego-dystonic. Order and schedule in particular was something I discussed with my therapist, as that's something I've had trouble relating to with others' experience of autism. Sometimes I have an order that works for me, and it's mine, and don't you dare wreck it. But often it feels oppressive and threatening and anxiety-inducing. And until the OCD suggestion, I had no clue why order could be so positive in one case and awful in the next.

ETA: at this point I'm at an OCD clinic [out patient, but they specialize in clients who have OCD as main issues]. We are focusing on meds and eventually exposure therapy stuff which I'm all ICK about. Because, yeah, CBT I'm all burned out on. It doesn't do much of anything for me.

I hope that works out for you! Yeah, exposure therapy is scary, but I hear good things... my therapist's first two suggestions were a) take more care of my body--acupuncture, yoga, whatever I can do to manage the physical tension, and b) see about changing my medication. We'll see what happens next session. I think I'm a bit of a puzzle for therapists who specialize in CBT.
 
Hello, Friends. :)

I have a bit of time to kill before a flight, and I've found this thread positively irresistible. I'll tackle the youtube attachment, then respond to the gallery separately. Sorry...this first pass will be quite long.

As a scientist and an Aspie, I find myself frustrated with the lad in the video.

Firstly, as a requirement of my own OCD...I have to point out that the DSM is an American manual, generally used in other countries only when the ICD is due for updating and a new DSM releases first. The process by which the ICD is compiled is far more thoughtful and evidence-based than the overtly political one that has plagued the last two editions of the DSM.

In another fundamental mistake, the lad confuses the establishment of disorders with their diagnostic application in the clinical setting. The identification and description of a disorder is, in fact, a scientific process, so established disorders are valid enough, at least in the context of current knowledge. [And note that it was advancing understanding, not politics, that finally removed homosexuality from the DSM.]

The first point at which a disorder is interpreted by the broader medical community is the point of inclusion in a diagnostic manual. This is where things can start to go wobbly. A working group for a particular disorder is tasked with prioritising symptoms. They will naturally include only those which are likely to cause the most significant functional impairment, as the end-user of a manual will be a practising doctor whose job is to assess the presence and severity of dysfunction, and from this, develop a treatment plan. In the case of later editions of the DSM in particular, this task has been subject to decidedly unscientific influences...agencies of government, special interest group lobbyists, and others.

Once the manual is released to the field, individual doctors have no choice but to use their own interpretive skills for diagnosis, as there are indeed no biological tests [or at least not many that are cost-effective] to accurately identify most disorders of the mind. At this point, the subjectivity of diagnosis becomes truly problematic.

Any conclusions the lad in the video has drawn from this basic error are, therefore, too flawed to argue convincingly. In his statement that when stripped of symptoms caused by comorbidities, the autism diagnosis becomes “thin air”, he disregards a number of credible studies that demonstrate measurable neurological differences between autistics and NTs.

It’s also pertinent to mention that he apparently doesn’t understand the concept of overlapping symptomology between disorders. For an example relevant to this thread, obsessive-compulsive behaviour is natural to Asperger’s. Specifics and degrees distinguish whether or not a discrete, comorbid disorder is present. Simple enough. I’ll leave this there.

If we are to argue that there is no real science behind any part of the diagnostic process, from identification and description onwards, we must accept that the feeling of rightness we experience when we discover ourselves as autistics is invalid, and that the particular sense of kinship and understanding we find as fellow autistics is so, as well. We don’t all have the same comorbidity, yet still, we recognise our essential similarities, and our differences from the majority population. That, to me, says autism exists as its own entity.

The lad’s one best argument pertains to the folding of all four [not three] autism spectrum disorders under one heading in the DSM-V, but it was underemphasized and poorly articulated, here. A missed opportunity, to be sure.

I see a disturbing trend in our community. It is quite arguable that our neurology is equally “healthy” to that of NTs...a simple variation. I see no problem with that line of thinking, when well-considered and adequately supported. However, rejecting all science, including psychiatry [imperfect as it is], to only embrace how we want to see ourselves is not only irrational, it’s arrogant. It’s certainly no way to get us better understood. So, I beg of everyone here to think hard before going that route.
 
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Oh, dear. I'm finding too much to respond to in the posts. Feeling self-conscious, as I've already taken up a good bit of space on this thread. All right, then, I'll work more generally.

In my twenties, I had a paralysing case of the same perfectionism several of you have described. Other OC symptoms had me nearly housebound for over a year. I was able to overcome the perfectionist cycle, enough that I have published two books and several articles, got my master's, and recently, my PhD. The method that worked for me was quite simple, though I don't mean to imply that the therapy was easy, by any means.

At a neutral time, I wrote out a list of my dysfunctional thoughts, and countered each with a rational commentary on why it was patently wrong. I also made a list of comparative consequences...of not entertaining my OC thoughts v. of not completing different tasks I found problematic. I would keep both lists to hand when I sat down to write, and referenced my relevant notations each time my symptoms started to flare. I devised a system of rewards for successful suppressions of various magnitudes. Never any punishments. The symptoms themselves were punishment enough.

So, in short, I used my own better sense against my momentary lack of it. In about three years I was [mostly] free of the problem.

My heart goes out to anyone living with OCD. The prison created by its loops can truly shatter the spirit. I hope all who suffer here can find a workable solution, though it's true to say we can never be entirely free of it.
 
In the case of later editions of the DSM in particular, this task has been subject to decidedly unscientific influences...agencies of government, special interest group lobbyists, and others.


Point taken.

The interference of certain entities with an intent to regulate and limit what constitutes "being on the spectrum of autism" for purely fiscal reasons. To make ASD appear nebulous, and difficult to diagnose. Even if it really is more prevalent than earlier thought. A deliberate "crafting" of science designed to correlate primarily to available funds rather than human need. A concept that can easily translate within any economic system in this faltering global economy.

A dynamic which remains completely counterproductive to objectively diagnosing ASD- by economic and political design.

In theory, I agree with the basic concept of ASD being indicative of a spectrum of traits and behaviors. However what they are doing with it ain't cool.:( A process that enables a positive diagnosis for ASD to be in a "cherry-picking" fashion.
 
A lot of disorders overlap each other. The root cause may be a different chemical, gene, or whatever, but the outward reactions look the same for a lot of them. I wouldn't be surprised if anxiety had a couple of branches in OCD.

I've been told I have OCD, but I haven't noticed any drawbacks with it yet. It makes me thorough, analytical, and organized. It does slow down my jigsaw puzzles because I have to sort all the pieces by inner and outer pieces and flip them all right-side up (if I'm particularly leisurely, I sort by color and shape too), but it didn't make me avoid puzzles when I was really into them. It was part of the fun of doing them.

They say an artist is their own worst critic. I do notice a LOT more faults in my work than other people do, but it doesn't slow me down. I just make a mental note of what it is I fall short at and add it to my list of things to eventually try to master. Shoot, I find myself telling other artists pretty often to quit worrying about the end goal and just focus on the journey to perfection because that's the fun part. I do procrastinate on commissions a bit because I'm worried I'm going to open an email to a perfect drama queen meltdown (due to horror stories from other artists), but I always have to remind myself I'm working with adults and not entitled children, and they've always been entirely too apologetic in the past when asking for the most minor of changes.

The worst thing my OCD has done, which I also suspect had a helping hand from other autistic and artistic symptoms, was putting a rule that nobody can show up unannounced at my house, preferably 24 hours notice in case I get a big flux of orders. I'm an artist that works from home, and nearly any creative person can tell you how hard it is to get into the productive mindset that makes the difference between your "meh" work and your professional/high grade work. Unannounced visits ruins the work space I've created and throws off the rest of my day (or couple of days) to do my job. And some people can't bear the thought of a phone call, they must have unbridled access to my house at all times. And they're currently banned from the house. Good grief, it's just a phone call! It's not like I asked them to arrive promptly at 3 o'clock wearing blue jeans, slippers, a lacy overcoat, bearing a pizza exactly 270 F with pepperoni slices arranged in the shape of a bird!
 
I haven't changed my position from the debate on the other thread--brain wiring precedes the behaviors learned from being wired the way we are.

  1. Neurodiversity is about hardware.
  2. Structure influences performance.
  3. Asperger's is hardwired.
  4. The psychological comorbids are software.

Nadador has already expressed the concerns that I feel: we keep giving up the cause that creates the comorbid. While I think it's possible to have OCD or anxiety without Asperger's, I find it highly probable that having Asperger's will introduce psychological conditions because there's much in the world that matters that doesn't compute for aspergians. If I'm constantly second-guessing myself because what seems right is almost always either wrong, unimportant, or irrelevant, I'm going to learn self-distrust, have self-esteem issues, or potentially overcompensate to silence the doubt within.

No matter how slick a video looks, or how convincing someone else wants it to be, the principle in systems engineering, biological and mechanical, is simple. Structure influences performance.

EDIT adding from other post titled something like "Aspies with problems with their diagnosis:"

One follow-up re: Asperger's as a catch-all for other conditions.

Asperger's is about hardware. Behaviors, where most of these comorbids are, is software. Structure influences performance. I find it easier to believe that anxiety is caused by Asperger's, and hard to believe that Asperger's is caused by anxiety. Both Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety and Asperger's Syndrome in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians support the view that the wiring exists before the behavior does.

As do the death dates in Loud Hands.


If putting out a video makes someone an expert, we ought put out a video!

 
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So, this is a question I have. Is it valid of me to accept the diagnosis, if I reject and eventually overcome the anxiety, which generates fear, which in turn generates anxiety. Is it valid to hide in plain site (the empty cup I painted and posted) and not tell anyone of my disgnosis in order to protect myself from obsessing about my reactions to (their) reactions.
 
I have had quite a bit of experience with dozens of brain professionals who missed their mark on me by not asking the correct questions and coming up with their own answers without sufficient research. Yeah,I really don't trust any of them now. I will continue to point out the lack of scientific method that is often used during some spectrum diagnosis/opinions.Are some of the AS diagnostics wrong? I don't know without any of the diagnostic criteria used in front of me,so I can only guess,which puts me at a loss too. Does that make me any worse than a sloppy pro?

The catchall I referred to was a clinical person who can milk a lot of therapy money from individuals with an untreatable "disorder",or they would kill a goose that was laying golden eggs if the comorbids were addressed and and patients were lost from the client list. Show me a list of pros that use everything available at their disposal and I might come around. I wouldn't trust most of the psychiatric profession with lunch money who do hold a medical license to write anything they want to on paper and call it a wrap.;)
I never said that the comorbids were the cause of autism at any time and don't deny that possibly the map was already drawn in place for them with an autism spectrum disorder. That would kind of trump using the word comorbid from what I understand about it.


I will continue to research your thoughts more and then form my own opinion based on my findings.
 
As a scientist and an Aspie, I find myself frustrated with the lad in the video.


"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." :D:D:D


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Excellent job carpet bombing the under-informed vlogger. I had perked up at enough of his comments that I didn't see all of the problems at first. Bad Nadador for injecting the fuel for debate then flying off on us. ;)

Once the manual is released to the field, individual doctors have no choice but to use their own interpretive skills for diagnosis, as there are indeed no biological tests [or at least not many that are cost-effective] to accurately identify most disorders of the mind. At this point, the subjectivity of diagnosis becomes truly problematic.


Adding that there is no standardized procedure for diagnosing ASDs in the U.S. Doctors are free to use whatever process they or their local/state employer sees fit. I'm not sure if this is true elsewhere.

I see a disturbing trend in our community. It is quite arguable that our neurology is equally “healthy” to that of NTs...a simple variation. I see no problem with that line of thinking, when well-considered and adequately supported. However, rejecting all science, including psychiatry [imperfect as it is], to only embrace how we want to see ourselves is not only irrational, it’s arrogant. It’s certainly no way to get us better understood. So, I beg of everyone here to think hard before going that route.


Amen!

So, in short, I used my own better sense against my momentary lack of it. In about three years I was [mostly] free of the problem.


I will have to try this. From my own experience, sufferer-created therapies are more helpful than methodologies used in clinical practice. While I'm at it, I think I'll pass this along to my psychiatrist, too. Thanks, Colonel Kilgore! :p
 

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