Greetings - I Come in Peace

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Hi all

Thought I would introduce myself.

My name is Nathan. I recently spent two weeks in a mental health unit for self harming and was given a diagnosis of Bipolar type II and Autism Spectrum Disorder - High Functioning. Given that my limited reading has revealed that Aspergers is not a diagnosis in the DSM V, I assume that the recent revelation to me by the psychiatrist and his team is a round about way of saying I am an aspie. Would this be true, or is there a distinction between the two diagnoses?

In any case, I am hugely relieved if, in fact, I have Aspergers Syndrome or whatever name it is called by now (A rose by any other name would be as sweet). It explains why I have never fitted in, why I have never had more than one friend at a time, why I become obsessed with things, why I have meltdowns and so many other things. I am not abnormal, just "other normal".

My problem at the moment is that my Bipolar has been getting worse over the past few years, which stresses me and seems to exacerbate my aspie (hope that is not a derogatory term) traits. I have been unemployed for over a year as a result of my mental health issues.

I was wondering if anyone had career ideas. I have a BMus and am a qualified high school music teacher. I hate teaching. I loathe being in the spotlight in a situation I can neither understand or control. Almost killed myself. Worked in an office admin job for seven years. Couldn't stand that either. It was boring and I can only do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is a special kind of hell for me.

What do I do? The psychiatrist suggested I work in a field I love and that I be self employed. My bipolar means that I can only work about six months a year and I can never predict when those six months will be. Have a young family to try and support, but I'm not doing well in this role at all. HELP. I just want to find my place in the world (assuming there is one for me).

a musician friend of mine who found out he hated teaching after trying it went back to school for a couple of years and made a good living as an x-ray tech, playing in ensembles in his free time for a little extra cash.

Hey Nathan welcome.

You might try asking your questions in our General Autism Discussion forum. You'll get more replies there.

You could start by finding a school somewhere nearby which you might actually want to work at. Or you could just make any kind of music you feel like. I don't have half the training or practice you do, and I'm considering getting back into music production (following lapsed piano lessons), you might enjoy something more technical in the music realm; EQ & mixdown are my favorite parts of the recording process but everyone finds their own, and from what I've seen with my friends, it lets you go crazy buying gear...

_________________
"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

I have a law degree but can't manage the paperwork so I deliver pizza - and I love it. No pressure, get to drive around by myself for most of the night, get paid by the hour plus tips so there is always cash in my pocket and since I usually don't work until evenings I have the days to do what I want and I can stay up late and sleep in. Working a desk job and organizing paperwork definitely isn't for me.

Good idea.

I enrolled in a Bachelor of Electrical/Electronic Engineering at the start of the year. Although an area of interest for me, common sense beat the crap out of passion and then told me to defer - There are few jobs for electronic engineers left in Australia. That would probably go double for a failed-music-teacher, manic-depressive, autistic, forty-year-old loser like me.

As an aside, I wonder how many people would sit in the same compartment of the Ven diagram I just described?

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