I am rather displeased with the new section

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I have mixed feelings. I thought this site was for aspies, but yet its nice to let other people join.

I kind of see what people mean, he does seem to be opening the board up to people who dont have autism. Then again, disorders like tourettes and ADHD and dyspraxia are possibly related to Autism anyway. the rest of the disorders in question are co morbids that a number of people on the board do have. People seem to like the board and are already replying and making new threads in it.

I guess Alex could put "This board is for people with Autism and Psych co-morbids, or other Autism related disorders such as tourettes, adhd, dyspraxia... but that might exclude any NT people who are on the board because of an AS child, and they have bipolar, and may want to make a thread there... it has to be decided I guess, who that board is to be for.

That is a BIG issue for me. I can't understand how he could lump it all together. Mental illness and the autism spectrum are two very very different things. It mentions Schizophrenia before as well. Edit: here in the title: Bipolar, Tourettes, Schizophrenia, and other Psychological Conditions

Exactly. It completely alienates us, and muddles the forum. It takes us so far away from what Wrongplanet is about that it isn't even funny.

According to both the title/name and description/byline of this new forum alex is actively inviting people with the following conditions to join and post on WP:

1 ) Premenstrual Syndrome, ( women have different neurology to men, and it's a "psychological condition" ),

2 ) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, ( psychological condition, which can be lifelong ),

3 ) Gulf War Syndrome, ( neurology altered by chemicals etc; a psychological condition which is apparently incurable ),

4 ) Post-Natal Depression, ( hormones produced during and after pregnancy and during lactation affect neurological functioning; it is both a "psychological condition" and a neuro-difference, which men do not experience ), ... ... ...

5 ) Aswell as people with depression, anxiety, OCD, psychosis, schizoid personality disorder, etc ... absolutely everybody has a "psychological condition" in fact. Noone has exactly the same neurological functioning as anyone else. Which ones qualify for alex's new forum?

Why is this new forum labelled so astonishingly "sloppily" if it is not meant for just the three groups referred to by name?


They are curable. I cured mood-disorder/hypomania and depression with changes to my diet. It's true that I have to keep eating the meat, fish, egg, salad, and so on, ( and not eating gluten ), for the rest of my life if I want to avoid a "relapse"/reoccurrence of symptoms, but it is a cure. And recent studies have shown that a "novel metabolic response" to gluten exists in a subset of schizophrenics and that a gf diet in those cases reduces symptoms to the point where can be said to be cured.


They are not incurable. They need not be lifelong.

No one individual can be "neurodiverse". That is another piece of sloppy writing in the blurb. Neurodiversity means the whole population, in all its glorious variety. A group of people may be "neurodiverse", but not an individual. The people on the fringes/in a minority might perhaps be described as "neurodivergent".

Both the title/name and the description/blurb for the new forum are absurdly/ridiculously loosely phrased. Almost anyone could join and post on WP based on that description.

"With or without autism"

"Other Psychological Conditions"

" ... or another condition"

"Have something other than autism?"

But even if the only people who join as a result of this new forum are those with bipolar, schizophrenia, tourettes, and a few other longterm mental illnesses/diseases/"conditions" such as schizoid personality disorder, psychosis, premenstrual syndrome, OCD, etc ... it seems to me that it significantly changes the intent/function of the site, as hale bopp said, ... if the forum is no longer just for people with autism and aspergers it should say so at the top of each page, ( in the same way as women belonging to a women-only bar would probably appreciate knowing if the club was suddenly going to allow not only male-to-female-transexuals but also gay men, and men still seeking a sex-change and men experiencing difficulties with masculinity, before going again or even joining ).

The thing is that by inviting people with such psychological conditions to join alex does appear to be suggesting that autism ( and aspergers, ADHD, dyslexia, NVLD, PDD/NOS, etc ) is like bipolar and schizophrenia and "other psychological conditions" in some important way(s), ways which distinguish them from the "rest" of the population. The only similarity that I can see is that they are all differences in neurological functioning ( with complex genetic and environmental etiologies, which require long term treatment/adaptations of some kind ) which society has labelled disorders/diseases, and disables/dis-enables/discriminates against.

"Wrong Planet" was always ( almost ) the only website for autism and aspergers which didn't include the word autism or aspergers in its title/name.

Hale bopp, maybe alex will change the subtitle" of the site ( "Online resource and community for Autism and Aspergers" ) if the new forum gets busy enough to justify it! :lol :lol :lol
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It's possible that people with those disorders are misdiagnosed Aspies. I was diagnosed as having everyone of those disorders you mentioned except for premenstrual syndrome & I'm almost positive I have AS. If we are going to close the door to people who have those disorders; I would not be welcomed here. Things are NOT as black & white as some people like to believe

Why would you not be welcome here?

You think that you are probably Aspergers, or something somewhere on the autism spectrum. You are here because of autism.

If you had not believed that you might be autistic you would probably have joined forums for people with bipolar or schizophrenia, etc.

But the new forum actively and specifically invites people to join and post who are not autist, who "have" almost any kind of longer-term "psychological condition".

You would always be welcome because you think that you are on the spectrum.

Just noticed something about the language use in the blurb for this new forum which is interesting: alex says "Have something other than autism?" and "With or without autism" ... which are expressions which are used about disease/illness. You "have" an illness. Whereas we on the spectrum "are" autists. I think it's why the blurb reads semi-offensively to several people here, because it refers to autism as an illness, something you "have" or are afflicted "with". There's something "off" about the sentence/question "Have something other than autism?".

Edit. PS. Alex might be hoping to attract people who have been misdiagnosed and haven't the faintest idea that they might be on the spectrum, sort of like churches set out apparently non-religious stalls to talk about issues which then lead back to religion, but even if that's the case I still think that he should have worded the forum name and description much more carefully, with greater precision, none of this sloppy "other conditions" vagueness, etc, and a thread in this forum to explain its purpose to us would have been helpful.
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Just noticed this thread, http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt139483.html about insomnia, in the Bipolar, Tourettes, Schizophrenia and other Psychological Conditions forum.

Will all threads discussing/dealing with symptoms or issues not included in the DSM list of dx criteria for autism now be moved ( from "General Autism Discussion" ), into this section?

eg. hoarding, sensory processing differences, anxiety and depression, ADHD?
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Please learn to read. Frankly, what's true about "mood-disorder/hypomania and depression" isn't relevant. That's not the same as bipolar.

And you are basically agreeing with me on schizophrenia.

Not at all, I am saying that in some cases it may be curable. You said that it was not.

And about learning to read, you will find if you do a little research that bipolar ( I and II ) is simply the new name for manic-depression or hypomania and depression:


Reading this definition I realise that I in fact experienced classic Bipolar I, ( or manic-depression ), because I did experience a couple of/few brief psychotic episodes and plenty of delusions of grandeur, and I cured it with changes in diet.
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Please reread my reply to you that's at the bottom of page 2 of this thread, and not the first word, and the parenthesis that follow. Thanks.

Oh, and some is not all. And there seems to be evidence, anecdotal at least, that for some people autism can be cured with diet. That doesn't mean it's incorrect to say there's no cure for autism.

You wrote:

Mood disorder and bipolar being the same thing I don't understand why you talk about them as if they were two different things, nor why you say that one is not curable and the other is "pretty wide open", or that the forum description "doesn't mention" mood disorders, "just" bipolar. :lol

The fact that I cured my mood disorder/hypomania and depression/bipolar disorder with diet, and the fact that "some cases of schizophrenia" are curable, ( by avoiding a food which are intolerant of ), means that you are/were simply wrong when you said flatly and categorically: and again when you wrote:
It is interesting though that you refer to autism sometimes being curable ... because if you read my later posts you will see that I think that the similarities between all these conditions, ( complex etiologies, both environmental and genetic triggers, etc aswell as similar exclusion, dis-enabling of and discrimination against by society ), are greater than their differences, and that this new forum looks like an attempt to include them under the "not a disease" umbrella which WP already applies to autism.

If the new forum is successful, attracts a lot of people, ( more than alex seemed to believe would be attracted by a specific forum for autistic parents, GLBT people, Historical interests, Writers exclusively, Meet-ups, etc ... and which forums he therefore never created, despite repeated requests ), ... it will be interesting to see if he changes the subtitle of the site from "The online resource and community for aspergers and autism" to something referring to neurodivergency or the "neurologically different".

Still wondering what exactly the difference is between autism and these "other psychological conditions", ... if there is one.
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Last edited by ouinon on 05 Oct 2010, 10:52 am, edited 2 times in total.

Bipolar is a mood disorder, yet, but just one. Not the only one.

And it's the one specifically mentioned in the new forum description ... and it's curable.

So, the question is why didn't alex think that people on the autism spectrum with ( partly or wholly ) curable/treatable "psychological conditions" could simply use the Health Forum for discussing them? Why make a whole new forum for mental illness/disease/disorder, ( when he has turned down or never got round to creating so many others )?

It has to be because of the neurodivergency issue, ... inclusion of non-AS groups; it is specifically inviting non-autistic people with many kinds of neurological difference to join WP. This is no longer a site just/exclusively for people on the spectrum, ( or those who think they may be on or near it, and/or their NT family, friends, etc ). Which is a bit of a revolution.
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While everyone is busy guessing what the motives are behind adding a new board, I'll throw in my two cents. It's simple: this site is a private enterprise, not a public service. I am often surprised at how many members seem to be unaware of that. One can assume that Alex is happy when his site has traffic, because then he can make money on the ads, cover the costs, and maybe enjoy some profit for his efforts. And there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it is done in a way that is compatible with the needs of the community. I do think the board mentioned is compatible with the needs of the community, because there are so many areas of overlap. It's not like WP suddenly expanded to include a "how to be a bully" board, or anything that polar to what has long been discussed here. Perhaps the wording could be tweaked, as many in this thread have suggested, but as long as that board is generating traffic, and not causing current members to re-think their participation to the point of leaving (which would reduce overall traffic, and be contrary to the goal, thus entirely worthy of consideration), I suspect Alex is going to keep it.

I don't know about anyone else, but my own posts have been motivated not so much by any desire to complain, or to influence alex, ( whose role/status as private board owner I am fully aware of ) but to understand the new situation, to explore the implications of the new forum, and they do seem to me to be pretty revolutionary.

WP has gone, overnight, from being a site exclusively for people on ( or very near ) the spectrum, and people who think that they may be on it, plus family members, to being a site for anyone with a relatively long-term and/or relatively, but definitely not exclusively, incurable "psychological condition". This conclusion/interpretation has everything to do with the wording.

If the wording of the board was simply rather hasty, and inadvertently vague, and in fact was not intended as an invitation to non-autistic people with other neurological differences to join WP, then it needs serious editing to express alex's real intentions. If on the other hand it says exactly what alex wanted it to say then it doesn't even need "tweaking"! :lol

If WP is now open to people who are not on the spectrum at all ( nor close relatives of someone on it ) then it might be a good idea to change the site's subtitle, ( at top of each page ) so that this is clear.

WP used to be specifically for people with autism, aspergers, and ADHD ... It is true that there are overlaps between these and several other "psychological conditions", whether hardwired or not, ( witness the many cases of misdiagnosis ), but it is never the less a significant change of "niche", from autism to neurodivergency, even if autism has generally headed the neurodiversity movement.
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