Autism and a heightened sense of psychic abilities

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Disclaimer: Yes, I am a hippie-dippy new-agey frou-frou tree hugger, and this is my post.

Hello, all. I am currently reading a book called The ESP Enigma, which throughout the book mentions what kinds of people are more susceptible to ESP and other psychic phenomena, and they are: women, extroverts, schizophrenics, those with brain damage or have experienced a near-death-experience, and autistics (however, mostly savants). Although many of the claims to psychic abilities and brain functioning is contradictory to the idea that Autistic Savants have a greater psychic ability (such as most people who claim to experience ESP are extroverts, which is not a trait generally assigned to autists), I found the passage very interesting. I personally experience minor "precognitive dreams," which is when I have a dream of something that is going to happen that coming day (I have yet to actually change the outcome of the event even when I'm aware of what is going to happen), and have other psychic abilities, like the ability to predict what someone will be doing with his/her life in five or ten years...not to brag.

Has anyone else experienced ESP-like phenomena, and think it is possibly linked to the way an autistic brain works?

I'm not so much "hippie dippie new-agey" - but I'll jump in anyway.

I've had some suspicions that the autistic spectrum tends to thin the barriers between the spiritual realm and the physical realm. Within the Orthodox Jewish world there have been some autistic non-verbal adults who are passing along information by way of Facilitated Communication. Two of the most famous are located here:

http://www.dani18.com/index.php?show=en

For myself, I have had a few incidents where something will pop out of my mouth that I would have absolutely no way of knowing, but the person I am speaking to tells me that I am correct. It was a matter which they thought was only known to them. I'm not sure how to explain it.

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There are no "psychic abilities".

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I am 4 out of the 6 kinds of people you mention who are likely to experience paranormal, but sorry, never had a paranormal episode.

When I was a teenager, I was pretty sure that I had some kind of magical, mystical something-or-other, simply because I understood things about the universe that most other people wouldn't even consider.

Now I understand that I understand absolutely zilch about anything at all. And I'm not even sure that I understand that.

I'm not sure where I was going with that comment, but what the heck.

I can see the future. People think it's stupid, but it's true. I'll randomly think of something, and it'll happen the next day. I'll think of a film, and find out it's on TV tomorrow (and no, I don't read TV guides). I highly doubt it's a coincidence, because it's been going on for I think two years now.

I've had certain instances that seem coincidental at the time, but in retrospect seem a bit like I was able to predict future events subconsiously.

One that recently happened was a week ago when I was staying at a hotel in North Platte, Nebraska. I was surfing the net on my laptop while a commercial break was on TV, when for some random reason Victoria's Secret (as in the lingere store) popped into my head. All proof of pervertedness aside, take a wild guess which business was advertised on the very next commerical.

Instances like this happen to me a lot, especially when TV or radio is concerned. There's always the possibility that they were coincedences. And even if it is precognition, it doesn't do me a lot of good because I only recognize the correlation after the fact. Still, I find it somewhat odd.

Never personally experienced psychic moments, but I have definitely been on the other end. We have a clairvoyant friend who can definitely know some strange stuff about you. (Not just things like, "You are a musician," but "You take after your father in ways X, Y, Z... in the bottom left drawer of your desk you keep Q..."

My brother-in-law has pregnancy radar. He knows when people he knows are pregnant whether or not he sees them in person. He knew that my wife conceived with our son at 4 weeks, almost before we knew.

I have been called a witch before...by weird superstitious people...just because I put off an odd vibe. The last time it happened was at a garage sale...I was minding my own business, picking thought the junk and the guys sitting in the chairs start talking amongst themselves in Spanish...and I hear the word Bruja (sp?) (Witch in Spanish)....and then one of the guys called me a witch....after that I didn't feel too much like looking through their stupid musty old clothes....

Umm...I have had a couple of precognitive dreams.
I don't claim to be psychic.
I have had a few crazy coincidences too....
I used to have a thing about ghosts a bit.
I don't obsess on it, but I did when I was younger.
i have lived in a couple of houses that seemed to be haunted...(this was the opinion of more than one person)
At one of them I could not sleep a full night in my room and my cats would not go in there and I physically saw something move by itself in a way that I can find no logical explanation for...(my room seemed to be the "hot spot" of the house)...Though...the person who lived there before me had no trouble with it that I know of...

Even though I am pretty bad at reading people in a lot of ways, I did dabble with palmistry as a silly little pastime when I was a little younger...and Flakey in certain drunken moods would boastfully insist that I could read peoples palms, and I was seemingly good at at least telling people general facts about themselves and their personalities that they would already know.
I don't do it anymore though...though i did like to study it and at least know a thing or two about it...even if it is hooey...it is a bit fascinating to me....
I have zee gypsy blood.... (just a drop or two)
I also liked reading contradicting texts on the the subject...there are some wacky books out there. I would never tell people things about themselves that might effect them in a negative way...because I have had it happen to me and it was not nice...and every palm reading came with the disclaimer that it is all heresay...and "for amusement only" and I would lecture to them on the dangers of taking anything like that too seriously.

I experienced the feeling that I was "empathic" when I was younger...and I could pick up stuff from other people. Sometimes it felt more like I was being invaded by other people...it was stronger with some more than others, and it caused me a lot of discord when I was in my early 20's..so I became very leery of casual socializing...for fear of getting "invaded" by stuff that seemed to come from their minds...There were lots of opportunities for casual socializing because I was in a band....I had to mentally barricade myself against that kind of stuff...then again....I was kinda nuts when I was in my early 20's... ...and I am quite certain that if some of that was real, certainly not all of it was...
An example would be one time I casually spoke to some person who approached me..who recognized me from my band, but who I did not recognize.... and for some reason my head became filled with all manner of vivid really twisted somewhat demonic and hedonistic images...that seemed to come from that person..when outwardly, he was just some scruffy tattooed bohemian type...acting polite and just chatting about my band...
That was an intense example....most of the time it was less intense than that, but intrusive nonetheless....especially if it wasn't real...
This sense has dulled significantly, thankfully...
I chalk it down to my early-20's crazies...

Now, I will simply get "thrown off" by certain people, but not know exactly why...
Just because I am thown off by them, does not mean they are bad people....

I have also been attracted to people I should have had an aversion to.

I tend to err on the side of caution and block most everybody out....

I once almost started a thread called "Empathic or Schizotypal"..pondering whether or not a person is delusional for ever sensing something that seems like it is coming from another person rather than from their own head.

I have been called "psychic" and would consider myself to be somewhat paranormal. My brain is wired differently so I have a unique relationship with sensory data. I can interpret it in a variety of ways.
If we didn't know savantism was connected to autism, we would think a savant has some kind of paranormal or "psychic" ability. Future knowers and psychics see pictures in their heads of what it is they are supposed to know, whether it be the future, the location of an item, where somebody is, etc. This is how some people with autism confess to thinking. This is also how psychics see their visions, and peer into the future.
I don't dismiss psychic ability. It's doesn't sound hokey and metaphysical if you think of it in terms of savantism because we all have seen savantism, we know it exists in people. If it exists, can't psychic ability and future seeing also exist? It's just different ways of thinking and using the brain. This is at the root of autism, savantism and psychism.

This is interesting. Although, I wonder if some of this is subconsious attention to detail. I know that I could tell when my Mum had visitors when I came home from college for the weekend (by the smell of the air and the way certian objects were placed). Currently I've been strangely accurate about the weather but it could be the same thing.

I do believe in ghosts and stuff but I don't know much about it.

A lot of people in the Sherlock Holmes stories thought he was physic, how else could a simple person describe the subtle level of observation which would enable such brilliant deductions. Truly sorry to burst your bubble but that's the story with the other "Physics" as well. People with heightened observational skills, or who are highly sensitive to their surroundings, pick up on small details a "normal" person would not, this is usually done subconsciously adding to the enigmatic effect.
Another type of "Physic" person is one who grew up with a abusive family member, having to be hyper aware at all times of anything that would send an abusive family member into a rage is something that can linger even when in a safe environment.
I would absolutely say people with Aspergers are "Physic" in general because all the elements for it are there.
Elementary my dear Aspies.