Attwood Books

Post Reply New Topic

Has anyone read both "Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals" and "The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome" ? I just finished the complete guide, which was published more recently; will I gain any new information from reading the guide for parents and professionals as well?

I need to know as much as I can so I can tell whether my psychologists and such know what they're talking about, because I've seen a therapist and psychiatrist thus far who knew nothing about Asperger's and simply wanted to prescribe Xanax... When I was young I had good doctors (and they diagnosed me), but I have moved and can't seem to find anyone knowledgeable now.

Thanks

I have read "The Complete Guide" and it is a very informative book-haven't read the other one but Tony Attwood seems to be one of the leading people in AS-and trying to get help as an adult is difficult at best-autistic children grow up to be autistic adults and children get great support but then the minute they become an adult its like they are saying "Ok grow up and grow out of it now" and there is nothing but people that don't understand nor want to hear the dreaded "A" word in relationship to your know problem.

I've read The Complete Guide as well, but I couldn't help but notice how incomplete it is.

I am not a fan of Attwood's books or any books written by and for NTs about autism. I do not identify with the NT interpretations of autism in the books. Since I have a lifetime of personal experience of autism, I do not need so-called experts with no personal experience to tell me about myself. However, Attwood's books can be useful for your headshrinkers to learn about autism beyond the stereotypes in their minds.

Relative to experts and theories of the past, he isn't bad, though. The Bettelheim and Lovaas days aren't really all that long ago.

I have read the book and it appears to be good except for one chapter. The chapter on love, sex and relationships was dire.

I believe most of us here have a lifetime of personal experience with the autism spectrum... Like I said, I am reading to make sure that my doctors know what they're talking about and are providing me with adequate care. In a way I agree with you; they will never know exactly what it is like, but the chances of me finding a doctor who has Asperger's syndrome, let alone one who wrote an authoritative book on the matter is slim to none when I cannot even find a normal professional in my area who is educated on the syndrome.

I read "The Complete Guide" a year or two ago, and my reaction was "How did I not notice this guy following me around and taking notes my entire life???"

So yeah, it was really good.

I think "A guide to parents" covers a fair bit of the same territory as "The complete guide" but in less depth from memory.

I think it is pretty well written and comprehensive for something from an NT perspective, and that it isn't really reasonable to expect it to be completely exhaustive and do describe exactly without any mistakes everyone's lived experience with AS. My hope is that books like that aren't taken as gospel and lead people to actually ask useful questions of the aspies in their circle.

The Complete Guide is good, but ironically it has a restricted set of interests and behaviours, eg: He calls us all train lovers and Mathletes, when quite frankly I've never met anyone who likes trains, and not all of us are good at math.

But other than his generalities and singular example of a more sociopathic Aspergian, it's a good book. It never hurts to read more than one book, but the Complete Guide is pretty legit.

I see his restricted example as just a quick example so his book isn't a book of examples because there are loads of special interest to list them all would be tough.

Fair enough, but the example is still a little too cold for my taste. But hey.

My thoughts exactly