Light at the end of the tunnel?

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The OP never mentioned anything about positive thought, or that he was feeling more in control of his life. If anything, the implication is that a compulsion to be in control at all times is part of the problem. It's interesting how people respond to an imagined post rather than the actual post. Though I'm still half-expecting the OP to come back and offer us reduced-rate prices to join the AS Curing Cult he's formed.

Methinks this depends on one's definition of autistic. Some people here seem pretty stuck on the autism label going with being diagnosed, or being able to be. Diagnosis is based on symptoms, and, yes, those symptoms can vary over time.

That seems contradictory, that it's a natural variation, but also a disability. Though, part of the answer to that is that autism isn't purely genetic. Genetically, natural variation. But, as far as being a disability, in some cases, yeah, it could be society being a bad fit, but not all. I think of my 5 year old nephew. No, the autism he has is NOT a natural variation. The genetic part, sure, but the autism as a whole, no way.

Remember, the people who post here do NOT represent the whole of the autism spectrum.

It's also quite possible that there's more than one genetic basis, and sometimes, it's natural variation, sometimes, it's a genetic disorder. There are genetic disorders that are associated with autism as in, a high percentage of those with the disorder have autism. So, these people, they have a genetic disorder (not a natural variation), that's correlated with autistic symptoms. I would say for those people, autism is not a natural variation.

Autism is complex, and pretty much, any simplistic statement is going to miss the mark.

Dear nonnb,

Even though you have posted just ONCE, I feel obliged to tell you that only you can save yourself from your delusions. Now that is true spirituality. If you paid anyone for the advice that you so kindly shared with us, you ought to enquire if a refund is possible because what you are saying amounts to this: if a person on the spectrum pretends not to be autistic, he will stop being autistic. I can pretend all I want, and in truth I am an excellent actor with a charismatic presence, but it will not change the fact that my immune system and digestive tract (among a litany of problems) do not work the way they ought to. What do I say to myself when for no reason at all I wake up at 3 a.m. in the morning when my brain ought to be in the deepest cycle of the Circadian rhythm?

If you are indeed autistic and what you described works, then most assuredly you are headed for a debilitating crash. It works because your sense of loss has forced your brain and your body to respond by putting your system into hyper-mode. It can only go on for so long before the circuitry burns out. This has been reported by many people here who are now disabled because of mental breakdowns. Sometimes, and not infrequently, they also kill themselves when they realize that nothing will ever change.

For you own sake, reconsider.

I do find it disappointing that the original poster has only posted this one post, no others previously, no further posts in this thread. It does make me wonder about his sincerity as a member of this community. Does he see himself as a member of our community, or an outsider trying to help?

But, Zeno, I strongly disagree with you. I do not think that what he said equates to: "if a person on the spectrum pretends not to be autistic, he will stop being autistic.". What I see him saying is that part of autism is our thinking patterns, and there's an element of choice in that, and some people on the spectrum (and he clearly doesn't suggest all) can benefit from learning to change those thinking patterns. Some of us can learn less autistic ways of thinking, of using our minds, and then add that to our repertoire.

Furthermore, I understand him to be writing from experience, not simply passing on something he read that he thought sounded good with no experience to back it up. (And yes, I've seen that done, and it's annoying.) Based on his personal experience, he thinks what he said might be helpful to some.

And the motivation, for those motivated, would not be because there's something inherently wrong with being autistic, but because some aspects of being autistic just aren't working for us, and we would like better ways of coping with ourselves and the world.

Autism is not a way of thinking any more than Down’s Syndrome or William’s Syndrome are just ways of thinking. There is no such thing as an autistic way of thinking. People on the spectrum do have certain common experiences and failure at a job we are clearly qualified for is one such example. The way all human beings think is shaped by their experiences in life. The result is one can observe that autistic individuals seem to behave in ways that are similar and thus come to the conclusion that there is such a thing as an autistic mental reference. When we add free will to the mix, then it seems possible that an autistic person learns how not to be autistic. This actually forms the basis for many expensive therapy sessions that are being paid for. The end result tends to be a great deal of frustration or a very broken person.

I guess that we all have our own stories and ideas, to add to this thread. I like that.

well, it was a curebie / snake oil salesman kind of post.

TBH, i have such a poor memory for words, unless i directly quote a post all i'm left with by the time i type is my interpretation.

no matter how you want to define his method, it's a self-help styled curebie post in which he suggests AS is something you can think (or stop thinking) your way out of. as i'm quite sure it's not something you can "tackle" or an identity that can be broken, or something that just "occurs when we get stuck in a component of our own minds" (his words this time) i was disinclined to take him literally anyhow and assumed what was really going on is that he had managed to eliminate some anxieties and divert his attention from it much of the time, thereby assuming a feeling of control.

for the record, i think some of it is good advice (for management, coping, not curing). if rephrased drastically, i might get behind some of what he said. i just don't care for the jekyll & hyde split identity thing he has accepted ("oh no! HE's back" etc) and don't consider rejecting everything negative or difficult about yourself a holistic approach.

in summary, all i have to say is this: ONE POST.

it is a very typical example of someone with a very negative attitude of AS joining wrong planet to post one thing that is subtly inflammatory and then hit the road (or sit silently and watch the fight ensue without clarifying anything).



right - he's the equivalent of a "reformed" homosexual coming onto a gay discussion board telling people how he learned to "love" the opposite sex. i have no idea whether this is trolling or the guy has completely good intentions, but either way it's an ugly post, to me.

and by the way i love this.

I think we frightened the OP away........

Nah... I think the original poster wasn't interested in a discussion. Just wanting to impart his wisdom to us who he thought were in need of it. Too bad. I would have been interested in hearing his response to some of the replies. That's his only post here, posted the day he joined. Looks to me like a post and run.

I think there was some merit to what he had to say, but his (apparent) attitude in coming here to share his opinion with no interested in a discussion, no apparent interest in hearing anyone else's opinion, that I don't like.

The first thing I noticed in the OP's post is "I've had AS symptoms over the past 8 years."

That's about where I stopped reading. AS does not "develop" over time. You either HAVE it or you don't. It doesn't develop over time, suddenly appear, or "get all better." If it does, it isn't AS.

It is very possible that anyone, and some point in their life, can score very high on a preliminary AS screening test. The real "reveal" is in taking that screening test many times over a long period, and CONSISTENTLY scoring on the spectrum.

AS CANNOT be "cured" with positive thinking. It cannot be cured. The best someone with AS can hope for is to learn to cope and adapt.

The OP, if everything he says is true, most certainly does NOT have AS, and never did.

I had a feeling as soon as I read the first few lines of his post that it was a "hit and run."

This is his one and only post. Go figure.

Sorry guy, you haven't cured yourself of anything. You're just a clear example of someone I don't have any problem at all labeling as a "fake." And as most of you know, I do not take that label lightly.

I think this dude just might be a candidate for starting his own self-help cult of personality. Don't bother sending me any messages pal. Cause you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

I think you definitely do have some issues, but AS and Autism don't have a thing to do with them.

Exactly!! !! I wondered why I didn't really get Tolle, I want to but I couldn't help thinking while I was reading, this could help lots of people but not me. It isn't the software, although the software is totally corrupted, it is in the hardware where the definition exists.

The brain is not a computer. It doesn't have separate hardware and software. And we actually can change our brain connections. I don't know how relevant that is to autism/Asperger's. There's a limit to how much we can change. But, still, yes, we can make changes to out neural network. It's not as simple as hardware vs. software and we can't change the hardware. Changing the software changes the hardware.

I'm not saying you can learn to decipher nonverbal communication. That very well may be something you can't change. Just saying that physical brain connections, some of them anyway, can and do change even in adulthood.

I can't remember the names of the books on the subject which I've read, but here's an article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09344/1019898-115.stm

I haven't read anything about how that interrelates with autism, but now I'm wondering, could autistics maybe have a harder time making new connections, or maybe some other deficit that interrelates with that process?

Here's an article that's interesting. Doesn't talk about brain pathways in particular, but says those with autism have an abnormal pattern of brain growth, as far as size. "Conclusions The clinical onset of autism appears to be preceded by 2 phases of brain growth abnormality: a reduced head size at birth and a sudden and excessive increase in head size between 1 to 2 months and 6 to 14 months. Abnormally accelerated rate of growth may serve as an early warning signal of risk for autism." http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/3/337 (link is to an abstract, from which comes the preceding quote)