Psychiatrist: "AS or BS?"

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Callista, if your psychiatrist thinks that you are putting on an act it might mean that she thinks you try to appear more eccentric in order to get special treatment. I would question her about this comment. If she thinks that your AS is in any way an "act" then, if I were you, I would find another therapist.

Callista, your post was a revelation to me.

i had no idea that precise speech, an appreciation for English and the desire to use it fluently and correctly, are now considered to be 'aspie' traits. I think this is a sad commentary on our literacy. If you look at books that were written over a hundred years ago, you will find sentence construction and vocabulary that are beautiful and intricate; but have apparently passed out of vogue because they take some actual thought to understand. Entropy is apparently having its way with our language; resisting its force in your own mode of speech doesn't make you weird or a bullshitter.



Why is this remark aspie or eccentric? I don't understand. It seems to me to be more formal than 'Hey thanks for the strokes'; but I don't see anything weird about your choice of language in that setting.



I think yours was a wise response, assuming that you want to consider continuing as her patient. But her remark seems to indicate a basic lack of empathy with you, and an almost hostile, challenging attitude.

I agree with Laz about the nature of psychiatrists; but if you really feel you need one I'd search for someone else.

Thanks for all the food for thought!

I just want to add that I also agree with Laz about psychiatrists. I've consulted three of them. They were all very strange people with obvious issues of their own. They also all seemed very fond of saying cryptic things that took a bit of deciphering for me to know exactly how to respond. I spent one hour with each of them, on separate visits, and came away not happy with the service.

One psychiatrist spent almost the entire hour going in and out of the room to deal with the repair man who had come to fix her radiator. She entered the room for the final bit of discussion with me, put on her best "I'm listening" face and then said, "Well you are certainly a very honest person."

What that had to do with the issue I was discussing with her I have NO idea.

Another psychiatrist spent almost the entire hour going in and out of the room to see if the nurses had brewed his coffee yet. When he did finally sit down to listen one of the first questions he asked me was, "Tell me, do you enjoy sex?"

He must have spent a little less than half an hour with me all told, and afterward was going to write me a prescription for pills. Just like that....

And the third psychiatrist was truly deaf. She could not hear me. I'd be going on and on and then she would look at me and say, "Ehhh, what?" She didn't even bother to say "pardon me" when she hadn't heard me, which is only good manners don't you think? It was exhausting having to repeat everything I said twice or even three times.

Psychiatrists. I stay the hell away from those people.

Some of them tend to be very special people . My mom works in administration at a hospital with a psychiatric ward. She has commented on more than one occassional how bizarre some of the behavior of the psychiatrists are (lol).





I feel pretty much the same way as I have had basically unpleasant experiences with them. Especially if you are really having issues where they think they can "treat" you then they tend to become verbally abusive or dismissive if you question them. The first one I remember seeing was when I was 11 and it was scary because I was severely clinically depressed and had extreme anxiety so I KNEW that I better not say the wrong thing. And then I was heavily medicated which did nothing for me except to make me extremely tired and unable to think when the dose kicked in. Then the doctor told my mom to keep the pills with her at all times so I couldn't find them but the cap came off in her purse and they all spilled out. So when she went to call for a refill - well you can probably figure where this is going - the doctor didn't believe that was the cause and thought I tried to take them or something. Thankfully my parents saw that this guy was wacky (despite the fact that he was a highly recommended) and decided not to listen to him.

The other two I saw as an adult and they were both pretty condescending when I didn't want to play the medication game anymore. And one even convinced me to have my husband come in under the guise of helping him "understand" about the OCD. He did talk to him about that - and then also about how I was not seeming to be very compliant. Nice.

So when people wonder some adults don't want to pusue a formal diagnosis of AS than I susually think they haven't had too much experience with psychiatrists.

Where I live you can get your diagnosis from a psychologist. You don't have to see a psychiatrist for the diagnosis if you don't want to do that.

I have started with the psychologist a couple of times but then they wanted the psychiatriat to "review" things. Of course with our insurance both places I went to had psychiatrists at their establishments so I didn't know if it was kind of mandatory to continue with the counseling or in retrospect if they were just generating more income for the office. However, maybe someone in private practice may not be so inclined to do that - I wonder how many have gotten their diagnosis from a psychologist vs a psychiatrist. It might be less intimidating.

I do like her; she seems rather straightforward. She does know a lot about AS, because she has a son with AS herself; he's in college, so he's quite high-functioning, apparently--though I, with my female brain compensating (I think I would be a bit more right-brained than the usual extreme-left-brained Aspie brain), would probably be less affected than her son.

She's also the only one who believes me when I say that I don't fit the DSM-IV definition of Borderline Personality, which was the diagnosis originally given to me by a rather dense "professional counselor". I was able to clarify that the only reason I was given that diagnosis was my tendency to injure myself superficially when I'm overwhelmed by stress of various sorts. That's one criterion out of nine; and five are required for diagnosis.

I do wonder sometimes exactly what she's thinking (this is nothing new; I wonder that about most people): Does she think that I'm deliberately acting Aspie for some reason other than simple preference? Does she believe that I would be happier the more NT-like I acted? Does she think I might actually not have AS at all? And if she thinks that last one--despite the fact that she originally diagnosed me with AS--could she be right, and I might simply be on the "AS side of normal"?

The thought of not being Aspie actually makes me feel a bit anxious. I'm trying to figure out why. Maybe it's the implication that the problems I have may not be caused (partially) by AS; and therefore, if they aren't well-defined, they might not be solvable. Or perhaps it's the idea that it might be a character flaw--laziness--causing my problems; therefore, they're my fault; and therefore, since I've tried my hardest to overcome them and haven't, I'm not capable of doing so.

But then, I've always doubted everything, from my sexuality to my religion to my friendships to my intelligence and worth as a person... Why should this be anything new?

And, in other news (besides never having had much trouble with figures of speech, as my use of "in other news" proves), there are six people here in the library, talking loudly and laughing abruptly. I want to go to my room, lock the door, and pull the covers up over my head. Libraries are supposed to be quiet places of learning, not college party spots!

There is an interesting relation with things like depression. It seems like you have a certain amount of control over collapsing, or shutting down, which creates a slippery situation where you can start to suck peoples energy. I think however, if you try to use that control to much to avoid being a drag on other people, than in the end you just exhaust yourself more and things take their revenge, because if you did get attention from someone you would at least get some energy from it, and that helps you to cope with things.

I assume it goes the same way with having to try and act like an nt all the time. It will drain you.

I think in the end it is best not to try and control things like that to much, exept any urge to overdramatise. It's an equilibrum. And not to feel any guilt over things like this. If you are not deliberately pulling people's leg, than probably you are just fine.

So yes, often i decide not to act like an nt deliberately. Especially when their nt behaviour irritates me, i don't want to confirm it. For example in a meeting, if my friends start to give bad arguments for a good decision, i will just attack that, instead of joining in, something that greatly confuses them...lol It seams that for nt's, you must always only give pro arguments for something you are for and counter arguments for something you are against...

Psychiatrists seem to be neccesary at some pointbecause they can prescribe.
I'm not sure their "talk therapy" style really differs from most psycologists.

Unfortunetly, most of that talk therapy evolved in times when we had a very different
notion of how the brain worked.It will probably be decades before these guys integrate
new information into their practice.For now ,every one we find is going to act like we process the world the same way they do and so question our motives in cognitive terms.

You might be able to find a better shrink, but i wouldn't quit the one you've got until you do. Good luck.

My take on that I decided at 15...."I'm me, if you don't like that, it's your problem not mine, I'm not wearing a mask for no b****r, I'm not gonna stop being myself just cos you don't like it.

And I've never looked back. Seeing as trying to act "normal" never helped anyway, why SHOULDN'T I be myself-OTT, exhibitionism, obsessing, the lot!

Julie

Mine was a somewhat similar situation. Though I didn't really become determined right away, and it was probably at a much younger age.

And as much as I'd like to say that what people think about me doesn't bother me, it would be a lie. Because it does.

Don't get me wrong, I would still choose to be eccentric over being a conformist, but I should at least be honest to myself.

It's difficult to say what relative amounts of blame should be apportioned to people with AS and the majority. There may be a fundamental distinction between the two groups, but this does not necessarily mean that an NT should be blamed for not behaving normally; there exist extremes of personality types. It is not obviously meaningful to claim that an AS is not "blameworthy".
Of course, it does not make much sense to force a mode of behaviour wholly against one's nature upon oneself, and I can also sympathise with the desire to exaggerate eccentricity.

I've heard that many of the people who go into psychology or psychiatry are trying to understand their own quirks. Seen that way, it's almost obvious, isn't it?


If I remember correctly (IIRC...) the first few times I posted on an online forum I created such cryptic posts that either nobody responded, or someone said "What?!" Then I decided that comprehensibility was the better part of cleverness and started using smaller words. You can still say a lot with small words, it just takes longer

Don't get me wrong.....What people say about me DOES bother me...just not as much as it used to.
When I didn't conform, I got laughed at and bullied.
When I tried to conform, I STILL got laughed at and bullied. It wasn't any less bullying than when I was being myself. I thought "What's the point? It changes nothing.

At least if people laugh at me, it's not because I'm obviously trying to act like something I'm not. And my extensive vocabulary is excellent for giving some of them a long-worded mouthful that leaves them glazed around the eyebvalls but in no doubt they have been insulted.

Onme f my favorite such retorts was "You have the brains of an amoeba, and the personality to match"

One person once kept chanting "You're weird!" at me, and my response was "well, it takes one to know one!"
To which he had no answer.

Julie

As you have done throughout this piece, so why are you seeing a psychiatrist?

http://www.FoolQuest.com/fooltrek_faq/f ... _style.htm