More people saying they have Autism lately?

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This is why I don't mind people who self-diagnose. Neurotypicals can't even relate to autistic people or our behaviors, much less experience them. If a person has done their research and shows traits that cause clinically significant impairment, then they are normally correct.

It's okay I gave them my OCD card. It's just like a black card, but for OCD.

I had actually only seen one person in real life say they have OCD and he told me it was because he likes things tidy. I wanted to tell him that isn't what OCD is unless it's giving him anxiety and distress and it doesn't give him pleasure and people with OCD don't like their rituals or their routines and they would not want to keep their socks organized but would feel compelled to or else something bad will happen or because they need the "just right" feeling. But I didn't say anything. I did ask him when he was diagnosed and he said he wasn't and I asked if he was getting any help for it and he said he wasn't and he just likes his socks organized and his clothes. He told me he didn't really notice he was like that until someone pointed it out to him and called him OCD. I thought from that story that didn't sound like OCD at all and he just likes his things organized. And the fact he didn't seem concerned and didn't tell me how much he hated being this way. I don't like it either if someone messed up my stuff and it makes me really upset I start yelling but that isn't OCD because there is no compulsion or anxiety about it unless someone keeps messing it up but it is not because I think something bad will happen or because of the "just right" feeling.

I remember when I was 15, I was in therapy with my school counselor and I had my Game Boy Color with me. I kept taking the battery cover on and off and he told me that was OCD. I asked him why and he said I was making sure the battery cover was on right and I keep worrying it's not on right. I told him that wasn't why I was doing it and I do not think that about my battery cover on my Game Boy. So he got up and took my Game Boy and I started to play with my fingers and twisting them and he laughed. I asked him why he took it from me and he said he wanted to see what I would do and he sees I just do something else with my hands. Yeah it wasn't about the Game Boy and the battery cover. I also think some people will jump to the OCD conclusion and I am guilty of this myself because I was misinformed about it. I thought liking things a certain way was OCD or being obsessive about things you enjoy or being fixated on something like a word or a TV show, or liking a clean home and hated clutter and messes. I thought a renter who now lives in my grandparents home that is now owned by my aunt and uncle was OCD because of how clean the house is and how good their yard looked. It turns out she was just a housewife and her husband works while she works taking care of the place and it's how they do their marriage.

Does stress cause OCD like symptoms?
How long does a person needs to be sad for him/ her to say that they are depressed. Can a person just say that I am not depressed I am just really sad and tired for more than a year now? By the way I'm not talking about clinical depression, I'm just talking about normal depression. Which I think everybody is bound to have at some point in their life.

Yes, stress can in fact cause a lot of symptoms from many different disorders, but that doesn't mean that the person who is under stress has a disorder that can be diagnosed (one symptom doesn't make for a disorder). I personally develop symptoms that are present in OCD when I'm under a lot of stress - I get intrusive thoughts; during a period of my life they were so bad that I couldn't sleep, and I would have to get out of bed, covered in sweat, and sit on the floor to try and prevent a panic attack from happening. I also get compulsions that make me do things over and over because they're not "right" (i.e. folding clothes from laundry, and having to do it again and again until it's folded properly and if I don't -> anxiety). However, that has happened during specific, punctual periods of my life and it's not an ongoing struggle, thus I wouldn't be diagnosed as OCD. A person may even experience a psychotic episode during their lifetime and not get a schizophrenia diagnosis. Also, being sad is not depression; someone may not even experience sadness and be depressed (covert depression) having symptoms such as fatigue, alexithymia, sleep problems, lack of appetite, etc. Dysthymia is another condition in which the person has a long-lasting form of "mild" depression, but can do things like work and have a social life (even though it's a constant struggle) - I do have this condition and it impairs my quality of life, which is also one of the core aspects considered when giving a clinical diagnosis. [Talking from my perspective as a ND psychologist]

Thank you for your post. I can relate to most of what you said because I did experience ocd like symptoms for about a year. It was a stressful part of my life. I had this obsessive desire to clean the apartment to which I feel I didn't deserve to relax unless I finished it but I was never strict about time or details, I just need to clean the place.Only after that did I allow myself to watchs DVD and do some googling. But when situations change I usually adopt and let go of old routines.I just find it weird because I've never experienced anything like that before.And by the way about mild depression I don't really mind about having it because I can easily overcome it with my interests.

So this thread morphed from more autistics know of their disability these days to a hate session about OCD? And they say I have trouble with logic. Sheesh…

I've already given my opinion with regards to the main topic, I wished somebody would counter it though so that I can understand it from another person's perspective.

I question if I should be on this board at times because, even though I have some of the traits of Asperger syndrome, nobody ever really suggested I had it and I have never had a formal diagnosis. I have been told I lack confidence in my abilities and that I worry too much. However, these are the things that I believe hold me back from functioning at my highest level.

IstominFan, please don't ever think you shouldn't be here.

The saying always goes that Wrong Planet is for anyone who wants to be here to discuss autism, having it, or even thinking they may have it; diagnosed or not diagnosed, or someone who has a loved one with autism or other neurodiverse condition.

I hope you feel welcome even if you're a person who has traits but no diagnosis.

I guess that's better than denying something we cannot diagnose ourselves of.

This thread is really rubbing me the wrong way. I get wanting to own your identity, and I totally get not wanting other people to falsely represent it.

BUT, one thing I really love about how autism is conveyed and talked about is that it is a spectrum. Does spectrum only mean that which has been clearly identified as diagnosable? I have been able to "pass" to people that don't know me well (or not and I just don't realize how they see me), but I have been fully aware that I process differently than most people since I was in high school. Other people show it more obviously and outwardly. That doesn't mean either of us are better or worse, or more or less autistic, it just means we've had different life experiences and similar but different life challenges.

There are hundreds of reasons that someone could be autistic and not have an official diagnosis. They are over 40 and Asperger's wasn't a thing when they were in school. Like someone else said, no access to healthcare. I will add access to quality and knowledgeable healthcare. They are female and don't fit the typical male model. They are any type of person that does't exactly fit the model of asd as described by non-autistic, old, male doctors. They don't want the stigma of a label. They aren't affected enough socially to need a diagnosis. They over-research on their own and are comfortable with their own knowing. They have been misdiagnosed with other disorders and don't trust the doctor enough to retest. They suspect they are autistic and tell a friend or family member, and that person tells them they're not so they don't go to the doctor even though they know they are...it could go on and on.

Maybe there just are a lot more people with autism out there then we think. It's nice to have a community and a forum as a place to share and connect with others who get it, diagnosed or not. For the people who you think are claiming to be autistic but really aren't, educating them would be more productive than hating on them.

Sorry for talking about a related disorder. This conversation was started because OCD is one of the disorders that people use in a derogatory way most often. It seems like autism may become like OCD in regards to referring to it in a derogatory way. Not hard to follow, in my opinion.

I suppose i don't mind people self diagnosing as long as they don't lie to other people about it.

You can't say you're professionally diagnosed if you're self diagnosed.

It is also possible to exaggerate and overthink ones behaviour in a want to connect with others. (not saying this is the case with the people here who are self diagnosed)

Being a spectrum it's hard to totally identify with everyone on that spectrum . That for me,don't know about others, fuels doubt and uncertainty. Perhaps the best I can say with moderate conviction is that I have autistic traits .
While travelling with my stepdaughter she had an Aspergic client on the car phone. He launched into a repetitive monologue about not wanting to wear headphones at work to block the noise of the music . Apparently they hurt him.
My thought was I'm nothing like this person ,see my symptoms as milder,so how the hell can I even suspect even autistic traits.

I have OCD and it being used as a slur always amuses me.