Are people with AS predisposed to drug abuse?

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But, she also said it was just a few of the reasons. I can tell you from personal experience there are more, many more. It isn't just about fitting in. Which might be the exscue to something more buried. I can also tell you if you go suggesting your thoughts to authorities (the trend setters), that unsupervised addicting, potentially addicting drugs (don't care to get into a discussion of the strict terminology of what that is either) is the way to go, their take on it won't be a good one. I didn't use the term predisposed as strictly as you did, in the sense you used it, you are correct. When you don't use it as strictly and take into consideration some of the things that so often tag along for the ride, you have the strong potential for serious problems. Go to a few AA/NA meetings and if you're any good at figuring people out you'll catch the drift. We get everything else, problem wise, that they do. Actually I think on the whole those at WP are more enlightned to the other things involved.

See the thing is, temporary isn't always the end result. It might be the intent, but it isn't always the way it comes out. Granted some can do it that way and others can't.

The term "natural" can be misleading as hell. Natural can be just as dangerous and sometimes more because they fall into a general misconception of just what that means. Arsenic is natural for one example. St John's Wort is natural but can cause big time harm if it interacts in certain settings. Natural does not always equate to good for you. Advertising agencies and snake oil salesmen (not sure there is a difference between the two) did that for us.

I'm not sure just what 777's intent in using the word predisposed is. If he really meant another because of it's strict true meaning I'm not sure. I took it as the more loosely meant just due to his follow up post to the question.

My father most likely has AS and he takes illegal drugs on a regular basis. I have AS and I don't use drugs including alcohol [anymore...that is].
All of the other people with AS that I have talked to seem quite "anti-drug" type of people. I don't think it depends on whether you have AS or not...but it would not be surprising if there was a family history of addictive personality.

777 I'd really need to see some facts and studies. I don't know that abuse occurs anymore than other groups - as far as illegal use. I think drugs are bad in general unless supervised, but I feel slightly ambivalent about pot. I mean if it or booze keep ya from - well doing self-harm then I say cheers to you but use it moderately.

I wonder if Philip Dick was an Aspie, he suffered from heavy drug abuse and 5 marriages and dies at 51.

777 I just love your handle 777 - ( very cool)

I did say "should", Postpaleo.

And I didn't support the idea of "unsupervised addicting, potentially addicting drugs" either. I'm against that - natural highs are better. For example, I get high on watching football or pro wrestling (better still be involved in a wrestling show). I don't mean "natural drugs" as such when I say that.

That's the point of counselling in places like AA that you mentioned. There's a self esteem problem, and that's where drug use tends to be more prevalent. And that's a factor not exclusive to us ASD people. It happens to NT's as well and just as much. Now the next step is what causes that low self esteem? Nine times out of ten it's a reaction to other people's behaviour, and the trick then is how to cope with it. That's the group that shouldn't be going to drugs. The other one out of ten may have a problem that needs medication.

Hope that makes my position clearer.

I would say anyone with an obsessive-compulsive personality (ie. eating too much junk food, smoking cigarettes, etc.) could be a potential candidate for drug abuse - regardless of whether they're NT, AS or any other label. While those of us imbued with willpower - whether it's learned or we're born with it, are more likely to use drugs responsibly, especially if we're intelligent and care about our health. People become interested in chemicals for different reasons. Some of us approach substances with a scientific curiosity for exploration, others are looking for an escape from reality. One's underlying intentions have a strong bearing on the situation as well, as you can imagine. Personally, I've never found myself addicted to any substances (not even chocolate or caffeine) and my experiences with both legal and illegal drugs have been largely positive - a far cry from the portrayals of conservative anti-drug propaganda. It is human ignorance (not chemicals themselves) that leads to the vast majority of tragedies the media sells us.

I disagree for two reasons:

1) Some people have serious problems like those I described that persist over a long period of time. Sometimes they can't afford professional treatment or it doesn't help.

2) Drugs are addictive. Therefore any drug use, no matter what the reason for it, can lead to long term use.

I do agree that it could be temporary. But drug use for the sake of fitting in could also be temporary, if the individual changed their mind about who or what they wanted to fit in with.

I do not think that people with Asperger's Syndrome are predesposed to drug use, because I do not think there is a predisposition to drug use. Turning to drugs is based on personal chioce and environmental factors, not genetics. That being said, I am an aspie who never had a drug problem, never used or wanted to try drugs or smokeing, do not really like strong medication (I destinguish between medicinal and recreational drugs), and am not affected too much by peer pressure (my peers didn't like me but I wasn't going to stoop below my personal standards to try to please them).

I think alot of drugs would appeal to a majority of Aspies who tried them. I think almost any Aspie would enjoy Pot or MDMA, probably more then somebody without the equivalent issues.

There are however several studies that link the use of these drugs with a variety of neurological conditions - pot is an easy way to get a quick burst of 'normal' or at least relief from anxiety. MDMA is a great way to escape anxiety etc. The side effects that relate to use or abuse (however you view it) of either drug are the balancing factor.

I have been an addict in the past, speed, coke, meth, mdma, ketamine, pot, LSD, shrooms, and probably a few other things I didn't know about. I saw alot of relief from my some of my more problematic aspie symptoms while I was up. Particularly relief from anxiety. They also felt really f*****g good. But there's a clear point where the side effects become unmanagable, and I think its unavoidable with any recreational narcotics habit and you either have to stop, or you end up breaking.

I was lucky enough to be able to stop.

So, you don't think that anyone is born with an obsessive or addictive personality? I have to strongly disagree. It's pretty much proven that there is a strong genetic component to addictive personalities.

Yes, I think you've stated your case better, at least to me. Thanks for taking the time to do it. I feel very strongly this is an important topic.

I could probably, if pushed, come up with how long I drank, let's just say a long time as in 30ish years. I'm not talking little bits here and there, I'm talking drinking to as close to black out, alcohol poisoning as I could get, every chance I could get. It started out slower, but it built to that. It was slow suicide. I wasn't blind to the fact others moved away from me for the most part, it was not a fitting in deal at all. A bunch of reasons behind why I was doing it and a couple of AHA!! moments in figuring it out, none of which happened in the AA/NA type settings, which by the way didn't work very well, just because of that not fitting in deal we all seem to know pretty well. First of all that tells me there is a big problem with AA/NA to begin with. Counseling? There isn't any for the most part. These people are reciting verse and don't have a f*****g clue. Remember, what we know about the human mental state had come a long long ways since the founder (which had problems of his own along these lines, but wasn't understood) set up the "steps" type program. Those programs claim a good success rate, and bless em when it does, but the only valid studies done of them shows the opposite, there is a huge revolving door of people not getting the help they need, the insights as to why, the root cause. Those programs need so badly to get into the 21st century. I'm not holding my breath they will, there is a very stubborn hard core bunker mentality group in there. However I've seen some stirring as of late that does give me a little hope. That is my axe to grind, my crusade and I nail that groups hide to the wall every chance I get. And this was one

Here is the "hell of it is" it saved my life. Not by them (AA/NA), my drinking did (I suppose you could toss drugs in there as well, I had more then my fair share of those too). It would not have if I had continued, it would have killed me. But I made it to those AHA!! moments, I didn't end it. The first of which I self DXed myself as Bipolar, which is my current official DX, I didn't know about AS and it fits better when BP is also brought into the picture. Fits better? Hell it fits like a freakin glove. What part of sleeping with a loaded rifle and an unsheathed combat knife every night for months wasn't or shouldn't have been looked at as abnormal by me? Yet I did not, I did not know what was going on, why I did and was doing what I did. I don't tell people not to drink it might be saving their lives. But, when they get an inkling something isn't well, when they try to reach for a friendly hand, I'm there. In the mean time, I'm talking about my story. It isn't an ego thing, far from it. It's the only way to really help, you hope like hell they can see a bit of themselves in my story and maybe something I did to stop can work for them. You play the mirror role, only it isn't an act. Change starts from with in, it has to, we're the only ones that can do it. What we reach for, who we reach for, even why we reach for what we need to get out of addiction, starts from with in. If it stands a snow balls chance in hell to work long term, always.

I've been known to even suggest more along the lines of what you're saying. I am not anti drugs, alcohol or not. I've just seen and lived an awful lot of the down side to them and very often you really don't know what or how your going to react to those pleasures for the long term. It's a toss of the dice and I've never met a gambler that could make a living at playing craps. So I stack the odds as best I can in my favor and make my choices. There is no such thing as, a sure thing, there are just odds. It doesn't help me that the behavior trait, moderation, isn't real strong in me. But just knowing it, stacks the odds a bit more in my favor.

Yikes that got long. Sorry, I get worked up about this and I sure wouldn't read what I just wrote, too damn long. I could write a freakin book about it and still not get it all out.

I too think there may be many others out there, not knowing, just drugging themselves into passing, and eventual collapse/paralysis.

And I DID read your long post above too.

I too, in a state of shocked understanding, dx'd myself bipolar in 1992, and i too found that removing alcohol from the equation, after over 10 years of increasingly heavy drinking, exposed asperger style traits which i then spent another 10 years thinking was anxiety and depression, which is what doctor labelled it as aswell.

I had found alcohol, at least for the first 5 years or so, a wonderful way of being able to be with people like "everybody else". Since giving it up almost entirely i have become so aspergers like it's uncanny. And yet looking back to my childhood i realised this year it was always there. I just hid it as soon as reached legal drinking age. I also smoked dope etc, cos helped, gloriously, too.

Not predisposed, just motivated, because my real way of being was so outcast, so mocked, so sidelined , that took any route out.

Last edited by ouinon on 11 Jan 2008, 2:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

And there is another side to it, while the topic is drugs, let's throw sex into the equation. It is a natural "high".

One of the Bipolar traits, for lack of a better word, can be a lot of sex, often with many different partners. Quite the opposite of the stereotypical (no such thing) aspie. Sex is a good thing and like all such things the key is moderation. I have never and will never apologize for my past when it comes to this. I might sooner apologize for breathing. The "steppers' would have labeled me a sex addict. But it made me feel good, I could actually get close to someone in my odd way. It was just as much a relief to leave the person as it was to meet up with them.

I checked your bio and I do understand the blast females can get for admitting such a thing. So even if this might fit, no need to say it. Like I said elsewhere on WP today, Bipolars run a wide range just as well as aspies do. Add the two together and, lol, I'm to the point I don't try to sort it all out much anymore.

So pleased to hear you've gotten a handle on it. Nice to be sober isn't it.

i am sorry...only skimmed the long posts....i don't know whether or not Aspies are predisposed to Drug abuse...I know both kinds....no drugs or alcohol..or only the drugs that are prescribed to them....I kave known diagnosed aspies who took alot of recreational drugs...

I went through a really heavy drinking phase in the past, but I am over it....I drink moderately, and am more inclined to when extra-stressed out...and it sometimes makes things better, but frequently makes things worse.

As far as other drugs...I cannot smoke pot as it gives me the terrors....my unscientific theory is that it depresses a part of my brain that is already depressed. It gives me severe panic and paranoia that may last for a few days...i can't smoke pot and not cry...

I experimented with hallucenogens with mixed reactions...don't really seek that out much...

I might self medicate with stuff that helps with focus and anxiety....two things that I have real difficutlies with....for lack of prescriptions for things to help me with these.
I also take alot of herbs to self medicate....they just don't seem as effective on the short term as the non-herbal things I might occasionally take....

ButchCoolidge, I said I do not believe in a predisposion to drug use which is actually not the same as a compulsive personality because having a compulsive personallity doesn't make you use drugs, compulsions find expression in different ways. The most common outcomes of compulsive personalities are not actually drugs, the two most common being pack rat tendencies or obsessive orderliness (yes they are opposites) mixed with a wide variety of compulsive behaviors. As for the addictive personality, its not an official terminology mainly as it is too easily miss interpreted. (It can be used as a synonium for compulsive personality or to express a person who has naturally subcomed to the inherint addictivness of certain activities or substances). You were reading too much into my post and misconstrapolating it. That being said I have a comorbid condition of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with my Asperger's Syndrome. So, yes I do know that compulsive personalities exsist.

1) That's when the support systems should be stepping in. Right now support systems for those on the Spectrum in general are pathetic to say the least - so that doesn't help. And when I say support systems I mean public ones provided by government, not the private ones that people can't afford. And I disagree that treatment in general doesn't help. It just a question of finding the right treatment. Understanding the individual is the key to anything working - and society's tendency to box people in groups doesn't help.

2) Not all drugs are addictive. What's addictive is any positive result and the individual thinks that the drug is the only way to get it. That's a bit different. Long term, that's dangerous especially if the drug concerned isn't made for long term use. (Chelation is a great example of this).

The last comment is all about self esteem - and that can always be improved. But the first step is for the person to want to improve their self esteem.

Hey I don't take drugs. I do believe thought that it is foolhardy to take a hard stance against them. People are different. Mentally, Physically, Emotionally and in terms of Chemical response to the drugs.

Saying that Support services will help all individuals or over-ride the requirement of any individual for drugs is a simplistic approach. All people are different.