not sure if i have asperger's or not...

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hi,

I've recently discovered Asperger's syndrome and am concerned that i may have it. I am actually about to start a course of CBT therapy for social anxiety, but am now worried that it could actually be aspergers instead/ as well as.

having spent some time researching the symptoms, and being aware of the dangers of self diagnosis, i seem to fit some of the symptoms but not others.

i have a full time job, a small network of friends, but have suffered with anxiety and shyness for most of my life. The only reason i'm starting to think its not jsut Social anxiety is because I do think that there may be somediffernces in the way i think compared to other people that aren;t just the result of being anxious,

with regards to empathy - i do find it hard to pick up on people's emotions sometimes - and it's not til i'ev put my foot in it somewhat that i realise. i dont have obsessions with particular subjects that i always think about, but looking back over my life, i have had some strange things that i've been interested in - such as when in a car, reading all number plates, burglar alarms on houses!(!), i can probably reel off every advert jingle from the 80s, and used to know every model of car on the market and how much it cost etc... more recently i see mto have developed a facination with spending ages looking at suburbia on google street view. all very strange passtimes when i look at them wrttien down...

i have difficulty with maintaining eye contact, and feel i think quite differently to other people . i struggle with creative thinking and fit most of the other syptoms apart from the repetative movements etc. i am very awkward in social situations and dont know how to respond and oftem say something inapropriate. i also have strange and jerky manerisms (often to other people's amusement). i find it hard to tell a story without going off on tangents and say parts in the wrong order etc. althouh i guess some of my other symptoms would be due to the SA. The reasons i think i may not have aspergers is that i think i feel empathy to some extent - ie if someone is upset =- i recongnise that and also feel their sadness. and i dont think my strange interests fit exactly with the obsessions - they could really just be forms of procrastination as i have difficulty in motivating myself a lot of the time. i am dont display the syptom of just discussing the interests - and can hold a pretty balanced conversation with a friend i dont feel anxious with.

well sorry for the essay-like post - and thanks for reading of you've got this far. as i say, i'm unsure - and although i realise there's nothing wrong with AS hope it's SA that i have as that 's the course i've been going down for the last 12 months or so... i know i cant be diagnosed my my post, but i'm a bit scared if i bring it up now with my therapist, it may mean halting the SA therpary and going down a different path - and I've been waiting for months to start the therapy on the NHS.

thanks for any insights you may have.

Hi, Welcome to WP. I hope you find helpful info here. Are you going to pursue diagnosis?

thanks happymusic

i'm not sure yet - still researching at the mo - and unsure about what to do. maybe i should concentate on the SA side of things first.

It's not uncommon for people on the spectrum to also end up with social anxiety at one point or another. I've been diagnosed with AS, OCD, and generalized anxiety disorder at various points in my life.

So why not pursue the SA course and mention the aspergers thing. they are not neccessarily mutually exclusive.

Hello,

Just a quick point, since I've seen empathy misunderstood by AS folks in the exact same way previously - empathy isn't just being able to sense what someone else is feeling and having a reaction to it, but the ability to step into their shoes and imagine/understand what they may be feeling in *their* life context. E.g. when someone's grandmother dies, it's quite sad so I can understand why they would be sad, but what if someone's grandmother dies and they have sadness & a host of complicated feelings because their relationship with their grandmother was quite complex? Being able to understand how they might feel in *their* circumstances is what empathy is.

thanks guys for the feedback - much appreciated. will definately mention it at me therapy session.

and the point on empathy - hmm - think my understanding of empathy wasn't quite correct then... guess i need to have a propper think about some examples where i have showed true empathy...

strange hobbies from my childhood are starting to come back to me since i've been thinking about them over the last day or so. when i was about 12 i was obsessed with maps and countries - and memorised all the data for each country - ie gdp per capita, amount of maize produced etc.... and other things like that that involved memorizing data from tables.... but guess lots of geeky kids do that!