Could be Asperger some kind of lack of FILTERING?

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I just thought on it when I was reading the Intense World Theory (link here), that I didn't know before now.

And then I started to think about what I know about Asperger, and how I feel and think. In many ways, it feels very similar to a lack of filtering.

- Sensory problems as not filtering senses. What I feel is that I can't separate background from foreground. In my case, I can't filter noises and I pay attention to every noise around me, so I must handle a constant overcharge.

- Emotional problems as not filtering emotions. Or the Intense World Theory I was talking before: coping with a constant emotional overcharge. That is how I feel. In some way, it could be explained as not being able to filter emotions, so you have to deal with every single emotion you have. Everyone. Every time.

- Obsessions and special interests as not filtering thoughts. Same thing: I know than normal people can stop thinking about something when they choose to (only exception would be a brokenheart state). I just can't: when I have a special interest it is popping constantly in my mind, every moment, no matter I do want or I don't. If I think on it as 'not being able to filter thoughts', it would fit quite well.

- And not filtering incoming information. One of the things I'm just unable to understand about 'normal' people is why they leave emotions to jam with reasoning. Everyone does, and for me it feels like some kind of 'alien' way of thinking. As long as I know from psychological readings, it is due to the fact that people can filter information according to their previous emotions and opinions. So, if a supporter is watching a football match, he just doesn't see what he doesn't want to see. I can't filter information, I see every piece of info, no matter it supports my emotions and opinions or it doesn't.

So, a couple of pennies thought...

There's a lot of intense world theory that provides an explanatory narrative to me. Like, I need my music all the time, and loud, to "quiet" me, to suppress other elements of the world / work place.

But some of your terminology doesn't quite add up to me - as I experience it, my special interests are the ultimate filter.

at my aspie meetups i habitually sit with my back to the picture window in the meeting room, and everytime a shadow falls across the wall in front of me or i hear a sound behind me, i instinctually whip my head around to have a look at what is happening behind me. my fellow aspies think this is funny, like i am some kind of malfunctioning toy robot or something. anyways, this inability to filter extraneous data really manifests in my inability to enjoy most visual and aural entertainments because i am always noticing something not quite right about it, such as mpeg video compression artifacts or impulse noises [such as phonographic crackles and hiss] in disc-based audio materials.


i believe this manifests itself in me, as Stendahl's Syndrome.


all day, the same song was playing through my head, in bits and pieces- "ragtime violin" as performed by tom hazleton on the million dollar wurlitzer pipe organ. it IS a cute little song, though


if your system allows you to see something which is contrary to your emotions and opinions, that is a plus, because it helps you see multiple sides to various situations. just my 2-cents' worth, in turn.

That describes me exactly. Maybe that is what AS is about - being unable to filter unwanted information/thoughts.

I think this fits me in some ways, but not others.

The inability to filter sounds, sure. But my sensory issues also include touch. I don't think that most people feel a prickle or need to squirm when they're touched.

The obsessions and special interests don't seem like not filtering thoughts to me.

About the not filtering thoughts. I can totally relate to that, when there's some info I have to look up, or something I've misplaced and have to find, even though there are more pressing things to take care of...it almost seems like addiction psychology, where the reward centre of the brain is on overdrive and has to be stimulated. Only it's not drugs or alcohol or video games (that last one was a big problem for me in adolescence!!)

Most of the time, I realize that my persistent thought is not a priority, and I have to resist the urge to follow it up. But it can be challenging sometimes

I didn't know that syndrome, but it describes me someway, at least in a mild way. The more I know about AS, the more I feel like different syndromes are related to (probably) a few causes that manifest themselves in different degrees.

Either I can listen to the Valse d'Amelie or Rodrigo Leao's Alma Mater, either I can breathe. Both of them at the same time, it's too much!



Never listen a polka recopilation then!



Yeap, I consider this an advantage. Though this 'blindness' in normal people drive me nuts sometimes!

It doesn't explain stims. And it doesn't explain how 'special interests' are felt by some people. But in my case, I'm thinking that it fits absolutelly with how I feel. Perhaps it explains one kind of Asperger.

The doc actually used "not having filters" to explain AS to me. He also said that I lack the filter that most people have to stop inappropriate or rude things from coming out of my mouth sometimes. Not that I would say them knowing they were rude, but I don't have the "filter" to make myself rethink my statements in delicate situations sometimes. Apparantly most NT's have that as an instinct.

I think not being able to filter incoming stimuli could very well be the reason for stimming. If I am somewhere and either bored to death or just overwhelmed by the situation or environment, I can focus intensly on cracking each and every knuckle on each hand, in a certain order. over and over. I can focus intensly on picking at dry skin on my lip, or my cuticles. I can concentrate on picking at a scab (I don't do that one in public) or counting tiles on the floor or panes in the windows etc and the concentration and focus on the stim activity helps filter out the overwhelming stuff.

Mmm... I don't filter incoming stimuli, however, I don't stim (well, shaking one leg helps me to relax -indeed, I'm doing it right now-, but I can't seriously call it stimming). But someway I love this feeling of emotional/sensorial contant overcharge, it makes me feel exhausted, but alive.

Yeah, I'll shake my leg too. I don't do any kind of stims that would be defined as stimming, but since I've learned about AS and that I had it, I notice things in a different light now. I do tend to focus on the figity things that I'm doing and it somewhat absorbs my attention and it gets my mind off either being overwhelmed or bored out of my skull or feeling trapped. It shifts my attention. I don't do it on purpose to shift it, it's just something I've always done, like instinct or something. I've never flapped my hands except when I get excited and jump up and down and wave my arms at somebody and say something like "Oooooh guess what?" or something like that. I do the usual gesture like that and don't continue it for more than two or three seconds while excitedly jumping or bouncing. I'm never that excited very often though. It's also never with a real loose wrist like I've seen on YouTube. I don't know how to describe the gesture, but I'm sure everybody has seen girls do that before. I've rarely seen boys do it after adolescence but I've seen grown women do it when they get excited.

Yeap, you're right. It could be considered some kind of stim. And well, I don't jump, but when I become really excited I just relax shivering (you're lucky, jumping has to be funnier! ). But I prefer to be very careful about what I consider an Asperger symptom (even if it is). Once you know Asperger, it's too easy to see it everywhere.

and the overflowing fullness of all... I feel this.

Your theory definitely parallels how I feel about some things. I wish there was more active autism research going. I know I'd volunteer to be a test subject.

Not being able to filter information is just one aspect of aspergers. It doesn't cover the whole condition.

I don't think the things I do when I'm bored or overwhelmed (like cracking knuckles, etc) are AS symptoms per se, many people with and without AS do those things as a distraction. I think that it's possibly the level of distraction or the level of comfort it provides could be considered an AS symptom. Also the level of discomfort when you refrain from doing those things when you need to in certain situations could definately be an AS symptom if it's a high level.

My flapping of hands and waving arms and jumping is not in any way an AS symptom. It's pretty much part of something that ladies in the Deep South sometimes do to show that we are excited or high spirited or perky or whatever we want to show that we are at the moment. It's usually accompanied by loud exclamations of excitement. You can usually always observe this behavior at college football teams in the stands of whichever team scored, down here. Many, many of us Southern ladies don't give a rats hind end about football, but when watching the game with our men we certainly act like we do. You can also observe it when someone tells her close friend or family member that she's getting married/pregnant/asked to go out with a popular guy/made cheerleader or any number of those types of things. The display of excitement usually ends with both ladies jumping and doing the arm movements, then putting their hands over their mouths and making even louder noises of joy, and then a spontaneous hug and possibly crying. That's not AS at all.

But the distracting things could be in some situations I think.

I wasn't dx'd until my 40's and it's only been a few years. I always thought that anything I did that was odd was just something I did that was odd. Never gave it much thought. It was only after being dx'd that I started noticing things and putting them together. Even now, at 48, I'm still noticing things and will have a little "aha moment" when I see that my reactions etc aren't exactly like someone elses and I figure out why and it's linked to the AS. Not all my oddities are linked to AS, some are just personality quirks, like everyone. But I can see my own a lot now. I don't notice them that much in others, possibly because it's still fairly new to me. If someone is quiet and withdrawn or seems uncomfortable, I usually either think "shy" or in some instances "just peculiar". It's only hours or days later that it might hit me that the person may have had AS. I guess thats a drawback of being dx'd late in life.