Disdain for alcohol and drugs = sign of Austism

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Sting
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30 Apr 2015, 12:28 pm

I have noticed a recurring theme on the net that having a disdain for drugs and alcohol is considered autistic, usually because you allegedly can't see the view of the users or shoot down how they claim society needs said substances to thrive. Anybody else here ever experienced anything similar to this?



alex
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30 Apr 2015, 12:31 pm

I've noticed that many people on wrong planet do drink alcohol. Although, our difficulty putting ourselves in other peoples shows could result in those of us who don't drink being more vocally opposed to it and vice versa.


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Sting
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30 Apr 2015, 1:45 pm

alex wrote:
I've noticed that many people on wrong planet do drink alcohol. Although, our difficulty putting ourselves in other peoples shows could result in those of us who don't drink being more vocally opposed to it and vice versa.


It's more so the people getting drunk that I have a problem. It seems so counter productive, dangerous, and childish to me. Hard drugs and "psychedelics" also seem stupid to me. The risk, legal, physical and mental all seem sky high, the reward appears non-existent and my few experiences around people on drugs have ranged from annoying to infuriating. It's something I think only exist because of societal pressures and the "cool" and "rebel" image it is sometimes tied to. Also, I find the notion of drugs "expanding" the mind to be laughable.



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30 Apr 2015, 2:17 pm

I don't drink alcohol because I hate it's taste.
I am fine with people who just drink - it's their choice. Although I cannot understand whats the point. It isn't tasty and personally I wouldn't want to experience being drunk.
I am afraid of people who are really drunk. They reek alcohol, get too close to you, say weird things, laugh too much and you can't predict what they are going to do - they might suddenly vomit, sexually harass you, get aggressive or cause an accident. Better to avoid them.
Recently my uncle got drunk. My family said "he finally acts nice and friendly" but personally I prefer his usual, cynical form - at least I know what to expect from him then.



Last edited by Kiriae on 30 Apr 2015, 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sting
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30 Apr 2015, 2:21 pm

Kiriae wrote:
I don't drink alcohol because I hate it's taste.
I am fine with people who just drink - it's their choice. Although I cannot understand whats the point. It isn't tasty and personally I wouldn't want to experience being drunk.
I am afraid of people who are really drunk. They reek alcohol, get too close to you, say weird things, laugh too much and you can't predict what they are going to do - they might suddenly vomit, sexually harass you, get aggressive or cause an accident. Better to avoid them.


How I also feel. It seems feeling this way violates some weird social norm. I am echoing what you say, drunk people don't seem fun, they awkward, disturbing and sometimes hostile. It's like throwing all your logic out the window and reverting to neanderthal like behavior.



ASS-P
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30 Apr 2015, 2:43 pm

...I've drank little , historically , thoughout my life but I'm drinking more lately .
I've been thinking of trying to get a medical marijuana card , too , which I have meant to post about separately for a whilish here .



olympiadis
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30 Apr 2015, 3:20 pm

Sting wrote:
I have noticed a recurring theme on the net that having a disdain for drugs and alcohol is considered autistic, usually because you allegedly can't see the view of the users or shoot down how they claim society needs said substances to thrive. Anybody else here ever experienced anything similar to this?



In my case yes. I don't like either.



BeyondLogic
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30 Apr 2015, 3:21 pm

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Hard drugs and "psychedelics" also seem stupid to me. The risk, legal, physical and mental all seem sky high, the reward appears non-existent and my few experiences around people on drugs have ranged from annoying to infuriating. It's something I think only exist because of societal pressures and the "cool" and "rebel" image it is sometimes tied to. Also, I find the notion of drugs "expanding" the mind to be laughable.


When I used to use MDMA, it was not because I thought it was cool or that I was cool. It was primarily because of the effects. Intense euphoria, empathy and a big one for me was how incredibly social I became. I couldn't believe it.

In the end, it was not healthy at all and caused me so many problems and I've lost a couple years of my life. I was self-medicating. I have since quit indefinitely and I am glad.

Anyway, my point is I believe that users use for the effects of the chemical in most cases, not because they think it's cool. My friends never pressured me, in fact they were trying to stop me.



Sting
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30 Apr 2015, 3:26 pm

BeyondLogic wrote:
Quote:
Hard drugs and "psychedelics" also seem stupid to me. The risk, legal, physical and mental all seem sky high, the reward appears non-existent and my few experiences around people on drugs have ranged from annoying to infuriating. It's something I think only exist because of societal pressures and the "cool" and "rebel" image it is sometimes tied to. Also, I find the notion of drugs "expanding" the mind to be laughable.


When I used to use MDMA, it was not because I thought it was cool or that I was cool. It was primarily because of the effects. Intense euphoria, empathy and a big one for me was how incredibly social I became. I couldn't believe it.

In the end, it was not healthy at all and caused me so many problems and I've lost a couple years of my life. I was self-medicating. I have since quit indefinitely and I am glad.

Anyway, my point is I believe that users use for the effects of the chemical in most cases, not because they think it's cool. My friends never pressured me, in fact they were trying to stop me.


How do you feel when you hear some psychedelic users say they ''expand'' the mind? It seems irrational to me. All they're witnessing is illusions, and to echo what you said, they do cause damage.



BeyondLogic
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30 Apr 2015, 3:59 pm

Sting wrote:
BeyondLogic wrote:
Quote:
Hard drugs and "psychedelics" also seem stupid to me. The risk, legal, physical and mental all seem sky high, the reward appears non-existent and my few experiences around people on drugs have ranged from annoying to infuriating. It's something I think only exist because of societal pressures and the "cool" and "rebel" image it is sometimes tied to. Also, I find the notion of drugs "expanding" the mind to be laughable.


When I used to use MDMA, it was not because I thought it was cool or that I was cool. It was primarily because of the effects. Intense euphoria, empathy and a big one for me was how incredibly social I became. I couldn't believe it.

In the end, it was not healthy at all and caused me so many problems and I've lost a couple years of my life. I was self-medicating. I have since quit indefinitely and I am glad.

Anyway, my point is I believe that users use for the effects of the chemical in most cases, not because they think it's cool. My friends never pressured me, in fact they were trying to stop me.


How do you feel when you hear some psychedelic users say they ''expand'' the mind? It seems irrational to me. All they're witnessing is illusions, and to echo what you said, they do cause damage.


Well I've taken psychedelics a few times during my experimenting years. They do make you think differently and see things differently. But as you said, how can anyone be sure that what you're thinking is true? To me, the psychedelic high always felt like a slight psychosis and I never took what I experienced seriously.

I think some hardcore psychedelic users may be a bit delusional when they say that they expand the mind, but I do think psychedelics open the mind to thinking in ways you never would have without them. Whether or not that's a good thing...I don't know. By not taking psychedelics anymore I don't feel like I'm missing anything.



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30 Apr 2015, 4:37 pm

They're actually conducting a study at UCLA right now where they're giving autistics mdma to treat social anxiety.


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30 Apr 2015, 4:46 pm

It seems to me that people on the spectrum - particularly people who don't know they are on the spectrum - have (perhaps a considerably) greater risk of both kinds of addictions - substance addictions and process addictions - particularly substance addictions. I attribute this to the huge stress of living in a neurotypical world as an undiagnosed autist, the hopeless effort of trying to contort the "square peg" to fit the "round hole".

I have also noticed undiagnosed autist's "disdain" as another subpopulation, though it seems much smaller. However individuals in this subgroup that I have had close exposure to tend to be very judgmental about all sorts of things - very rigid and black and white, such as "all sugar is bad" "all drugs are bad", and lock themselves into OCD routines "I must eat broccoli everyday" sort of thinking. Conversely the 'addictive' group are relatively open-minded, more live and let live types, (if it feels good, do it) though the vulnerability to alcohol and drug abuse can exact a very high cost on their lives and well-being.

I definitely had a tendency to abuse substances and it took years to clear all substance addiction out of my life - cigarettes, alcohol, drugs being the main ones - though caffeine is one that remains, minimal now though I would prefer not to use it at all. It took me a long time to get real about the fact that my sensitive system was highly reactive to these things and worked against maximal functioning. I developed a serious codeine addiction in my younger years, and in the beginning it made me feel so much better, though habituation soon occurs and the havoc begins.

Interestingly, I noticed that when I stopped using substances there was a slight switch to 'process' addictive behaviour. I was asked to write an article and became really obsessive about it to an extraordinary degree, and then obsessed about the topic day and night for weeks, until it was dominating most of my waking hours. Then one morning I literally woke up and thought "this is like a drug addiction" and learned to modulate the behaviour, to monitor and regulate my love of research so that it didn't take over my life to the exclusion of other important things. Internet addiction is probably a more common process addiction though, and my goal of being addiction free is one that I have to be constantly mindful of on a daily basis. The more addiction free my own life became, the more it expanded in positive ways and I became so much happier and productive as a result, though it did take a long time to get to where I wanted to be.



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30 Apr 2015, 5:07 pm

There is nothing about drugs and alcohol that appeals to me and there never has been. It's bad enough I have to take prescription meds. But a lot of other Aspies seem to like to drink. They may even claim it makes them more social and more NT-like. But that could be just one of the many illusions alcohol creates. And it's a drug too, even though people don't want to admit it.

Still it feels weird when I'm at a dinner party at my parent's house and I'm the only adult not having wine with the meal. Sometimes I tell people I can't have it because of my medication, which is true enough and they don't have to know it's psychiatric meds. My mother even says wine is good for digestion. I wonder how that's true if it can make you throw up? She also said that a long time ago people used to drink wine more often since water back then could, you know, kill you. But I heard that people used to be drunk most of the time because of that, and it was basically human behavior at its worst.

Oh and I never saw the video, but apparently there's a viral video that claims beer and other alcohol beverages will probably in the future no longer be available because of climate change. I see, it's okay if there's no fruit or veggies or even chocolate, but no booze is the end of the world! Gimme a break... :roll:



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30 Apr 2015, 6:17 pm

It must not be....I cannot say I feel such disdain, though I think there can be risks with drugs, and it is certainly possible to abuse them.


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30 Apr 2015, 6:34 pm

I tried pretty much most drugs when I was younger but can't say I saw the appeal. I do drink sometimes but not get drunk.



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30 Apr 2015, 8:46 pm

alex wrote:
They're actually conducting a study at UCLA right now where they're giving autistics mdma to treat social anxiety.


Great, now we're going to be expected to go clubbing too.