What am I?
My symptoms seem to point toward Asperger's.
I generally have a lack of empathy. Sometimes I have empathy.
When bad things happen to other people I usually feel nothing, but this was not always the case. My empathy has decreased as in recent years along with a general fading of all of my other emotions apart from anxiety and on the rare occasion anger. I do still laugh from time to time.
I can be charming if I really want to but it drains me of so much energy.
I have to fake normal human behavior and this is very draining for me, I can't keep it up for too long. If it didn't matter I would just speak in a monotone voice and have no facial expression indefinitely.
I feel guilt sometimes. Sometimes I genuinely care about what happens to others.
My theory is that I have Asperger's combined with some form of depression.
I feel fairly devoid of emotions apart from anxiety.
Hi, Welcome to WP.
Unfortunately we are neither allowed nor able to diagnose here at WP. But definitely look at a lot of the threads to see if you can relate to them. I will also recommend you a great book which helped me a lot when I was preparing for my diagnosis. It's called The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood. Definitely read it. It is very comprehensive. It is geared towards teachers with Aspie kids in their classrooms so there are lots of classroom setup ideas for them. But I just kind of skimmed over those parts even though some of the ideas were great and could apply to my everyday life. But the rest of the book explains Asperger's in much detail so if you can relate to most of the book, then you might wish to pursue getting a real diagnosis if that is what you want. There are several options for that as well and many people here can help you figure them out.
But Asperger's/HFA is much more than just not having empathy. Many of us have way too much empathy. There are huge emotional components in Asperger's/HFA but emotional issues are just one of many different things. What you mentioned about faking normal human behavior being draining is also a key. I can totally relate to that and that could indicate many things going on which very well could mean that you are on the Spectrum. But of course we can't make that assessment here on WP. In order to get diagnosed many factors of your life have to be carefully looked into and it takes a professional to do that. And it's not legal for us to do that.
Here is a link to a thread from a couple of years ago. In this thread the person posted a copy of the page from the DSM V that has the diagnostic criteria for HFA. In the US, they no longer officially use the word Asperger's, it's just High Functioning Autism now. But anyway, here is the link.
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt235436.html
Take a look here and if you can get the book that will really help you and I think that will be a good start. Keep us posted on how it all goes.
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"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."
Wreck It Ralph