Asperger's Syndrome and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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Do you think Aspies suffer from PTSD at a higher rate than NTs because of bad past experiences in school or childhood?

That's an interesting question. Why do you think it's because of bad past experiences in school or childhood? Because aspies are picked on?

If it were true that aspies were more inclined to suffer from PTSD than NTs are, I would be inclined to think that it was due to wiring, not teasing.

I have been diagnosed with PTSD due to several experiences, including domestic violence and assault. A therapist told me that some people are more inclined than other people to have trouble processing trauma. Are aspies some of those people? I don't know.

Interesting.

Yeah, probably. That and a higher victimization rate even in adulthood.

Yes...but I think it is more then that for many of us.

I think it is similar to a (sadistic) experiment they have done with rats. They found a quick way to drive them crazy was to shock them at random intervals with no kind of warning system and no pattern.

I believe this happens to a lot of aspies in regards to social relationships and work/school experiences. How many times a day does something negative happen and you have no clue why. Some one is rude or mean to you or says you are being rude or mean...and you have no clue what is going on. Now repeat this a few thousand times. We have the disadvantage of projecting into the future and and trying to see patterns and being black and white thinking...this can make life pretty grim. Our brains run in circles trying to make some sense out of the abuse and failures trying to stop the "shocks".

You can add to that....a lot of people have sensitivities that make just functioning in social environments over-loading and sleep issues that can make us perpetually sleep deprived...another way to torture beings.

As if that wasn't trauma enough to create PTSD....try torturing someone and having everyone around them, including the people they love and depend on...tell them, that they are imagining it all or making it up for attention. That they just need to change their attitude, be happy and make friends.

I am actually surprised that more people with AS don't have PTSD to some degree.

I don't know about the bad experiences bit, but I do wonder about the wiring that someone else mentioned.

AS did not even come onto my radar until graduate school, but as an undergraduate I became very interested in researching trauma and PTSD because it was the closest thing I'd found to describing my own experiences. (Having difficulty processing expressing certain memories in words, exaggerated startle response, etc.) At the time, I wondered if I might have some kind of PTSD from the majority of people in my own life either bullying me or making these (for me) crazy demands of me and getting upset when I couldn't meet them. When I became aware of AS, though, I realized that some of these symptoms were a part of my wiring, and not the fault of others' actions, awful as some of them were.

Of course, I also resonate with the hurt that others have experienced at not being understood for most of my life. And obviously some people with AS can and do go through traumatic experiences and get stuck with PTSD. But in my case, what I thought was PTSD, turned out largely to be AS. Still think it's an intriguing connection, nonetheless...

There have been huge discussions on this topic. Tony Attwood has said much on the subject. He ascribes PTSD as a result of childhood bullying rather than the trauma that aspie vets suffer in a war situation. He believes that aspies must be protected from bullying at all costs to prevent PTSD.

The problem seems to be that aspies visualise over and over, with great detail, the bullying that occurs in childhood, so that the same powerful emotions are evoked.

Smelena has posted a summary of the seminar about a year ago. I think she posted it in the Parent's forum

At about that time we discussed PTSD in the ex cafe. Older aspies spoke of PSTD during war and I think they agreed that chilhood had a great bearing on PTSD.

It is definitaly worse for aspies.

I'm not sure. I think I could potenially have PTSD, as I didn't react at all to my father's abandonment for two year, and I still can't connect to it emotionally overall (I'll have a few moment where I connect, but usually I feel nothing)

My grandfather was incapacitated as a result of serving in WWI. I was always told that he had been gassed and that was why he couldn't work, etc. BUT, when I researched in military records and letters he wrote, he didn't see any battles or do any fighting and he wasn't gassed. I think that he had an ASD, as a result he was hyper-sensitive to emotional stress, and that his level of (over)sensitivity led to PTSD. My theory is - ASD related hypersensitivity leads to higher levels of PTSD than in the NT population.

Z

That's so sad, Zonder.

I agree. I really struggle to stop past traumatic experiences from playing over in my head and influence me daily. I have a constant feeling of impending doom. It is so unnecessary. Is there someone who has worked through this and can offer some advice.