Illness

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Do you think that I could attribute my past mental illness partly to the effects of my AS?

I'm in no position of authority,but I think it is possible that attempting to over-compensate for certain characterstics of ASD may lead to abnormal stresses and perhaps "illness".

I know I should know this, but we want to be on the same page anyway... Which illness?

Steve

The personal stress of pretending to be normal and desperately seeking to be accepted socially and by coworkers, not to mention trying to gain parental approval, is enough to make anybody very sick indeed. Add to this isolation, the mystery and consequences of meltdowns - oh yeah, I know it made me sick in all kinds of ways.

i would disagree. if you pretend to be normal, you dont have it. if you have it and you cant help it, it shows.

Richard,

Before there was a diagnosis, MOST people pretended to be normal! To a degree you certainly CAN pretend to be normal if you don't have some comorbids. Some things CAN'T easily be hidden and they are either seen as quirks, or avoided. Steel Maiden DOES sound like she has AS.

Steve

if most people had to pretend to be normal before there was an official dx and then try to act like they have aspergers theres nothing left to be said. aspergers shows. and it shows up bigtime. qualified people (doctors) know how to look for it. if they have it they have it. and i wasnt talking about steelmaiden. i was talking about claradoon

Well, Serious girl and sophist, who are both diagnosed as and appear to be AS, also mentioned about how people can pretend. You're right in that it probably won't be 100% even on a particular day. I would LIKE to have thought I pulled it off, but when I am the only one that laughs or doesn't laugh at a joke.....I'm slow/fast with getting something.....I can't court.....seem to be the only one that doesn't believe in body language.....Am the only one figiting(I COULD have covered this, but it is usually not an issue)....Speak tangentially(I actually stopped this at my last job because people took credit for, and benefited from, it. I still do it a bit now), etc.... you can see how I just fail to pull it off. EVERYONE, that has known me for a while, knows I am a little wierd. I hide MOST of my differences by avoiding the situations.


BTW About Steel maiden(to get back on topic),

She was NOT talking Talking about trying to "act normal". I somehow don't view her as someone that tried to. She seems to be the type that sticks to her own way of doing things.

She earlier spoke about an illness:....

Steelmaiden,

If THAT is the illness you were talking about, I don't know, but I doubt it. Maybe what caused the aspergers also triggered the increase in dopamine.

Steve

I've been doing a lot of reading in the neurological and physiological literature on AS lately, and while I'm not an expert in these fields I haven't seen any mention of a correlation between AS and dopamine levels. Seratonin definitely, but not dopamine.

But I'd definitely have to disagree with richardbenson's comment. It's very apparent that a large number of Aspies try to "act normal", but it doesn't change the fact that they have AS. One can have a condition and be quite aware of it, and compensate for it through self-control, this is true of many "disorders" - physical, mental and other. I've been compensating for the social adjustment issues brought on by AS for 40 years, and while it can be mentally draining at times, have gotten good enough at it that almost no one can tell I have it, even though I can seem a little eccentric at times. As SteveK said, I also hide many of my differences by avoiding certain situations, using stock responses, and consciously and very closely observing people and watching for non-verbal cues (I've read all the books on body language and the like and while I can't pick up on the signals subconsciously like a NT can, I can do so cognitively - not as effective but it gets me at least 75% there).

if you could pretend to be normal all the time, then you would be.

ive tried to pretend that i am lots of things that i am not and have failed at all of them.
i must be a bad actor

try and pretend are two different things.

you should write a f*****g book richard, i think you have cracked this thread right there geezer

your older than me so i dont see why you are calling me a geezer. and exactly right, i know what i am talking about.

well in london you are either a geezer or a bird, its nothing to do with age.

dude gstfu. next time when you want to have a conversation about autism and it related disorders. reply

you talkin to me geeza ?