HFA & Mental Health - the differences

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Over the years I have often heard people here struggle with their diagnosis and deeply questioning as to whether their problems are: neurological, psychological, or both.

Temple Grandin herself once said that that the nervous system of someone in the autism spectrum mimics perfectly someone who has been traumatised. So it's not an easy call to know what is influencing what.

As a result, I have been collecting a list of characteristics which I
feel for the most part (I do emphasise, for the most part)
are clearly within the autism not psychological remit.

Please feel free to offer some suggestions.



Monotone, deep, or voice different in some way. Inflexion. People in the spectrum often naturally develop their own way of using language. They often have very different accents and from those they have grown up with.

Consistency, reliability.

Irony and sarcasm a problem.

Facial expressions a problem.

Naturally intense and serious
(little professor, or in my case, little philosopher)

Information processing difficulties. Executive functioning difficulties. Ie planning and organising. Many high functioning people in the spectrum overcompensate and become preoccupied with order and systems to manage and control.

Natural systemizers. The ability to form intricate systems in order to compensate and manage information overload.

Intensity with regards to special interest.

Inflexibility and Routines, very ingrained.

Eye contact being an effort
(though those who have been abused might have difficulty too)

Peers difficulty. Most aspies form friends with older people.
(though those who have been abused might have difficulty too)

Males often being more feminine. Females more masculine.
(I appreciate Many don't fit this model, but this has been MY experience)

A sense of innocence. Giftedness. A sense of being
'unusual'. Idiosyncratic ways.

Natural ability to see patterns and finite details.

Not following fashion. Comfortable is best.

Unsubtlely Naive.

Preoccupation with details.

Common comorbid conditions:
OCD, TICS, Tourette syndrome, Dyslexia (neurodiverse spectrum, though obviously not exclusively ASD)

When being in a group of other aspies there is often a sense of deep belonging and kinship (that is if the group is on the same level of functioning)

Possibles (though I think there are lots of different types, and this is biased towards my view of the world) -

Blunt Honesty

Child Like sense of Justice

Fascination with Morbidity

Shiny spinny things

That Public Transport vibe

Young mental age

Ability to live in fantasy worlds

Hyperlexia

Waifishness

I like your list, quaker. I think all of those are neurological. I personally don't care for the term "psychological" as to me every mental dysfunction can be traced back to the structure/faulty wiring of the brain. Sort of like this chain I made up last year: Behavior------>Psychology-------->Neurology------->Genetics (if possible).

Yep.....Evident naivete. I exhibited that all my life.

- compiling lists, of course

I was also naive and also innocent. I wonder if we should add innocent to the list?

Socially and emotionally immature, that was also me.

Prefer younger friends or older friends. Also me, I preferred younger kids. Oh wait, I think you already mentioned this.

Different learning style and visual

Concrete learning

Daydreaming ( I have read ASD people do this and I did this often in school)

Anxiety is also common and I believe mine is neurological because of the way I process things