Are short tempers typical for aspies?

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I have a short temper, and after conversing with another aspie on DeviantArt I found out that he has one too. I used to think that my temper problems weren't necessarily related to Asperger's, as I have male ancestors a couple of generations back who also had short tempers, but after hearing so much about autistic people having meltdowns, I wonder if short tempers are typical for us. Are there any aspies out here who are more even-tempered?

I have a bad temper.

I don't know, I never met another aspie that has a short fuse recently. I am sure it is common.

I keep my temper on such a short leash that people usually don't know I'm at volcano levels until I blow up at them (not really close ones though generally).

My temper is linked to my mood disorder but I usually keep it in check.

I've read several official books and sites that talk about temper problems and ASD individuals, especially concerning young children. My understanding is that this is fairly typical for ASD individuals even into adulthood.

My question is whether NOT having a temper can exclude a diagnosis of ASD. I'm much, much better at controlling my temper than my 15 year old ADD sister and my 13 year old ADHD brother, and I was never a confrontational problem child like the typical AS childhood stories you hear. I've always been mild-mannered and soft-spoken, so I wonder if this is an indication that I didn't have AS symptoms as a child and therefor am simply misdiagnosing myself as an adult.

i have a short temper too.when i am disturbed by others(such as phone call,meet someone i can't refuse),i will angry;when i remind some bad experiences in the past,i get angry.when i find something is not justice in our society(the communist,autocratic,no human right ……) ,i aslo become angry.

While I have a bad temper, when I'm around reasonable and respecting individuals I don't appear to have any temper issues. My Mum knew that if I got into a fight at school, it was usually due to bullying from my peer group.

Were there mostly reasonable people around you growing up?

Anger is 1 letter short of danger.

Anger will not serve you at all, best to deal with it, before you do something stupid and end up in trouble and/or hurt someone.

I have a short temper too, and I was also wondering if this is related to meltdowns. There is no known other person among my ancestors who is as bad in this respect as I am, unfortunately. This is one thing that makes me to think I have AS.

My mother used to say I should count from 1 to 10 silently in my mind before I react to anything or anybody that upsets me suddenly.

Is it impetuosity? (an impulsiveness that might be a "positive" move either)

I would say yes. I mean, being a public school kid I was technically exposed to a variety of different kinds of people consistently, but I was raised by parents who have an absolute zero-tolerance of violence and my mom was always very concerned with politeness and kindness both in raising me and the people who I was allowed to have play-dates with. I was basically trained to be a polite, perfect babydoll, but at the same time I almost feel like if I had AS that wouldn't have mattered. I mean, my mom can try as hard as she can to make my sister pay attention and my brother calm down, but that still doesn't stop them from having ADD and ADHD respectively.

And all my mom's effort really hasn't changed some things about me. She hasn't made me any girlish for all the dresses she put me in and she hasn't made me more social for all the social pushing she's done. Despite the strong concern for appearances she tried to instill in me, I still don't wear makeup or fix my hair "properly." I'm trying not to be obsessive when it comes to exactly fitting the symptoms of AS, but I'm still a bit concerned that I'm seeing symptoms now that didn't exist in childhood because I didn't have a troubling childhood. I didn't have major issues at home or at school. So I'm concerned that my troubles are a relatively recent development as opposed to a life-long struggle, which would be more indicative of a personality disorder as opposed to a developmental one.

I don't think my temper is that bad. It's when I have to deal with brick walls or have to repeat something more than once is what makes me mad. Same as when I keep being interrupted or when the person is being impatient. I had a short temper with my first ex. My last ex seemed to have a short temper too and he was also AS.

My uncle has a bad temper however because he yells too quickly. Anything pisses him off and he doesn't even warn you. He could be an aspie since he is so asocial and hasn't had a relationship in over 20 years.

I have a VERY Long fuse for Anger but when it hits the End of that use you don't want to be around me. The one example I have is when I was Very Young my cusion kept takeing my toys any from me and making me made and he caused the fuse to reach the end and I look a Car Spring from a Ford Pinto and slammed it up against his head. The Car Spring was not one of those Small import car springs it was a spring from a older American Car.

My brother has a bad temper, he would go mental kicking doors when we were kids and that kinda cured it for me. Up to a certain point I had a temper but I lost if through watching my brother and it's affect on my mother. I definitely definitely had it though, as some young pictures show.

I can rarely lose control if provoked in the right way but I usually regain it fractions of a second later.

Last edited by TechnoMonk on 19 Jun 2011, 8:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I was even-tempered for the first 15 years of my life, but it was really just storing up all the p***ed off feelings into one big toxic mess rather than dealing with it properly. Spent more of my teens & afterwards getting more prone to short-tempered and impulsive behaviours, and just about trying to reverse that pattern now - for reasons another poster has said, if it's destructive it doesn't do anything useful.

It's how to get that balance between not repressing anger, but dealing with it constructively (or at least non-destructively) that is the difficult part. As my family shows similar patterns (in fact, my 'even temper' was mostly due to fear of expressing anything to avoid provoking much worse response in other family members), it could be nature, nurture or a bit of both, but I have no knowledge of the relationship to ASD.

I do know from observing others that it isn't a solution if it's harming others. Used as energy to solve or resolve matters is a much better use of its impetus. Being in control is better than being out of control.

I used to have a crazy temper.....

As I have gotten older it has gotten better.

My dad who is more stereotypical aspie used to have a really bad temper but has gotten better as he has gotten older as well......but seems it has taken him a lot longer....so miliage will obviously vary.

My temper can lead me to melt downs.

I have a bad temper. Depression seems to cause it. If it's a choice between feeling angry or feeling hopeless, anger is slightly more tolerable. That's the issue right there.

I like to see myself as a sensitive and gentle person though when I'm not in one of my awful black moods.