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Are you a "bad seed?"

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Zsazsa
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27 Aug 2007, 12:56 pm

What good is having a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome when no treatment exists for us adults? In my local newspaper today, the front page highlights a large caption, "The Seeds of Mental Illness" and is attempting to search for all children in need of mental
health services in my community through the development of new screening programs directed at children. However, no such
treatment exists if one is over age 18. I just find this whole idea disgusting, implying that one's child may be a "bad seed."
I can't obtain treatment because I am over 18 but, what kind of society are we creating through such screening programs looking
for all the "bad seeds" out there?



0_equals_true
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27 Aug 2007, 1:16 pm

ASD is not a mental heath problem as such but you may seek treatment for specific problem to do with it. ASD is a Nuero-Developmental. Another reason to do it is for state assistance and benefits.

If you are an ASD that cruises through life then fine, I’m not one of them. Can’t stress enough it is a spectrum and the spectrum is multidimensional and those dimension present their own set of problems.

Sad to say but the provisions for mental heath and NDDs and mental health is notoriously poor, it is partly down to attitude and mostly down to money. A crap society tell me about it.

You are not a bad seed. But that is a bit of rhetorical question isn't it? It is down to your own self belief.



edal
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27 Aug 2007, 2:33 pm

This isn't as bad as it first seems. As a kid I remember having a couple of tests but nothing significant, I certainly never went to any sort of therapy. If my psychological problems had been spotted at a much earlier age then I might not have gone batshit crazy in my early twenties.

If the people in charge of the local health system want to look around and see if any of the kids need psychological help then more power to their elbow.

Ed Almos



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27 Aug 2007, 4:30 pm

Zsazsa wrote:
What good is having a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome when no treatment exists for us adults? In my local newspaper today, the front page highlights a large caption, "The Seeds of Mental Illness" and is attempting to search for all children in need of mental
health services in my community through the development of new screening programs directed at children. However, no such
treatment exists if one is over age 18. I just find this whole idea disgusting, implying that one's child may be a "bad seed."
I can't obtain treatment because I am over 18 but, what kind of society are we creating through such screening programs looking
for all the "bad seeds" out there?


Annoying, yes. . . but most of the worthwhile people in this society get labeled something of the sort at one point or another.


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Papillon
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27 Aug 2007, 5:10 pm

Zsazsa wrote:
What good is having a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome when no treatment exists for us adults? In my local newspaper today, the front page highlights a large caption, "The Seeds of Mental Illness" and is attempting to search for all children in need of mental
health services in my community through the development of new screening programs directed at children. However, no such
treatment exists if one is over age 18. I just find this whole idea disgusting, implying that one's child may be a "bad seed."
I can't obtain treatment because I am over 18 but, what kind of society are we creating through such screening programs looking
for all the "bad seeds" out there?


Z,

First things first: don't be so hard on yourself. I see you're still fairly new here and you've come to the right place. Joining WP was a step in the right direction 8)

Secondly, let's not let ourseves be labelled as mentally ill. Please also nicely correct those who talk to us about AS being a disease. I don't consider it such. Let's call it just a different way of seeing and perceiving things. Many of the greatest artists, poets, writers, composers, and scientists historically known are believed to have had AS.

Thirdly we may never be cured of the tic but OTOH we can be thankful it's not one of those progressive-degenerative conditions that takes your life to a hideous end. Coping skills can be learned and its also a matter of knowing your strentghs as well as your "limitations"; the emphasis being on bring out your strongest attributes.

Get to know us more and have fun :wink:

[to the tune of that Merle Haggard song]
I'm proud to be an Aspie from Aspergia :lol:


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0_equals_true
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27 Aug 2007, 5:41 pm

edal wrote:
This isn't as bad as it first seems. As a kid I remember having a couple of tests but nothing significant, I certainly never went to any sort of therapy. If my psychological problems had been spotted at a much earlier age then I might not have gone batshit crazy in my early twenties.

If the people in charge of the local health system want to look around and see if any of the kids need psychological help then more power to their elbow.

Ed Almos

See this is exactly it. You can't expect every kid to turn out like you. It is extremely common the have mental health problems anyway, let alone as a knock on effect of ASD.

I do see ASD as a problem as a whole, but I do have problems that are due to it even neurobiological.



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27 Aug 2007, 8:46 pm

Sorry, but these "screening programs" scare the he$$ out of me.

How young are they going to start evaluating them 3 maybe 4 years old? How many kids are going to be misdiagnosed and suffer reactions to medications that are dealt to them like candy? How many parents are going to seek a second diagnosis or even question the first if it doesn't "fit"?

How many kids are going to get a label and find out 15 years down the road it's the wrong one?

The big one...how much money is the state/schools getting for each child they diagnose?

I was misdiagnosed, I had reactions to medications that were shoved at me almost like breath mints. But I was in my 20's...so I could say "hey this isn't working, this is making things worse...I want another opinion"...how many kids do you think are going to get that opportunity?

In one way it could be a good thing...maybe more kids can get the help they really need and it could change their lives for the better. But I think they should be performing some stiff yearly evaluations on their evaluators...that's for darn sure.


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28 Aug 2007, 8:20 am

Beenthere wrote:
Sorry, but these "screening programs" scare the he$$ out of me.

How young are they going to start evaluating them 3 maybe 4 years old? How many kids are going to be misdiagnosed and suffer reactions to medications that are dealt to them like candy? How many parents are going to seek a second diagnosis or even question the first if it doesn't "fit"?

How many kids are going to get a label and find out 15 years down the road it's the wrong one?

The big one...how much money is the state/schools getting for each child they diagnose?

I was misdiagnosed, I had reactions to medications that were shoved at me almost like breath mints. But I was in my 20's...so I could say "hey this isn't working, this is making things worse...I want another opinion"...how many kids do you think are going to get that opportunity?

In one way it could be a good thing...maybe more kids can get the help they really need and it could change their lives for the better. But I think they should be performing some stiff yearly evaluations on their evaluators...that's for darn sure.

is probably why it is better to go to a pyschologist rather than pyschiatristi f have a choice,as pyschologists are not allowed to prescribe medication and believe less in the medical model.