Autism with hallucinations/delusions?

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You can still write your narrative in a way that suggests the character is Autistic, and not make the delusions/hallucinations dominate her life (i.e - she's not as danger to others or herself). Unusual sensory preceptions may be stigmatized - but they're not always harmful - in fact some researches suggest a significant percent of voice hearers aren't Schizophrenic. I'm basing my character on someone who's talked about hearing voices all his life, and seems completely functional a lot of the time (but then - not always - not even I can deny it ).

I can't imitate disorganized speech for the life of me if I'd tried - and I did try, for the purpose of roleplaying... What I can do is jump from subject to subject like in ADHD, but I'd still form sentences well on each topic. It seems to be 'read' as a psychotic trait, from my experience. I also did a lot of word puns, anagrams etc.

to see disorganized speech, Google 'Schizophrenia' on YouTube - not all patients exhibit it, but there are some good examples in the videos.

I can tell you what disorganized speech is. There are different forms of it. The worst of all is something known as "word salad" which basically means you are incoherent and no one would be able to understand you. It is just random words and phrases together. Another is something known as "derailment" or "loosening of associations" which basically means your sentences are not connected together which makes someone harder to understand. One that I do a lot and some autistics do a lot is "neologisms." This means making up non existent words. Like for me a computer is a comcrasher or someone in the way is called a "hair or hair blockage." I have curly hair and it always gets in the way so I had to say this. By the way an airplane I call a "safe" because its safer than cars. I say being tired is being "schoolish" because when I went to school I was always tired. I do all these things and when I am under stress or even more psychotic I do all of these examples. Another that autistics do is echolalia. That is repeating another person's speech. So some of these can happen in autism and schizophrenia.

Not only do I have imaginary friends I (used) to have a whole planet called Xolicoto- a whole civilization and I communicate with other tribal leaders and have a army. I did have a planet until it got blown up by a paradox engine. Now I have a army on this planet and communicate with them telepathically. I had brothers-nine of them. I also have a brain that works like a computer and writing my thoughts in code. I also have advisory systems- MADA which is in control of the main systems and JASTER the hormonal controls.

I might make a discussion board to share the stories.

Here is a little thought code:

D:\Communications\Speech\Text\MADA\SEDCRY

PRINT_NORMAL_TONES_MOCK_TEXT_"Not only do I have imaginary friends I (used) to have a whole planet called Xolicoto- a whole civilization and I communicate with other tribal leaders and have a army. I did have a planet until it got blown up by a paradox engine. Now I have a army on this planet and communicate with them telepathically. I had brothers-nine of them. I also have a brain that works like a computer and writing my thoughts in code. I also have advisory systems- MADA which is in control of the main systems and JASTER the hormonal controls." ENDSCRIPT_SPEECH\TEXT\MOCK...

Rylan

You can find my story on

Rylan s story

Will the character's disorder/diagnosis be explicitly stated in the book? If not, why does it matter what the label is? I know you want the character to fit certain models for your own purposes, but in general, people reading it are going to make their own judgments anyway. Sometimes I become so obsessed with finding the proper label for what I am that I forget that the most important thing is whether I'm healthy and happy. I have asperger syndrome but sometimes I suspect symptoms of schizophrenia (possible delusions and hallucinations). Sometimes I become obsessed with finding out what label applies to me best. But then in the end I realize that I have a pretty successful, independent life, and it's enough to just know that I'm special and different without worrying about how a psychiatrist would classify me. the same can be true for your character.

autistic people don't hallucinate, they just think more intensely. Schizophrenics don't really visually hallucinate, it is mostly auditory. The only reason that will make you think autistics hallucinate is they are obsessed with one thing, therefore causing the feeling of him always thinking then hallucinating. Unless the autistic character has schizophrenia also.

1: The story sounds like Phoebe in Wonderland, you may want to switch it up a bit.
2: Childhood Schizophrenia (Very-Early Onset Schizophrenia) is much more likely to have visual hallucinations than adult onset schizophrenia.
3: I believe about 40-60% of children with VEOS, meet the criteria for ASD from birth.

I don't think hallucinations can be a cause symptom of autism itself. But what about if i told you this: People with autism/aspergers think more than normal people do - they tend to over think things more often, worry about silly things etc. Through the day people with this diagnose has more how do you call it, brain activity throughout the day. A very active brain/thinking a lot can sometimes make it hard for peoples brain to get the rest required to function normally - aka the person can get problems sleeping. Then for example if one barely get any sleep as a result, sort of develop insomnia like issues - over time ones brain will get more and more used to little sleep - if over a long period. Then when being awake so to say most of the time, barely sleeping at all - you can start hallucinating - hearing sounds that aren't there, seeing things, feeling bodily tinkles/touches, presents that are created by your brain, but not actually happening.

Don't know if this might give you some ideas Good luck

Well I have an ASD and have experienced hallucinations and delusions due to severe anxiety. Perhaps you could say the character becomes psychotic under severe stress and anxiety?

I would think that if you were creating fiction that situations would not have to be similar to those in reality. An autistic person experiencing hallucinations and delusions would be a good book to read.

Autism alone does not cause hallucinations or delusions. If they were present they would have a comorbid diagnosis. That said it is of course possible to have any combination of symptoms. All psychriactic labels do is put peoples random traits into catagories. Nobody will have the same exact set of symptoms as someone else. Personally I have a schizoaffective dx along with aspergers but there are other diagnostics that cause hallucinations and delusions as well.