Greetings All!

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I registered last weekend, but haven't had a moment to post until now.

So, my first post should be this introductory one, I suppose, and I see that some newcomers like to say why they joined Wrong Planet.

I don't have a diagnosis of autism, but I suspect that I have it. Instead, my primary diagnosis is OCD, and that is anyway rather severe.

However, I started considering that my OCD might be co-morbid with autism many years ago, and asked for a diagnosis on the UK's National Health Service (NHS). I was not passed. Recently, I started seriously requestioning this, and asked my current Community Mental Health Team about retrying, but the waiting list for diagnosis has now reached three and a half years.

The new British TV series "Patience" seemed a place to compare myself, but instead of seeing only protrayals of autism, I saw overt displays of OCD just like mine. I checked the forums of the two UK OCD websites, but found no mention of "Patience" and the apparent OCD. The series did make me remember about Wrong Planet, and I came to see what people thought of "Patience" here. Again, nothing, but I saw that this British TV series has not made it into US networks yet, and I guess that's why I found nothing. Meanwhile, an interview with Ella Maisy Purvis, the autisitic actress who plays Patience Evans led me to a horrible revelation about autism diagnoses on the NHS. So, that's why I joined, that's what I'm interested in, and I'll post elsewhere more detail about what I found, and what I'm looking for.

About my handle: it's a bit of a joke I make about a label I got from a psychologist when I was in hospital for my OCD. She asked me if I would consider therapy, but I told her that whenever I considered changing my behaviour, I could only feel a great discomfort at the prospect of crossing my OCD. So, she put me down as 'precontemplative'. I obey my OCD a lot just to stay sane, but I wonder nowadays if the OCD of an autist is different, more rigid, than the OCD of an allist.

Precontemplative.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Hi precontemplative. Welcome aboard

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Precontemplative, Welcome to Wrong Planet.

What is OCD? Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears known as obsessions.

Taking that definition, I would say YES you are in the right place here in Wrong Planet. Autism can produce many variants and OCD is one of them.

According to the Internet:
There are some similarities between autism and OCD, including: 
-- compulsive like behaviours
-- restricted, repetitive behaviours and intense interests
-- difficulty with change.
However, there is an important difference between the two. Obsessions and compulsions for people with OCD are distressing and unwanted, whereas repetitive behaviours for autistic people, such as stimming and intense interests, are often positive, soothing and purposeful. For example, an autistic person or someone diagnosed with OCD may repeatedly flick a light switch on and off. The autistic person may be doing this because they like the sound of the switch and the visual feedback when the light flashes  on and off. The person with OCD may be doing it because they believe that unless the light switch  is flicked  on and off 15 times, something bad will happen. 

Welcome to WP! I hope you like it here.

And I will note that while being Autistic is a good reason to be here, an Autism diagnosis is not a requirement for being here, nor even a suspicion that you are on the Autism Spectrum. Being neurodiverse (for instance, Autism or OCD) would be good reasons to be here...but also are not requirements for being here.

So, what is the requirement for being here? My understanding is: a polite interest in neurodiversity.

And, apparently, Autism and OCD are different, have many of the same traits, and can co-exist. I'm not even going to attempt explaining that...I worked in computers, not psychology.

...but I think I am qualified to say "Welcome to WP!"

Welcome to wp
I'm glad you've found us

Hello All!

Thanks all for the welcomes!

I thought I would be back here soon after, but as many of you might empathise, I find it hard to keep to schedule.

P.s., I saw some days ago an interloping message that's now removed from someone asking for permission to post a link to an online survey as part of a research dissertation. I'm sure that that removal was the Admins keeping the forum tidy. When I saw that odd message, I realised I wasn't beign specifically targetted, that the poster was just posting in whichever post happened to be recent at the time. I then supposed that it was a classic case of a young, naive autist being misguided by a supervisor who doesn't understand autistic literalism, and probably elliptically mentioned about asking permission first, but not saying where or how to do so. I hope the OP of that has been re-oriented to the Right Place.

Precontemplative.

Hello jimmy m!

thank you for your welcome.

You raise an excellent point contrasting how neurotypicals and neurodiversers might experience what is apparently OCD differently. I think you identify the demarcation between them well, and it reinforces my suspicion that I have both kinds of OCD, or rather OCD and autism. I have over the years remarked to the 'professionals' how I feel that some of my OCD is different from the rest, in that I found that if I perform the compulsions, rituals, according to a developed procedure, I can arrive at a calmed state of mind quite satisfactorily. This is in contrast to the claim that OCD rituals can never satisfy the obsession. That sounds very much like the motivation of autism rather than OCD.

So, when that psychologist asked me to contemplate challenging my OCD with therapy, I told her that I did not feel that would be agreeable, hence "Precontemplative". It's weird looking back to note that it never seemed to occur to her that that might imply autism. Anyway, I have decided that I shall own this label!

By the way, I spotted that you used the British English spelling of "behaviour". Did you "sail across The Pond"?

Precontemplative.

Hello Double Retired!

thank you for making me feel at home here.

I'm glad I can land on Wrong Planet with OCD alone, but I do think autism has intrigued me for quite a while anyway. It's good to know that I have a place here. Thank you!

Precontemplative.

Welcome to WP!

Howdy Howdy Howdy

Welcome to the beloved Wrong Planet

All,

I joined an OCD forum some years ago, but after two months I had to quit, as my attempts to explain myself just seemed to attract a very one (nay, zero!) dimensional criticism that I must desist from obeying my OCD in the way that I did, even though much of it was to do with getting around some of my quite severe OCD barriers.

*Sigh* I'm having to split my posts again ...

Okay Forum,

It looks like Cloudflare has become quite triggerhappy with my posts, and it's not letting me post anything more than one line or so at a time. Someone needs to tone it down for Tor users like me.

I drafted several replies to post today, and it seems I cannot post the rest of them. That means a lot of what I wanted to say isn't here after all. So that seems to be it from me today. I'll try again on Friday.

Precontemplative.

No actually the Internet did. Many times I use the Internet to find information, especially when it comes to understanding rare subjects or perceptions.

In answer to another part of your question. Yes, I did fly across to the other side of the world about 50 years ago and the airline flight got interrupted in London and as a result I spent a few nights there. I loved rare books when I was a young man and this gave me the opportunity to buy some. The oldest book I have is from 1555 AD.

Hi All!

a bit more about me before I stop continuing this topic, and turn to all the other interesting stuff on this forum ...

I joined an OCD forum some years ago, but after two months I had to quit, as my attempts to explain myself just seemed to attract a very one (nay, zero!) dimensional criticism that I must desist from obeying my OCD in the way that I did, even though much of it was to do with getting around some of my quite severe OCD barriers.

Once again, I must split my posts, because Cloudflare won't let me post more than a few lines at a time ...