Top psychological cure: denial, grandiosity, NT denigration

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Many with Aspergers or autism have taken one of the best treatments currently available. It seems to be the following:

"As for a cure? I've cured myself by doing what I discuss in detail below. I have no illness. I've cured myself in this way."

"I accept I have Aspergers, but it is not a medical illness, and it doesn't require any medical treatment or cure."

"Aspergers, for example, according to the DSM, is when a person has a multitude of severe core impairments:"

A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

1. marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
2. failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
4. lack of social or emotional reciprocity

B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

1. encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
2. apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
3. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
4. persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning

"...however, I reject the spirit of the DSM: none of the listed "symptoms" are medical symptoms, but instead, are simply characteristics of the way we are. Furthermore, while I am in fact impaired in several of the things mentioned above, (1) I don't care, (2) it is not important, (3) I live a good life as I am, (4) as such, these wrongly called "symptoms" do not warrant any treatment.

"I reject the various conceptions in medicine, science, and the social sciences of normality, abnormality, disorder, illness, well-being, rationality, mental health, etc."

"Of paramount importance is my current state of mind, and one threat to it is depression and/or anxiety. I have learned that to preserve my state of mind, I must avoid, at all cost, any depression or anxiety caused by thinking about views of Aspergers as (a) a mental health illness, (b) the subject of treatment and cure development, (c) something that involves core deficiencies and impairments in function, (d) and the implied views that Asperger and autistic people are inferior, and in need of treatment and cure. I must not only not think about these views of Aspergers, but I must reject them, and I also must object to them."

"I prefer Aspergers over being neurotypical/normal, even though I have no notion of what it is to be neurotypical, nor can I observe the differences in functioning between they and I in an objective way, nor do I trust the views in medicine and science that being neurotypical is overall a more mentally healthy way to be."

"I don't trust medicine and science and what they say about Aspergers."

"I find that it helps my current state of mind to (a) think of Aspergers people as superior to neurotypicals, and the result of advanced human evolution, (b) to think that science and medicine are wrong in their view of Aspergers people, (c) to think of the so-called communicative, social, emotional, and sensory "abilities" of neurotypicals as nothing of any particular value or worth, (d) to think of the few exceptions of autistic or Aspergers people who were scientific or mathematical geniuses as examples of what we are like in nature, (e) to ignore the view that being gifted in science, math, computers, and the like are unrelated to being gifted in social relationships, verbal and non-verbal communication, sensory and emotional experience of the world, a wider breadth of intellectual abilities besides the natural and mathematical sciences, etc."

"I was made by God to be as I am, and I will stay this way because of that. There was a purpose in making me as I am. By thinking this I feel more pride in myself, and can further combat any instance of depression."

"I ignore the perceived suffering of others with Aspergers. If they can't get accepted to a job, or can't hold a job, as is the case with an extremely large percentage of autistic and Aspergers people, then they should simply keep trying, or look for another kind of job, and be content with what they can find, and not be unhappy with this petty struggle, and apply for SSI disability income and food stamps and other social services and request support from family and friends, and maybe their standards of what they feel they should do are unrealistic and maybe they should settle for doing the best they can. If they don't, then depression will seep in, and this should be avoided at all cost."

"As for severely autistic people, they ALL can have wonderful full lives, if they have the right support systems. Autistic people living lives consumed with what science and medicine call "devastating sensory experiences" is not actually devastating, but just how they are, and the world should revolve around them, and help them at every turn, and they can live completely full and completely valuable lives with their sensory experiences, and lack of verbal communication, and lack of relationships especially as they go into adulthood, and lack of friends, and dependency on family and social services. Accepting anything less than this makes me feel like both they and I are incapacitated in varying degrees, and I must avoid this at all cost."

"No one with autism or Aspergers, no matter at what level, is in need of any treatment or cure that will change the way they are. Even considering trying a treatment causes me to be depressed, because it brings in the notion that I'm mentally ill, which I am not in any sense."

"Many psychologists correctly recommend that we do what makes us feel better, and doing the above things make me feel much better. Many psychologists correctly show that believe and thinking can be managed in a way that can turn your life around for the better, and beliefs and thoughts don't harm anyone, so I can believe the above things because they make me feel better, and harm no one. I also feel better when I tell neurotypicals that THEY have the illness, that one is mentally ill when they are neurotypical, that they deserve a cure for their illness, that their so-called abilities actually cause them to do totally meaningless and frivolous things such as non-verbal communication (which is worthless and unnecessary)."

"I tend to like the Terminator character in that movie, in contrast to the extremely weird, ill, pointless, worthless other characters that spent all of their time sharing strange emotions, trying to figure out their goals and relationships and understand each other, who spent all that time learning about each other and all of that time developing relationships caused from long face to face conversations and expressions of concern, affection, intrigue, etc, and who spent all of that time trying to figure out the societal issues, and all of that time looking at each other. The Terminator character didn't have time for any of this, and instead did his job and very well."

"I am grateful to psychology's work over the last 20 years or so of showing us that our state of mind is of paramount importance, and that we don't have to accept what makes us feel depressed or anxious, and that we can conceive of ourselves as we like and as what makes us feel better, and that we can avoid what we feel is a threat or causes fear. Sure I could easily adopt the current view in science and medicine, but it would make me feel awful, depressed and anxious, and I don't deserve to feel this way AT ALL."

"Am I denying my illness, and in replacement, using grandiose beliefs about myself and others like me, and also, denigrating neurotypicals? That's what you think...I have no time to ponder these depression-causing criticisms...I do what I do and it's the best thing to do because the result? It makes me happy.

"As for a cure? I've cured myself by doing the above. I have no illness!"

My doctor, a specialist in Adult Autism and Aspergers cleanly stated to me,"I dont consider it an disability, its a different sort of brain." His suggestion for treatment? Nothing. "You don't need treatment, you need understanding from others and behavioral training to fit in." I was refered to him because I am seemingly unemployable.

His label, PsyD, Doctor of of Psychology, trumps your opinion.

The DSM is not universal and is common only here in North America. It is written based on peer review by specialists in each pertinent area, of which my doctor is one. It is no holy grail and is subject to revision. You dont speak for those experts. Those experts dont all agree with each other. The DSM is their best consensus and a product of internal politics and current best understanding. Look to the previous DSMs for how they dealt with Autism. Autism was childhood Schizoprenia?

The DSM is not infallible, and you are not the pope of the armchair shrinks.

I am having a great time, and you are a miserable troll.

This is quite the elaborate manifesto, elan_i. Whom are you quoting? I don't believe I've ever heard anyone express all of these opinions, all at once, as you have set them out here.

I am getting fed up with this troll, time for a ban.

Alex?

Well all right, no ban, it was more an expression of 'aaaarrrrgh' anyway.

Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder DSM by the
American Psychiatric Association until it was removed from the list in 1973 due to societal pressure.This societal pressure consisted of Gay,Lesbian and Transexual people standing up for themselves and demanding that their difference was not a mental disorder.We need to do the same.
Your glib `examples` of our attitudes to our Aspergers are also representative of Gay and Lesbian attitudes to their supposed dsm.
No doubt you would agree that Gay and Lesbians who replied to their `mental disorder` with responses like those below were right-so are we.
http://www.neurodiversity.com/main.html

I don't see this thread as trolling. Maybe some of the other things the OP has written are, I wouldn't know.

This reminds me of a post here about why Autism IS a disability, but we should be proud of it. The issue it raises for me is that if you're going to be so defensive about Autism being classed as a mental disorder or a disability, well, what do you think is wrong with having a mental disorder or being disabled? Because presumbably you would never say that obviously disabled people were inferior.

Maybe at the super-high functioning end of Aspergers, disability is too strong a word. But realistically, you experience difficulties, you need some support to get along. I think that it's fine to admit that, because there's nothing wrong about it. It doesn't tarnish the positive side of having Aspergers.

elan i is afraid and threatened that people like us is getting more and more heard everyday. everyone will start realizing that people like us are not disabled people who will eat up their tax in medication. elan i is afraid that we will get accepted in society and will be involved in technology-related researches and jobs. elan i cant handle the idea that autistic people can become useful in society and he cant make fun of them anymore.

I think that the OP is afraid of us, because we're different from him. I think that he might not even be on the spectrum. My opinion is that he selected that he's been diagnosed with AS, just so that he can come here and troll. This is the fourth or fifth thread that he's started on wanting a Cure. I need to wear special underwear, and I still do not want to be cured, in a million years. I go out with my friends. I play Bingo. I'm going to see if I could get my old job at Fitzwright back. I take public transport. I pay my bills and handle my own money. I clean my own apartment, by myself. I cook my own meals. I visit my parents. I get out, every day. I buy my own groceries. I talk on the phone and make my own appointments. I've graduated from a regular High School, with an A average. I went to a regular Elementary School. I'm obsessed with anything that has to do with London, and I also speak with a Cockney accent, by no purpose of my own. These are the reasons that I will not take the Cure. I'm not broken, and I don't have a disease.

I've noticed that the OP had edited his opening post, twice.

morbid morbid morbid....

I asked in a different thread if the OP was French, not entirely to be funny, but because his word choice and sentence structure made me think English was not his first language and there was a cultural divide apparent. I see now the profile says "United States" which wasn't out there before. I've followed the threads, replied to a few and continue to see the same basic thing. A person making statements that are needlessly convoluted and boil down to "unhappy". I accept that people are unhappy. Being an Aspie, I have no empathy for it....

Take a look at elan_i's posting history. He/she/it/other seems to exist solely for the purpose of discussing "cures" and calling people cowards.