Underlying Cause of Asperger's Syndrome: Existential Dread?

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One thing that has stuck out in my mind about all aspies I've known—introverted or extraverted, bookish or faddish, funny or humorless, confident or demure—is a bad case of existential dread. I used to think this was a coincidence or merely a consequence of the effects Asperger's has on their life. But then I started researching existential dread and those affected by it; my discovery was shocking, to say the least: Existential dread is directly and positively correlated with Asperger's symptomology (from my observation)! I'm not saying we're all emo—far from it; in fact, it appears that when level of existential dread surpasses a point, there is a sharp and sudden "phase change" from an emo gestalt to a more or less "Aspergic" one. That is, emos lie on the NTmost periphery of the autism spectrum.

I think this poem written by an anonymous Aspergian summarizes it:

I'm sorry existential dread?
Can you explain a little?

In my experience NT's seem to be more concerned about finding their place in the world than I am. They’re often more concerned about their role and what they mean to other people than what their own observations and feelings tell them.

I’m less concerned about my role in humanity and more concerned with analyzing the world around me. I think this makes me more keenly aware of my own existence.

Hopefully this makes some sense. Basically I think we tend to be more analytical.

existential dread = teenager

XL existential dread = goth teenager

I'm observant of the world around me but I also prefer to keep an open mind to things I don't comprehend. I do fit into the diagnosis of AS but I'm not very scientifically minded about everything in the world. In fact I prefer to look through the looking glass.

Is 'existential dread' really about finding a place in life? It sounds different than that somehow.

I know my place. It's in me. Ah, cool, that sounds so intellectual haha. I sometimes waver and get confused, but up to know I've always returned to this stability.

I've not always been like this, as prior to my diagnosis and philosophical/spiritual and social research I was endlessly confused. By maltreatment and because even before, nothing from my view made sense.

Too bad I don't have school any longer or else I could ask my philosophy teacher.

I'm still not sure what "Existential Dread" means...??

At first glance I thought it might mean Fear Of Death?

I actually liked that poem. It's clever.

I think you touched on something that I've been thinking about lately. I've been interested in philosophy for several years now, and I've come to some conclusions. From what I've read about Asperger's, part of the mindset is a view of the world less "grounded" in a figure-ground perception, and more--I don't know the term for it, but grounded in direct experience rather than mental projection of forms and "things". I'm not sure whether my perception has changed, although I believe that I've always had Asperger's (anyway, that doesn't change). I have arrived at a philosophical position that favors this style of perception over the Gestalt style that may be distorting and limiting (although our definitions of the world are pragmatic for the sake of communication). I have adopted meteorological nihilism, which says that there are no "things"--the idea of a thing is only a mental construction. I've read a few books concerning Zen Buddhism, and I see a favorable comparison with the Zen view of the world (there are clear philosophical disagreements between existentialism and Buddhism, but the "authentic" mode of experience is similar).

So, in sum, I think that the ability to perceive the world in this way leads to a realization of the lack of inherent meaning in the world, which is a cause of dread or angst in most people (personally I have chosen the "aesthetic" mode of life, which I think is helpful in "overcoming" "existential dread").

I think the ways autistic people tend to perceive the world can lead us more often to such a thing, rather than the other way around. I know autistic people who've been there, and then come out the other side, as it were, and who remain autistic, just a lot less angsty.

Oh, yes, I didn't actually say it, but I do not think that it can cause Asperger's, but the Aspergian style of mind seems to lend itself to such views.

Existential dread means an uncomfortable or frightening (or sick) feeling upon realization of (or direct confrontation with) the meaninglessness and emptiness of the universe (or nothingness).

I agree, in my case.

Sometimes I look around at most of the NTs around me who treat the less important things in life as if they are the important, and vice versa.

And it make me want to crawl in a hole because I wish to discuss the important things.

Say, instead of arguing about whether or not there is God, I would like to discuss the effects that a belief in God would have upon people or societies.

When NTs are obsessing over who is on Dancing With the Stars, I wish to discuss different dances from different cultures and what that reveals about the nature of each culture.

Instead of arguing over who is more beautiful of two women, I'd like to discuss what it is that makes each woman beautiful.

I look around and do not see meaning in the existance of most around me; I do not feel that my existence will make a difference in the grand scheme of things, and I feel that a human lifetime is all too short to accomplish all that I wish to accomplish, learn all I wish to learn, and all that.

Sometimes this can lead to a lonely state of being, even if you are surrounded by people.