Am I considered Neurotypical?

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I have something. Perhaps not a problem in the Austic Spectrum, but something.

My social/communicational problems are indistinguishable from those of aspies.

Am I considered an NT?

You said you were diagnosed with a personality disorder. I don't think they are considered NTs.

well, that's not really enough information for me to begin to form an opinion. besides that, I'm not a licensed professional, and couldn't tell you if you are, in fact, Neurotypical or not. :S
I would ask someone who's trained in Autistic diagnosis. Is there anyone here qualified to say?

What do you mean when you say you have "something"? What is it, in your opinion, that rules out Asperger's?

I agree; you're probably not Neurotypical, whatever you have. :)

"Personality disorder" is a loaded term. It carries with it a lot of negative connotations. And it's not quite as ennobling and redeeming as "asperger's syndrome." In fact, it's totally and 100% degrading. I would appreciate it if you stop rubbing it in my face.

Besides, the person who diagnosed me said that "based on the answers you gave us, it appears that you have a personality disorder not specified." That doesn't mean a thing.

I think "neurotypical" is a myth. Everyone's got something.

If you're using NT to mean "non-autistic," then if you haven't got a spectrum disorder, you'd be non-autistic, thus NT.
If you're using NT to mean "no brain structure or chemistry differences," then you wouldn't be NT. You may not have a structural problem, like a spectrum disorder, but if you have a brain chemistry problem (not to be named)... no, I'd say someone with different brain chemistry isn't NT.

I think the latter is probably the more accurate definition of NT; however, the autism spectrum has pretty much "taken ownership" of the term. The real definition, however, makes the proportion of true NTs in the world vanishingly small.

And as an aside: really, I don't understand how we're to decide whether or not you're NT if you don't have a spectrum disorder and we're not allowed to discuss the possible diagnosis you have been given. There's nothing degrading about any form of brain problem, be it structural or chemical. And that's all it is. Brain chemistry. It's not like you can control your brain chemistry any more than you can your brain structure, so how is that degrading?

Society in general does not think the way you think. People with mental problems are usually shunned and degraded. But regardless, I think my problem is structural, because I've been weird all my life.

Nope.

By the way, how do you know I don't have a spectrum disorder? General psychologists can't really diagnose an autistic spectrum disorder based on a patient's answers to a series of multiple choice questions.

Before I learned about AS, I thought I had schizoid personality disorder because it was the only thing that seemed to make sense, though it was severly incomplete compared to AS. Why should it be insulting to you if your problem was psychological rather than neurological? Either way it wouldn't be your fault, and both manefest as social disabilities. The "disorder" label is the only thing with negative implications, it's a suffix to both, and it would be true if it affects your life in a negative way. I don't know what you are, but if you worry too much about terms and labels you won't be able to find the right kind of help for you.

I actually was the oppsite about AS, and spent a period of time in denial even though deep down I knew it was the only fit. The idea that I might be autstic of any kind scared me and made me feel helpless. But I kept going back and learning a little bit at a time, till there finally came a point when I knew there was no denying it anymore. When I told my mom, that was the point at which I truly accepted it, stopped blaming myself, and learned to find ways to deal with it.

My dad isn't NT because he has ADHD. My 18 year old brother probably isn't either since he has SAD and depression.

Are people with SAD considered NT?

Since people with any depression disorders aren't considered NTs, I'm assuming people with depression aren't either. My brother has to take meds for it and my Dad.

If you don't like the term personality disorder being used, what would you prefer?

Then go get a diagnoses, especially if it seems noble to you:



Anyways, there are several points that you are graded on (from what I can tell, as I've not been diagnosed) in order to be considered to have "asperger's syndrome":

http://www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/autism ... l#concepts
Look under:
Categorical Definition and Clinical Description

Last edited by nomnom_hamster on 30 Apr 2008, 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

But that's not the way most people people think. They think of mental problems as character flaws and signs of low intelligence.

PDs do not fall under the umbrella term "neuro-atypical"; neurotypical carries implications of being neuro(logically) typical, i.e. it corresponds to not having a neurological disorder.

Hence, simply having a psychological disorder is not sufficient to having a neurological disorder and hence being neuro-atypical. Although (according to wikipedia) many previously considered psychological disorders may be labellable as neurologically based, my intuition states that if there were ever psycho disorders that weren't neurological in nature, it would be the PDs.

Being socially ret*d is likewise though perhaps a necessary prerequisite for being ASD it is by no means sufficient. Lots of disorders can wind up with being socially ret*d. Schizoids, schizotypals, and avoidants all wind up less than socially talented IIRC due to whatever combination of eccentricity and inexperience.

May the mavens of psychology descend on me if I'm wrong.

Last edited by twoshots on 30 Apr 2008, 10:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yea.

If you look at some of the other threads, we're working on that kthx.

ASDs have there own stigmas as well. Which one is generally percieved better or worse is pretty subjective. I never really gave much thought to the different stigmas because I had no intention of telling anyone outside my immediate family about either. I didn't want a stigma of any kind. Although if people were more educated about these kinds of things, it would be nice to have other people understand why I'm the way I am. But most people will generally think less of you if your "not normal" regardless of what name the "not normal" has. Some people are nicer about it than others, but that's just the way it is. Most people I know just think of autism as a type of ret*d, with an exception in being able to do fancy savant tricks. I would feel embarassed telling someone that thinks this way that I think I have an ASD. A step up to that is the "noble savage" idea that some people have about autism, but it still doesn't paint an autstic as an individual and hence not a human. PDs have pretty negative stigmas too, but I don't see how they can be that much worse. Either way it takes alot of people a great deal of courage and self honesty to look beyond those stigmas to just face it and get the help they need.

Again, I don't know what you are. You may very well have more reasons to believe you have AS, but you may need to look past what you want the most if you really want to find all the answers.