Asperger Syndrome Support Group
Asperger syndrome - also referred to as Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's, Aspergers or just AS - is one of five neurobiological pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), and is characterized by deficiencies in social and communication skills, normal to above normal intelligence, and standard language development.
Yeah, its not characteristic of our disorder, but, looking at myself, what's happened to me in the past, and thinking of things which I find very conceivable, I can;t help but feel that psychosis can and does play a role in high functioning autism, at least at some point. I'm not talking co-morbidity either.
I'm also not talking florid hallucinations, or hallucinations at all, or believing you're the child of an alien and bigfoot, or that you have supernatural powers; rather, mild delusions and distortions of reality.
Take myself, for example: I've mentioned before that my "inner order" ( a term that describes my fairly insular mentality) is very important for me, and will no doubt talk of it more in post dedicated to it, and that aspect of AS for those who have it.
I often have to think a certain way, and if I can't, or if something contrary comes into play, I may, without knowing (until I'm informed by multiple parties) remember, or perceive something in manner more palatable to my aesthetics than what it actually is.
I also devote considerable thought to making sense of things in the world: people, beliefs, phenomena...and (I think) since I either can't understand them, or lack the emotional or other kind of sophistication (probably both) I end up believing something convoluted, or, at the very least...unpopular.
It's also conceivable that, if any drastic change to a certain AS patient's pattern were to occur (such as the death of one whom was very important to their order) that that individual may begin hearing voices, and who knows what else. No one person is entirely alike, afterall.
Finally, AS was once known as "Autistic Psychopathy". I think that's pretty significant. So...what say you, people?
I'm also not talking florid hallucinations, or hallucinations at all, or believing you're the child of an alien and bigfoot, or that you have supernatural powers; rather, mild delusions and distortions of reality.
Take myself, for example: I've mentioned before that my "inner order" ( a term that describes my fairly insular mentality) is very important for me, and will no doubt talk of it more in post dedicated to it, and that aspect of AS for those who have it.
I often have to think a certain way, and if I can't, or if something contrary comes into play, I may, without knowing (until I'm informed by multiple parties) remember, or perceive something in manner more palatable to my aesthetics than what it actually is.
I also devote considerable thought to making sense of things in the world: people, beliefs, phenomena...and (I think) since I either can't understand them, or lack the emotional or other kind of sophistication (probably both) I end up believing something convoluted, or, at the very least...unpopular.
It's also conceivable that, if any drastic change to a certain AS patient's pattern were to occur (such as the death of one whom was very important to their order) that that individual may begin hearing voices, and who knows what else. No one person is entirely alike, afterall.
Finally, AS was once known as "Autistic Psychopathy". I think that's pretty significant. So...what say you, people?
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I find myself going places in the car and not wanting to get out of the car. I come back home and I don't want to get out of the car. I think it's the only time I spend reflecting. Chronic tiredness from Long Covid plus the immunosupressing meds for my Crohn's is slowing me down but everything just seems a massive effort. I am dealing with the paperwork following my father's death but it's not...
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Wow, it's the middle of the week already!Today is our 11 year anniversary, so we're going out to a nice dinner. I'm losing a lot of sleep these days, hence a wonky schedule and uncomfortable feelings. But I know it will pass, eventually.I hope all of you have a peaceful day, and may good things come your way!
Psychosis is a defined thing, and part of that definition is the impact of normal functioning. Generally psychosis needs hospitalisation.
"Psychosis: In the general sense, a mental illness that markedly interferes with a person's capacity to meet life's everyday demands. In a specific sense, it refers to a thought disorder in which reality testing is grossly impaired.
Symptoms can include seeing, hearing, smelling, or tasting things that are not there; paranoia; and delusional thoughts"
So unless you are actually hallucinating or genuinely believing you are a child of an alien it is absolutely not psychosis.
Psychosis is a distinct break from reality and can arise from a number of causes.
Personally I've heard voices after my wife died. Knowing that it wasn't real it would not qualify as a hallucination. Even if it went further and I went to a doctor and they diagnosed a psychotic break, they would not have related it to my Aspergers - but simply to grief because that is something common accross both AS and NT population. (It's called brief Psychotic Disorder).
Bear in mind if you were to suceed in claiming that it actually is psychosis we can all look forward to a life time on anti-psychotics. Trust me, while the US pharma would rub their hands in glee as they manage to find yet another disorder outside of schizophrenia and bipolar to market to, you don't want that.
I was wondering yesterday what defines aspergers? It seems to be a group of conditions that in conjunction have a classification. I read this great book that said every AS person is as unique as a finger print.
The reseach I've done leads to the cerebellum, pons and amygdala functioning differently. alot of the sensory functions are around the pons hence the hypersensitivity that many times accompanies AS, maybe thats the core of AS. The interesting thing is some psychopaths, that are born, in research I've done, can also have issues in this region of the brain. The brain is this weird and amazing thing that seems like a very big mystery.
What I've researched I'm sure can, and probably is, contradicted/ contrasted by others, but I can see the small link in the research I've done. I think psychopaths can have autistic traits but I really don't see autistics having psychopathic traits, but that's just my opinion. I have an obsession with getting things right and I think that gives me a sense of "morality" when It comes down to it. Just my thoughts.
You might find this interesting.
brainhighways.com/app/webroot/img/userfiles/file/lowerbrainConnection.pdf
psychosis is a state of break from reality which is basically seeing and hearing things that are not there and believing they are real and/or believing things that are not held to be true by a large number of people. Psychosis can result from fever, poisoning of some kind, major shock or disorders such as bipolar or schizophrenia.
psychopathy is much the same as sociopathy which is the same as Anti-Social Disorder which is a personality disorder.
I'm not sure what autistic traits that you think psychopaths exhibit?
"PSYCHopath" "PSYCHotic" the same thing, i.e. the brain and intense neurotic activity, are involved. Its not a drastic leap. And I don't hallucinate and think it isn't real; rather, when I delude myself, I'm not aware I'm doing it--I only become aware after I'm told so and I closely examine it, which can take anywhere from hours to years.
And it is possible to hallucinate and know it isn't real. People do it all the time on LSD.
Both have the root psyche but they mean different things.
Psychosis (from the Ancient Greek "psyche", for mind/soul, and - "-osis", for abnormal condition or derangement) refers to an abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality". People suffering from psychosis are described as psychotic. Psychosis is given to the more severe forms of psychiatric disorder, during which hallucinations and delusions and impaired insight may occur.[
Psychopathy (/sakpi/[1][2] from the Ancient Greek "psyche", -soul, mind and , "pathos" -suffering, disease, condition[3][4]) is a personality disorder that has been variously described as characterized by shallow emotions (in particular reduced fear), stress tolerance, lacking empathy, coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial charm, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, nonplanfulness, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviors such as parasitic lifestyle and criminality. There is no consensus about the symptom criteria and there are ongoing debates regarding issues such as essential features, causes, and the possibility of treatment.
Anyway since 1944 there has been a lot of narrower defining of terms and autism is now under developmental disorders, "psychopath" is now under personality disorders and psychosis is defined as a state.
Interesting debate but one I will have to leave you to for now.