Earlier today I had to hand in a copy of my diagnosis to social services, so they can look if they can give me support. Which I don't mind at all, I'm not that much of a rebel, lol.
However; looking at it, a few points came to mind. And it made me wonder a bit about cause and effect, and what the cause and what the effect is. Yes, I'm putting out a few points my therapist gave me on my diagnosis, and as such might be "confidential". But... seeing as this is a forum where we talk about ASD related stuff, as well as discussing it, I think it'll help that more. Besides; if people would want to cause harm with it, I doubt people will go through this route. It would be silly to say the least. And to be honest, if someone wanted to... if he/she had the time and went through the forum extensively, with a lot of copy/pasting there can be an extensive file about any of us.
The premise of the diagnosis said; the patient doesn't know, nor does his previous therapist for that matter, if it's either a personality disorder or a cause of being on the autistic spectrum.
Well, that's what the diagnosis and the research was about, and they found out that it was the latter. Not neccesarily personality disorder related stuff. Howeverrrrrrrrrr... It also said that I have both an avoidant personality as well as a fair share of mistrust of people. That's just part of my personality and how it formed. Reading into that earlier today *cough*wikipedia*cough* a cause could've been bullying as a kid, being neglected as a kid, and the list goes on.
Looking at autism in general, and more specifically Asperger's, one of the traits quite often attributed to it is that we don't have that urge to socialize a lot. We're also quirky in communication.
Now, let's but those 2 things together and form an interesting argument;
- So, because I as a kid was quirky due to being on the spectrum I got bullied and made fun off, therefore I developed an avoidant personality. In the long run Asperger's contributes to the fact that I care less and less about socializing, thus I don't actually get training, nor want training for that. Also; due to the interpretation I made in the past, where people abused my trust, because I might be gullible and actually happy that some people didn't bully me, I got trust issues.
Now; let's add in another fact of my diagnosis; "client cannot deal with change, as well as an inability to cope with being hindered in his activities".
Thus, the solution would be for me to get in therapy. Which results in this;
- Therapy is A. too much change of my lifestyle and B. hindering me in my daily activities, which clearly do not have an open slot of "nothing" just for the sake of therapy. Add in that such therapy could work for people who just have an avoidant personality disorder, but are otherwise "fine". If you add in a lack of empathy (which I clearly exhibited; way above the norm for even people on the spectrum) as well as a lack of "normal reasoning" (will come back to that in a second), the concept of "get along with people" is deeper than just "I don't want to deal with people". Add with that AD(H)D, and thus an inability to focus on things (especially if not in my interest; yay Obsessions that stem from Asperger's and ADD hyperfocus), making me want to "learn" and "understand" specific concepts does not work. Also; even with people who were otherwise "fine" it has been said that sometimes therapy doesn't work. The avoidant personality issues still stay there. The environment has to adapt a bit with it. Clearly, if someone who has such personality disorder, one of the traits would be that I'd feel inferior amongst other people. I can't deal with criticism, stuff like that. I can't see someone who had therapy and as such has to fight to keep it "in the background" function when people tell him "you're doing a ****** job".
But the big question that remains is
"Is someone by this definition "suffering from avoidant personality disorder due to Asperger's, is he suffering from (stronger) Asperger's traits because of avoidant personality disorder, or are they totally seperate?"
A small word on so called "Normal reasoning" (or the lack thereoff)
However; looking at it, a few points came to mind. And it made me wonder a bit about cause and effect, and what the cause and what the effect is. Yes, I'm putting out a few points my therapist gave me on my diagnosis, and as such might be "confidential". But... seeing as this is a forum where we talk about ASD related stuff, as well as discussing it, I think it'll help that more. Besides; if people would want to cause harm with it, I doubt people will go through this route. It would be silly to say the least. And to be honest, if someone wanted to... if he/she had the time and went through the forum extensively, with a lot of copy/pasting there can be an extensive file about any of us.
The premise of the diagnosis said; the patient doesn't know, nor does his previous therapist for that matter, if it's either a personality disorder or a cause of being on the autistic spectrum.
Well, that's what the diagnosis and the research was about, and they found out that it was the latter. Not neccesarily personality disorder related stuff. Howeverrrrrrrrrr... It also said that I have both an avoidant personality as well as a fair share of mistrust of people. That's just part of my personality and how it formed. Reading into that earlier today *cough*wikipedia*cough* a cause could've been bullying as a kid, being neglected as a kid, and the list goes on.
Looking at autism in general, and more specifically Asperger's, one of the traits quite often attributed to it is that we don't have that urge to socialize a lot. We're also quirky in communication.
Now, let's but those 2 things together and form an interesting argument;
- So, because I as a kid was quirky due to being on the spectrum I got bullied and made fun off, therefore I developed an avoidant personality. In the long run Asperger's contributes to the fact that I care less and less about socializing, thus I don't actually get training, nor want training for that. Also; due to the interpretation I made in the past, where people abused my trust, because I might be gullible and actually happy that some people didn't bully me, I got trust issues.
Now; let's add in another fact of my diagnosis; "client cannot deal with change, as well as an inability to cope with being hindered in his activities".
Thus, the solution would be for me to get in therapy. Which results in this;
- Therapy is A. too much change of my lifestyle and B. hindering me in my daily activities, which clearly do not have an open slot of "nothing" just for the sake of therapy. Add in that such therapy could work for people who just have an avoidant personality disorder, but are otherwise "fine". If you add in a lack of empathy (which I clearly exhibited; way above the norm for even people on the spectrum) as well as a lack of "normal reasoning" (will come back to that in a second), the concept of "get along with people" is deeper than just "I don't want to deal with people". Add with that AD(H)D, and thus an inability to focus on things (especially if not in my interest; yay Obsessions that stem from Asperger's and ADD hyperfocus), making me want to "learn" and "understand" specific concepts does not work. Also; even with people who were otherwise "fine" it has been said that sometimes therapy doesn't work. The avoidant personality issues still stay there. The environment has to adapt a bit with it. Clearly, if someone who has such personality disorder, one of the traits would be that I'd feel inferior amongst other people. I can't deal with criticism, stuff like that. I can't see someone who had therapy and as such has to fight to keep it "in the background" function when people tell him "you're doing a ****** job".
But the big question that remains is
"Is someone by this definition "suffering from avoidant personality disorder due to Asperger's, is he suffering from (stronger) Asperger's traits because of avoidant personality disorder, or are they totally seperate?"
A small word on so called "Normal reasoning" (or the lack thereoff)
During my diagnosis I had to make some interpretationtests about daily life situations, none of them which I got correct.
When with a previous therapist, one of the reasons he wanted to label me as suffering from "narcissic personality disorder" was because I felt I could impose justice if being wronged. I once told him that if my financial situation due to laws and regulations would get problematic, I wouldn't see a problem in earning my money doing "illegal" activities, ranging from robbery and even murder. Yes, those are strong words, but in my reasoning, and still I have that reasoning; "If I'm exluded out of society, then those laws and rules do not apply to me". That's one of the many ideas of reasoning I have going on, which will, if you get into diagnostics for that will probably make me look like a full blown psychopath and/or sociopath. I digress however, that it's one of the final options if all else fails, but heck... it's still options. And yes, I've had a lot of run-ins with people that thought I was "weird", "crazy", "dangerous" just for having such a mindset of surviving the system.
When with a previous therapist, one of the reasons he wanted to label me as suffering from "narcissic personality disorder" was because I felt I could impose justice if being wronged. I once told him that if my financial situation due to laws and regulations would get problematic, I wouldn't see a problem in earning my money doing "illegal" activities, ranging from robbery and even murder. Yes, those are strong words, but in my reasoning, and still I have that reasoning; "If I'm exluded out of society, then those laws and rules do not apply to me". That's one of the many ideas of reasoning I have going on, which will, if you get into diagnostics for that will probably make me look like a full blown psychopath and/or sociopath. I digress however, that it's one of the final options if all else fails, but heck... it's still options. And yes, I've had a lot of run-ins with people that thought I was "weird", "crazy", "dangerous" just for having such a mindset of surviving the system.
