OCD and the nature of autism

[royinpink]

Autism Spectrum Disorders...The inability of the brain to function as a whole, see the big picture, sensory issues, audio issues, light sensitivity....These are about -connections-
The co-morbids are about -control-
OCD, ICD, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY....

If you can not explain it to a six year old, you do not know the subject

I could nitpick this (e.g. is depression really about control? etc.) but I think I agree with your general point. The 'mental illnesses' are about how we deal with what we're given, whether that's our brain wiring or our environment or the interaction of both. The developmental conditions are just how our brain works.

As for explaining to a six-year-old, I assumed I wasn't doing that.

 

[piney13]

Is Depression about control ? ( or the lack of it ) Depression certainly controls who is affected by it .... like OCD, ICD, ANXIETY..As for me, I have to let it run it course..this last round was a year and mostly situational

 

[royinpink]

Is Depression about control ? ( or the lack of it ) Depression certainly controls who is affected by it .... like OCD, ICD, ANXIETY..As for me, I have to let it run it course..this last round was a year and mostly situational

Ah, so you mean how comorbids can feel external, an impulse or thought pattern outside one's own control? I've mentioned that here as well and personally I agree, but some say they feel their mental illness to be more a part of their identity, so I don't know (maybe they mean something slightly different by that, though). For OCD at least, it is very much supposed to be felt as something that controls you, since that's part of what a compulsion is.

Sorry, I'm not sure if you were responding to the OP or one of the many digressions on this thread. I think the point addressed in the OP was not whether there is a difference between mental illness and developmental conditions--undoubtedly there is--but whether the current criteria accurately capture developmental conditions rather than characterizing mental illness. Because the DSM has focused on behavior--and a limited set of behaviors at that--they have left out a lot of traits that are more closely tied to the core biological differences/causes of autism and instead given us symptoms that are sometimes as likely to be the result of a comorbid condition. I agree with you that the thinking patterns and sensory sensitivities are much more core to what autism is, but it's not how it's diagnosed (well, DSM 5 finally includes sensory sensitivity, the ONE improvement).

 

[royinpink]

I agree that the thread has been sidetracked. Can't argue with the idea that this may be better discussed elsewhere.

I've taken my cue from royinpink as the author of this thread that it's been okay to continue the digression. I'd certainly defer to the will of roy and others if you want to go back to only discussing OCD.

Hm, good point. I'm happy to follow the thread wherever it goes but we might get more input from others if we start a new thread focused on advocacy. Not sure if I should or if it's best to wait for Nadador...?

 

[piney13]

The thread "Coming out on Facebook" has points about advocacy...I was attempting to simply explain the difference between comorbid behavior and ASD.
Despite having the dsm manual , it is who's hands it is in and how they interpret it.
As for counselors, therapist, etc ? I have many years listening to them, your better off if you take what they say as advice and not as something that is always correct
Explaining something as simply as possible still has its limits because of the ability to comprehend it

 

[kevin mao]

So, today my therapist suggested that the root of a lot of my anxieties was actually OCD. I was curious about how to identify, in my own behavior, what is OCD versus aspie 'rigidity' versus social anxiety, etc. She recommended I watch this video, and I thought I'd share it here because it's quite perceptive (and relates to my earlier post about neurodiversity!). He talks about the suggestion that what ought to be treated is comorbid conditions, not autism, because autism is just as nebulous a quality as personality traits like 'charismatic'.

As to the OCD thing, I recognized that behavior in myself as a child but didn't think it still applied to me, so it's really interesting to hear that I've somehow managed to suppress some of the behavior but not rid myself of the sense of guilt or threat of impending doom. A new direction to go in, at least, in trying to help myself manage life.

So I'd also be interested to hear how people cope with OCD, but I'm not sure if that's a specific enough question to ask. I'm just in info-gathering mode of trying to update my understanding of what OCD actually is.

I also have similar questions about OCD as well

 

[piney13]

cope with OCD ?
One does not simply cope with OCD....
Most people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) fall into one of the following categories:

• Washers are afraid of contamination. They usually have cleaning or hand-washing compulsions.
• Checkers repeatedly check things (oven turned off, door locked, etc.) that they associate with harm or danger.
• Doubters and sinners are afraid that if everything isn’t perfect or done just right something terrible will happen, or they will be punished.
• Counters and arrangers are obsessed with order and symmetry. They may have superstitions about certain numbers, colors, or arrangements.
• Hoarders fear that something bad will happen if they throw anything away. They compulsively hoard things that they don’t need or use.

Autism or Aspergers is a genetic mutation, it is what it is...
Comorbids are behaviors (accessories) that are common with ASD, most likely because of stress (I think)
The things we do (like routines) help us cope
OCD is not coping, it is a reaction to anxiety

 

[Cosmophylla]

I've been told I have OCD, but I haven't noticed any drawbacks with it yet. It makes me thorough, analytical, and organized. It does slow down my jigsaw puzzles because I have to sort all the pieces by inner and outer pieces and flip them all right-side up (if I'm particularly leisurely, I sort by color and shape too), but it didn't make me avoid puzzles when I was really into them. It was part of the fun of doing them./QUOTE]

I thought everybody did this... It's illogical to rummage through a box of pieces hoping to find one that fits! my parents taught me well. We would set up the puzzles on the big table and every single piece was sorted by shape and what part of the picture they came from (sky, mountains, water, etc.) and laid out in neat rows. I thought everyone did that, but now I think there's more to it than I thought...

 

[AsheSkyler]

I thought everybody did this... It's illogical to rummage through a box of pieces hoping to find one that fits! my parents taught me well. We would set up the puzzles on the big table and every single piece was sorted by shape and what part of the picture they came from (sky, mountains, water, etc.) and laid out in neat rows. I thought everyone did that, but now I think there's more to it than I thought...

Most people sort the inner and outer pieces, or at least most people I played with. Only on those 1000+ pieces would anybody start lumping by color, especially if the pieces were very small. I'd do it all the time except for those 100 pieces or less puzzles.