Could Most of us Be on the Autistic Spectrum?

[Italianman]

Yeah, I would say you're definitely on the Asperger's syndrome Wilson, that is completely obvious. Most posters here are autistic as well. I said that a long time ago. @hypermak is uneducated so doesn't know any better

[Contrarian Expatriate]

I think this forum has more than its share of undiagnosed mental illness in the form of depression, personality disorders, poor anger management and anxiety.

There is one prominent member who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but I will not disclose that without his permission.

[hypermak]

Hypermak thinks all the problems of aspies are normal and common, but they aren't. This guy explains why.

I don't remember every saying that. I do remember you trying to explain some of your choices with a self-diagnosis of autism or OCD. As the test you did a few posts below shows, you are not on the spectrum.

[hypermak]

Yeah, I would say you're definitely on the Asperger's syndrome Wilson, that is completely obvious. Most posters here are autistic as well. I said that a long time ago. @hypermak is uneducated so doesn't know any better

When it comes to being an a$$hole, you are the spectrum. I guess one of your Stanford degrees is in the medical profession, Tony Stark?

[Winston]

Yeah, I would say you're definitely on the Asperger's syndrome Wilson, that is completely obvious. Most posters here are autistic as well. I said that a long time ago. @hypermak is uneducated so doesn't know any better

But the test I took above got me a score of 22. That's not on the autism spectrum. I may have another mental disorder that is similar though. That's certainly possible. Some people are just on a different wavelength or think deeper though. Isn't that natural? Does that mean Nikola Tesla or Leonardo DaVinci were aspies too? A lot of deep people have sensititives that others don't have too.

The criteria for autism above I would say maybe fits half of me. But some of it doesn't apply either. I like making eye contact and I like socializing and I am not obsessed with numbers and dates, etc. I also am good at reading body language and facial cues. So half of it doesn't apply to me. You didn't consider that.

Also you are not a mental health professional so please don't bogusly diagnose others please. You are out of place to do that. Also you don't know me and have never even met me. So you don't even know me. You just like to judge and label out of snobbery only.

[Winston]

Hypermak thinks all the problems of aspies are normal and common, but they aren't. This guy explains why.

I don't remember every saying that. I do remember you trying to explain some of your choices with a self-diagnosis of autism or OCD. As the test you did a few posts below shows, you are not on the spectrum.

But you usually say that the problems of unique people like me are common and things that everyone experiences remember? The guy in the video above about autism said that's denying a real problem, because aspies really are different from the norm. I don't know if I'm an aspie or not, because half of it applies to me but half doesn't. However, I could have other disorders like OCD and HSP (highly sensitive person).

[hypermak]

But you usually say that the problems of unique people like me are common and things that everyone experiences remember? The guy in the video above about autism said that's denying a real problem, because aspies really are different from the norm. I don't know if I'm an aspie or not, because half of it applies to me but half doesn't. However, I could have other disorders like OCD and HSP (highly sensitive person).

Wouldn't it be easier to face it, @Winston? You are an ordinary person, like all of us, and your problems are not special. They can get solved like everyone else. Some of them are deeper and more existential and cannot be solved. I was once told by a friend that it's a typical American way of thinking, that "there is a solution to everything".

[xiongmao]

My aunts have schizophrenia. There's a joke in that sentence. She's pretty nuts. My uncle has issues too. Both stemmed from early childhood I think. My aunt was named after her dad's dead sister and she got told by a wicked old lady that she would never do anything with her life. My uncle seemed to have ADHD as a kid and has issues relating to women. My sister got quite a lot out of him but we've not seen him for years. My aunt is quite child like and will order kid's meals in restaurants and likes playing kid's board games. She doesn't have kids because her husband got the snip before they got married. He is definitely an Aspie.

ASD is a spectrum condition so you can have some things and not others but I have ALL of the autistic traits. The only thing that's missing is that I wasn't that slow to develop as a child although through life I've been behind all my peers (buying a house, having relationships etc.).

Particular traits I have:

Special obsessive interests. These have variously been Lego, planes, trains, plants, gaming, music.
I like talking about my special obsessive interests. That can really bore people.
I like routines and will generally plan what I'm going to eat during the day soon after waking etc.
I'm definitely HSP. Like I *always* notice noises before anyone else. I remember being about 4 years old and the sun streaming through my bedroom window was overwhelming.
I won't ever do stuff I have no interest in. If the pointy haired boss asks me to do something I will question it if it seems pointless.
I like being part of a group. Being "normal" is very important to me. If I am ejected from a group I am crushed.
Unexpected negative feedback is crushing. I don't mind expected feedback (e.g. like on the CELTA).
I have an unusually good memory but I think the price to pay for this is I need to sleep/rest a lot so it can all be filed away.
I don't know if it is an ASD thing but I seem to think and act faster than other people. Like the other day some woman apologised for nearly walking into me but by the time she replied I she was halfway along the aisle.
If somebody greets me I will parrot back whatever greeting they use.
I realise that when I am thinking by body freezes. I never knew this until I videoed myself for YouTube. This is a classic sign of autism.
Sometimes I feel lost in time/space, and it's been happening a lot in my current school placement.

I think my autism is Level 2 or maybe 3. I don't think I'm that mild. I'm trying to get a preliminary diagnosis.

Finally Temple Grandin is fascinating, especially if you're a visual thinker or were a late developer in childhood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wt1IY3ffoU

[Italianman]

Hypermak thinks all the problems of aspies are normal and common, but they aren't. This guy explains why.

As the test you did a few posts below shows, you are not on the spectrum.

Lol, oh shut up you ridiculous buffoon. He did a cheap online quiz with 34 questions designed to detect the most serious signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder . Autism is referred to as a broad spectrum because the autism levels of severity can be extremely different amongst those diagnosed. Despite this, the DSM-5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has categorized autism into three levels of severity. Level 1 refers to those who require support but are able to live independently with symptoms that may not be overly obvious, this is controversially labeled as high functioning autism. Level 2 autism requires more substantial support with much more apparent symptoms. Level 3 refers to those who require the most substantial support and is often referred to as low functioning autism, these individuals also tend to have an intellectual disability. They display the most severe symptoms of autism and usually have the hardest time socializing and communicating with many being nonverbal.

Seriously, just be quiet. You really aren't a bright man at all

[Italianman]

Yeah, I would say you're definitely on the Asperger's syndrome Wilson, that is completely obvious. Most posters here are autistic as well. I said that a long time ago. @hypermak is uneducated so doesn't know any better

But the test I took above got me a score of 22. That's not on the autism spectrum. I may have another mental disorder that is similar though. That's certainly possible. Some people are just on a different wavelength or think deeper though. Isn't that natural? Does that mean Nikola Tesla or Leonardo DaVinci were aspies too? A lot of deep people have sensititives that others don't have too.

The criteria for autism above I would say maybe fits half of me. But some of it doesn't apply either. I like making eye contact and I like socializing and I am not obsessed with numbers and dates, etc. I also am good at reading body language and facial cues. So half of it doesn't apply to me. You didn't consider that.

Also you are not a mental health professional so please don't bogusly diagnose others please. You are out of place to do that. Also you don't know me and have never even met me. So you don't even know me. You just like to judge and label out of snobbery only.

See above. You took a cheap online quiz with 30+ questions designed to detect most severe and basic symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder. In addition, autism is referred to as a spectrum because the intensity levels of autism can be extremely different for those diagnosed. As you already mentioned, you have 50% of Autism Spectrum symptoms described.

Nikola Tesla and Leonardo DaVinci were most definitely were aspies. Tesla lived his last decades in a New York hotel and thought a pigeon was in love with him. He used to find ailing pigeons and bring them back to his hotel room. One pigeon, in particular, stole his heart. As he wrote about her, “I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.” He was absolutely fixated on the number three, washing his hands three times in a row, and even walking around a building three times before entering it. He hated pearls. Couldn’t stand the sight of them. In fact, he hated pearls so much that he refused to speak to women who wore them.

Here's the route of your "truth" seeking behavior and why you have such a hard time maintaining friendships with normal people.

Asperger syndrome and "truth-telling".

Asperger syndrome (AS) individuals depend heavily on rules that are often unchangeable. The one thing few understand and really take to heart is that almost all rules allow exceptions to be made. In certain situations, simple rules may be possible when a given rule does not apply. With their encyclopedic databases and given ample time to sift their view of a situation using those guidelines, AS individuals can take an almost infinite number of sub-rules and find the socially acceptable solution. Operating words in such situations are "data base" and "given enough time."

AS kids start building their database early to determine the correct course of action in difficult situations. They are taught to tell the truth applying their unsophisticated understanding of rules uncritically to anyone of any age or authority level. Many childhood games and much of childhood social life are based on imagination, trickery, deceit, the dynamics of telling and keeping secrets, and developing an increasingly sophisticated understanding of others' weaknesses. AS kids don't understand, revealing secrets and lies and keeping them away from others is the foundation of most early social bonding. They don't understand that sometimes suppressing the truth is what holds a connection together.

Asperger Syndrome kids generally dislike games that develop these skills. They prefer role-plays, games whose scripts and acts of characters are predictable, even if they're bad actions. They hate direct lies. They dislike being told half the truth, especially if they feel something is being held back from them. They're frank in describing people and events, often brutally.

The problem with AS kids and many AS adults is that they don't have a "escape valve" to work their way out of immediate dilemmas, fudging or being indirect with more words when a few, simple words do perfectly well. These words hurt, and their words also cause them serious trouble. Such terms blow off future "mates". Violate confidences. Erode confidence. They make the person uttering them an unsafe person to be around.

Nobody, but an AS human, always enjoys absolute and incredible honesty. Almost from the time we are placed next to another child, with or without language, certain things are best not done or not said. AS individuals have to learn this idea through rough and painful lessons.

While many AS adults remain naïve and gullible, they aren’t super stupid like you. Rather than lie, they may remain silent about a situation. If they aren’t particularly talkative, that’s where things remain with them. Many of the signs of AS are so subtle and mercurial in children that they are overlooked altogether, despite caregivers’ insistence that the child demonstrates the “missing” behavior all the time under real life, rather than office-visit conditions.

Children with autism often appear to prefer being alone to the company of others and may passively accept such things as hugs and cuddling without reciprocating, or resist attention altogether. Children with autism appear to lack "theory of mind", the ability to see things from another person's perspective, a behavior cited as exclusive to human beings above the age of five. Typical 5-year-olds can develop insights into other people's different knowledge, feelings, and intentions, interpretations based upon social cues (e.g., gestures, facial expressions). An individual with autism seems to lack these interpretation skills, an inability that leaves them unable to predict or understand other people's actions.

Communication difficulties

Once given appropriate accommodations, many autistics will happily converse for hours, and can often be found in online chat rooms, discussion boards or websites. Many people with autism have a strong tonal sense, and can often understand spoken language. Some children may exhibit only slight delays in language, or even seem to have precocious language and unusually large vocabularies, but have great difficulty in sustaining typical conversations. The "give and take" of non-autistic conversation is hard for them, although they often carry on a monologue on a favorite subject, giving no one else an opportunity to comment. When given the chance to converse with other autistics, they comfortably do so in "parallel monologue"—taking turns expressing views and information. Just as "neurotypicals" (people without autism) have trouble understanding autistic body languages, vocal tones, or phraseology, people with autism similarly have trouble with such things in people without autism. In particular, autistic language abilities tend to be highly literal; people without autism often inappropriately attribute hidden meaning to what people with autism say or expect the person with autism to sense such unstated meaning in their own words.

The body language of people with autism can be difficult for other people to understand. Facial expressions, movements, and gestures may be easily understood by some other people with autism, but do not match those used by other people. Also, their tone of voice has a much more subtle inflection in reflecting their feelings, and the auditory system of a person without autism often cannot sense the fluctuations. What seems to non-autistic people like a high-pitched, sing-song, or flat, robot-like voice is common in autistic children. Some autistic children with relatively good language skills speak like little adults, rather than communicating at their current age level, which is one of the things that can lead to problems.

Since non-autistic people are often unfamiliar with the autistic body language, and since autistic natural language may not tend towards speech, autistic people often struggle to let other people know what they need. As anybody might do in such a situation, they may scream in frustration or resort to grabbing what they want. While waiting for non-autistic people to learn to communicate with them, people with autism do whatever they can to get through to them. Communication difficulties may contribute to autistic people becoming socially anxious or depressed.

Hope that helps you understand your condition

[hypermak]

Lol, oh shut up you ridiculous buffoon. He did a cheap online quiz with 34 questions designed to detect the most serious signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder . Autism is referred to as a broad spectrum because the autism levels of severity can be extremely different amongst those diagnosed. Despite this, the DSM-5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has categorized autism into three levels of severity. Level 1 refers to those who require support but are able to live independently with symptoms that may not be overly obvious, this is controversially labeled as high functioning autism. Level 2 autism requires more substantial support with much more apparent symptoms. Level 3 refers to those who require the most substantial support and is often referred to as low functioning autism, these individuals also tend to have an intellectual disability. They display the most severe symptoms of autism and usually have the hardest time socializing and communicating with many being nonverbal.

Seriously, just be quiet. You really aren't a bright man at all

LOL man, I am really impressed about your Google search skills! I am pretty sure your "babes" are too, in fact that's the reason they jump into your bed hours after they had the privileged to match you on Bumble!

Just like with your buddy CE, wrecking your fragile psyche is like clubbing a baby seal. It's not even funny anymore...

[Italianman]

BREAKING! Diagnosis confirmed.

Someone just sent me this link http://www.successfulschizophrenia.org/stories/wwu.html

Mental illness is apparently triggered by messed up, low serotonin levels from bad bacteria causing artificially high synapse pruning rates due to the reuse of the same "tag" feature of the protein being produced that then interacts with glia cells that create or destroy synapses/neurons, aka if the damage is in the "social area of the white matter of the brain, it is called autism if it is in the general white matter part of the brain it is called schizophrenia (reduced coherence between regions), it if is white matter connection between (corpus callisum) the hemispheres of the brain it is bipolar, etc.

The long term impact of how this can alter the brain can be huge, i.e. sensory level delusional activation due to regional overactivation and none coherent patterns across the cerebral cortex, which show up when too many different regions of the brain activation simultaneously. The byproduct of this dysregulation of the protein replication rates effect the neural transmitters and synapse formation rates (why memories encode too many details and trigger too easily, creating repeating behaviors (same thing shows up in PTSD patients). This leads to OCD and anxiety traits (something is wrong mindset) as the immune system upregulates.

When he moved to Taiwan, Wilcox possibly got better because his diet changed (gut bacteria) and perhaps had more vitamin D3 produced by sunlight. Vitamin D is not actually a vitamin, but a steroid pre-hormone produced by strong sunlight in the skin, which is then converted by the liver and kidneys into an active hormone. Vitamin D serves essential roles in many systems, including the brain, muscle and immune system in addition to maintaining healthy bones.

I feel 2021 will be the year for me....

[Contrarian Expatriate]

Hypermak thinks all the problems of aspies are normal and common, but they aren't. This guy explains why.

As the test you did a few posts below shows, you are not on the spectrum.

Lol, oh shut up you ridiculous buffoon. He did a cheap online quiz with 34 questions designed to detect the most serious signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder . Autism is referred to as a broad spectrum because the autism levels of severity can be extremely different amongst those diagnosed. Despite this, the DSM-5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has categorized autism into three levels of severity. Level 1 refers to those who require support but are able to live independently with symptoms that may not be overly obvious, this is controversially labeled as high functioning autism. Level 2 autism requires more substantial support with much more apparent symptoms. Level 3 refers to those who require the most substantial support and is often referred to as low functioning autism, these individuals also tend to have an intellectual disability. They display the most severe symptoms of autism and usually have the hardest time socializing and communicating with many being nonverbal.

Seriously, just be quiet. You really aren't a bright man at all

It's going to be interesting to watch this maladjusted manlet further unravel as his life becomes even more unbearable back in Italy. There is a reason why he left and now he is forced to return. So much for him ever finding that hot wife he pines for. With a personality and attitude like that, it will just never happen.

But to be honest, the schadenfreude will be particularly gratifying and I will be looking forward to it.

[hypermak]

It's going to be interesting to watch this maladjusted manlet further unravel as his life becomes even more unbearable back in Italy. There is a reason why he left and now he is forced to return. So much for him ever finding that hot wife he pines for. With a personality and attitude like that, it will just never happen.

But to be honest, the schadenfreude will be particularly gratifying and I will be looking forward to it.

You and the PAG psycho really deserve each other, it seems

If it's not a made-up story about yourselves, it must be a made-up story about someone you want to attack. Nothing we haven't seen already and nothing we won't see again, I am afraid. You guys just have to continue to trade lies to barely survive.

[Winston]

Italianman, aka PAG:

First of all, if you are gonna copy and paste an article, please post the link to it as reference. Don't you know basic internet etiquette? You should know better than that. I told you this before. It's also plaigiarism to copy and paste an article and pretend it is your writing. Anyone can expose you by googling the entire paragraph you pasted to see where it came from.

Now here's what I don't understand:

So aspies are supposed to be super honest and logical and proud of it. If someone is honest and logical, isn't that a good thing? Doesn't that make them real and authentic? Why is that a mental disorder or a bad thing? I don't get that. Usually words like "honest and logical" are compliments right? Who likes a liar?

Has it been proven that aspergers or autism is a neurological thing? If so, then why haven't they developed medication to treat it, like they have for other mental illnesses?

And how do you know so much about autism? Are you an aspie yourself? Doesn't it take one to know one, as they say? lol

But then again, you aren't an honest guy even, so how could you be an aspie?

If geniuses like Tesla and DaVinci were aspies, then isn't that a compliment? It means aspies are smarter and can see and think deeper than normal people who are just sheeple with a hive mind, right? I also heard that Mark Zuckerberg is an aspie too. Are Bill Gates and Steve Jobs aspies too?

One video I saw on autism showed an image of Mr. Spock as the quintessential example of an aspie. If Spock is an aspie, then isn't that a good thing since he's so logical and smart?

Why do you like to label people as mentally ill or losers? You seem to get off on that PAG. It's very toxic. You're not down to earth at all.

Is everyone who is a non-conformist an aspie? Hippies call themselves nonconformist and counter-culture, however even they have their own social cliques and clubs and groupies. They aren't loners. Whereas aspies tend to have no social cliques of their own, not even among their own kind, and tend to be loners most of the time.

Is every freethinker who loves to expose the truth an aspie? What about David Icke and Alex Jones and their Truther fans?

What about your favorite philosopher that you like to cite PAG, named Friedrich Nietzsche? He was a loner, and a deep philosopher, so wasn't he an aspie too?

If so, why do you use the term aspie as an insult rather than a compliment? Do you just enjoy putting down others like a toxic bully? Do you think that's a good thing?

They say that East Coasters and NYers are very blunt and upfront, not like Californians, so does that make East Coasters aspies too? Where do you draw the line on labeling people?

Europeans such as Germans and Russians hate American fakeness too, they prefer authenticity, so does that make Europeans and Russians aspies too? Again, where do you draw the line on such labeling?

How do you differentiate between an introvert and an aspie?

Do you see what I mean? Lots of types of people may overlap.