Mental illness and neurodevelopmental disorders

[nike007]

Hello. So after being diagnosed with a mental illness, I began to research all the different types, treatments, statistics, symptoms, things to help with these mental illnesses. Like basically everything. And then once my psychiatrist said I may be on the spectrum (which I found out I am), I began to research information about autism. I do a lot of this still today. It's been almost 2 years of this obsession. I seem to know more information about certain mental illnesses than my psychiatrist. I just find the mind so interesting and how the mind can "get sick". I don't know what so interesting about it. I had different obsessions in the past. They usually change every 2-3 years, so I don't know what it will be next if there is a next. Does anyone else on here seem curious about their diagnosis of autism or autism in general once you learned about autism?

 

[Southern Discomfort]

You could have been talking about me there, I'm exactly the same, I've had same experience. It's been about a year since mental health and neurological conditions have became an obsession, this was only strengthened when the question of autism was risen. Yes, it seems that suggestion is a very powerful thing with people with autism.

 

[Stik]

I've been obsessed about those things a lot especially autism since seeking a diagnosis confirmation, which I have. I'm very well read in the subjects and it gets frustrating when someone doesn't think my opinion is legit without the credentials. I also find it frustrating because I want to talk about it all the time but no one else does around me and I work in an autism classroom. It's a newer discovery for me and talking about it inspires creative ways to cope in an NT world.

 

[clg114]

Until about ten years ago, I had not heard of Asperger's Syndrome. When first heard about, it I was intrigued. It sounded like a description of myself. After that I researched AS for a couple of years and was convinced that I was a Aspie. But I needed to know for sure, so eight years ago I got diagnosed. I still research AS a lot and learn more all of the time. It is a very interesting subject to research.

About obsessions. I have and always have had one main obsession, machines. I love to see a machine that I have not seen before and figure out how it works. Thru the years, I have had a lot of smaller obsessions that come and go. Sometimes I lose interest and sometimes I stop because of age-related physical limitations. For the last ten years or so, I have enjoyed reading and learning about autism.

 

[Ronin82]

I've always been obsessed with psychology, but everytime I have to research something for my own knowledge, i obsess over the subject. I've spent 15 years studying PTSD and stress-trauma psych, and now i'm studying the crap out of asperger's and autism. My few friends understand my obsessions, but they do get tired of hearing about it

 

[Judge]

I've always been obsessed with psychology, but everytime I have to research something for my own knowledge, i obsess over the subject. I've spent 15 years studying PTSD and stress-trauma psych, and now i'm studying the crap out of asperger's and autism. My few friends understand my obsessions, but they do get tired of hearing about it

Yeah. The one person in my orbit with any regularity of seeing me got tired of my discussing autism really quickly.

 

[Mia]

Sometimes I think people on the spectrum know more about the syndrome than the people who qualify as experts.

 

[Ronin82]

That's because there's a big difference between knowing theory and having to live it every day...

 

[Mia]

Think what I dislike the most is that people study individuals with Asperger's and autism with a method based in an inductive/deductive reasoning. Influenced by Newton, Hume, Kant and even Kuhn and Popper and many others. It seems that this method does not take into account; environment, nutrition, birth trauma, parental age and health and many other factors outside of scientific study.

Suppose they have to have a baseline to look at and work from, but there are so many considerations to include. And the idea that Asperger's and autism and the spectrum is so wide, from verbal to non-verbal, from functional to non-functional makes it seem as if they have no real understanding of it at all. Think that rather than drugging people to make them functional, acceptance of stimming, meltdowns, calmer environments, methods for reducing stress and anxiety would be a better way.