Seeing patterns

[Ice Blue Deer]

I've always wondered what is meant by autistic people seeing patterns when I read about autism. They never explain, I can't seem to find any information about that either.

When I got diagnosed with ASD not so long ago, I told the interviewers that I see triangles in things.
'Okay, so you see patterns...'
I was like, wait, the way she says it fits autism, but what if it's just a plain OCD trait?
Because I also have needless counting, need to breathe out on my left arm as well when I breathe out on my right arm, seeing lines and shapes in things, attraction to symmetry, putting my fingers in one perfectly straight line in my hand palms when I'm stressed and music repeating in my head all the time.

Then they asked me what I was looking at all the time and I told them that I was looking at the whiteboard behind them, because the corner of the whiteboard that was made of metal, had this round shape that caught my attention. I was following the flow of that line, something I often do to concentrate or am stressed. I follow the flow and shape of things, lines, triangles, squares etc.

She said something about 'focus on details' on that. That sounds like autism. But what if it's OCD?

They told me that my OCD-traits like counting and stuff is not enough compulsive or bothering for me to get diagnosed with OCD (because I'm not really bothered by it). So according to them OCD disappears and becomes part of the autism.
So confused about this.

Has anyone ever heard of this before? What do they actually mean by patterns and does my pattern seeing really fit ASD?

 

[On the Inside]

Not sure about the counting or the breathing, but what you describe sounds a lot like how I see things. I do have some OCD traits, but nothing that rises to the level of being diagnosed with OCD, according to my assessment/diagnosis. However, my eye is always drawn to lines, patterns, shapes, light/dark, how one thing merges with another, things that seem out of place, movement.

I was camping with a friend in the desert outside of Moab, Utah. We were sitting around one evening, looking out at the scenery. Way off on a distant rock formation, I saw a few specks. With careful observation I could see they were moving. It was a group of hikers. My friend was amazed that I would notice such a thing.

 

[Judge]

To me the ability to analyze "patterns" is a very broad one. That it can be on both a visual or non-visual level, such as quantitatively and qualitatively analyzing data. And a subjective ability to "read between the lines" so to speak.

That's a good question as to how much of relates to autism versus the comorbidity of OCD. I'm also one of those persons steeped in the visual symmetry of objects in my immediate environment. Always observing the position and proximity of one object to another, and being somewhat annoyed if it's out of place in some way.

However in my case I do have compulsive behaviors manifested in many ways apart from merely a drive for objects to be precisely positioned to each other. Obsessive-compulsive behaviors with locks, alarms, even the number of coins in my pocket when I leave my home. And doing "countdowns" to see if I am on the mark of things...where I often connect the failure to do so to some consequence that doesn't really exist. Geez, even the kerning of fonts catches my eyes...

Living in near isolation I can often escape the negative aspects of being on the spectrum. I control and ration my social concerns and limitations. However for my OCD, there is no such remedy. If anything it's more pronounced when I am by myself. I've always been sufficiently self-conscious about my OCD to keep it a secret from most anyone if and when possible.

 

[Ptolemy]

I've long had the habit of looking for rectangle shapes in my surroundings and just staring at them for a couple of seconds.
I'm not sure why. It makes me feel "settled", or helps if I feel a bit disorientated.

Sometimes I'll look for "O"s in a block of text, and do the same thing.

 

[clg114]

Ever since I can remember, I have seen patterns, everywhere and all of the time. It is just something that I do and I am so used to it that it does not bother me at all. However, I do prefer my patterns to be symmetrical. If there is a uneven number of points in a pattern, it causes a slight uneasiness. I would really like to hear what a psychologist thinks about that.

 

[DogwoodTree]

Here's a good article discussing the distinction between AD and OCD:

https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/expert-opinion-aspergers-and-ocd/

After reading this and other sites, I still believe I have both. Much of what you described in your OP is very familiar to me, and some of it seems more OCD-related for me, such as the need to create symmetry in sensations, the unwanted repetition of certain thoughts (like a song playing over and over in my head or a picture I can't get out of my mind), or (for me) being constantly aware of how contaminated my hands have become from what I touch and needing to wash them. But there are so many AS-related issues for me, too: social difficulties, intense special interests, need for predictability, sensory issues, flat emotional affect (even though I experience intense emotions inside...I just can't express them outwardly in any way that looks "normal"). For me, I think it's both.

Do you have social and sensory issues as well? What about special interests?

 

[Ice Blue Deer]

Here's a good article discussing the distinction between AD and OCD:

https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/expert-opinion-aspergers-and-ocd/

After reading this and other sites, I still believe I have both. Much of what you described in your OP is very familiar to me, and some of it seems more OCD-related for me, such as the need to create symmetry in sensations, the unwanted repetition of certain thoughts (like a song playing over and over in my head or a picture I can't get out of my mind), or (for me) being constantly aware of how contaminated my hands have become from what I touch and needing to wash them. But there are so many AS-related issues for me, too: social difficulties, intense special interests, need for predictability, sensory issues, flat emotional affect (even though I experience intense emotions inside...I just can't express them outwardly in any way that looks "normal"). For me, I think it's both.

Do you have social and sensory issues as well? What about special interests?

Thank you. I've already read this article, but it was interesting to read again. It doesn't say anything about seeing patterns, though. I am also a bit too aware of contamination, my boyfriend says I have mysophobia but it's not that severe.

I also have sensory issues, but they have become less of a problem since I take antipsychotics. They lower the huge amount of stimuli that you receive from the outside world. There are no sounds anymore that hurt my ears as much as they did.

I also have social issues, I really need to think when saying things and interacting. Costs a lot of energy.
Right now I don't see myself as having a special interest, but I've been really focused on autism for a while now. Maybe that counts as a special interest? It's becoming a little weaker now though. In the beginning I used to think about autism all day, read everything about it that I could, trying to see symptoms in others and so on. I don't know if that counts as a special interest, because I don't skip dinner or toilet visits to be able to keep on learning about autism. Sometimes I just go do something else. Watch a series or something.

Do you have special interests?

 

[On the Inside]

I had special interests when I was younger, they morphed into employment and then a rather specialized career. I still engage in the fun aspects of those interests, but am no longer keeping up with all the latest advances.

I find, as an adult, that I don't have the time or energy to devote to an interest to the point of obsession anymore. Though I do read a great deal, but it is pretty widely varied in subject matter.

 

[DogwoodTree]

Do you have special interests?

Oh yes...right now, it's psychology. That's been a big one for me since high school. It's roamed a little...religion, spirituality, developmental psychology, learning psychology, abnormal psychology...but definitely been a long-term and intense special interest for me. Other topics have come and gone, too. Some of them disappear like turning off a light switch, others hang around for a long time but not as intense, or come back later for an encore performance.

 

[Hedgehog Instigator]

I work with the mentally ill ocd and add are common misdiagnoses for autism. Autism has similar traits, read the DSM V for more info

 

[ChurchTheArtist]

Curious. Was that the base reasoning behind your diagnosis for autism? I can see why you might be a little confused. Seeing patters is a broad statement and can refer to a lot of things. Also remember that aspergers is a syndrome. A syndrome is merely a collection of specific traits.

Two people with aspergers may have many aspie traits in common but not others. I haven't seen any numerical charts that determine how many of the traits you must have to qualify as autistic under the idea of a syndrome but I can say that you can have the traits you described and may not be autistic. I am by no means capable of officially challenging a diagnosis but can give you some food for thought on the matter.

Some of the things you describe do sound more like OCD. As far as seeing geometric patterns, it could be that you just have a knack for geometry. If you watch the movie August Rush, they talk about the main character just hearing the music everywhere. He hears music in the streets in in the trees. I for one am autistic but that syndrome diagnosis is really more like a zip tie around many specific yet different traits that define my brain's way of viewing everything.

For instance: I see many geometric anomalies as well as numeric and logical patterns. The fixation you have can also be seen as a fascination not unlike a musician's love of music. Having a logic oriented mind you may unconciously gravitate toward basic geometric principles such as balance and symmetry which comes out as many of those OCD traits. These are caused by your type of mental aptitudes. They cannot be caused by a syndrome because a syndrome is more like a category of relevant traits than an underlying cause.

As far as your diagnosis goes: from what I understand, aspergers is more of a social impairment where the mind is so focused on other things that it often doesn't calculate abstracts of the human condition like other people. Ultimately though, one should not worry too much over a label and simply observe the traits that make you up based on how they affect the world around you.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Ice Blue Deer]

Curious. Was that the base reasoning behind your diagnosis for autism? I can see why you might be a little confused. Seeing patters is a broad statement and can refer to a lot of things. Also remember that aspergers is a syndrome. A syndrome is merely a collection of specific traits.

Two people with aspergers may have many aspie traits in common but not others. I haven't seen any numerical charts that determine how many of the traits you must have to qualify as autistic under the idea of a syndrome but I can say that you can have the traits you described and may not be autistic. I am by no means capable of officially challenging a diagnosis but can give you some food for thought on the matter.

Some of the things you describe do sound more like OCD. As far as seeing geometric patterns, it could be that you just have a knack for geometry. If you watch the movie August Rush, they talk about the main character just hearing the music everywhere. He hears music in the streets in in the trees. I for one am autistic but that syndrome diagnosis is really more like a zip tie around many specific yet different traits that define my brain's way of viewing everything.

For instance: I see many geometric anomalies as well as numeric and logical patterns. The fixation you have can also be seen as a fascination not unlike a musician's love of music. Having a logic oriented mind you may unconciously gravitate toward basic geometric principles such as balance and symmetry which comes out as many of those OCD traits. These are caused by your type of mental aptitudes. They cannot be caused by a syndrome because a syndrome is more like a category of relevant traits than an underlying cause.

As far as your diagnosis goes: from what I understand, aspergers is more of a social impairment where the mind is so focused on other things that it often doesn't calculate abstracts of the human condition like other people. Ultimately though, one should not worry too much over a label and simply observe the traits that make you up based on how they affect the world around you.

I hope that makes sense.

Sorry for the late response, I sometimes don't get a notification.
It wasn't the base reasoning behind my diagnosis, no.
You say Asperger's is more of a social impairment where the mind is focused on other things, what kind of things do you mean?
Because I can really focus on people's faces instead of hearing them talk, which makes it hard to follow people.
Interesting to read your post, thank you.