is asperger's syndrome considered

[shanti]

a "mental illness"? i haven't seen that aspect pointed out. my second son is most likely an aspie and maybe even myself...is there a hereditary factor?

[TrogL]

1. There is a hereditary factor

Asperger's syndrome is within the larger Autistic Spectrum that includes Tourette's Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, classical autism and many other sub-groupings. Many of the symptoms are co-morbid across multiple diagnoses.

What you will definitely find is the ability to track Autistic Spectrum problems down the generations, if not a specific diagnosis.

In my own family, my daughter was the first to be diagnosed. Her specific problem was Sensory Integration issues (along with some learning disabilities). When the testing procedure was explained, I realized that I would flunk with flying colours and further investigation lead to my diagnosis fo Asperger's syndrome. My other daughter couldn't organize her way out of a paper bag (ADD) and my son is ADHD (literally bounces off walls). Their mother is ADD.

As to whether it's a mental illness begs the definition of "mental illness".

Schizophrenia, usually considered a poster boy for "mental illness" used to be considered being crazy because "something happened". We now know it to be more along the lines of "deals badly with seratonin".

Certainly a heavy-duty socializer, when confronted with an Autistic Spectrum person who refuses to make eye contact may consider that "crazy". Certainly I've been called that enough times. Regardless, a heavy-duty socializer placed into my job (tending servers alone in a server room) would quickly go barking mad.

[shanti]

3. thanks, trogL!

i'm just coming to the realization that my second son most likely has asperger's (and maybe me, although high functioning). i read the diagnostics and he fits them to a tee. as a kid, he'd been dx'd as add/adhd and prescribed ritalin. his father took him off of it for his own reasons.

however, my son's 24 now, on ssi disability for SOME kind of mental disorder. we live about 500 miles away from each other, so i don't know the exact dx, but i am thinking that it IS asperger's. he attended his older brother's wedding last year and spent part of the 5 hours crouched in a corner of the building - he doesn't have any friends and he won't make eye contact, doesn't like to be touched either. he obsesses about things too (currently genealogy) and likes to tinker with mechanical things.

could you email me with some info about this? i'm just starting the process! thanks so much!

[bloom]

2. Some people consider it so.

It is in the " Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders". It does tend to run in families.

Some don't like to consider as a mental illness. I think there is a good chance that a lot of people in various computer tech. and science professions are Aspies. There is that personality of people - often thought of as "nerdy" who can be single minded when it comes to interests and who tend to be less social than others. Some people don't like the idea that all of those people have a "mental illness" and prefer to think of it more as a common personality style. I think there are probably a lot of Aspies who use DU.

It could be one of those things - where it is a continuum and for many people it is not a problem and for those for whom it is a problem - there are diagnosis available. I think I have a mild form which can be a problem - but not as much of a problem as it is for my daughter. Before I thought that she had "something" I remember saying that she was like me only more so - and that is what I referring to. She is less social and she has become very focused on math - and she has more problems dealing with life situations - than what I have had - among other things. She also doesn't drive - I think partly there are too many things going on at once.

When my daughter was seeing a psychologist and later a psychiatrist - they did not see her problems as Asperger's - but they did not get an independent history, either. One thing they focused on was her temporary schizo-affective disorder which I have read is not unusual at the age that she had it - in Asperger's people. So I think that Asperger's is not necessarily prominently on the radar of people in the mental health profession - even though it is in their book - the DSM (Or - it is for those who focus on it - but not for those who don't). Historically - the same symptoms could have been called something else - if severe - or nothing at all - if it wasn't. (That makes some people wonder if there really isn't an increase in autism - but I think that it has been quantified that there is definitely an increase in those with autism as opposed to those who are now being diagnosed with asperger's).

On genetics - I have done some research online into it - there are quite a few around who have. One article points to a mutant gene:

http://www.brightsurf.com/news/oct_03/NIMH_news_102703.php

That seems like a pretty good explanation.

There has also been some speculation that there are environmental aspects mixed with genetic ones. For instance - the idea that people who get it tend to have a history of family allergies and the thing about glutathione - a relationship that comes up with the idea that people with ADD, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder at some point in their development were exposed to mercury and/or other metals and their system did not remove them as efficiently as other peoples. This is also where the idea that vaccines could have played a role - if at the same time they weakened the immune system.

So anyway - there is lots of info online. I just had to erase my computer and lost all of my bookmarks - but I'm sure you can find some interesting things with some googling.

[shanti]

4. thank you, bloom!

i think i also have it too, but have learned "workarounds" for it much of the time. i've been married and divorced twice, but i'm becoming much more of a hermit now though, at age 50. the difficult part is that i'm still raising my youngest (15) and he is NT, in fact, VERY outgoing and social, quite the opposite of me. he plays basketball, which of course, means that i must be there at his games too. sometimes it is very very trying for me when i'd just rather be home by myself on the computer, but i push myself for him. he doesn't understand either...:(

and i have been called "weird", strange, etc. too. it's hurtful, although i usually just laugh it off. but this is like a lightbulb moment to discover that there is a reason for some of my off-the-wall decisions and why people often become frustrated with me!

i'm now thinking that my father had it too....

peace to you and thanks for the advice. feel free to email me:)

[bloom]

5. I'm getting to be more of a hermit also.

It's so much easier to post messages than it is to deal with all of the social things that are part of being with people face to face.

It was on DU that I first heard about Asperger's and started looking more into it. Someone was talking about problems with his sister and that she had been diagnosed with it.

My daughter doesn't want to think that she has it - she would rather go with what the psychiatrist said - and that's fine. She's not seeing anyone about it - if she can avoid it. Actually - avoiding seeing anyone is quite a good motivator for her to deal with things on her own. She hates talking about this stuff with strangers.

An associated thing - the Obsessive Compulsive Personality (disorder) also seems to run in my family. It's one of those things, too - it can be an aspect of ones personality - or it can take over someone's life so that they can't function very well. And interestingly - it's tied to the same genetic marker as the Asperger's gene - and they can sort of run together. (Maybe people used to just say that those who had it were neurotic.)

The "super-focusing" of the Asperger's and the "perfecting" of the OCP can be positive things - like used in math and tech and other things. It's just all in what gets focused on/perfected. (It's easy to get focused on what one is comfortable focusing on and to avoid thinking about socializing.)

Ie.

Oldham (1990, p. 57) proposes nine traits and behaviors in the conscientious personality style (the non-disordered version of OCPD). These individuals:

are hard working,
embrace strong moral principles,
do things the "right" way,
are inclined toward perfectionism,
have a love of detail,
are orderly,
are pragmatic, practical, and "no-nonsense" in approach to situations,
are prudent, thrifty, careful, and cautious, and
are inclined to accumulate and save possessions.

http://www.toad.net/~arcturus/dd/ocpd.htm

[shanti]

6. yes, there are some ocd aspects too

like songs that stay in your head and don't go away, triple checking for locked doors, etc.

but i definitely see the allergy connection, as both me and my son (AND my father) have many allergies. my son was even tested for them at a young age. i'm just starting this, have made an appt. with a psych, so this gives me something to go on...

peace

[MN ChimpH8R]

7. It is a neurological condition

not a mental illness. It is a difference in the hard-wiring of the brain - IIRC it has to do with the connections between the brain's hemispheres. It is not "treatable" in the sense neurosis is - with an anti-depressant or other medication. Kids can benefit from social skills training, but those of us dx'd as adults are pretty much alone on an island.

We Aspies are not "normal" by neurotypical standards - we're far too logical and rational to be considered one of the herd. We almost always communicate only when we have something to say. We do not play the games demanded by the hopelessly neurotic and superficial society that calls itself normal.

We are, I say only half in jest, a superior mutation. We stand apart from most of what makes society so toxic and conflict-ridden. A world controlled by aspies would know no nationalism or group identification, none of the bullshit of "normal" socializing, and people would say what they mean and mean what they say. Every person would be addressed on his or her own merits, not by how well they can play the game because there would be no game.

MNChimpH8R
diagnosed 2/05 - confirmed by psychiatric diagnosis 12/05

[DemExpat]

8. An article on this in a paper here offered the amusing

tongue in cheek question whether this syndrome was something that all men have to some degree....

:silly:

DemEx

[EFerrari]

9. My husband was finally officially DXd as a result of a quiz

that TrogL posted in the Lounge.

I'd read an article in the L.A. Times in 2002 or so, and just gave it to Doug to read without comment. He read it and said, "If anyone has that, I do."

Then, I tried to bring it up to the therapist but had trouble verbalizing it - I really didn't know very much so that's not surprising.

Anyway, we've been working skills together with the therapist. I figure mine can get better and it helps my hubby to have a study partner. Works pretty well.

My mum in law came to visit in November. She seems to fit what little I know of the situation. And, I'm glad I knew that going into the visit because it made it much easier for me to manage. We had a good time. And, ever since, when she calls she seems to enjoy talking to me. Yes! lol

[NMMNG]

10. It would fall more under the category of "developmental disability"

than "mental illness". Asperger's Disorder is an Axis I diagnosis in the DSMIV (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). It is listed under Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood or Adolescence.

According to the DSMIV: Although the available data are limited, there appears to be an increased frequency of Asperger's Disorder among family members of individuals who have the disorder. (pg. 76, trade paperback edition)

[bloom]

11. Article/Quiz

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4661402.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,12983,937443,00.html

[shrike]

12. "Boston Legal" recently did a show on an Aspie

Of course, part of it was played for laughs, but an attorney in the firm whom everybody'd used as a workhorse (he had an incredible memory and intellect) but ostracized socially because he was so strange. It turns out he has Asperger's. There was a very poignant moment when James Spader, the star, asks him how he feels about it. He says he's relieved: all his life he'd wanted to be normal and couldn't understand why he couldn't be. And now he had an answer: he can't be "normal" because he isn't. I could relate to that statement, because I felt the same way when I found out I have ADD: I'm not normal because -- I'm not normal.

[sam sarrha]

13. i believe it is a Non Traditional Perceptual Format.. i am glad i am not

like the 'Others', i prefer my problems to theirs.

it is not a 'Mental Illness'. i involves nontraditional 'physical' structures of the brain.

i understand Bill Gates is an Aspi and most likely Leonardo Da Vinci..

i can see how Bill made his money.. i do it all the time.. it is a natural process of problem solving i have no control over.. it happens all the time and i find it fascinating.. I see the solutions instead of the problems.. i constantly improve on things i see..

some Aspies have problems with socialization, i have no concept of what goes on between other people.. i say things and they look at me like a doe in the headlights and they cant make any sense of anything i said.. i have a flat monotone voice and i have no voice inflection, nor do i read it in others.. i really cant tell what others mean when they talk very frequently.. i just try to catch it later in their conversation. i cant read body language.. i keep very neutral in my movements to prevent any unintended messages being sent in public.

very infrequently i meet people who will ask a pointed question of something i said.. and they become fascinated with my perspective.. i got invited to a lot of parties in Portland and Seattle.. to provide an alternate perspective in the conversation..

i realized that, during a conversation where i was communicating a concept in an argument by describing what it wasn't and herding their perspective into the conclusion.. without telling what that was.. because they obviously had never had that perspective.. finally his eyes light up and he shouts.. oH.!! that's it!! HOW DID YOU DO THAT.!! this woman looks confused and says ..do what?? he then starts doing what i did to him.. and 3 people all go ..OOOHHH.!!! that is really interesting..!!
where are you from..?? i see things in metaphor and concepts.. literally.

i have steadied a lot, i have taken a lot of seminars.. i was invited to attend free if i would translate for the people that didn't get it.. in the late 70's and 80's there as a movement to learn right brain thinking in the New Age sector.. i was good talking them into it.. that is my world. and i spent many years figuring out why the others thought the way they did.. they are lost in logic, logic can be a mental illness. i did a little paper entitled, 'Inductive and Apriori Logic as perceptual Dysfunction and a Stalemate in the Counseling Process', i took a 2 year VISTA contract as a youth counselor at the Nevada Youth Training Center to do a pilot study using Meditation as a behavior modification technique.. every kid i got to meditate was paroled in 30 to 90 days.

Meditation will provide an effective and appropriate format train the mind to operate as it was designed.. in a world of solutions instead of problems, to which one attaches negative destructive emotions that screw their lives and the people around them.

are you familure with http://www.wrongplanet.net .??

[bloom]

14. On the monotone voice...

I was thinking recently how Noam Chomsky talks like that. He seems to fit the AS criteria.


That sounds really good that you see solutions instead of problems and how that has worked for you.


An informational site I found recently:

http://www.grasp.org/learn.htm