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League_Girl
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01 May 2017, 10:23 am

First, we would have to define faking.

Are there people out there that believe they have AS and convince themselves they have it no one, not even doctors, can convince them they don't? Sure.

Are there people that wonder that they could have it? Sure

But to me it's not the same as faking it. To me faking it would imply you would have to make up your past and childhood and make up your symptoms and exaggerate them just to get the diagnoses and you also have to fake the impairments to convince the doctor you have it because you think it's cool to have this label. But others out there who believe they have it and get so convinced they do, I don't think they're faking it because faking implies it's done intentionally to deceive people. I don't think any self diagnosers are faking it. People who fake it are more likely narcissists or have BPD or are a sociopath or have Munchausen. Ones who would intentionally fake it would want an excuse to be a jerk and be abusive and say mean things and say it's their autism and then cry people are not understanding of them when they try and hold them accountable.

But yet I do see some diagnosed people being concerned about faking it but I think that is just their anxiety because they see these topics so they start to wonder if they faked it and they fooled their doctor or if they lied on the tests. If they are concerned about it, I think the chances are they aren't faking it. People who fake it wouldn't be concerned about it because they wouldn't care and I am sure some of them really do believe they have it because they had lied to themselves so much they now believe their own lie and I am sure their "history" becomes real. I even wonder sometimes if I made my past up and didn't even know it. :? I have also been accused of faking it a few times but maybe that is my anxiety too making me think that because of those words.


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LoveNotHate
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01 May 2017, 11:05 am

Since AS doesn't exist in the US anymore, it's likely many are "faking it".



LoveNotHate
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01 May 2017, 11:30 am

If this prediction came true, then the majority of AS diagnosed people are "faking it".

"Fred Volkmar, director of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine, however, found, a staggering 75 percent of those with Asperger’s and 85 percent of those with PDD-NOS would fail to meet the new requirements".
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... d_nos.html



ASPartOfMe
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01 May 2017, 5:20 pm

LoveNotHate wrote:
If this prediction came true, then the majority of AS diagnosed people are "faking it".

"Fred Volkmar, director of the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine, however, found, a staggering 75 percent of those with Asperger’s and 85 percent of those with PDD-NOS would fail to meet the new requirements".
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... d_nos.html


If this prediction came true you would have seen a sharp dropoff in new autism diagnosis. There no evidence that this is happening. I did and still do have a lot of problems with how the DSM has handled Aspergers from making it a seperate diagnosis to then dropping it but this study that I still see quoted was a whole lot of hysteria.

What you have now is a rough equvilent to the old Aspergers diagnosis "ASD Level 1 without intellectual and language impairment"


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11 Jul 2017, 6:02 pm

I scored fairly highly on the Ritvo Test and the AQ Test. I might have self selected the answers, on the Systemisation Quotient Test to obtain a lower score, as when I took it, I found that my score was above average, which means I'm not into systems/organisation. My EQ test score wasn't too low. As for my Aspie Test, originally I was shown to have noth NT and ND traits, but I took the test again to make sure I had mainly ND traits.

Just to let you know, I've been officially diagnosed, (as described in my previous post), so why do I feel as if I'm a fake? I nailed the Mind's Eye Test and can tell the emotion of people, just from their voices, but living with my Mum and late Dad, gave me enough practise to pick up on tones of voice.



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12 Jul 2017, 1:04 am

The reason I sought out an assessment with a doctor was to ensure this was what I actually possessed, there are many who don't want to be certain but want to possess the condition, I have came across a handful of them and they certainly give autism a bad name, I do not know if they are autistic or not but neither do they and do not want to find out. They seem to be certain and use it as a reason to behave way out of balance.



Chakra345
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19 Dec 2017, 6:46 pm

I looked this up because I was interested in seeing if people would actually do something like this. I'm really interested in psychology, psychiatry, and medicine, and after reading about many mental health disorders (and their possible causes) I saw where "malingering" and "factitious" were described in things that some people do. I wondered if there were people out there who would actually pretend they have autism (sadly there are). On the search engine I found this discussion.

People with Aspergers and autism have significant struggles and it's nothing to play around with.

I have severe sensory issues and it's something I would never wish on someone else. I would love to have normal sensory perception to reduce the stress and anxiety it causes.



Chakra345
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19 Dec 2017, 7:00 pm

Also, people can be misdiagnosed with AS (because there are overlaps with some other disorders) but still have "autistic traits" and other significantly disabling behavioral/mood symptoms that are out of their control. People can think they have it and identify with it for good reason; that doesn't mean they're faking it either.



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19 Dec 2017, 7:41 pm

Chakra345 wrote:
I looked this up because I was interested in seeing if people would actually do something like this. I'm really interested in psychology, psychiatry, and medicine, and after reading about many mental health disorders (and their possible causes) I saw where "malingering" and "factitious" were described in things that some people do. I wondered if there were people out there who would actually pretend they have autism (sadly there are). On the search engine I found this discussion.

People with Aspergers and autism have significant struggles and it's nothing to play around with.

I have severe sensory issues and it's something I would never wish on someone else. I would love to have normal sensory perception to reduce the stress and anxiety it causes.


Factitious disorder
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Factitious disorder is a serious mental disorder in which someone deceives others by appearing sick, by purposely getting sick or by self-injury. Factitious disorder also can happen when family members or caregivers falsely present others, such as children, as being ill, injured or impaired.

Factitious disorder symptoms can range from mild (slight exaggeration of symptoms) to severe (previously called Munchausen syndrome). The person may make up symptoms or even tamper with medical tests to convince others that treatment, such as high-risk surgery, is needed.

Factitious disorder is not the same as inventing medical problems for practical benefit, such as getting out of work or winning a lawsuit. Although people with factitious disorder know they are causing their symptoms or illnesses, they may not understand the reasons for their behaviors or recognize themselves as having a problem.

Factitious disorder signs and symptoms may include:

Clever and convincing medical or psychological problems

Extensive knowledge of medical terms and diseases

Because people with factitious disorder become experts at faking symptoms and diseases or inflicting real injuries upon themselves, it may be hard for health care professionals and loved ones to know if illnesses are real or not.

People with factitious disorder make up symptoms or cause illnesses in several ways, such as:

Exaggerating existing symptoms. Even when an actual medical or psychological condition exists, they may exaggerate symptoms to appear sicker or more impaired than is true.
Making up histories. They may give loved ones, health care professionals or support groups a false medical history, such as claiming to have had cancer or AIDS. Or they may falsify medical records to indicate an illness.
Faking symptoms. They may fake symptoms, such as stomach pain, seizures or passing out.


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19 Dec 2017, 9:43 pm

I’ve never met anyone I suspected to be deliberately faking Asperger’s, but I have met someone who was self diagnosed (not including myself, before I got my diagnosis) in my social skills group. I had a hard time deciding what I thought about the legitimacy of her claim, based on her behaviours. I’ve always had a slightly morbid fascination with malingerers, especially those who fake mental illnesses or neurological conditions. It’s interesting to think about the fact that there are people in the world who wish they had your disability for the “perks” (extra attention/support, more leniency with expectations, programs/products geared specifically towards us and our needs, etc.)


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League_Girl
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19 Dec 2017, 11:18 pm

Chakra345 wrote:
Also, people can be misdiagnosed with AS (because there are overlaps with some other disorders) but still have "autistic traits" and other significantly disabling behavioral/mood symptoms that are out of their control. People can think they have it and identify with it for good reason; that doesn't mean they're faking it either.



Why did you put autistic traits in quotes?


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20 Dec 2017, 1:08 am

I can actually understand this, mainly because I face the kind of pressure which might make ME want to fake ASD (I am actually diagnosed though). Even given my diagnosis, I am still viewed by my family as 'normal' enough to be expected to behave exactly as NTs do (which I can't, of course). My parents force me to interact with people and then berate me for not doing it 'normally', which puts me under a lot of stress. I often wish I could be non-verbal so that they couldn't do this to me; I'd rather to never talk than to be forced to talk and inevitably yelled at. I can see how somebody under intense pressure would decide that this is a viable option.

Whilst these faking NTs would not have the difficulties with social interaction caused by ASD, they still may find it challenging to interact 'normally'. Victims of childhood abuse generally have more difficulty functioning in all aspects of relationships; they might find it easier to pretend to be autistic - thus accounting for their difficulties - than to try and explain how any why they are struggling. They may be aware that they are deliberately deceiving others, but there probably comes a point where the need for assistance and and relief from responsibility overcome one's commitment to honesty.


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EzraS
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20 Dec 2017, 8:53 am

I wonder with a few if it's a matter of Munchausen Syndrome (Fictitious Disorder Syndrome) rather than intentionally faking.



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20 Dec 2017, 9:43 am

Why does anyone even care if someone is faking? This is what I don't get.

Okay, let's say I'm faking. I've just been lying and pretending to be autistic all along, but in reality I have an awesome social life, and a fabulously successful career. How does this affect anyone else on here at all?

As others have said, it's been likened to a witch hunt:

Dark Ages: There are pagans in our midst! They must be identified, and burned at the stake! Throw them in water - if they can swim, that's a sure sign of guilt!

21st Century: There are pagans in our midst! ...Whatever, who cares.

I think the 'autism faker' witch hunt needs to be left in WP's distant past as well.



Chakra345
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20 Dec 2017, 11:10 am

League_Girl wrote:
Chakra345 wrote:
Also, people can be misdiagnosed with AS (because there are overlaps with some other disorders) but still have "autistic traits" and other significantly disabling behavioral/mood symptoms that are out of their control. People can think they have it and identify with it for good reason; that doesn't mean they're faking it either.



Why did you put autistic traits in quotes?



I guess I shouldn't have put in quotes... I did so because I was trying to emphasize autistic traits - ones that can exist in people with other disorders that can have overlapping traits with autism, but don't have full autism.



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20 Dec 2017, 11:16 am

There's really no logical reason for anybody to "fake" autism.

One just does not get too many benefits because of having "high-functioning" autism or Aspergers.

And one cannot really fake "classic autism."