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I am 17 years old and I have always had these traits, but they have not caused me much distress until this summer. I started noticing how socially awkward I am and how much social anxiety I have, and this started causing me to be depressed. These episodes of depression continued into the school year, and the last one, several weeks ago, was the worst. I have gotten over that, but I have noticed several other parts of me appearing or being magnified.

One thing that has been magnified to the maximum is my lack of motivation in completing school work; it has gone to the point where I can't do anything, even outside of schoolwork. Some other things include organizing my thoughts, decision making, short-term memory, etc. Some things that have appeared and gotten worse are times when i feel a kind of pressure in my temples and get compelled to make repetitive/continuous noises/movements, a kind of overload, I guess.

I have always had a tendency to answer yes or no questions with "okay" or "I don't know", mostly if they require an opinion, I score a 38 on the ASQ test, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, this has become a real problem and I need help. There had to be a better time for this than my last year of high school. I have been referred to a psychiatrist, but that could take months. All my parents know is "social anxiety" because that was my only problem at the time that I told them (to explain why I skipped school to talk to my doctor). One teacher seemed to express concern a couple days ago, but my school is so large that he forgot by now.

The Redpath Centre, which is all about AS, is very near my school, but an assessment would probably require a referral and cost money. I guess it wouldn't hurt to go there and ask about it...

Hi! I'm new!

To WrongPlanet!! !

Welcome aboard the Wrong Planet, Cowgasm.

Greetings, Cowgasm, and welcome to WP!

I finished High School a little over 40 years ago, and I have had your same issues all my life. I never knew how to "fit in" with the "cool" bunch, and I was not interested in hanging out with the nerds. I had periods of mild depression related to one thing or another, and once, at 17, I even thought I might soon die. Overall, I did not see any "future" to really care about or pursue, and that helped to make schoolwork seem like even more of a complete waste of time than I already knew it to be.

Can you talk openly with your parents? I never could, but yours might be different than mine. Or, maybe you have an uncle or a grandparent or even a friendly neighbor or teacher you believe is generally wise and trustworthy. Here is the deal:

Do not get caught in the trap of trying to feel as good as everybody else merely *looks* to you. Even if we could be like all the so-called "normies" or whatever, I would not want to be. Over the years, I have watched many of them seem to actually "succeed" in life ... yet to nevertheless end up dying all alone while wondering what happened.

Maybe you have some specific "special interest" at the moment, or, maybe you do not. If you do, then take a look around you and see how that interest might be used in some simple and practical way for finding your particular niche in life. Bill Gates is a good example of that. He was a nerd who cared more about getting things to appear on a screen in an orderly fashion than about being a social buttterfly. It is nice to be friendly and have friends, but the most likeable guy in the world still needs to work in order to eat.

If you do not have any specific "special interest" at the moment, make an assessment of your present abilities. Do you almost intuitively understand something and find it "natural" for you? Math? Physics? Language? Horticulture? ????

My point here is to look past your peers and see where others who might have also seemed a little odd in the past have since moved right along in life and have either found a pleasant place to participate or have stepped right on out and made a place of their own. Trying to become like somebody else merely looks to us or maybe appears to be is an exercise in futility. So, and as I and many others have done, just be exactly who you are and silently thumb your nose at anyone who in any way suggests you need to be anyone else!

Welcome to WP!

The sad part is, getting good marks is the only thing doing well at which will smooth your path through life.