Can Someone Help Me Read These Test Results?

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I've taken the AQ test. Scored a 38.

I just took the "Aspie Quiz" and the results were: 141/200 Aspie; 79/200 NT.

Who am I??? The website says: "You are very likely an Aspie." Is that it? All there is to it?

Can anyone with more experience (meaning any at all) shed some light, here? I'm confused (as per usual )

Thanks!

P.S. Apparently, my brain looks like this:

http://www.rdos.net/eng/poly12c.php?p1= ... =82&p12=33

I think it means if you scored more than 32 then you are very likely autistic.
I'm not sure if it was this test of or not http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html
But for me, I scored 45.

The image suggests that you are highly intellectually Aspie, but have fewer physical aspects of being Aspie.

The top half of the chart is intellectualism of either (right) Aspie or (left) NT. The bottom half measures physical stuff like stimming and the like as either (right) Aspie or again (left) NT.

The term "hunting" discusses the NT form of predatory action versus the Aspie form. The NT type is actively pursuing prey or being overtly aggressive "go hunt, kill" mentality. The Aspie mentality is "set trap, wait for prey, watch them get trapped."

From what I understand, that seems totally accurate.

Got it. Yup, it's all in my head

OK, I would definitely describe myself as the latter (Aspie). Not at all the former (NT). Not sure my test results bear that out. But, who am I to say?

Hey, thanks a lot for your help. Do you have an opinion on how definitive these results are? 38 on AQ and what you've see on Aspie? Am I or aren't I? (Can't say for sure, can you?)

Best to you!

It was, in fact, that version of the test. Congratulations BTW! (But, you know, no one likes a show-off )

LOL

Well your pattern did show a bit of a spike towards the Aspie with the hunting stuff. It wasn't completely on the right hand side or the left, but landed somewhere in the middle.

There is no online test that can be definitive for Dx. However, if you look up the DSM IV diagnostic criteria for Aspergers then you can figure out if you will likely fall under that diagnosis.

http://www.autreat.com/dsm4-aspergers.html

The truth is that unless you are having significant impairments for work/school or social interactions that a diagnosis will not do much for you. However, if you think the Dx might be helpful, then looking over the criteria will be good to see if you would even be able to be diagnosed. Beyond that, it is entirely possible to score high on these tests and not have Aspergers. But, it is more likely that you would have some kind of social or learning disability issues that fall under "Autistic Spectrum." Any Dx within that area will bring you assistance in work/school even if it is a "NOS" (not otherwise specified) type diagnosis. That just means that it doesn't fit neatly into a specific label and they give you the NOS as a diagnosis that says you have an issue but not one that has a convenient label.

I hope that answers your question...feel free to ask me more specifics if needed since Psychology and Sociology is my special interest!

You know, my feelings on this are probably highly influenced by context. I'm a securities class action litigator in Manhattan. I work with and among some of the world's most aggressive Type A+++ "Hunter" types. If I didn't have any of those traits (or, probably more accurately, if I had never learned to fake them), then I would not have a job. Case closed. While I feel like a little mouse beside the people I'm most often around, within a large cross section of the population, I probably wouldn't.



Thank you for the link. I'll definitely visit. Your statement makes me think that there *is* some test -- just not online -- that is definitive.



I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "will bring you assistance in work/school..." Do you mean that a diagnosis might bring me some piece of mind and indicate a direction that I might take in therapy or the like? Or do you mean that my colleagues will start being especially nice to me?!? (I can tell you right now, that ain't happenin'!)



You've been great -- thanks. The fact is that I'm full of questions. The "significant impairment" aspects of it do come up in social interactions and in dealings with senior people at work. (Hmmm. That's probably the most understated thing I've ever said.) I obviously wouldn't be here if there weren't significant impairment issues occurring (no offense -- you're all great people to be around anyway).

I guess I'll start with where I should go from here? Back to my longtime therapist who has never caught on to this? This is a very strange thing to find out at my age. Where was the elementary school nurse? (No, forget I said that.) It was my ex-wife who turned me on to this. Natural, I guess, as she knows me better than probably anyone else on earth.

Given your interests, here's something you may be interested in (and so am I). I'm a recovering alcoholic. Just about three years sober after drinking alcoholically for about twenty years. Any known connections between AS and alcoholism? If they're not known, I have a strong suspicion that there's something there. One thought has been circling around my mind constantly for the last few days since joining this site: I know there are a lot of young people on here, and God help the teenager with AS who starts drinking. Horrifying for me to think about... (And I'm not being the least bit over-dramatic when I say that )

I meant more that you can invoke the Americans with Disabilities Act if need be (or other country's equivalent depending on where you end up working). It doesn't do a damn thing for your actual interpersonal relationships. It may help in focusing a means of doing therapy because you tend to be more logical. I found that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of my favorite formats because it gives a logical override to emotional processes or compulsions. I like the "for dummies" series on this because it gives a professional view of both the process and has a workbook to logic your way past bad thought/emotional patterns (2 books).

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_ ... or+dummies



I'm not surprised in the slightest. People on the spectrum are more likely to suffer abuse as well because they do not have the awareness of the social cues to help them realize the red-flags that might happen in interactions that would indicate "run away now." Beyond that, the gestures of submissiveness like not meeting people's eyes and other posture markers of submissiveness make them more likely to be picked on and targeted by predators. When we look at this, we can also consider the isolation could lead to other behaviors like alcoholism and other addiction based off of depression or loneliness or even from negative social encounters like bullying or abuse of other kinds.

I spent a lot of time drinking in my teens, and NOT in the "I'm experimenting lets party" kid of way. I managed to stop once I got out of the abusive situation I was in, but I remember how hard it was to stop that patterning and still have an issue with craving it when my moods shift or things start getting really stressful. I don't wish that kind of crap on anyone.

It is AMAZING the similarities between what I hear in A.A. meetings and what I've read in the little time I've been on this site. "I never got the instruction book." Sorry, but that's ours, says the alcoholic! For me, alcohol was the magic elixir that picked me up right off the edge of the right-hand side of that spectrum and dropped me dead into the center of the left-hand side. (Wow, I really hesitate sharing this. I DO NOT mean to encourage anyone. If you think I am being encouraging, I will delete this post immediately.) Honestly, though, it did give me the instruction book with a table of contents, an index, and all of the appendices and exhibits. It worked that well -- until it didn't. And here's the critical part: when it stopped working (much sooner than I would have liked), I came pretty damn close to dead more times than at least I'm comfortable with. (You know when the bartender says, "safe home"? I found out he doesn't mean in an ambulance. Like that.) I lost just about everything. And it's taken me years to claw my way back. All the while, dealing blindly with what is likely AS or something similar and not knowing it.

I think that's what appeals to me about a diagnosis. Just knowing for certain, so that I have a reference point -- can explain a lot of what's confused me about life for so long. (Or at least why I've been confused.) You know what I mean? I think I also need a shift in therapy from "sounds like you had a bad day -- how did it make you feel when he said that to you?" to something a little more focused. Maybe I'll find that, maybe I won't. But, with some knowledge, at least I'll know what to look for.

Well, it takes a professional to do the assessment and Dx you, and it may take more than one shrink to actually get you Dx'd as an adult. Some psych's are willing to do the diagnosis based on your own feedback and experience, others will use tests like the ones you already took as an indicator and the score will help determine whether they think it is likely and then will make the judgement call on the Dx.

As for the normalizing factor of intoxication, even NTs have that issue. One thought about why it might "work" on a short-term basis is that alcohol makes everyone look better and less worried about social interactions. Inhibitions and fears are lessened and the motor skills issues that might be noticed by others while sober are not apparent due to intoxication. Conversations and small talk are different in an intoxicated state and are not nearly as intricate on what "needs" to be said to be effective. Although its not a great way to deal with being different, its one of the oldest ways that folks "cope" in an unhealthy way to try and ease social communications.

The problem, of course, is that alcohol is a drug and can seriously damage people and doesn't actually help anyone form lasting friendships because staying drunk 24/7 just ends in death or severe illness. Its only a temporary and short-term solution for a few hours that makes a person feel "normal" but doesn't do a damn thing about helping them actually develop reasonable coping and social skills.

A very special Welkome to WrongPlanet, with a K.

The WP Kink

As I said I would, I went to the DSM IV webpage you gave me. Frankly, I was expecting pages and pages of material that I'd probably have trouble making my way through. As you can probably imagine, I was underwhelmed -- no offense!

Overall, that's a pretty low threshold, if you ask me. "...manifested by at least two of the following"??? How about all of the following and a whole lot more?!?

I've decided to get a diagnosis. (Even though I know it will mean sitting in some waiting room with hundreds of 6-year-olds(!) I'm just too curious. I've put a call in to my psychiatrist for some recommendations; otherwise, I wouldn't know where to start. This is a pretty big city with a population that really gets off on seeing shinks. (That is to say, there are quite a few from which to choose...)