Autism <-----> Schizophrenia (Opposites?)

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The "Split mind" in Schizophrenia means that thought & emotion are cut off from each other. Some how the POPULAR MEDIA has assumed that it meant "Split" or Multiple Personality Disorder. The mistake has persisted for years.
As far as Schizophrenics being the opposite of autistics, I am not sure about that. I do know that schizophrenia is an umbrella category for a number of related physical brain ailments which are still improperly understood. Until it is, conclusions on its relation to other neurological disorders would be unwise..
Just saying...

Sincerely,
Matthew

That lady was wrong.

Multiple personality was at one time called "schzoid personality"- meaning "split peronality".

It was distinct from "schzophrenia" which litereally means "split mind" but is used to mean "split off from reality". So the two disorders are have similiar sounding but distinct names that used to get confused in pop culture. So comedians and other non clinical folk would incorrectly use "schzophrenia" to mean "split personality". But within the rubric of actual schzophrenia there a many different disorders- paranoia, and other things.

Schizophrenia = adult onset AS/HFA without hallucinations and/or delusions

Notice where the term "autism" comes from, and where Kanner and Asperger both got it from.

(Also, Schizoid is AS induced from one's upbringing, mainly a lack thereof.)

I think the tow are related but I'm not sure what you mean here.

How could it be adult onset HFA/AS since it eventually leads delusions and hallucinations?

Honestly I don't blame doctors for the confusion between AS and schizophrenia in some cases although AS isn't the only thing was misdiagnosed as schizophrenia and it was sort of a dumping ground for other disorders.

I've been wondering for awhile if the Aspies here with schziophrenics relatives think they're more similar to schizophrenics.

Not trying to insult anyone, my dad is paranoid schizophrenic and I've always been a lot like him.(minus the actual psychosis ;P)

OTOH I don't think my dad is really the "classic" example of a schizophrenic if there is one.

Pretty sure he started out Aspie, actually and the only reason I now believe that he's definitely shichz are his extreme episodes(which are bipolar in nature but he openly talks about hallucinating and it's clear that he is sometimes) plus his extreme delusions.

Other than that, though, he seems particularly sane. He was DXed as schiz back in the days when it was overdiagnosed but his doctors say it's still the case.

Are you sure? I think that "schizoid personality" had always the meaning of extreme introversion.

I don't think they are opposites and neither are they directly related.

Also, "schizophrenia" really is a disease that develops over long stretches of time. It's not a "disorder" that is, you know, shaping you in the same sense autism does.

I can totally understand what you mean.

I do think that I can relate to certain aspects of schizophrenia because I know that I tend to see things out of proportion. Also, just like Asperger's, I think that most people have the wrong idea of schizophrenia.

I know I can't talk to my father the way I used to. But that's more because I was the target of his extreme outbursts rather than the disease itself.

What Asperger's and schizophrenia have in common though is the intense focus on certain things. This... obsession. I see some parallels even though I don't think they are directly related.

Apparently both schizophrenia and autism are umbrella terms, which makes calling them opposites complicated. On the behavioral and defining level schizophrenia and autism are not opposites, they actually have a huge overlap. The claim that they are opposites comes from neurology, where apparently some cases of schizophrenia have an underdeveloped brain or something, while some cases of autism have an overdeveloped brain or something. As schizophrenia and autism are not diagnosed on the neurological level, this does not make the two conditions opposites, and I believe that even if codiagnosis is not allowed there is still a genetic relation between the two. I have no idea where to "schizophrenia is hyper-social mindedness" BS on the forum came from.

I'm pretty sure my dad was just a normal "Asperger", even though my mother does not think he was. I guess he was somewhere on the spectrum, it does not matter whether it's "Asperger's" or something else. But there definitely was something odd about him that I could see in myself as well. He was really good at Maths and Physics though. I was more of the language type. But we both always shared a "talent" in art. I never developed the skills he had though, as I find it very frustrating.

As he developed schizophrenia over the years, it wouldn't make sense to think of schizophrenia and autism as opposites. If it means that you can only have one or the other.

Yea, I didn't know my dad before he lost it. Sometimes he seems normal and other times very, very crazy.

Really though, lots of research has been done in relation to AS and paranoid schizophrenia in particular, it occurs in families together quite often. Paranoid schiz. are actually said to be the most highly functioning of the schizophrenics. What many say is that schizophrenics have a mind much like the autistic mind but don't have the systemizing/processing ability to handle it, so all the extra information that comes in leads to (sometimes) genius and creativity among autistics and often the same in schizophrenics, but with madness included.

A lot of that is what led me here, I always knew I was like him in some ways and was afraid for many years that I would end up like him, I stopped worrying once I found out about ASD. I had been trying to figure out ALWAYS what was "wrong" with me because I was so sure I was going to lose my mind someday and ADHD just wasn't explaining enough.

It can be very frustrating not to know what's "wrong" because you just cannot point your finger at it. It's not something that you get taught in school, it's something you have to find out yourself.

I think it's really good to know what is different about the ways you behave to what is considered normal. It's very satisfactory to know what you need to work on.

I didn't know for the longest time and I only started to understand what I can change.

I can imagine that ASD and schizophrenia run in families. Both are different ways of perceiving the world.

What I meant is this: it's pretty much adult onset HFA/AS with hallucinations and delusions.

Though the social behavior of Schizophrenia is probably closer to Schizoid PD than "true" HFA/AS, but they're pretty close.

Delusions & hallucinations can also be produced by extreme bi-polar states. Especially mania. Having either is not sufficient for dxing Schizophrenia.
By which I mean, your father may indeed be bi-polar, with his ASD. Which would like schizophrenia superficially.

Matthew

Yes, I brought those up because I remember reading it somewhere but don't know where. Just wanted to figure out if it was valid. I don't think it is now that I've thought about it and heard people's perspectives here.

I'm starting to think a lot of the models related to Autism are just noting some similarity or difference in some trait and then defining it by that. So, in the case of Schizo vs. Austim model, it's just noting a superficial similarity/difference that doesn't get at the heart of what either is. For this reason I also do not agree with the Extreme Male Brain Theory, because it defines Autism as pretty much just being the opposite of a female.

LOL, it's no big deal, you probably read it here a long time ago.

Glad I'm not losing it