How can I stop obsessing over having Asperger's?
I was diagnosed September last year, and I still obsess, but I am beginning to feel more like myself again.
The difference is, that I know why I am, what I am.
I still have doubts, less than before, but aspects and patterns of reaction still have to be realized.
I think, the point is, that AS, apart from being an explanation, is a new, more positive identity as opposed to the old, negative one, most of us have had:
"Ah, I´m not bad. I´m just wired differently".
The subjective identity has been built over a lifetime, so you don´t just change it overnight.
_________________
Femaline
Special Interest: Beethoven
I've spent months reading every single article about asperger, doing every test for ASD, watching every video on youtube/movies about autism that i could find and i didn't even notice how obsessed i was until some time ago.
I don't do this so frequently anymore, so i wouldn't worry too much about it.
I obsessed over it for around 2 years before my diagnosis. I hated the uncertainty in not knowing for sure..... and going back and forth from being almost positive I was autistic, to thinking I'm crazy to think I may be autistic.
Getting the confirmation has been a huge relief. I could finally accept that I am, in fact, autistic.
I'm getting into neurodiversity advocacy. I'm joining ASAN and I blog about autism on Tumblr.
I'm starting to really become comfortable with who I am. Realizing that I may be on the spectrum and finally getting a Dx has been the most important series of events in my life!
I think it's perfectly okay, and natural, to obsess about the idea that you may be autistic.
_________________
Standing on the fringes of life... offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.
---- Stephen Chbosky
ASD Diagnosis on 7-17-14
My Tumblr: http://jetbuilder.tumblr.com/
I'm a little different (story of my life, actually!
) : my daughter thought for a while that I had Asperger's, having heard the symptoms in a class and saying "That's my mom!", and I didn't care much whether I was or not, having gotten through sixty years better than most people (staying alive, never in jail, never hungry, raised a good kid, reasonably well respected, if considered a little odd, high intelligence, etc) being myself, no more self-restraint and hassle than most. Then the kid found a psychologist who was wanting to write a paper on the life processes of undiagnosed older Aspies, the catch being that she had to _find_ people of that description to study, which generally meant diagnosing them as well as finding them. So she got me in and diagnosed me. In any case, it didn't worry me, but _after_ my diagnosis, Asperger's (and Autism) became my Special Interest (I'd always had them, just not labeled in that way). I was delighted by finding out that all my quirks and things that I remembered from childhood actually _fitted_ somewhere, and the more pieces of my puzzle that I collected, the more they delighted me. At that point, you could say it became an "obsession", but a happy one. Actually, the first thing I read was Tony Attwood's "Guide", on the recommendation of that PhD Psychologist, and a lot more after that. But maybe you have to start when you're older, having already accepted yourself and your differences, to do it that way.
_________________
Asperges me, Domine

