Why did my psychologist write this lie about me?

Post Reply New Topic

THere are many falsehoods in many records both physical and mental. and it is very hard to get htem off.

That is very mild, but I know it is upseetting.

I have had things on my records that were so bad when tehy did not know I had Autism that i will be too embarassed to write.

But it was a man who saw me once . And he did not like me because I would not answer him so he thought I was being stubborn but I was actually freezing. My brain freezes up and I can't communicate.

I fake it now, but then I coild not.

Andd a friend of mine could not look at her Therapist because she is autistic, too, a nd he write down that she was FLIRTING with him!! !

So it is good that I am dxed and you are, too. I hope that this gets straight because it is very upsetting.

I live in the UK and people only use 'dumb' to mean 'stupid'. Using it to mean 'mute' is considered outdated and potentially offensive as it now means 'stupid'.

I agree with people that she took "I'm not a genius" to be a euphemism.

My psychiatrist wrote lots of untrue things about me. I think it happens often.

Last edited by Kajjie on 12 Feb 2009, 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Psychologists work mostly with NTs, and NTs might think differently about intelligence than you do.

Ever heard this?: When people are surveyed, about 90% of them say they are above-average drivers. In reality, obviously, most people are in the average-range.

But I think NTs must think the same way about intelligence: You're either smart, or you're dumb. No in-betweens. It's very simplistic.

When you say, I'm not a genius, maybe they think that you mean you're all the way at the other end, not that you're making a statement, "I'm not in the top 1% of human intelligence", which odds are, is true--even though that statement could also be true if you were in the top 2%, or the top half. But if you're being very literal, that's what you mean. Psychologists not well-versed in AS communication styles may not pick up on that.

I also think that maybe your literal mind is making you a little paranoid. If you made the statement, "I'm dumb", it would be a lie, because as you judge your intelligence, you see you're not. (Not that you don't sometimes make mistakes or do dumb things, as everyone does; but the statement "I'm dumb" is a blanket statement and thus untrue.)

For an NT, it can be different. NTs may use statements that don't state facts, but state how they feel. (Some Aspies do this too; I've seen it around here.) So if an NT feels dumb, they may not say, "I feel dumb", but "I am dumb". That's a lie only in the literal sense. It's very close to a metaphor, only comparing with an adjective instead of a noun. To complicate matters, some NTs go very much by feeling instead of fact, and may not be able to tell the difference between feeling dumb and actually being dumb.

Ouch. But that does mean your psychologist most likely does not think you lied, but that you felt dumb and stated it the way an NT might.

So for your psychologist to surmise that if you say "I'm not a genius", you mean you're dumb, could be yet another NT miscommunication problem... When literal communicators meet feeling-oriented communicators, there can be problems.

Your psychologist will often paraphrase in his notes. If he assumes that a statement of not being a genius means the same as "I feel dumb", then he may paraphrase it that way.

Don't dumb and stupid mean the same thing? They both mean "not very smart." Same as idiot.

Yes, this is what I was trying to say. I was also saying, that it used to mean 'unable to speak', usually used in the phrase 'deaf and dumb'. However, people don't say this anymore, because it sounds like you're saying 'deaf and stupid'.

Must establish any given Autist just cannot magically know what psych might be thinking, and this is a deficit of autism - that's a given.

That being said, I do vicariously understand the nature of the misinterpretation, which may be no more than psych 'not thinking' or other Factor X. I do have a measured IQ of 160+ so I'm in the extreme range and (I guess) this is genius IQ but this holds little meaning for me. Just because I'm 'smart' doesn't mean I don't have to work and knowing/learning, and I work very hard. And I love to learn!

Regardless of my IQ I can also have other complications with regard to being a HFA which may be entirely foreign for a NT. I am not stating this as a value-judgment, just the reality. For instance, I am very naive, socially awkward/shy, and do lack certain 'real life' skills. I am firstly a chemist and very analytical/science-minded but cannot do paperwork (ie: filling out forms). I have differences in communication since I'm mostly not verbal, cannot 'read' emotions, etc.

Whilst I'm not 'dumb,' in any sense, I may be 'impaired' in other ways. Further, IQ is a dynamic function and I don't recogize IQ as an appropriate descriptive for any individual. I know some who 'aren't too smart' but function far better than I do.

In parallel, one misconception about Autists is that we can be cold/unfeeling. I suppose this is because we apparently lack ToM and empathy. But we surely can have sympathy and deep compassion. On WP I've met some of the kindest most thoughtful individuals - ever!

In sum, just too many variables and any given psych is not going to detect this. Sometimes a psych (or another equivalent) will be merely expression what he/she THINKS you might be feeling! But Autists are notoriously hard to read too - mutual communication difference that is ever-present and may not be reconciled. I'm an anlalytical thinker but psychs just are not....psychology is a SOFT science, at best. So they're trying to quantify what is beyond their capability. And some just don't care either. And/or are not familiar with ASD.

Maybe so, however it is still slang. I dont think doctors and such can use slang on official documentation, i still stand by what -I- thought she meaned by it, which is that you dont speak much or are totally mute arround people.

that's a great point, but surely it's unlikely that she also didn't know how to write 'brilliant' or 'bright' or 'exceptionally intelligent' or 'gifted'.

Ditto. And since your psych doesn't know, I will.
Official Report for Mw99: He's really cool, and exceptionally bright and gifted! And an Aspie.

(It's ok Mw99, I sometimes worry about what others say too (RE: your psych), even if it's unjustified)

Yep, that is what I think happened. So sorry.

I agree, I find it very sad when people label people as being cold or aloof, just because emotions are not necessarily shown, does not mean they are not there. I also think it is mean when people say terrible things or act with disrespect because they believe you do not have any feelings just because you don't show them, it is really unfair

I am also very pleased to have found WP

A psychologist/psychiatrist would have to be an IDIOT to use the word "dumb" out of context. Dumb USUALLY means below 100 IQ unless in the context of hearing "deaf AND DUMB".

Any DECENT psychologist/psychiatrist would write down WHAT YOU SAID, as YOU said it and/or write your IQ down.

What I HATE about psychologists/psychiatrists is that they think they know everything about you. If you mention a FRIEND that has problems, they will "know" it is YOU! If you speak of hatred of someone/somegroup, they will "know" it has to do with your family, etc... NOBODY is capable of comming up with their own conclusions, etc...

HECK, even formulas I had when I was a kid that were basically FACT have now been obscured by the influx of new cultures and people, so even THEY are no longer reliable. So I can't believe that psychiatrists, basing their opinions on views of someone, that was from a homogenous society, that died 70 years ago, could hope to do that well.

Most people do NOT have a really proper opinion of themselves. I have met some dumb people that considered themselves bright, and bright people that considered themselves dumb. If I were a psychiatrist, I would try to quantify it, if I considered it germane. The only accepted way to do that is through an IQ test. It isn't perfect, but it certainly CAN be used to determine if you are DUMB! My opinions of the others were based on long observations. HECK, "Kelly Bundy", on married with children, played someone INCREDIBLY stupid. Yet SHE showed glimmers of intelligence at times. Imagine if one only saw THOSE times!