I interview Steve Silberman about his bestselling book, Neurotribes

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Yes, I think subtypes can influence development of other disorders like anxiety, depression, etc.
Do you see yourself as less emotional than many others?
From your posts, you seem less applying social cognition than many others do often in their posts.

Last edited by btbnnyr on 03 Oct 2015, 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

@ Rocket

What is your difference. Physical, cognitive and if the latter, a higher logic threshold or a tendency to morbidity or both, lack of social skills as well?

<--- Has the social skills of a garden slug. He's a pretty good guitarist, though. And, yes, he does plan to read the Neurotribes book because it intrigues him.

Yes.

Though, I wonder if this was a defense mechanism I developed when I was younger. I remember being teased when I was quite young (somewhere between ages 6-8). Apparently, I wasn’t like a lot of the other boys in the neighborhood. As a result, the older boys in the neighborhood used to tease me, calling me a girl’s name every time I walked by. I learned that if I kept my emotions under control and didn’t react, they would eventually leave me alone. It seemed to work, so I practiced that technique through elementary, junior and high school.

Now, as an adult, I only become emotional when things get out of control. And then I have a mini explosion.


I wish I understood what this means. I didn’t realize that one could apply social cognition in writing. What I can tell you is this. I generally don’t try to guess what people are thinking/feeling. Generally, I will only notice if someone is incredibly explicit OR if someone acts consistently within a context.

Let me give an example of the latter. I was driving my car earlier today. I was turning left at an intersection and began to accelerate. I didn’t know that someone was crossing the street. If I didn’t stop or he didn’t stop, I would have hit that person. Once I noticed the person, he made a gesture (like throwing his hands into the air) and stopped (so I wouldn’t hit him). It was a good thing. Because otherwise I would have had to slam on my brakes. I KNEW I was in the wrong and I felt bad (because I should have been more aware of my surroundings). And, I could imagine that he was mad at me (because the pedestrian has the right of way in this situation). So, him throwing up his hands into the air, was consistent with what I expected in the situation. Had it been something else, I am not certain I would have understood what was happening.

Anyhow, sometimes I wonder if I lack social cognition because I don’t care (that is because I decided long ago to not pay attention to others). I imagine it would be hard to have great social cognition if you never look at people in the eye – which I rarely (if ever) do. Sometimes I wonder if I decided to really focus on it, whether or not my social cognition would improve.

It seems like you learned emotional regulation, or perhaps you were not that emotional to begin with.
Do you recall from younger days before bullying?

What you said as applying social cognition is what it is in writing, guessing at people's thoughts/feelings and saying what those are in posts. Like not taking posts literally and coming up with implied meanings that were others didn't post in words.

While I remember events (all the way back to when I was 2.5 or 3), I don’t remember whether or not I was emotional as a child. However, I do know I had problems controlling my emotions when I was younger. E.g., I remember kicking the principal’s assistant when I was in 7 because she wouldn’t let me use the phone to call my Mom (because she had forgotten to pack my cookies). LOL.


I definitely don’t do that. It sounds really hard to do. What you describe, reminds me of English literature classes (back in middle and high school). I found it quite frustrating, because I was somehow supposed to guess what the author was suggesting. Fortunately, I could go to the library and find resources that would explain that stuff.

@ Rocket

These are very much the tendencies I display (in falling measure) and suggestive of wiring that is literal in its reading of the world (as opposed to having access to more subtle biology based mechanisms (much like a cat jumping off a table)).

Having said that, developing my pre-existing tendencies and extending them (perfecting ones logical understanding of the world) has worked for me to the degree that these other shortcomings are less burdensome.

So rather than trying to be that which I am not equipped for, I have extended that which I have. Works for me.

This has been my approach, since being diagnosed. Prior to that, I oftentimes did struggle with understanding why what I was doing wasn't working. No more.

Good for you. Rather than feel that you are somehow handicapped for not being able to tap into the primitive, see what you have as a splendid advance on consciousness, embrace it and realise your potential. There is no real need in th new man for the skills to attend violence on our fellow man or to simply be a function of ones biology. Evolution has thrown us a curved ball with consciousness.

I agree with this, that people should play to their strengths, not their weaknesses. If you're supremely logical and don't connect to the 'primitive' that'd be an ez path for free rational thinking. No point being a socialite especially if you don't want to.



I apologize for the your feeling this way, but I don't think I'm any more invalidating than anybody else may be. I haven't claimed nor do I feel that any other views are incorrect and I don't think my views negates anybody elses'. As an NT I know that I will receive backlash as I am more offensive to the primary audience, diagnosed HFA or self-diagnosees that view autism as a positive attachment. I really don't think my behaviour is out of line with most else that I read on WP. I like how free it is here, even though I see so much crap about NTs that I disagree with and occasionally take offense to.

I'm aware that I view disorders differently to most others here, that they are something that requires treating/support rather than existing as a positive identity. People may believe I'm an a**hole based on the content of my posts as they go against what they expect to hear, but I know that I'm a good friend to my autistic buddy and that's what matters to me the most at the end of the day. The fact that my views are in a minority here doesn't bother me, I would only leave this forum if it were suddenly against the rules to post anything but 'autism is the best' (obvious exaggeration) like material - I can imagine that this would be viewed as support but I think it's delusional and surprisingly 'fake NT' like, something that people here claim to hate.

I guess I'm also sorry for drifting the topic off course but I don't think that's the real issue. I've read so much online where HFA people emphasize that autism is only a difference and that all parents that complain are pathetic etc. and NTs should just be accepting of them. I can understand that they're speaking from their experience with autism only however the idea that second-hand experience is worthless or villainous exists especially where there is a more negative view of autism. If it were my friend making such statements here I don't think anyone would have much of a problem and try and make him see the positives instead (which I have nothing wrong with).

@ Norny

Definitely.........using elevated consciousness to leapfrog to perfection at whatever you do is the way rather than hobbling through life on a crutch that does not fit.

edit: As regards diagnoses, I did get the usual sob story from my doctor as to how I was basically not manufactured properly and needed fixing and support, yadda yadda yadda. But apart from a wobbly sense of balance and poor co-ordination and general disinterest in the yabbering around me, my brain is pretty spot on. So I took things in my own hands and basically proved him wrong.

I know how my brain works and compared to the chattering emotional masses out there, I am quite even keeled and balanced in my treatment of others. So just as I did with the trading fraternity, I gave the medics the finger and went my own way. It cost me my family and the few pathetic specimens who passed off as friends but that lot will come running as soon as I start to throw the nuts, whoops, money around.

Last edited by trayder on 04 Oct 2015, 4:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

Perhaps now is a good time to return to the topic of this thread, the book Neurotribes; here is an interesting in-depth review of it:

http://www.thinkingautismguide.com/2015 ... chive.html

I don't understand the autism as positive identity view, I don't view autism as an identity, positive or negative or neutral. For myself, I think in terms of traits that may be different from those of most people, but the coherent thing of autism whether identity or even syndrome seems unimportant to me.

Yeah well, I wonder how far that would have got me. If I have learnt enough in this life of mine, its that you don't leave your life in the hands of others if you can help it and have the means to nut yourself out of traitsville.

It works for me but then again who am I to say whats good for me, the majority know better.

I think it is because of my views that deemphasize autism as a coherent identity that makes me unable to plug into neurodiversity ways of thinking.

Yeah, well thinking outside the box has opened up a whole new universe for me. I see and analyse everything at a level that astounds me. Of course, everyone around me is, as usual, obstructive....but as my financial power grows (and I have only in the last month or so concluded my not so long market structure journey), I will sit back and watch them dance to another tune.

The majority out there are so predictable...but hey, if it improves my life I guess its better than the alternative. I would rather humankind were less primitive but thats the way it is.