Maybe not having Aspergers??

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Ive been doing a CBT workbook on perfectionism, which has been very helpful. It says in the book about all the ways perfectionism can affect a person and ways in which it can be counterproductive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Perf ... 299&sr=8-2

perfectionism can effect eating/shape, tidiness, socilising, work, study, hobbies, parenting, relationships, and can lead to over checking, procrastination and avoidance, spending too much time, unrealistsic targets and dismissing achieveing them, ridgid rules and schedules.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfection ... chology%29

It also says the perfectionists mostly meet the criterior for Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. Which is characterised by being very ridgid and controlling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessive% ... y_disorder

What I think from reading this book is that maybe I dont have aspergers at all, maybe I just have OCPD with pervasive perfectionism. It says that perfectionists often isolate themselves and line things up and have obsessive interests, and ruminate on social faux pas.

If I do have perfectionism rather than aspergers it would be very liberateing as there is lots of 'treatment' for perfectionism and CBT has been shown to be very effective.

what are your thoughts and opinions?

Lotus eater!

I think you should go to a doctor, instead of getting help from us.

Sorry I was not clear, Im not asking your opinion particularly on whether I have not got aspergers, clearly its a Drs job to diagnose and none of you know me lol!

I was more interested in peoples opinions on whether aspergers in general could be mistaken for just perfectionism and OCPD, and Im interested in if other people have pertfectionist characteristics or OCPD characteristics.

Its also interesting about prognosis and how it could be liberating to have a 'cureable' condition rather than a 'life sentance' and the implications from that with labelling and trying to change, or giving up.

and how people feel about rejecting aspergers, denile of aspergers and misdiagnosis in general.

Oh, so sorry, lotus eater!

I am sure you could tell one from the other, if you had one. Or, perhaps you have both.

Thank you for the collected links - it sounds a bit like my problems at the moment.

OCD and autism are not mutually exclusive, and people with autistic spectrum disorders have obsessions and compulsions, without necessarily having OCD. The criteria for Asperger's are in DSM-IV 299.80: http://www.autreat.com/dsm4-aspergers.html and for OCD in 300.3 http://www.anxietyhelp.org/information/ocd_def.html

My mother has a very perfectionist personality. Her social skills are a lot better than mine though.. but she is pretty black and white.

there possibly is an overlap between OCPD and the spectrum. I am not sure of the connection...

I am the opposite of a perfectionist but I think a number of people here will be perfectionsits.

Maybe perfectionism and OCD are just autistic traits. You can have autistic traits and still be NT, many people do. If you don't have a lot of other traits then maybe you are still NT. I feel like a lot of these seperate disorders are just autistic traits manifesting themselves in NTs. I don't think the treatment would be that much different, would it? I mean if is this is just how your brain works it's not like it can be changed, unless you feel you're behavior isn't organic and is linked to your childhood or something.

Last edited by MotownDangerPants on 16 Jun 2010, 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

when you say you are the opposite, do you mean you dont mind getting things wrong and dont mind makeing mistakes?

I think being a perfectionist really negatively impacts on parenting. Being driven and putting pressure on myself makes me unpleasant to be around as Im so stressed, and I think I make them feel bad unintentially by wanting them to be 'better behaved', because I feel bad about myself and my parenting and worry about others criticism of my parenting, I think it makes me make an atmostphere of stress and 'unrealistic expectations'. I need to be more relaxed about others opinions and not worry about people criticisng me for the childrens behaviour. I notice with my 8 year old that she has bad perfectionism too and gets upset at her school work for trivial mistakes. I really want to combat this element of myself as I dont want to 'damage' my children or make them stressed.

All the research suggests perfectionism can be treated very successfully with CBT. For myself perfectionism definately underlies my eating disorder and social phobia and OCD (and possible OCPD) so I think it well worth tackleing as it will probably make these other conditions improve. The other problems have always been very resistant to treatment, but I now think that is because the therapists were ignoring the underlying perfectionism.

But CBT is not to be knocked for biological conditions, it is even recomended for schizophrenia and has really helped people tocope with their hallucinations and delusions.

Im definately not NT and am seriously effected by whatever is wrong with me, but I just wonder whether it is asperger or a combination of other things.

When Ive met with other people with aspergers I feel very different from them and dont relate to them but Ive heard many other people say that too so it could be a product of 'poor relateing', or differences in interests.

I read your thread StuartN and had similar experiences to you of finding CBT previously (when not diagnosed with AS) very unhelpful and upsetting. They said I had social phobia because I was 'worried' about makeing social mistakes but this was lack of confidence and I would not really make mistakes. This was very frustrating as I did make mistakes and made me feel dispairing.

I have several diagnosis already but any of them could be wrong. I was diagnosed as a child as social phobic, generalised anxiety disorder and OCD, when I was an adult I got a diagnosis of aspergers but she retained the previous diagnosis too. I find while it is nice to have an asperger dignosis so I can feel I dont have to keep 'trying' to be normal, I also find it makes me dispair about my future and being able to have friends or relationships or work.

I find I am alieanated from all areas and cant find a place for myself. I dont fit in with the area Im trained in (psychology) as they are all urber NTs with high EQs and very empathetic, where as Im very low EQ with no empathy and very scientific and harsh. I dont fit in with the asperger people Ive met who seem to only like to chat about 'conventional' chatty things rather than philosophy/psychology/politics and get cross at me for trying to talk about those things. When I go on study courses I dont fit in as I correct the lecturers or say interesting facts or questions and people hate that sort of thing. I cant join in with their chats about families and small talk and end up looking supierior and snotty. I dont think I will ever find a place where there is like minded people or people who accept me as I am (with out lots of criticism). I just feel so alone and unreachable and so dispairing about never being able to have a friend or lover.

I guess I dont mnd making mistakes or getting things wrong. Though socially i do very much mind the faux pas.. but I dont care so much about when I am working on something unless there are particular reasons that is important to get somethng right, ie safety reasons.

For example I am typing on a broken keyboard and I cannot be bothered fixing mot of the mstakes because it is too much hassle.

but otherwse I dont care. I think it is because i dont have the focus, or the desire to stay on task for any longer than I have to.

Im sure if some of your traits are causin you too much anxiety you can learn how to become lesss focused on perfection, and decide what to focus that meticulousness on and what not to.

Completely agreeing with this. I know lots of people that have OCD (my sister) or are Perfectionists/Ridiculous Grandiose Daydreamers (my brother) but do not have all the other traits that line up with Aspgergers (like me). From what I have always understood, Aspgergers is a like a collection of ALL these things, and each Aspie portrays those things in different amounts. It's like having schizophrenic tendencies, OCD, social dysfunctions, obsessions, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and tourettes all at the same time (plus some I probably forgot). Okay, I mean "elements of those things" all at the same time.

I think these traits can be present in anyone, but only Aspies have them all. That's how I describe it anyway. My oldest son, for example, has high levels of the schizophrenic tendencies and obsessions (video games will be the bane of his existence) and a mix of the rest. My middle son has social dysfunctions and anxiety disorders dominating. Me personally I have high levels of social anxiety and the OCD tendencies most and a little of the rest.

Perhaps this is just the way it makes the most sense to me. All our brains fire differently, but Aspgergers Brains fire a lot alike.....

I OCD and perfectionist behavior. But I know that I have Asperger's, since it indicates in other ASD-specific symptoms, such as stimming and sensitivity to materials.

I think that I might be throwing gasoline onto an old fire here, but I value my ASD diagnosis specifically since it's something that I can work on treating. I want a cure, and now I know the underlying cause that needs to be cured.

ASD is not my label, and I will never "give up".