Lesson #2: The Root Cause of Many Negative Aspie Traits

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I will be turning 70 in a few days, which makes me an Old Timer. And over the course of my life, I have learned a few important observations about my tribe, the Aspies.

We share many traits with animals. There are physical traits such as the fact that humans and animals generally have two eyes, a nose, two ears, a mouth, etc. But we also share behavior traits. Two important traits that humans possess are herd traits and tribe traits.

Many animals naturally live and travel together in groups called herds. They form into groups and act collectively without centralized direction. Examples include: horses, zebras, buffalos, sheep, cattle, antelopes, deer, elephants, giraffes and camels. By sticking together in a herd, they reduce the chance of being singled out and becoming the one animal that gets killed by the predator. Some of the benefits to forming into herds are:

Safety - Catching one animal is much harder when there are hundreds of animals nearby. There are always eyes watching for individual safety, which translates to safety for everyone. If one member of the herd detects danger, they will share with the rest through sounds or behavioral changes and alert the rest of the herd to the threat.

Camouflage - A large group of animals with an overlapping combination of colors makes it difficult to distinguish one animal from the next and is visually confusing to a predator. Individuals visually blend into a herd making it difficult for the predator to lock onto an individual single target to prey upon. Perhaps eyes or a nose are visible, but not seeing exactly where one animal starts and another begins makes catching just one animal much more difficult.

Efficiency - With a large group on the alert for treats, individuals do not have to be constantly vigilant. This provides individuals the opportunity to spend time and energy on other tasks such as looking for food. Some animals within the herd can share the burden of performing guard duty.

The important observation concerning herd behavior is “What happens when a young animal is separated from its herd?” Separation from the herd, isolation, is seen as dangerous and life threatening for these species. An animal separated from the herd may exhibit behaviors associated with fear reactions (such as elevated heart rate, shaking, and hypersensitivity to sounds and other senses). Separation triggers fear-based behaviors.

If horses are separated from their herd and kept in isolation for even short periods of time, they might display a number of behaviors consistent with separation anxiety. “Behaviors typical of separation anxiety include running the fence line, increased vocalizations, and reduced time spent grazing,” says Jill Nugent, equine specialist and biology instructor at the University of North Texas in Denton. “Serious separation anxiety can lead to self-injury in the horse. In the long term, it can lead to chronic exposure to the stress hormone cortisol. Over time, this can be detrimental to the horse’s immune, cardiovascular, reproductive, and digestive systems.”

I observe separation from the herd in humans is the root cause of several of the Aspie negative traits. Many Aspies report living in a state of constant fear. They are always on high alert for signs of danger. They are hyper-vigilant. They exhibit strange behaviors similar to those exhibited by animals separated from their herd. These negative traits include: hypersensitivity to senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch), sensory overload and shutdowns, gastrointestinal problems related to prolonged stress, and mental health problems/psychological disorders (depression, self harm, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder).

In humans, individuals transition through many herd structures. We begin in the structure of a family. Then we transition in schools into a boy tribe and a girl tribe. But as we reach puberty, the boy and girl tribes begin to dissolve away and are fused into an adult tribe in preparation for male/female pairing. At this point many Aspies are left behind in utter confusion, alone and unable to make the transition. We don’t know what we did wrong. We are told it is our fault, we are different, defective; we need to change, become more social. And this prolonged stress over many years takes its toll resulting in mental and physical problems.

Interesting theory. The benefits of being part of a social structure, and having support and companionship, are not to be overlooked. Doubtless many of us would be better off with those in our lives.

I think this is a little off though:

I don't think it's anything to do with adolescence. Autistic people often experience this alienation long before puberty. In fact I think the sharp "girl/boy" divide may be one example of something that autistic people have little time for. (Also worth noting that this isn't an "in humans" thing - it's an "in conventional Western society" thing).

I also think you're maybe skimming over sensory issues too briefly. If being around other people for the necessary time to form bonds is overwhelming, then it is much less likely to happen.

I really enjoyed reading this post. Given me lots of things to think about and relate to. Thanks

We go through many herd transitions through our lifetimes and there is a lot of variation between them. When I was 2 years 3 months old, my sister and I were dropped off in an orphanage. I was just old enough to understand the implications of being dropped off in an orphanage. I tried to explain this to my sister who was a year younger but she was just a little too young to understand. I was so frustrated in my inability to communicate this important observations with her. She was just very content playing with the new toys and the other children.

Some families break up. Some families move to new locations, new schools. Life is full of changes, but the transition around puberty and the dissolving away of the boy tribe and girl tribe at school can be a major one that can send many Aspies over the edge of a waterfall.

A couple issues, jimmy_m ...

You don't really define what you mean by negative traits. In schizophrenia there are what the literature calls "negative symptoms," which are the absence of normal states - little apparent emotion in the presence of emotion-producing stimuli, very limited language, and so on, contrasted with "positive symptoms" that are the presence of abnormal states, such as hallucinations, delusions, and odd, illogical speech formations. So since both schizophrenia and autism are in the province of psychiatry, is this what you mean by a negative trait? Or do you mean traits that feel negative to the autistic person, such as anxiety, which is always unpleasant?

Second, in speaking of the root cause, you seem to attribute much of the autistic phenomenology to the experience of being bullied. But I would argue that a root cause is "different wiring" which leads to behavioral phenomena which may sometimes, but do not always, lead to being a victim of bullying in both childhood and adulthood. To be labeled a root cause, it must always be present and be necessary for the later behavioral observations.

Your observations about herd structures are interesting, but I wouldn't want some readers to accept this as the end-all and be-all of autism theory. It's a contribution to the field, but it does not suffice as a complete theory.

[color=#00b2ff] Cool theory, but I'm not so sure if there is any real world application.

This is really a variation, or should I say, slightly different explanation of the "Solitary Forager Hypothesis" of Autism. To wit:

http://www.observedimpulse.com/2011/02/ ... utism.html

http://www.aspergerforum.se/the-solitar ... 24012.html

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10 ... 1100900209

https://pressroom.usc.edu/autism-may-ha ... -believes/

https://treefinder.wordpress.com/2012/0 ... nt-page-1/

The specific negative traits I was referring to are: hypersensitivity to senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch), sensory overload and shutdowns, gastrointestinal problems related to prolonged stress, and mental health problems/psychological disorders (depression, self harm, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder).

I would differentiate these from the following other Aspie traits.
* shy and introvert
* feel isolated through most of their childhood and into adulthood.
* avoidance of social contact or events, and may experience heightened anxiety in social situations
* seek out time alone when overloaded by other people (need to decompress after stress)
* despite a desire for friends, difficulty in initiating or maintaining close relationships
* perceived to be cold-hearted and self-centered, unfriendly
* socially awkward (inability to socialize) (severe impairment in reciprocal social interaction)
* difficulty with nonverbal communication (hand gestures, facial expression, body language, eye-to-eye gaze)
* does not understand conventional social rules (have problems with following social conventions such as respecting another person's physical space, speaking loudly in quiet places) * does not understand the use of gestures or sarcasm (may not understand the subtleties of language, such as irony and humor)
* shows a lack of empathy (difficulty understanding others’ feelings, difficulty communicating feelings)
* unaware of others’ thoughts, feelings, desires, intentions or perceptions resulting in inadvertently appearing rude or inconsiderate
* may not understand the give-and-take nature of a conversation (they do not engage family members in true two-way conversation. Instead, there is limited or awkward turn-taking, and the natural "give and take" in the conversation is missing.)
* dislikes group conversations but effective in communicating in simple one-on-one conversations
* struggles to make eye contact
* seems unengaged in a conversation (seeming aloof, arrogant and uninterested)
* being “in their own world”
* formal style of speaking; often called “little professor,” verbose
* tendency to discuss self rather than others (one-sided conversations)
* average to superior intelligence, brilliant
* may be exceptionally skilled in math, computer science, and music.
* proficient in knowledge categories of information (highly-focused interests)
* a remarkable ability for intense focus is a common trait, becoming an expert in a single object or topic to the exclusion of all others
* the capacity to persevere in specific interests without being swayed by others' opinions
* activities usually involve collecting, numbering, or listing (often likes to collect categories of things)
* obsessed with order (an innate need to make order out of apparent chaos)
* frequently a target for bullying and teasing
* extremely hard-headed
* tenacity
* impulsive
* the ability to work independently * strong self discipline
* the recognition of patterns that may be missed by others,
* an original way of thinking. (outside the box) [or even better yet – What Box!]
* have rigid routines, may prefer sameness and have difficulties with transitions or changes
* repetitive behavior, such as repetitive eating habits, listening to the same song over and over again.
* likes to wear the same clothes for days/weeks
* inability to deceive or to understand deception
* righteousness, deeply compassionate and easily outraged by injustices (renowned for being honest, having a strong sense of social justice and keeping to the rules. They strongly believe in moral and ethical principles)
* trustworthy (my word is my bond)
* open book (when comfortable completely open and honest), blunt and direct
* fearless and risk taker - "seem to have no sense of guilt or of danger"
* face blind (prosopagnosia)
* prefers hands-on learning experiences
* double check to make sure the door is locked and the lights are turned off.
* child-like imagination
* limitless curiosity
* inattentive to grooming and personal hygiene, awkward appearance
* strong dislike of being interrupted when talking (It short-circuits the train of thought)
* remembers very early childhood events.
* perfectionist
* difficulty accepting mistakes
* difficulty making friends
* difficulty taking advice
* difficulty managing anger
* pattern of black and white thinking
* as a young child - bossy; a little older - tattletale
* calm in a crisis
* dislikes multitasking

Lesson 1 and 2 provide a foundation. Lesson 3 and 4 deal with real world application.

One other comment for BeaArthur. Most of my discussion is based on male Aspies. I might be a little off by trying to incorporate female Aspies into the discussion. (I might be wrong by trying to encompass that group.) One of the prime differences is males receive not only name calling but also physical assaults. And these assaults can be rather severe and brutal. Female Aspies generally have moved further up on the childhood development stages than males. The bullying in males peak during Junior High School years, whereas in females it peaks in High School years. Also the ratio of males vs. female Aspies is very different.

No, I don't think so. I see it falling closer to http://anis.au.dk/fileadmin/DJF/Anis/Moberg2000.pdf which is Chapter 1 from a book by Gary P. Moberg and Jay A. Mench titled "The Biology of Animal Stress: Basic Principles and Implication for Animal Welfare".

The key to determining when stress affects an animal's welfare is the biological cost of the stress. When the biological cost of coping with the stressor diverts resources away from other biological functions, such as maintaining immune competence, reproduction or growth, the animal experiences distress. During distress, this impairment of function places the animal in a prepathological state that renders it vulnerable to a number of pathologies.

I know this is tangential, but if we are thinking about aspies missing out on the benefits of herds, do you think they benefit from relief of the costs of herd life? In evolutionary biology, two of the most highly-discussed negatives of living in big social groups are: 1) increased risk of disease and 2) higher competition for resources.

...I wonder if aspies get exposed to illnesses less often than the average NT. hmm. Not sure about that one.

This was not my experience as a female. I have a scar on my hand from middle school to prove it. See, in middle school I hadn't gotten good at being able to tell when people did and didn't really want me around. Some kids told me that if I wanted to hang out with them I had to put my hands on the edge of a really gross dumpster in the yard. I did it. A kid that was standing on top stomped on my hands and de-gloved the tip of one of my left ring finger. I also got punched by a classmate once in middle school religion class for saying something (admittedly) insulting. The teacher did nothing, she let them hit me. Luckily I just barely tested into a public magnet school for high school. I was surrounded by awkward nerds. I wasn't popular, but I wasn't considered a freak there either.

I think it's pretty cool to hear your experiences and your perspectives. If you want to know what life is like for someone else though, you should just ask them. I find that's a better way than telling them.

I sort of experienced that from the other end: up to roughly puberty, it wasn't rare at all for me to get beaten by girls.

Stressors weaken the bodies immune system in animals. Stress is a part of life and is not inherently bad. But if the stress is severe and long lasting it depletes the bodies ability to function properly and places the animal in a distress mode.

As the book I cited above says:

For most stressors the biological cost is negligible because the stressors are short-lived. During prolonged stress or when stress is severe, the biological cost is significant and the work of stress becomes a significant burden to the body. It is during such stress that the animal enters the next stages of stress: prepathology and pathology. The prepathological state occurs when the stress response alters biological functions sufficiently to place the animal at risk of developing pathologies. The most obvious example is infectious disease. The change in biological function occurring during stress response may suppress immune competence, rendering the animal susceptible to pathogens that may be present in the environment. If the animal succumbs to these pathogens and becomes ill, it enters a pathological state. . . The longer an animal is stressed the longer the animal is in a prepathological state and the greater the opportunity for a pathology to develop.

Disease is only one type of pathology that occurs during prolonged stress. When metabolism is shifted during stress, growing animals no longer grow normally. Stress can suppress reproduction or can result in deleterious behavior such as tail biting in swine or self-mutilation in monkeys. All are the pathologies of stress.

So the driver is not that you obtain less exposure to diseases when you are isolated and alone. But rather extreme constant stress can place your body in a very vulnerable state by dramatically weakening your natural immune system.