ASD and Paranoia

Post Reply New Topic

I know it is not listed as a symptom of Autism or Asperger's, but as an individual with an ASD do you experience feelings of paranoia?

(Trying to learn about ASDs; trying to determine whether I have it or not; I deal with mild paranoia (not the "government is watching me" kind, but the "everyone has an ulterior motive that I'm not aware of" kind))

Thank you in advance.

I don't call it paranoia, I call it making the best assumptions based on experience. I see no reason to trust people unless I'm shown otherwise.

Where I live it's supposedly paranoid to lock your door before leaving the house. Apparently only Americans worry all kinds of sick people might break into their home, therefore locking my door even when I am home makes me paranoid and therefor stupid, I was mistaken to think it was just common sense, but we know that's not common any more

Yes I get paranoid a lot, but doesn't mean nothing bad is going to happen or there aren't people who wouldn't love to try to kill me. On top of everything else in the world that's out to kill me in scary and horrible ways like all this new talk about Ebola, there was even someone in Alberta who was tested for it but it turned out negative. Apparently worrying about such things makes me an incredibly stupid, irrational, and worthless person. If I want to protect myself from anything, even if it's just by getting a flu shot every fall, I'm a sheep, as the trolls on other sites love saying. Don't even think of telling them about your anxieties they will tell you you have no life or even worse. I'm very scared of diseases and now that I'm 40 my immune system is supposed to now take a nose dive and anything could be the start of something horrible. Last week I got a small cold sore on my lower lip, and since it's unusual to get them this time of year I was worried it would be the start of something worse like a really bad flu bug or something. But that didn't happen. Lucky I guess. It seems I may as well have killed myself while I was still 39 because all I have to look forward to is my whole body and mind deteriorating.

short answer,yes.
long answer... the pyschologist of mine [a specialist who only works with intelectualy disabled and/or autistic people,as part of social services ID team] says that when a person [anywhere on the spectrum] is stressed,anxious etc it raises their arrousal level and can cause lots of mental health type symptoms such as paranoia, halucinations, hearing voices etc.
he says people on the spectrum naturaly have higher arrousal levels more than neurotypical people,and when we are made to feel stressed and so on-especialy long term it causes presentations of mental illness.
in self, it caused a presentation of severe paranoid schizophrenia,was assessed for it and scored highly but was not diagnosed as it was the autism causing the problem,unlike autistic schizophrenics it isnt there when am not experiencing longer term stressors but am very medicated for severe challenging behavior and extreme autistic anxiety which helps.

only became highly cynical and paranoid after being severely bullied by a banned WP user for years, had never felt what these were until then,but now am not able to see anyone without distrust.

I don't think everybody is conspiring to get me.

As overcompensation for not understanding others and being naturally naive I assume the worst in people. I used to think it was realism now after I am diagnosed I understand it better. I don't want to be so paranoid that in trying to protect myself I destroy myself. But now having a full understanding of my nativity I still need to be careful. It tough trying to figure out what is realism and what is paranoia. Each situation is different.

I don't think people are trying to kill me but is it paranoia if I think everyone is judging me?

Arthur Dent: You know, this explains a lot. Because all my life, I've had this unaccountable feeling in my bones that something sinister was happening in the universe and that no one would tell me what it was.
Slartibartfast: Oh, no. That's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the universe has that.

I've had a few bouts of paranoia, mostly as a kid. I've learned I really have to keep anxiety in check.

Can have anxious thoughts.

sometimes I think I'm being watched by paranoid people.

what do you call that?
does this mean I've leveled up?

I think everyone experiences a level of paranoia like locking your car door or house when you leave, not leaving anything valuable in your car or purse or bag, not leave a young child alone with an infant or leaving two small kids alone. All this is healthy and normal. It's called being safe or cautious.

When we first moved to Montana, I thought kids were picking on me. They were just being children and messing around like they all do to each other and I took it personally and when I got back from a doctor's appointment, kids kept moving me from desk to desk and I thought they were doing it to make fun of me and see how many times they can get me to move around the classroom. then when I had to be the one in trouble for retaliating, I thought teachers were against me too and siding against me because I am different. Yes this was me being paranoid due to past experience. Even a bump in the hallway would make me think you did it intentionally. I can remember it being blamed on AS but my mom says the opposite, she called it delayed stress. Yeah this is pretty common in ASD. We have been picked on, pushed around, abused, bullied, so of course we will think someone is being mean or did it on purpose. But wouldn't an NT act the same way too if they also suffered it too? I just thought my mom and no one else believed me when I would tell them. Then I ended up with a teacher's aid and I thought it was to protect me and they finally listened but no it was to keep other kids protected FROM ME. But I didn't care because kids left me alone.