Depression & AS

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Hello,

Is it common to misdiagnose these two conditions? I seem to have both of them (the AS part is still uncertain) which makes me doubt wether I'm in the AS or not. I have all of the issues in AS (besides extreme stimming and I can keep conversations going on the low scale) but for some reason they are very strong when I'm depressed.

So does it sound like I have both or is it just depression?

Also, how do you cope with this destructive phase? I can't do anything and I'm too lazy to communicate about it with someone.

I am pretty sure depression is somewhat common in those with AS, so it is very likely that you have both if you were diagnosed with both.

I don't know how to cope with it to be honest. Doctors seem to want to just put you on medication, which I feel is treating the symptom rather than the cause. But it can help, so that's an option.

I was so depressed early this year that I didn't know what to do. I was feeling lonely, inadequate and isolated. What depressed me more was that I done a lot of things to help myself and I still felt really depressed. It was so out of control, and no matter how much I done to help myself, I still could not shake out of it. Going on antidepressants was the last thing I wanted to do, but being so nothing else was working, I had to go on them. And yes they have actually worked. My life has got better; I now have a boyfriend and have made some friends at a volunteer job, but I'm still scared to come off antidepressants because I might start sinking back into that self-doubt feeling again, even though I have a boyfriend. The antidepressants has made my self-esteem higher - even before I met my boyfriend. But before I went on antidepressants, these are all the things I done in the last couple of years but still didn't ''cure'' the depression (maybe some only temporarily):-

-Gentle exercise (like walking)
-Training my brain to think differently by doing CBT
-Reading books about how to deal with depression and anxiety
-Doing some volunteering
-Keeping at my part-time job
-Doing things I enjoy to lift my mood (like playing the keyboard or writing stories)
-Counseling
-Having close family and a good friend to talk to about how I feel (I never bottled my feelings up)
-Seeing a friend on a regular basis
-Taking a temporary course to learn a new skill
-Writing my thoughts and feelings down in a journal/coming on to WP to talk to other Aspies
-Joining a social group to get talking to other people with social/intellectual challenges (I didn't seem to make friends there)

So you name it, I've done it. So I had to go on tablets.

I was diagnosed with AS when I was very young (I think I was in the second grade at the time, but I'm not certain). I've been on and off various anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications all my life. It's mandatory for me to take at least one psychological evaluation per year for various government agencies & as of the last one (which was in January) I still have ASD (no surprise there), but I also have Dysthymia as well as Social Anxiety Disorder. The time before that, it said "Major Depressive Disorder" instead of Dysthymia. It may have something to do with the fact that this evaluation was done by a new person or it may simply be the fact that I haven't actively tried to kill myself in a long time, but I still have to try hard not to contemplate the circumstances I'm living with & rarely ever leave my desk because I don't really have anybody I want to be with or anything I want to be doing. I don't even know what I want or what I'm working towards other than the vague direction of "not this".

You should see a psychiatry, but a good one, or they will say you're just bipolar.

Thanks for the help!

But my main problem itself is school. I'm very tempted to only study about my interests (physics and partly maths) but I can't because I have other things to do. What exactly should I do in this situation? I can't simply put off my obsessions without getting even more depressed and I'm to tired to study it when I get home.

Under the diathesis stress model Aspies who have a genetic predisposition to depression that is triggered by AS related meltdowns and problems with coping leading to chronic depression. The AS related symptoms are precipitating events that trigger the depression.