Good emotional reading, bad social understanding

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First off, hello everyone, i’m new to the forums.

I have been wondering about something which I have found fairly confusing, it would appear that I am actually hypersensitive to other people’s emotions, being able to understand the way someone is feeling very quickly, and often with very subtle emotions, I am sure this is odd amongst people with Asperger’s Syndrome. However, I do not have a natural understanding of how to behave in certain social situations, and whilst i’ve effectively learned a great deal of, essentially, how to behave, it doesn’t come naturally like the sensitivity to emotion. Luckily for me, it is usually only in new or stressful situations that a lack of social understanding shows, though this was -not- the case in my early childhood.

It may be relevant that the full label for what I have is actually “Asperger’s Syndrome with a complex presentation” and it may not.

I wanted to know if anyone knows anything about this, if it is the main reason for the ‘complex presentation’, or if it is because I may be a fairly borderline case, or if perhaps the ‘complex presentation’ signifies in itself that I am a fairly borderline case, very few people realise there is anything with me now, and I am only fourteen years old. I was -definitely- unusual during primary school years, in which I showed a lot of the general characteristics or AS. Is is possible I may have stopped showing signs of being unusual due to having a better social understanding from experience, thus leading to less stress in social situations? Is anyone else in my situation?

Finally, apologies if this looks like a ‘wall of text’ as it’s early morning and i’m starting to tire.

You just described me-- I can sense people'e emotions acutely, but I have NO clue how to react or what I'm supposed to do based on what I sense.

Check out this thread:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ic&t=29717

I wonder if you're describing the same thing?

I feel like I am tracing paper or a sponge, and other people's emotions "seep through" me. This is one reason it's hard for me to be around people.

I've read that some are actually overly aware of emotions and overly affectionate. You might be like that. It's a spectrum. I think you can be anywhere on the continuum. We are all different to an extent.

That might explain a lot about me.

this is interesting!

i have no big problem reading facial expressions (though i'm told i lack them, myself)

but it's like you said, HOW do you act? this implies that context is key... which it truly is for social interactions

english is supposedly one of the hardest languages to learn due to its lack of "tenses" (relatively speaking) and being imfamous for having a single word* have mutliple defifnitions depending on context...

(*** i'm talking both verbally and in written form: verbal:their, there, they're written: stone---could mean a rock or even a verb

i think emotions are a lot like that... languages (i also think that this isn't surprising when emotions are the reasons we probably needed to evolve things like language, back in the day)

and emotions are very flexible in that they apply to all these different situations that are different for some UNKNOWN contextual variant.

so it doesn't even matter if you recognize the visual representation of the emotion...

it's that context that's the clincher

I can actually function well in relaxed social situations, even chat about things (which apparently is odd amongst people with AS too)
because it’s rare for me to do something in this situation which appears odd. I think I become worse under stress actually, it sort of cuts off any social understanding I really have, leading to something approaching panic. I’ll do odd things, bring up ‘wrong’ subjects, make references to things inappropriate or just say something which seems blatantly rude, the emotional understanding means i’ve realised i’ve done it, just too late. Strangely, i’m most relaxed with 1-3 people of my own age, I don’t like packs at all, and i’m not too good at initiating ‘chat’, though I can keep a conversation going if someone starts one.


Another thing is that I actually play online roleplaying games, by this I don’t mean level-gaining games like runescape or World-Of-Warcraft (though i’m not averse to these kind of games) but ones where the aim is to just create a feeling of a ‘real’ character, which I think has probably helped me to understand social situations, but it’s probably an odd interest for an AS boy to take all the same, at least if you’re sticking to the stereotype or ‘narrow, mechanical-based interests’

I don’t -like- or attempt to -seek out- chit-chat, it often isn’t interesting but I -can- do it and I don’t find it particularly irritating, I used to think aloud but it’s something I just stopped doing, not intentionally, it’s just a habit that stopped.

Interestingly also, some of my friends thing i’m quite sharp and quick on humour, although I occasionally come out with something that’s either overly-complex or considered rude or inappropriate.

Yes.

I'm overly sensitive to others' body language and communication, but tend to misinterpret it.

It's like I lack any skin so everything is notice through acute senses, but once it gets to the brain it's just too much information, no information gets processed correctly, and I invariably screw up the response I give.

Sounds very familiar, though I do not think I am good with subtle emotions. It has to be a pretty strong facial expression for me to pick up on, for example, jealousy or boredom.

I can only interpret inflections in voices and facial expressions. I can't read eyes, or really get.. damnit.. I'm just going to say "Me too." I can't describe it.

Another "me too", I can read more than they expect, I see beyond the expression to what they are masking. Mostly track one and track two are close, most people are honest. Some are not. I have learned when to duck, but how this works as a social skill is more than I can process.

Evil wears a nice face and speaks soft words, but that is not what I see. It has served me well.

Most people are good, keep trying.

By the way, "complex presentation"? What in the world????

Anybody else ever hear of that? Aren't we all complex (seriously)?