High Functioning Autism and Addiction

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Autism’s hidden habit Conventional wisdom holds that people with autism don’t get hooked on alcohol or other drugs, but new evidence suggests otherwise.

So they start with an invented premise then find out that premise isn't true? And that's news....?

Once upon a time I used to hear how it was only normies that do drugs and alcohol and get addicted and ASD people do not because of their adherence to the rules and not following peer pressure and now I am hearing the opposite. I even told my therapist in high school I didn't want to be normal because they do drugs and alcohol and are getting pregnant and I don't want to be that. Talk about me stereotyping of NTs. Yes all these things were happening my school but I am sure not all of them were doing them and not all girls were getting pregnant.

About drugs, alcohol, pregnancy,and tobacco. I always used to think high schoolers only in movies did that and had parties. But for the last 2 years I found out that kids in real life do it. And I'm always shocked when learning that kids I know are doing that. It's just weird. Because I always assumed most people were like me. Go home and stay in their rooms and do whatevs like movies or something like that. Not partying, getting drunk, and high. I've never done either of those. I usually just stay home and do whatevs. Like watch movies, play video games, listen to music, and play with my dog.

I have both high functioning autism and addiction to drugs and alcohol. So yes, it is possible. I agree with that research from Sweden, but that other quote, I don't think they know what they're talking about. Also, I have Borderline Personality Disorder and a major trait of that is experimenting with drugs, which I did. I didn't think about the effects of the drugs and it almost cost me my life. So there you go.

I've always figured having obsessive tendencies made you more at risk for addiction, so I've always been careful with the stuff.

Well then why did they bother writing the "Functioning" part if this fails to mention a thing about any drug in particular? It never occurs to these meta-analysis researchers that many people do research of their own.

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"Standing on a well-chilled cinder, we see the fading of the suns, and try to recall the vanished brilliance of the origin of the worlds."
-Georges Lemaitre
"I fly through hyperspace, in my green computer interface"
-Gem Tos

Maybe it's the anxiety and depression that leads people with ASD to addictive substances, rather than peer pressure that may be the norm.
I know I did my drinking and drugs alone.
It wasn't to fit in, it was to get some relief from the constant feeling of 'being on edge'.
I couldn't wind down without a drink, and I never even knew what it felt like to have relaxed muscles until I took drugs.

I used to have a really bad lone drinking habit, although I've stopped this now, I would still class myself as a social drinker. Man I love alcohol too much.

New book explores drinking, drug abuse, and addiction in the autism community

I have high functioning Autism, OCD and ADHD I've struggled for many years with alcohol addiction. Thankfully I've never had a drug problem but perhaps that was supplanted by the many types of pharmaceutical drugs I need to take.

So I would completely agree with this Swedish study regarding HFA, also known as Asperger's Syndrome, and addiction. My younger brother who also has the same afflictions I do, had a very serious alcohol addiction and he did far more drugs than I did. He also used more pharmaceutical drugs than I did too.

As coincidence would have it, we're both half Swedish.

As soon as a condition like Autism is spoken about and anxiety and depression are linked with it, then addiction becomes an absolute certainty, I've discovered. We all have our coping mechanisms and some are better than others and yet some are more destructive than others. Apparently, we can be a sad state of affairs.

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*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.

This is very interesting, but in my case - I'm totally the opposite.
I could let's say randomly smoke a packet of cigarettes (a whole packet of 20!) in a night and then not touch cigarettes for years. Or socially smoke 2 cigarettes a week. It's the same with drinking. There was one week when I drank coke and vodka every single evening, but on Sunday I thought "that's just unhealthy" and stopped.
I've never tried heroin, cocaine or amphetamines. Who knows, maybe they'd get me addicted in no time.

Everytime i had a job i gotten into heroin, to much money available made that possible? Luckily i didn't believe in (my) addiction, many i"ve seen have a deep faith in this fatalilty.