Feeling like a savant and worries of delusion of grandeur

Page 1 of 1 [ 14 posts ] 

FranzOren
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 10 Jun 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,158

07 May 2022, 11:12 pm

I feel like a savant based on my restricted interests, is this normal? I don't mean to sound like I have delusion of grandeur, but that is this core symptom of ASD that I experience.



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,687
Location: the island of defective toy santas

07 May 2022, 11:17 pm

To be diagnosed as an autistic savant, a person will typically have developmental disability and an extraordinary knowledge or skill in one specific area. Generally, savant skills are in art, math, calendar calculation, music, and memory recall.



FranzOren
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 10 Jun 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,158

07 May 2022, 11:25 pm

I am just very intelligent at what I am interested in, I don't meet the exact diagnostic criteria for Savant Syndrome.



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,687
Location: the island of defective toy santas

07 May 2022, 11:29 pm

if i had more self-esteem, i'd say that about myself as well. as it is, i know just enough to know what i like to do and how i like to do it.



doofy
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 505
Location: Here

07 May 2022, 11:31 pm

Until 35 yrs ago I was the same
I think it was partly down to upbringing; my parents valued intelligence above all else and were continually telling me how highly intelligent I was
And that kinda sunk in

Then, when I was 30, I decided to go to university cos I was sick of drifting between low paid jobs and only just managing to keep head above water
And I was going to get a first class degree, move to Kyoto, and settle down into a career of translating Japanese literature

And instead I had a major burnout/breakdown which I never recovered from
These days, I tend to think of intelligence (grandeur if you like) as being primarily context specific



FranzOren
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 10 Jun 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,158

07 May 2022, 11:37 pm

Thank you!

I sorry if I sound delusional to most of my peers and normal people, but I feel much more intelligent than them based on my restricted interests, It is as if I am a god, but I know that I am a human.



doofy
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 505
Location: Here

08 May 2022, 12:08 am

Try watching some craftsmen at work
I love watching people laying paving, especially if they are doing it with bricks
And when they're done, it's solid, lasts forever, and flat as a pancake
Then you try it

Or just buy yourself a small cube of softwood and a decent knife, and try cutting it into a perfect, smooth sphere

The people who can do this stuff are just as talented as you are



FranzOren
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 10 Jun 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,158

08 May 2022, 12:11 am

Thank you!

That does make sense. I am sorry for being worried that I have delusion of grandeur, some people will think how insane I am if I tell them that I am ten times more intelligent than them.



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

09 May 2022, 7:25 am

Hi Doofy,

You sound like you've had an interesting life.

I can't lay down bricks to save my life.

Really sorry you had to have that burnout that prevented you from living in Kyoto. I've never been to Japan---but Kyoto is a nice, historical sort of place, based on pictures and reading.

Yeah....I'm pretty doofy, too! A very New York sort of expression.



FranzOren
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 10 Jun 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,158

09 May 2022, 8:05 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
Hi Doofy,

You sound like you've had an interesting life.

I can't lay down bricks to save my life.

Really sorry you had to have that burnout that prevented you from living in Kyoto. I've never been to Japan---but Kyoto is a nice, historical sort of place, based on pictures and reading.

Yeah....I'm pretty doofy, too! A very New York sort of expression.


I don't mean to laugh, but what you said is hilarious. What do you mean by that?



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

09 May 2022, 8:44 am

"Doofy" means "clumsy"----both physically and in a social sense.

A "doofus" used to be a clumsy person all around, who could never get out of his/her own way.



FranzOren
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 10 Jun 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,158

09 May 2022, 8:46 am

Thank you!



eyelessshiver
Toucan
Toucan

Joined: 12 Jun 2020
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 297

10 May 2022, 5:27 pm

What do people who know you think? Have you broached the subject with them?



FranzOren
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 10 Jun 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,158

10 May 2022, 6:16 pm

Not yet, but I have that fear.