Point of diagnosis? Also, dealing with sollipcism.

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I think I may have a mild case of aspergers, is there any point in getting a diagnosis?
As far as I know there's no medication, and the idea of therapy just fills me with horror...

One thing that really does bother me is sollipcism. Try as I might I can't stop myself seeing people as zombies. I think I did manage to believe in my ex-gf, but that's the extent. I do genuinely enjoy spending time with my friends and family, and hate to see them upset, but when I'm away they more or less stop existing to me.
Plus the world... I cannot accept that this is the real world. It all seems so empty, and I'm actually quite bewildered that it's STILL HERE. I'm always half expecting everything to disappear, and some kindly voice to say: "Game Over, good job."

Is this a fairly common aspie thing? Now that I think about it, it does seem so... Maybe interpreted in a slightly different way, but still the same basic problem.

The social interactions I'm fine with; I've worked out the easiest role to play, and I genuinely do like some people. But it just feels so empty. So... Any advice?

Do you need accommodations, therapy, or assistance? If so, then you need a diagnosis to get them. If not, then you probably couldn't be diagnosed anyway because they don't make an autism diagnosis if there's no impairment.

Regarding solipsism--Use logic. You know you yourself exist (Descartes, all of that). Yes? All right. So you know it is possible for at least one intelligent creature to exist. Because you are structured the same way you see that others are structured, it is highly probable that they are also intelligent creatures, like you are. In addition, you know that you don't know everything. So, when someone tells you something you do not know, there are two possibilities: Either that person is intelligent and seeing the world on their own; or else something is deliberately deceiving you into thinking they are intelligent. In that case, the something that is deceiving you is probably intelligent.

In other words, the idea of solipsism is highly improbable. What you are dealing with is most likely only feelings of solipsism--which are quite real, and can be a real problem, but are quite a different thing from actually being the only thinking being in the universe.

In a way, faith is required to believe that other people exist and have their own mental universes just like you do. But faith does not need to be a feeling; in fact, usually, it isn't. Faith is a decision. In this case, it's a decision to act on the extremely probable idea that other people are also intelligent beings--even when you feel as though you are the only one who truly exists.

Don't be too scared of philosophical zombies--they're only a thought experiment. I promise they aren't out for your (physical or metaphorical) brain.

There's really no such thing as "mild case" of Aspergers-
Aspergers, itself, is a less functionally-affective form of Autism,
and will in fact be fully-incorporated into an Autism scale of severity in the next version of the DSM.

For that reason alone, I don't see any value in an official diagnosis,
the criteria for which being developed almost solely based on studying children.

If you feel you meet the criteria for Aspergers, and that an understanding of yourself as Aspergian would help you name and overcome your challenges and utilize your strength, I say go right ahead.

That being said, I really don't think being solipsistic is part of Autism-
limited empathy for others with wholly-different thought processes, yes,
but feeling as if they don't really exist in the same way you do?
Not at all typical- I'm assuming you've reviewed the Dx criteria and have reason to believe you meet it, though.

Yes.

At the very least, you will know more about yourself and be able to make appropriate adjustments and decisions for a more effective life.

Not needing accommodations, therapy, or assistance =/= not having impairment-
it means the impairment is not of a certain kind or degree.

Actually, the main distinction between Aspergers and classic Autism is that there BE no significant cognitive or adaptive impairments in the case of the former, only social ones.

What you describe as solipsism is in fact a classic autism "theory of mind" issue, or simply put, it's an empathy thing, you have difficulty imagining that other people exist or have feelings.

Having theory of Mind means you can imagine that other people have minds of their own and that they exist beyond your reality.

A diagnosis is only needed when you feel your life is impacted by AS.

I'm not sure where sensory issues fall because I'd not put them in cognative, adaptive, or social impairments.

Valentine is incorrect since most people diagnosed with autism present the same symptoms as people with aspergers syndrome. That people with classic autism are basically aspergers with low IQ's is nonsense, their are people who are pretty low functioing with classic autism and they have high IQ's.

It's also not a question of functioning level, I'm diagnosed with aspergers but I am more low functioing then some people diagnosed with classic autism.

In short, professionals are very haphazard with diagnosing, this is why all the diagnoses are being merged.

My impression of the relationship between dx and functioning level:

____________LF______________________________________________________________________HF
Autism:___________-------------------------------------------------------------
AS:________________________________________________-----------------------------
PDD NOS:_----------------------------------------------------------------------------

So on average AS is higher functioning than autism, but some autism people are higher functioning than some AS people. And PDD NOS is the most variable, including some people at further extremes on both ends than AS or autism.

Edit: underscore (_) means space.

Okay, yes, good point; it's possible to get to the point where you don't need outside help because you can manage all your own accommodations. And sometimes people do learn that on their own.

And that is exactly the point I was trying to make on one of those other threads. I'm impaired, but there really aren't any additional accommodations that I don't already make for myself.

Of course people with autism present the same symptoms of people with Aspergers Syndrome.
My point was the classically Autistic presents with ADDITIONAL impairments not present in the latter,
and that this comparative lack of impairment is a *requirement* of meeting an Aspergers diagnosis versus one of Autism as the DSM now-stands.

And nowhere did I once mention IQ.
Or functioning level.


That said, you are yourself precisely wrong in that Aspergers being long-disputed as truly-distinct from high-functioning Autism is largely why the disorders are being integrated.

Last edited by ValentineWiggin on 13 Aug 2011, 3:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Sensory differences are not mentioned in the DSM criteria for either Autism or Aspergers,
but one can see how they'd have a profound affect on all three.

Sensory differences were part of Asperger's research. That matters more to me than the DSM-IV criteria.



But people with Asperger's Syndrome usually actually qualify for the DSM-IV criteria for Autism. People don't diagnose Autism first despite the fact that this is true. Instead the people doing the diagnosis tend to default to diagnose Asperger's first even though the DSM-IV criteria says the exact opposite should be true. (For this I'll city Tony Attwood's book).

Though severity and functioning level do need to be viewed separately. I'm definitely a case where my severity is definitely more severe than my functioning level would suggest.