Dissociation and Asperger Syndrome

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Has anyone been diagnosed with AS with Dissociation as a comorbid?

I had my first psych visit today, and pretty much told him almost my life's story, and he suggested to read about dissociation.

I have read some of it, and a lot of the symptoms I associated with AS (aside from some obvious AS ones) seemed to be symptoms of dissociation disorders.

Has anyone else come across this before, or been diagnosed with a Dissociation disorder. Has anyone self-diagnosed wondered whether there may be a condition out there that actually describes you more specifically than AS, but because you don't know about it, would never consider it?

Interesting thanks for that, feel already have enough associates conditions attached to having Aspergers, but another possible.

It seems to me it’s still a bit like breaking open a piñata and depending on which direct you go, is what you get diagnosed with and what help you receive!

Autism is the center with all these associated conditions branching off inter related - would be real interesting if all of us on the spectrum were diagnosed by the a top team, wonder what we would all end up with - maybe I would no longer have Aspergers, then what would I call my site

The wiki article is pretty vague on the definition, but I know I've been emotionally detached for years by my own effect.

I have a dissociative disorder. Believe it or not I have Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder. I have around 10 personalities that I know about but it hasn't been happening as much at least to my knowledge. I used to switch personalities very often and miss like 90% of the day and not remember much of what happened. It is annoying as my insane brother. I have been diagnosed with pretty much everything in the DSM-IV. I probably have the world's record for most things diagnosed in one person. I even had conversion disorder at one point. Most people have never heard of it. The psychiatrist has also diagnosed me as having schizophrenia as well. I have been diagnosed as having high functioning autism at the age of 5. That was many years ago. At least 500 years ago. I remember the Atari computer and I thought it had realistic graphics back then!

I had dissociative problems for a while. Different states of mind to deal with stress. Not DID, blanking out and such. It got so complicated that I gave the changes titles, but they never evolved into independent identities. I guess it was like in the movie the Matrix, where Trinity asks for a download to fly a helicopter, and the next minute, she was still herself, but she had new information. Something like that. Never bothered to tell a psych because it helped me. I probably still have it, but not enough to call it an illness.

Dissociation is a spectrum thing. It can be something as small as blanking out while driving to something deep like Sybil. It takes a lot of stress and trauma to have to need to develop that sort of coping mechanism on the deep end - I think basically you have to die mentally to get that bad. I think it takes a lot of will to live to force different identities to evolve like that.

I would not say that this replaces AS, but I'm not a doctor. AS is a born-with thing, imo, and dissociation is forced in life.

I feel emotionally detached from a lot of people. I also feel attached to others, as well. It depends if that person might have given me a hard time, in my youth, or not.

I talked with my therapist about some interesting ability which closely resembles dissociation. But it's not dissociation I think, at least certainly not at all DPD.

What I do is, I can so to say 'shut a door' and separate myself from outward stimuli such as noise, such as many presences and even feel. I still hear/see/taste/feel all stimuli, but it has faded into the background as a kind of unimportant signal that I can ignore and think by, but also observe at the same time. I'm present, my body is there, but my mind is deep gone into my body where it can operate undisturbed. It's like I see all around me from the inside of my body... which is impossible, but it really looks like that.
If I wouldn't have this kind of 'ability', I'm very very sure that I would have been stuck in my development back sometime in Kindergarten (that's when I first noticed this 'state'). I'd not have become so independent and not as hf, instead I'd be a lot more autistic.

I think this doesn't classify as dissociation, because I've read that dissociation is always associated with 'being detached from the body' or 'being unaware of what happens', which certainly doesn't apply to me during these trance like states.

I have been DXed with AS,depression,anxiety,social phobias but not with dissociative disorder. I dont really understand why. From what I have read,I have classic traits. I recall walking down the hall in High School and thinking..."I" am a spider that lives in a robot body.I take in data but do not feel "myself".What seems odd to me is that I can be aware that there is soething wrong with this sensation of detachment.After all these years,you would think it would feel natural but I never lose the sense that I am not my body but my body is something I am using to transport me around.

I think this is much worse when I am stressed,confused,over or under stimulated.I also think it is one of the reasons that I use to cut as a teenager.I would feel so dissociated after crying for long periods that it was the only way I could get back into my body.I think I liked sex,dancing,climbing trees, for the same reasons,other wise,I only lived in my head.

We have to disassociate. Duh. We can't temper the inputs we have from our environment and other people. So we have no way to deal with others emotions. And certainly not in relationship to ourselves. So, we separate from it.

We have to. We will go crazy if we try to deal with all of this stuff. Too much sensory input.

Be really careful about shrinks saying things are dissociation when you're autistic. Many shrinks are not well-versed in autism, and will view things like autistic shutdowns, detachment, or difficulty perceiving body or emotions, as dissociation. When dissociation is actually a response to extreme physical or emotional pain causing a person to detach from their feelings, and those other things are not dissociation.

I have severe feelings of depersonalization and derealization. But I've also wondered (as anbuend points out) if this is a shutdown/ sensory overload reaction.

I often wonder if I'm more schizoid/schizotypal than Asperger's... I was totally certain I had As until we had a psyhiatry lecture on PDDs... I looked up the criteria and it fitted pretty well (however, one of them was 'autistic thinking', so that's not surprising)

When posting this topic and Dissociations relation to AS I was more connecting the following symptoms of Dissociation into AS:
- The feeling of being an Alien, Robot / Disconnected to the world around you, however having an innate realisation that you are not actually a Robot or an Alien biologically. Some examples of this is looking at yourself in reflective surfaces constantly, as well as creating a defence mechanism for being different or isolated, or thinking differently to others.
- Compartmentalising thoughts and emotions. In particular the processing of thoughts separately to emotions, thereby creating the sensation that you are disconnected from your own feelings, or have the feeling that you "don't care" about others, even though you do, but on a more analytical level than an emotional level (processing the thought without or separate to the feeling). An example of this being emotions fading or dissappearing with time or distraction (being by yourself), and an urge to get back to what you want to do (such as a special interest) as opposed to continuing to feel the emotion and wanting to deal with it.
- The feeling of the world being a game, in which you are a player. However, like the personal disconnection you realise that the world is not actually a game, and you are part of it, though the feeling still permeates your thoughts.


My main disagreement with Dissociation is that it appears to require a traumatic event or period of time where my mind has gone into recession and developed defence mechanisms akin to the symptoms of Dissociative disorders. From reading about it, I think I have symptoms of dissociation, but all in all, I don't think I have a dissociative disorder.

What I was wondering is:
1. How many people who are self-diagnosed wonder about whether there is something out there or a combination of things out there that better describe their condition than AS, considering they might have found AS first and "settled".
2. Has anyone who has been diagnosed with AS been diagnosed with Dissociation as a comorbid, or has this been suggested to anyone previously in therapy?

I just found that a lot of core symptoms of AS that a lot of people who are self-diagnosed ascribe to themselves, seem to be more specifically prevalent in other disorders, such as Dissociation. I realise that Aspergers is a combination of Symptoms, how they relate and their existence since childhood, however it does seem to be a "one size fits all" syndrome that because it is on a spectrum can be easy to diagnose yourself with, especially if you have never met any people with AS in real life, or seen any psychologists or professionals who have dealt with AS.

The reason for my thoughts as it being easily self-diagnosed, is based on a few posts and professionals opinions that suggest that AS is considerably worse and more visually identifiable than what is suggested on internet sites and this forum. For example, Danielismyname paints a picture of AS that is considerably more serious than the symptoms I exhibit, as well as suggests that a diagnosis is more black and white than people who are self-diagnosed attest to.

As my search is a one for self-understanding, I want to try and be as objective and honest as I can, and am keen to hear other peoples opinions on stuff like this.

tbam........

You bring up some interesting points that I dont even think many "experts" have worked out yet.I was diagnosed at 42 with AS and I dont fit many of the stereotypes.I am female.I dont do well in math or science(though I love the latter,just have to many spelling and memory problems to choose it as a career.)I have memory problems,short and long term but have photographic memory of a few things....my brain doesn't seem to remember what I ask it to but has some kind of random filing system.My "abstract " empathy,for some things,is so over whelming that reading about even past cruelties makes me feel like dying.Yet,I am "ashamedly" indifferent to things that other people find horrible.I can be very cold blooded,according to some people.

I have doubted the DX several times and been totally convinced at other times.I dont take the DX lightly but it does seem to fit things that I have had no explaination for previously(like the sensitivitites,obsessions,stimming,zoning).I would love to know definitavely...a blood test would be nice.Yet,even if they develop something like that it wont tell the whole story for any of us.As a spectrum,we each have different traits to differing degrees.Our home environments,learning disability,health or psychiatric issues will effect how we deal with those traits.Having AS does not make you immune for having other issues,other life experiences that will effect how you are effected by As both positively and negatively.


My feelings fo detachment from myself or "reality" could be from AS but it could also be from growing up in a hostile home environment where I was constantly being told to not be me....which could be because I was acting AS and my parents didnt know what that was and just didnt want me to be so "weird"...see how those things can be intertwined,chicken and egg style?It could also be from being raised as a Christian Scientist who was told the material world was an illusion...which could have been made worse because I am a very "literal" person.It's circular,frustrating and the more I chase it the tighter the knot pulls.

I never knew there was a name for this.

When i was in middle school i started having dissociative episodes. most of them happened when i was alone, and most often right before bed. my first one was at a friend's house and i felt nauseated by it. it felt as though i was just watching everything happen and that i had no control over what i was doing, even my thoughts felt as though they were someone else's. it's hard to explain, and it was pretty hard to understand. this was probably a result of years of bullying and they reduced in frequency over the next two years. they stopped pretty much completely in grade 11 (i don't remember having any in grade 11, 12, or first year university). two or three weeks ago i felt this before bed but it wasn't very concerning because i knew it would go away before i woke up the next morning, that's the only time it's happened since high school.