To notice the mental disorders of other ppl...

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Do ppl with mental disorders notice faster what other ppl have?

I mean, I had a very confusing situation today...

Today I was in a "happy mood" in university, before I was in a depressed mood a while.

Okay, a girl sat next to me, she has Borderline PD and ADHD.
We talked and in the end we made some fun, we both couldn't concentrate anymore...
Me, because of my mood and she, well I guess because of her disorders.
Then suddenly in the end she was nearly crying, so hard was she laughing and I couldn't regulate myself down anymore in this situation and she turnes around to me and tells me (she didn't ment this serious): "I wish I had Bipolar like you!"
I NEVER toled her, that I had a suspicion and I needed YEARS and several shrinks until a shrink realized I could have it!

Last edited by Raziel on 28 Jan 2013, 5:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.

They say it takes one to know one
Dont kid a kidder
Dont play a player

and all that.

Dont worry tho. Most people wont be as aware.

well number one adhd [ i think and autsim/As arent mental disorders but Neurological Disorders

I think people in the spectrum may be able to be friendly to outsiders tho i dont hold a big view on it

1. It's a personal opinion, officially both are in the DSM
2. she was refering to Bipolar...

Sometimes I get a feeling the other person has something. But I don't ask because I don't want to offend them and what if they had nothing wrong with them. That is just like asking if they are ret*d or asking if they are literally crazy.

I will often suspect someone has something because I tend to look for patterns in people. I usually don't say anything explicit, but I may change the way I'm interacting to make myself better understood.

Most mental disorder have a regular pattern.

Those simple patterns related to conditions, and for me, those conditions are easy to pick out.

Bipolar's are a constant fluctuation of Upper moments (Mania) and Downer moments (Depression). Its fairly easy to pick these out if you associate with the person (and there are times they dont medicate).

NPD and APDs are very easy to pick out. Very Charismatic, very social, yet extremely destructive, and totally sociopathic (lack remorse for actions they take , and how those actions affect others).

ADDs are a constant shift in perspective or expression.

I like to try to guess people's diagnoses. If I suspect someone has a mental condition, I'll try to get them talking about themselves (or if they're more severely disabled I'll just watch them carefully). I usually don't ask them outright, but in those cases where I've eventually learnt their diagnosis, I'm right about 80% of time. (When I'm wrong, it's often a tricky distinction to make in general, like confusing Rett Syndrome with Angelman Syndrome - if they're a girl and you don't know if they had a regression the two can look very similar.)

Well, you know in theory this sounds very easy, but Bipolar is the most over- and underdx mental disorder (at least that what some Bipolar experts say) and my shrinks before also had knowledge and missed it. Especially Bipolar II is easy to miss.

I guess there are three mainpoints in this situation:
1) She has also mental problems and notices them propably fast in other ppl.
2) I never mentioned my diagnoses I have, but it wasn't hard to guess that I could have one, because of my knowlledge about psychiatry (We didn't talked much about it though).
3) (And I guess that's even the mainpoint) We both "pushed" us in this situation, she having Borderline PD and ADHD and me being in a hypomanic mood.

I also heared that ppl with Borderline PD are very good in sensing the mood of the other people around them. And even can get "overwhelmed" by it.
Also she having those disorders she propably sensed that I have something different than her. (But with some overlapping features). So and that's Bipolar...!

After that I visited a friend of mine in the hospital (I promissed her to come every day so long she is in there, eventhough that's sometimes a bit much for me, but very often I don't stay long). She isn't autistic at all, but has a rare neurological condition that goes along in her case with epilepsy and she never really notices my mood. She didn't notice anything and she knowes me a lot longer. But I guess this also has to do a lot with her disorder. I can be overloaded or even depressed.

Actually most of the time I just show my mood a bit to the outside and situations how I described it are the exeption. If my mood is not extreme, I can hide it and I need a while to connect to ppl, even in a hypermanic mood (but it's still easyer then). That could be one of the mainreasons why Bipolar is missed very easily in ppl with ASD, when it's not extreme.

My mom also has a Bipolar suspicion about me since a while, even before I had it, but she knows me a lot longer of course and she is a nurse, so has at least some knowledge about mental disorders.

Last edited by Raziel on 29 Jan 2013, 10:14 am, edited 2 times in total.

No, I can't notice it.

i agree with this statement. not that there is some kind of innate ability that comes with an ASD that makes you more sensitive to others, but you just know better what to look for.
where others might think along the lines of "that guy acts strange", i catch myself thinking "that is a symptom of an ASD"

so yes, i do think i am better at spotting mental differences then the general public, but that is mainly due to knowledge