Schizoautism (ASD/PDD + schizophrenia spectrum disorder)

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nca14
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10 Jun 2024, 4:57 am

https://attwoodandgarnettevents.com/can ... zophrenia/ - Can Autism be Confused with Schizophrenia? - fragment (with own marking):

Quote:
The term autism was first used by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1919 to describe a withdrawal from reality with a pathological predominance of inner life. The term autism was included within his description of dementia praecox, the original term for schizophrenia. In the first edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association 1952), autism was classified as an expression of childhood schizophrenia. It was not until the third edition in 1980 that autism was conceptualised as an independent disorder. A recent meta-analysis has indicated that around 6% (range 4-12%) of autistic adults have a Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder (SSD) (Marin et al., 2018), with a prevalence of SSD in the general population of 1.1% (Rossler et al., 2005).

It looks that schizophrenia spectrum disorders may be more than five times more frequent among autistic individuals than in general population. "Schizoautism" appears to be real and somewhat not so uncommon thing.

Not all SSDs are schizophrenia itself, there may be for example schizoaffective disorder or schizotypal disorder.

I have diagnoses of F84.5 from ICD-10 (Asperger syndrome, a pervasive developmental disorder) and F21 (schizotypal disorder) at the same time for years. I am 32,5 years old, have social pension and care allowance, I have never lived independently (but always with parents and siblings), I have never tried to "make" driving licence, I have never been in romantic relationship despite having strong drive to females since quite early childhood. I am an "oddball" even among general autistic population or among general population of people with SSD. I was diagnosed with AS in 2008 and with schizotypal co-occurring with AS in 2015. I also had serious problems with OCD and was first diagnosed with it in very late 2008 or early 2009.

I think than many especially "weird" and "unsuccesful" in adult life ASDers/PDDers, especially among ones with high IQ, have comorbid SSD (and usually also other mental disorder(s)) and that they are markedly different from "standard" people on the spectrum, so they are not good representatives of the population of individuals with autism spectrum disorder as a whole. I suppose that schizoautistic people tend to be extraordinarily "weird" in childhood also, having more bizarre mentalities and thoughts also as children.



angelsonthemoon
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10 Jun 2024, 3:46 pm

While I do not think I have schizophrenia, I have often experienced derealization, a feeling of being out of body, being able to look at the world from a great distance away, etc. These do not bother me anymore but I have zero social life outside of my family. So in most regards I'm probably very similar to you.

As for me though, I wasn't that unusual as a kid. I was more like a mild autistic child who seemed normal enough. Then I got older though and couldn't meet the advanced social criteria like working and dating, which isolated me, pushing me to develop my mind as a kind of safe place.