Ddarko
Well-known member
Does anyone know anything about this disorder? I've been reading some things on it lately. Here's a pretty informative website:
http://www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/autism/aspergers.html
It would seem very possible that many cases of social anxiety are caused by Asperger's syndrome. Reading over the criterion can feel like someone has a window into my life. But it's difficult to say. There's always the possibility that things can become self-fulfilling prophecies, and it is often easier to pass your problems off on something that you can't do anything about than it is to actually try and solve them.
Anyway, I'm a little unsure as to how to differentiate between SA/SP and AS. I know that the latter is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and therefore supposedly more ingrained. There are some people who argue, however, that AS is more of a personality trait than a syndrome. People with AS are aware of their social impairments, and often have deeply felt desires to make contact and maintain meaningful friendships with others (in this they differ from autistics, who are often unaware). But they lack the appropriate social tools or intuitions which allow other people to easily and naturally gauge others' social and nonverbal communication. Or rather, their specific use of the various forms of emotional and nonverbal communication are different from the norm, requiring them to learn these things intellectually (rather like learning a foreign language). People with AS thus lag behind socially: they have difficulty detecting the subtexts of eye-contact, body-language, facial expressions, and verbal intonation patterns. People with AS also tend to have very narrow, circumscribed interests marked by a certain technical erudition (if a lack in true understanding), and enjoy becoming experts on these abtruse topics; they then often proceed to lecture others on the subject against their will.
As I said, I don't want to subconsciously align myself with a disorder, but some of my peculiarities include:
1. social impairment: In groups of people, I often have nothing to say because either a) I find the conversational topics invariably uninteresting, or b) in small talk, nothing comes to mind because I always find myself worrying about what the other person would like to talk about, but I'm never quite sure what they are in the mood for. When asked a question or about one of my interests, I'll often begin to launch into a monologue on the subject. But I usually catch myself in the process and stop mid-sentence because the facial expression on other person changes when I do this. I feel like an amateur or like an idiot if I am unable to explore the intricacies or nuances of a subject off the top of my head.
2. narrow routines: I am often unaware of the world around me. I establish myself in a fixed routine or set of habits centered around rigid expectations. Even when my routine becomes ineffective, I continue to operate within it (and this causes me great consternation). I then tend to ignore the larger cultural environment. I’ve lived in this city for about 1.5 years, yet I almost never leave my dorm, the campus, or the nearest street with shops and eateries. As a result, I am often at a loss when it comes to entertaining visitors: I simply don’t know the city I live in. I also have a slightly obsessive hand-washing routine: I take regular, frequent breaks in my work to make a trip to the restroom to wash my hands (whether or not they are dirty).
3. an aversion to authority: when someone wants me to do something, I hate doing it. When I make my own agenda independent of anyone else, I often become excited or obsessed with my work. The problem arises when I begin to study something I actually enjoy within the context of formal education: the formalization of the topic causes me to lose interest. I feel that if I were only given the spare time without the external expectation I would be many times more driven toward true understanding.
4. logical: I usually find it impossible to accept something if I find it to contradict a certain internal logical sense. This goes for religious views all the same: I treat my religion in the same a priori sense as my mathematics. As a result, I have so little religion (in the common sense), that I’m not sure I would call what I do have by that name.
5. language: I usually try to string words together into complete sentences before opening my mouth. This results in others perceiving my words to be overly abstract or complex for the context. I often use convoluted sentences or paragraphs to explain myself. I often find that other people mistakenly believe they can correctly interpret my sentences (or the consequences of my sentences) when in fact they cannot. This is because they do not know my world: they think I say things because I have common, symptomatic and underlying intentions which are manifested in my sentences. But they are often incorrect as to the identity of such intentions: I usually try to nuance my inner intuitions into the form of language, and I find this a preoccupying task. But there is no exact conclusion which I see at the end of it. I also have a peculiar habit of pronouncing long or complicated words incorrectly. I often glance at the word quickly and, thinking I’ve understood the pronunciation, I continue to mispronounce the word slightly. When I look more closely at the word, however, I easily discover that I’ve mistook the proper pronunciation. This is a trait I share with my mother
6. diagrammatic thinking: I think best in terms of diagrams and flow-charts. I like to organize things into diagrams so that I have everything before me in a visual fashion. This way, syntheses of material come in flashes of insight. All that is necessary is to organize carefully enough; if this is done correctly, the mind can synthesize effectively. Thus, my thought tends to be highly structural and minimalist in nature: the bare structures are beautiful because they are strictly essential. I don’t think it is any coincidence that I am very fond of minimalism in modern art. In terms of pedagogic style, I often become extremely bored when my instructors stop writing on the blackboard and resort to purely spoken approaches. I always feel as though we must set things down, and I am very fond of arrows, boxes, spaces, spatial hierarchies, and abstract diagrams.
7. aversion to foreign languages: I am averse to learning new, foreign languages because I feel as though I’m simply learning how to say the same thing in a different but equivalent fashion. This is supposedly not true because new languages should reveal new thought-realms insofar as languages are not completely parallel. But, being a visual thinker, I feel as though my thought does not rely much on language as it is. I could be mistaken, and I’m sure it is conditioned by my native language to a significant degree. But I often doubt its power over me.
8. anti-historical, anti-personalism: I am averse to predicating my knowledge on historical circumstances (when it is avoidable). I also believe that personality is too base for any conception of God.
I also have fairly narrow interests. Actually, I tend to change my interests every so often, but I usually focus on something very particular. I am completely averse to all forms of competitive sports, politics, and the daily news. My academic interests usually take the form of some speciality (which is natural for graduate work) which I approach as if some very important and meaningful key could be revealed through this one thing and not through others.
Then again, I could be making too much of this... Thanks for listening.
Anyone out there have AS? or know anything about it?
-Ddarko
http://www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/autism/aspergers.html
It would seem very possible that many cases of social anxiety are caused by Asperger's syndrome. Reading over the criterion can feel like someone has a window into my life. But it's difficult to say. There's always the possibility that things can become self-fulfilling prophecies, and it is often easier to pass your problems off on something that you can't do anything about than it is to actually try and solve them.
Anyway, I'm a little unsure as to how to differentiate between SA/SP and AS. I know that the latter is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and therefore supposedly more ingrained. There are some people who argue, however, that AS is more of a personality trait than a syndrome. People with AS are aware of their social impairments, and often have deeply felt desires to make contact and maintain meaningful friendships with others (in this they differ from autistics, who are often unaware). But they lack the appropriate social tools or intuitions which allow other people to easily and naturally gauge others' social and nonverbal communication. Or rather, their specific use of the various forms of emotional and nonverbal communication are different from the norm, requiring them to learn these things intellectually (rather like learning a foreign language). People with AS thus lag behind socially: they have difficulty detecting the subtexts of eye-contact, body-language, facial expressions, and verbal intonation patterns. People with AS also tend to have very narrow, circumscribed interests marked by a certain technical erudition (if a lack in true understanding), and enjoy becoming experts on these abtruse topics; they then often proceed to lecture others on the subject against their will.
As I said, I don't want to subconsciously align myself with a disorder, but some of my peculiarities include:
1. social impairment: In groups of people, I often have nothing to say because either a) I find the conversational topics invariably uninteresting, or b) in small talk, nothing comes to mind because I always find myself worrying about what the other person would like to talk about, but I'm never quite sure what they are in the mood for. When asked a question or about one of my interests, I'll often begin to launch into a monologue on the subject. But I usually catch myself in the process and stop mid-sentence because the facial expression on other person changes when I do this. I feel like an amateur or like an idiot if I am unable to explore the intricacies or nuances of a subject off the top of my head.
2. narrow routines: I am often unaware of the world around me. I establish myself in a fixed routine or set of habits centered around rigid expectations. Even when my routine becomes ineffective, I continue to operate within it (and this causes me great consternation). I then tend to ignore the larger cultural environment. I’ve lived in this city for about 1.5 years, yet I almost never leave my dorm, the campus, or the nearest street with shops and eateries. As a result, I am often at a loss when it comes to entertaining visitors: I simply don’t know the city I live in. I also have a slightly obsessive hand-washing routine: I take regular, frequent breaks in my work to make a trip to the restroom to wash my hands (whether or not they are dirty).
3. an aversion to authority: when someone wants me to do something, I hate doing it. When I make my own agenda independent of anyone else, I often become excited or obsessed with my work. The problem arises when I begin to study something I actually enjoy within the context of formal education: the formalization of the topic causes me to lose interest. I feel that if I were only given the spare time without the external expectation I would be many times more driven toward true understanding.
4. logical: I usually find it impossible to accept something if I find it to contradict a certain internal logical sense. This goes for religious views all the same: I treat my religion in the same a priori sense as my mathematics. As a result, I have so little religion (in the common sense), that I’m not sure I would call what I do have by that name.
5. language: I usually try to string words together into complete sentences before opening my mouth. This results in others perceiving my words to be overly abstract or complex for the context. I often use convoluted sentences or paragraphs to explain myself. I often find that other people mistakenly believe they can correctly interpret my sentences (or the consequences of my sentences) when in fact they cannot. This is because they do not know my world: they think I say things because I have common, symptomatic and underlying intentions which are manifested in my sentences. But they are often incorrect as to the identity of such intentions: I usually try to nuance my inner intuitions into the form of language, and I find this a preoccupying task. But there is no exact conclusion which I see at the end of it. I also have a peculiar habit of pronouncing long or complicated words incorrectly. I often glance at the word quickly and, thinking I’ve understood the pronunciation, I continue to mispronounce the word slightly. When I look more closely at the word, however, I easily discover that I’ve mistook the proper pronunciation. This is a trait I share with my mother
6. diagrammatic thinking: I think best in terms of diagrams and flow-charts. I like to organize things into diagrams so that I have everything before me in a visual fashion. This way, syntheses of material come in flashes of insight. All that is necessary is to organize carefully enough; if this is done correctly, the mind can synthesize effectively. Thus, my thought tends to be highly structural and minimalist in nature: the bare structures are beautiful because they are strictly essential. I don’t think it is any coincidence that I am very fond of minimalism in modern art. In terms of pedagogic style, I often become extremely bored when my instructors stop writing on the blackboard and resort to purely spoken approaches. I always feel as though we must set things down, and I am very fond of arrows, boxes, spaces, spatial hierarchies, and abstract diagrams.
7. aversion to foreign languages: I am averse to learning new, foreign languages because I feel as though I’m simply learning how to say the same thing in a different but equivalent fashion. This is supposedly not true because new languages should reveal new thought-realms insofar as languages are not completely parallel. But, being a visual thinker, I feel as though my thought does not rely much on language as it is. I could be mistaken, and I’m sure it is conditioned by my native language to a significant degree. But I often doubt its power over me.
8. anti-historical, anti-personalism: I am averse to predicating my knowledge on historical circumstances (when it is avoidable). I also believe that personality is too base for any conception of God.
I also have fairly narrow interests. Actually, I tend to change my interests every so often, but I usually focus on something very particular. I am completely averse to all forms of competitive sports, politics, and the daily news. My academic interests usually take the form of some speciality (which is natural for graduate work) which I approach as if some very important and meaningful key could be revealed through this one thing and not through others.
Then again, I could be making too much of this... Thanks for listening.
Anyone out there have AS? or know anything about it?
-Ddarko
