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People who confuse ASPIE perseverations with OCD or manic disorder

Posted March 23rd, 2010 by barbi hammond in Asperger

........

John T. Allen Jr. March 17 at 12:14pm
You are improperly medicated my friend.


Barbi Hammond March 19 at 1:25pm
What do you mean?



John T. Allen Jr. March 19 at 5:32pm
 

Well I suppose we could start with it sounds like Adderall makes you manic ...

 

John T. Allen Jr. March 22 at 7:07pm
Do you disagree??


Barbi Hammond March 23 at 12:12pm

Yes, I disagree. The Adderall is a correct dosage for me. I am treated by a neurologists who is familiar with my particular medical history and various neurological disorders.

Most people who say what you say do not understand that this "manic" perception is actually not mania. What you are noticing is an aspect of Asperger Syndrome: perseverations. I become extremely involved in my creative projects and can spend days on them without communicating with others or even eating.

Perseverations:

The following article is copied/pasted from the web and italicized to indicate that they are words copied/pasted from the web.  Although not written by me personally, the article reflects my personal experiences and encounters with the world and people well although the examples may vary from time to time in my life experience.  Whenever I come across an example of an arational manifestation bit-not-only-but-also an aspie characteristic that I can quickly link to in order to offer a personal example of what the writer means (which may turn out to be quite often--an aperspectival manifestation of the WHOLE which is more encompassing and differing completely from a fourth, fifth, or sixth-person "personal perspectival" of I-Intregral theory), it will be linked accordingly and inserted into the appropriate paragraph in the article below and differentiated from the author's words via typing in non-italicised text) via transparency (diaphaneity):

 
Aspies tend to take an obsessive interest in detailed things. It is typical for an aspie to take an all-encompassing interest in something for a few months and later become interested in something else after having already learned enough about the first subject. In other words, we aspies have "weird," nerdy interests and hobbies.
This is a chicken-and-egg problem, of course. Do we aspies take up these perseverations because we are unable to occupy ourselves with more neurotypical (NT) (that is, something relating to nonautistics) socializing, or do our perseverations prevent us from socializing? Maybe it's a little bit of both.
Nevertheless, perseveration for me has meant spending my early teenage years learning how to program and becoming especially adept at using Windows. A little later it meant focusing on perfecting my French accent and reading French newspapers like Le Monde. Because of my perseverations, I have a more thorough understanding of history, politics, language, computers, psychology, geography, and numerous other subjects than the average person. In contrast, I have a deficit of knowledge about today's ..pop stars.., actors, and social gossip. This sometimes makes it hard for people to have interesting conversations with me.

Sensory, social, and other Issues

Asperger's syndrome is a pervasive developmental disorder, or autistic spectrum disorder, recognizable by the lack of ..social skills.. and the often highly intellectual, perseverative interests developed by those with Asperger's. For a person with Asperger's (an aspie), friendships, social banter, and romantic relationships can be difficult channels to navigate.
Language
First of all, unlike autistic people, I did not have trouble learning to speak. However, I do have mild hyperlexia, which basically means a large vocabulary. Moreover, it is common for autistics and aspies to have some trouble lying, recognizing lies, and interpeting metaphors. The result is that most aspies are seen as literal and humorless.
Like many aspies, my voice can sometimes sound monotonous and emotionless. Similarly, aspies are known for giving soliloquies about their favorite subjects, or perseverations, not always realizing how much they are boring the people they are speaking to.
Aspies sometimes also miss facial expressions, body gestures, and implications. While I can often pick up on someone's emotional state from a quick glance at their face (and it has to be quick because, like most aspies, I have trouble looking people in the eye), I can often completely miss things or misinterpret them. Likewise, my facial expression is usually plain or uncontrolled.

Sensory Issues
It is not uncommon for me to hear high-frequency noises that go unnoticed by most people. I can sometimes hear the buzzing of the lights, TV, and other things, especially if I'm trying to fall asleep or it's quiet. A similar thing is I dislike the feel of cotton balls, although I've heard some NTs complain about this too.
Another thing is I frequently mishear people and sometimes don't hear them at all. If you say, "I went to the park today," I might hear, "I went tooth per day," or some other nonsense; and so I often have to ask, "Huh?" or "What?"
Sometimes I don't notice things right in front of my face. I have more than once accidentally skipped problems on a test because the question was too close to the directions, which I probably didn't read (did I mention aspies are sometimes too honest?). Especially in mathematics, I have been known to make absent-minded mistakes by doing things like 6 * 5 = 35. This would disqualify me from being an engineer or surgeon, I think.

 Pinball Mochines
Current mood:abysmal
Category: Acategorical, Game, Dynamic Systems, Chaos, Climate change, etc.
 
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=136278781&blogId=531354598
 
..Social Problems..
Aspies have more than their share of difficulties ..making friends.. and finding a loving mate. Part of it is our perseverative interests, another part must be our tendency towards literal interpretations, and a third must be our tendency to be rigid and conservative--unfun. Many of us long for better social acceptance or at least friends to keep our lives interesting, but sometimes this seems beyond our grasp.
Comorbid (Coexisting) Disorders
Many aspies show signs of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, especially the inattentive type. In fact, many aspies are misdiagnosed as having ADD.
There also seems to be a relationship between autistic spectrum disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While aspies do have perseverative (obsessive) interests, a significant portion develops actual OCD. Aspies with OCD may or may not show the typical symptoms of OCD, like compulsive hand washing.
Various ..anxiety disorders.. and anxious personality disorders other than OCD, especially ..social phobia.. and avoidant personality disorder, may also develop, as the autistic life can be stressful.
Depression is also not uncommon among aspies. My own life has too often been filled with this mood. I was first and most depressed in 8th and 9th grades when my life seemed to have reached a low point. I had recently changed from a Catholic elementary school to the public school system, and adjustment was harsh. The only emotions I knew were anger and frustration. I could only see the worst of intentions in others towards me, and I became the more socially secluded than I'd ever been before. My recover from this strong depression included becoming an atheist, changing my attitude towards life, and becoming more accepting. I still become depressed sometimes but not nearly as badly as back then.
The Aspie Perspective
The aspie sense of humor is somewhat different from most people's sense of humor. I am especially good at making odd connections about social happenings and use highly sarcastic humor to criticize actions like the invasion of Iraq. My disconnection from society along with my attempts to better understand society are a gold mine containing the nuggets of social injustices and inequalities, hypocrisies, and self-aggrandizement.
 
That Aspie Aperspectival Manifestation:
-Zimmerman misread, attempted to manipulate, "fiddle" East Anglia email.  He should apologies-
 
(Be sure and please click on The Who's song about "Fiddle About" video from the rock-opera, Tommy)
 
I vent my unattainable need for excitement and companionship through art. I can sketch disturbing images of distorted faces and forms as well as near photorealistic pictures--if I'm looking at the object or a photograph of that object. Writing , especially humorous writing, is another thing that allows me to assuage my unfulfillment.
I have written--even perseverated on--this article in the sincere hope that someone might better understand aspies and not write us off as clueless geeks. We aspies only want what everyone else wants: happiness.
Of Further Interest

Conclusion


The difference between OCD, manic-depressive disorder, and other adult-onset personality disorders (on the one hand) with Asperger Syndrome and often ADHD (on the other) is that that whereas the former are unfortunate mental conditions that people develop during late teen years or adulthood (such as a person who is afflicted with OCD and becomes obsessed with switching on and off a light, washing their hands 100 times a day, develop sexual perversions or other strange rituals)--Aspies do not. Unlike someone afflicted with OCD, for example--whose obsessions are the manifestations of their neurosis or diseas and are typically activities that they are ashamed of and are not "creative," Aperger people are proud of their "obsessions" and interests and do not consider it a disease and consider their interest highly creative and important and are proud of what they do and who they are spite of being accused of being OCD and manic by those who are ignorant of Asperger Syndrome.

I've noticed over the past several months that places in a body of te4xt where a single "space" was inserted via accidentally hitting "tab" are not "accidental," but are meaningful coincidences inserted by the Universe. It generally takes a while for me to figure out what I had "left out" in the sentence but when it "comes," I go "ha-SO-desu-ka! in that it most often turns out to be the most significant thing to make note of or list that I may have overlooked at the time. An example of this "accidentally inserting a space" can be found in the paragraph above in the third from bottom line between the words "creative (space) and important." I did go back and amend that sentence when I realized that I had failed to note that my interests or activities are not only "creative," but important--but at the time did not notice the "space" there that was inserted by the University in between the "creative (space) and important." This indicates to me that the Universe had anticipated that I would remember to add "important" to that statement and to highlight it in bold. However, given that I had only noticed the space some time after typing in "important"--there is an additional word that I had omitted that needs to go there and will "come" to me if not today some other day nor night.

Adult-onset personality disorders such as OCD, bi-polar, shizophrenia, depression, and other adult-onset personality disorders have been ruled out in my case. I have three different childhood developmental "disorders" (neurological genetic differences) which I've always had all my lfe: Asperger Syndrome, Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD. I cannot change those because that is what I am and have no need to become a neurotypical who is typically very boring and conventional.

Note: the example above of an arational manifestation that came about during typing "creative and important" with a space inserted in between "creative" and "and" did not appear on this particular version of the blog.  This lack of ability to transfer arational manifestations posted to Myspace to Integral Live.com/ is an arational manifestation in itself  provided by the Universe and presented to you today to indicate its rejection of many aspects of "Integral" theory as presented by KW which KW presents as "Integral" (which the Universe regards to be (in common "Integral" parlance), "first-tier".  Becai of this, we will no longer be doing any more updates to this blogging entry unless it is absolutely necessary due to unability to transfer arational manifestations from the Universe to I-integral theory's blogs.  For newer versions of this page later today or to see an example of what I meant with the inadvertent space, please go here.

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Posted March 23rd, 2010 by Stanley

I don't understand the importance of labels and their distinctions. You just sound like a fine and interesting person to me.

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Universe or you?

Posted May 25th, 2010 by Richard Layman

Barbie, how did you conclude that the universe created the extra space rather than 1) a random neuromotor error or 2) some unconscious function of your own brain that anticipated your latter conscious desire to edit what you first wrote?

How would any of us distinguish between the universe, accidents, and our own unconscious brain functions?

I think this is a very intriguing question.

--

There is no answer. There is no solution. There is only practice. (Anon.)