Fighting The Fourth Reich

[pbrower2a]

(08-25-2017, 11:25 AM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(08-25-2017, 09:32 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: I have a diagnosis. It is not mental illness, but it is impairment. It is Asperger's.

A self-diagnosis is worth the paper the medical records surrounding it are written on.  Meaning nothing since self-diagnoses are often not written.  I have dealt with that many times as my mother has a tendency to read WebMD and conclude he has whatever she's reading about.  And she's an RN so she really has no excuse for this behavior.

I got the diagnosis from a professional. I was surpised, but I was also convinced.

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Quote:I have seen some of the literature, and it describes me well.

Reading some literature and making a self-diagnosis or being told you may have X by someone unqualified to make that diagnosis is not the same as having a diagnosis.

The literature confirms the diagnosis and explains much.

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Quote:I could be in a cloud about reality because (1) I was likely to treat my anxiety (it goes with the territory) as normal because I cannot imagine living without anxiety, (2) I was likely to fault myself, and (3) I was in a family which thought any interaction with professionals in mental health a great shame. "Jewish science" or something like that.

1.  Everyone has anxiety about something.
2.  This is an obvious untruth since after interacting with you for years I know your tendency to blame society, your parents, and any other manner of outside persons than yourself.
3.  Demonstrates how your "2" is untrue.  You've been an adult for the last half century, 4 decades at any rate.  If you thought you had some sort of mental illness, impairment or disability you could have gone and got it diagnosed by a professional capable of making that diagnosis at any time.  Or did it never occur to you that shame is externally imposed.

Every healthy person has some tendencies. Everybody is a little paranoid, schizophrenic, bipolar, ADHD, etc. ... or he has some big problem.

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Quote:I have a handicap. It is simply not as visible as needing a wheelchair for mobility or to need a service animal to compensate for blindness. It is no less real. It is not mental illness to the extent that I have impaired intellect or delusional thought.

You do, but it isn't Asperger's.  For two main reasons:

1.  Asperger's is not recognized by the DSM.
2.  It conveniently manifests suddenly after your parents have died and you can no longer realistically blame them for all your problems.

As such I concluded long ago that your disability is an inability to accept responsibility for your own failings.  Is this a spectrum disorder?  No.  Is this a mental illness?  No.  What it is, is a character flaw.

People get disability benefits for it. Of course I would rather have paid work... but if I got industrial work I would be an industrial accident waiting to happen.I do not have the temperament for most office work. Retail sales? Misfit because I could seem creepy for asking too many questions instead of reading body language.
 

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Quote:I could never use Asperger's as a mitigating factor in a criminal judgment

You couldn't use blindness, or paralysis as a mitigating factor in a criminal judgement either.

Low intelligence, permanent delusion...

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Quote:(so what. Someone with Asperger's can get help in seeking employment under ADA and getting suitable accommodation. There are jobs for which someone with Asperger's can be well suited. Those must recognize our inadequacies in understanding non-verbal communications.

Some reason I don't think you "recognized" this symptom until you read it somewhere in the associated literature.

"This is Asperger's... this is Asperger's", says the clinical psychologist in a screening. I had gone to a session with the expectation of a residential stay for a couple days. The clinic made clear that I did not want to be there. Patients there for treatment for drugs or alcohol would hate me. I might leave the next morning to find my car trashed.

I have lived with Asperger's and not known that I had it.  Some people did see keys to it in my writing in other Forums.

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Quote:I have an anxiety disorder; it goes with the territory. I could never figure that one out because I saw nothing abnormal. But anxiety can cripple one. I am one of the few people who has gone to a therapist and been told that I can have a drink to deal with anxiety. This is in a clinic that deals heavily with people with substance disorders. (An irony: I am harshly judgmental about drugs and alcoholism. One characteristic of Asperger's is that we who have it almost never have problems with addiction). 

Just about everyone has some sort of problem with anxiety.  I largely link it to humans having brains suited for hunting and gathering in an information age society.  Our biology has yet to catch up to our culture.  But I do notice that this councilor never once mentioned that you might have a spectrum disorder.  And certainly if he thought you might have one he could order testing for it.  Of course in a clinic that deals with substance disorders they may not even think to look for such a thing, but the fact that you didn't even bother to get a second opinion on your self-diagnosis is telling.

I got several months of therapy, some of it intended to reduce the rigidity of my patterns of thought. I asked how I was progressing... and I have been doing better. 

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Quote:Kinser, you either have little empathy (I know your posting habits, and you have stood for ideologies well suited to sociopathic personalities) or you fail to understand me.

I understand you all too well.  I'm assuming that you are using the English language the same way every other English speaker uses it.  Or if you say the sky is blue do you really mean it is polka dotted?

As for my empathy or lack of it.  I have plenty of empathy.  You're just not in my tribe so there is little reason for me to have any for you.  The only difference between me and others is that I'm honest about the limitations of my empathy.

You were a Stalinist in the predecessor Forum before you became a supporter of Donald Trump. You are a True Believer, and except that you are gay and black, you would be a candidate for KKK membership.

I did not choose to have Asperger's. I can imagine far worse. Without Asperger's I would have a much better life.

As for empathy based upon some tribal loyalty -- I have no idea of what 'tribe' I would want to identify.