Posted by Neal on May 28, 2009, at 16:05:10
To the Socially Isolated,
We often see posts on the this board asking for help from people who feel socially isolated or awkward, social anxiety, etc., and are depressed about it.For a small percentage there is a chance of asperger's syndrome. Most do not fit the profile, only about one in 500 may have it. It's not a sentence of doom if someone does have it, in fact most "aspies" are very intelligent. It's been theorized that many scientists like Einstein had it, also famous musicians, artists, computer whizes like Steve Jobs, etc. It allows you to concentrate on something like nobody else.
Knowledge is power. Those who know they're Aspies feel proud and often can compensate and also use their differences to good effect. Most times they feel less depressed, because they know what the score is, and don't feel lost. Aspies are mostly very high-functioning, if they go with their strengths and compensate for social deficits.
Below is the Asperger profile from Mayo Clinic, listing some of the social problem aspies may have. The list doesn't list the positives, but there are many, including problem solving talents, scientific and artistic leanings, etc. Most aspies do not have all these symptoms, they may have a few:
* Engaging in one-sided, long-winded conversations, without noticing if the listener is listening or trying to change the subject
* Displaying unusual nonverbal communication, such as lack of eye contact, few facial expressions, or awkward body postures and gestures
* Showing an intense obsession with one or two specific, narrow subjects, such as baseball statistics, train schedules, computers
* Appearing not to understand, empathize with or be sensitive to others' feelings
* Having a hard time "reading" other people or understanding humor
* Speaking in a voice that is monotonous, rigid or unusually fast
* Moving clumsily, with poor coordination
* Having an odd posture or a rigid gaitAgain, it's not a sentence of doom. It you know about it, think you might have it to a degree, you can compensate. For instance, if you don't look people in the eye, you can start to change that behavior. That list is only the negatives. There are many positives, as mentioned. But if you feel socially lost, think about it. But it's a very, very rare syndrome so don't automatically think you have it. Some have only a mild form of it. Only a Pdoc experienced in the syndrome can diagnose it. Many aspies have depression because of it, and not knowing why they are socially ill at ease. That's why I thought I'd post about it.
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poster:Neal
thread:898129
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090524/msgs/898129.html