Asperger's in adults

The Chessplayer wrote: »

Asperger's syndrome is a load of cobblers. It's just another label for used to excuse a type of behaviour. Homespun hokum!

Eh no.
A syndrome is a collection of symptoms and signs.
Just like pretty much any other psychological disorder Asperger's Syndrome has to rely primarily on subjective symptoms (and behavioural signs to a degree) for diagnosis.

Just because there is no objective test (blood levels etc) that tells you if you have it or not does not mean these specific symptoms and signs don't exist.

Now believe it or not funnily enough there are a collection of people who experience a bunch of these very specific symptoms and exhibit a bunch of these very specific behavioural signs that prevent them from socialising and working as optimally as they would like.
Very curious.
Therefore we have to call this circumscribed collection of symptoms and signs something.
So it's called Aspergers after the guy who first recognised it.

The Chessplayer wrote: »

I would strongly refute the statement that there are very specific symptoms. On the contrary, the behavioural symptoms appear to me to be far too random - hence my "load of old cobblers" theory. Profound social ineptness is undoubtedly classifiable, but I would say that far too many people are being clumsily diagnosed with Asbergers, or at least assumed to have it. There is an undeniable culture of rushing to assign people with various syndromes. Many of those who might be considered to exhibit aspects of Asberger's, are simply eccentric and colourful characters.

Clumsy/misdiagnosis is a whole other matter to non-existence of a disorder.

I completely agree it's probably misdiagnosed a lot...
ie psychiatrists who see a bit of social ineptitude and lazily labelling someone with Asperger's.

However that doesn't mean there isn't a disorder with a set of fairly specific symtoms and signs called
Asperger's.

Incidentally i'd say the UNDER-recognition/under-diagnosis of Asperger's is a problem as (if not more) important than misdiagnosis TBH.

On a scale of 100, say to reach a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, you would have about 80 of the symptoms, if you like. But most of us would have about 20 anyway - like I certainly have some sensory preferences, can be pedantic at times, like to keep my clothes in a certain order, occasionally dislike being in big social groups etc.

There are lots of people who have Asperger's Syndrome who are well into their 30s/40s and never diagnosed. They're managing fine, although usually the kind of person referred to as being 'a bit quirky' or 'odd at times.' Heck I've met one or two people in the public eye who are most definitely not far off the 80 mark!

Asperger's Syndrome or any Autistic Spectrum Disorder are not mental illnesses per se, but often they present as such or can be associated with it e.g. even in young kids/teenagers, lack of services or understanding can lead to significant behaviour difficulties, negative feedback from others, further social exclusion and so on....enough to have negative affect on one's mental state. And there are certainly higher co-morbidity rates with Asperger's Syndrome and psychiatry - anxiety, depression, conduct disorder.

One of the biggest advantages of having a diagnosis for a kid is the understanding for family & appropriate expectations, and also extra support and resources at school. I'm not as sure the advantages as an adult - it might be a relief to some to know if they have it, although there seems to be an increasingly number of people reading about Asperger's on the net and self-diagnosing - they can resonate with the symptoms and maybe it's easier to think you have AS rather than face some other difficulties with relationships etc. Meh, I don't know, I should probably stop now.

I do remember reading a comment that stuck with me before - someone was describing Autistic Spectrum/Asperger's as 'just another way of looking at the world' - thought it was well put.