JudasMyGuide
The incorrigible papist
Welcome to the club! We have T-shirts! though mostly with just Zappa or Buckethead, depends on your age
What's more important, are you surprised? Many adults aren't, I certainly wasn't.
Mental Health Thread
- Thread starter JudasMyGuide
- Start date
Welcome to the club! We have T-shirts! though mostly with just Zappa or Buckethead, depends on your age
What's more important, are you surprised? Many adults aren't, I certainly wasn't.
Black Abyss Babe
Slava Ukraini!
My life makes a lot more sense now, put it that way ...
MindRuler
The Duellists and Hooks In You Defender
It all made sense when I found out.
My son got the diagnosis of ASC at age 5 (10 years ago) and it got me thinking too.
Would it be easier if I knew it earlier? It certainly would´ve effected some study choices but I´m not unhappy about the road I walked. I have more of ADD though.
Black Abyss Babe
Slava Ukraini!
To be honest I wasn't surprised about the ASC: once I'd found out what autism is. I was quite surprised about the ADhD though - I wasn't expecting that as well. But both my siblings have also been recently diagnosed with both conditions, and we now think that both our parents probably had undiagnosed ASC as well.
I have no regrets about "the path I've walked" either, I just think that if I had known earlier then my interactions with other people could have been very different. Especially at school. Also I could have got more support at Uni.
JudasMyGuide
The incorrigible papist
I had known I probably had something like that, but I tended to downplay it, trying to pass as normal. I knew about autism and "Asperger", as it was called then; it gave me explanation for my weirdness and the first hints at how to overcome it (for example - I'm introverted by nature, still am, but have relearned since the early youth to be very outgoing and communicative and to enjoy the presence of other people. I don't know how I managed that. Also, I've learnt how the people are supposed to be "read" - I was annoyed at being perceived as having no empathy, so I kinda bruteforced it, memorised actions and thought processes, from art, psychology, from being nakedly honest with other people...). I too was surprised at the ADD, but it made sense in retrospect, yet I found that I've been actually somewhat self-medicating as well.
Furthermore it was about the time when everyone was in love with Sheldon and Lisbeth Salander and liked to self-diagnose as "Asperger", which was the ultimate cringe and something I wanted to avoid, so I pretty much never told it to anyone and didn't want to point at it too much.
My psychologist actually asked me whether I want the "official" diagnosis, that it is quite plain to see to any mental health professional worth their salt that some of the mental processes and mannerisms do scream "spectrum+ADD", in some combination, however it is not completely obvious to most laypeople (apart from me being different somehow) ... and with me being high functioning for starters and having spent most of my rational life trying to pass as "normal", to be as normal as possible, I really fucked up the symptoms to the degree where it would make further testing to make some heads or tails out of it and even then I'd probably fall into that type of idiosyncratic manifestations that are useless to anyone, as a diagnosis or as a specimen.
Thing is, I was there for a different reason (I'd had my first and largest bouts of panic attacks recently that were ultimately disconnected from this), - so I asked how it could help me to be normal, she said not much, I said well, thanks for the clarification, let's address those things that are a problem.
But I fully realise I won in the lottery - I'm the "eternal gifted child", the old school Aspie, the "savant". I'm atrocious at small talk and often am very open and honest, which may freak some out, I do abhor shallow relationships and conversations and therefore I don't have as many friends - but those that I do, those go deep. The family life is probably the hardest challenge so far - after being together for 14 years, sometimes it's really frustrating to be getting the best of me ("how could you not see that and that") and being there for the children with my diminished mental capacity for children is hard (especially since all are in some ways ... "spectral"). Still, I had it extremely lucky, so I can't really compare it with the experience of other people.
Black Abyss Babe
Slava Ukraini!
The little "h" is when the hyperactivity is mental. I've always known that my mind "has a mind of its own" and sometimes won't stay on one topic and sometimes won't let go of one topic but I hadn't realised that this was a form of hyperactivity. I just thought that ADHD people ran around a lot.
Regarding being less shy by the end, I always need time to aclimatise and adjust to any new situation but would usually need more than one meeting to become anything like at ease with people I've just met - you all just made it really easy though. So thanks
Black Abyss Babe
Slava Ukraini!
Sounds like what you learned was how to mask really well. So did I, up to a point (at least after the need to be employed hit home). But I've usually had to do all by rote: there are still very few people around whom I can be completely myself.
But the thing is, I now have a "protected characteristic". So all those exhausting work pep talks about "why can't I think the same way as other people (who are usually quicker than me, but wrong more often)" should hopefully tail off from now on. At least, that is my hope ...
Yes and no. So many people I know turn out to have ASC or ADHD that I've started almost expecting it
I've been wondering if I have ADHD myself. Sometimes it is really hard to stay focused on a task and my mind wanders a lot.
I am certain I have ADD. My brother was diagnosed with it. I've always thought that whatever he has I have too in milder form, and when he explained his specific symptoms to me, I felt like he was describing me. I don't know if it's really a milder form or I can just cope with it better, but knowing this even without a proper diagnosis has helped me deal with myself and my shortcomings.
Black Abyss Babe
Slava Ukraini!
It's another spectrum condition so it could be that you have a milder form, but what triggers you encounter are relevant too. So if your brother was in a situation where he encounters a lot of triggers but you were in a situation where you encounter only a few triggers then it would be more noticeable in your brother than in you.
Black Abyss Babe
Slava Ukraini!
I still maintain that finding boring things boring shouldn't be classed as a disorder, but since this view isn't widely shared, if you believe you may have a "protected characteristic" it would be worth seeking a diagnosis, I think. At least if it's causing you issues in your current situation.
Black Abyss Babe
Slava Ukraini!
It absolutely does, though I'm not sure if that's the official name - or even if there is an official name. (Steven Sharp Nelson of The Piano Guys, who has ADHD, calls them "squirrel moments".) But what I mean is, where you are put in a situation that causes your ADHD traits to show themselves. So if you are getting a lot of interuptions, or if you are having to work on something that doesn't really interest you, you will have to fight the ADHD harder than you would if you were left undisturbed to work on something you really enjoy. This is why my own ADHD has been a significant problem in some jobs/situations but in others has hardly bothered me at all.
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Yeah, ultimately, the older I get the less I seem to be able to push myself back on task, so I've been thinking about it, anyway.
Lost in a lost world
Trooper
I learned recently the the drummer in the first garage band I was ever in passed away not long ago.
I hadn’t talked to him in maybe 25 years but, especially as he was the same age as I am, it affected me.
Memories flood back of all of the practices, shows both successful and unsuccessful. Things like trying to find a good anchor for his bass drum on his kit. The police shutting us down for noise complaints. As a band, us nailing songs like Seek and Destroy, The Four Horsemen, or South of Heaven.
I more or less learned to play bass in this band that was gracious enough to have me in it despite my lack of chops initially.
He was our band leader, with strong musical opinions and who more or less crafted our setlist. He practiced relentlessly, which motivated the rest of us to improve and not fall behind.
RIP old friend, although we didn’t stay close after high school, those band memories are always there.
I hadn’t talked to him in maybe 25 years but, especially as he was the same age as I am, it affected me.
Memories flood back of all of the practices, shows both successful and unsuccessful. Things like trying to find a good anchor for his bass drum on his kit. The police shutting us down for noise complaints. As a band, us nailing songs like Seek and Destroy, The Four Horsemen, or South of Heaven.
I more or less learned to play bass in this band that was gracious enough to have me in it despite my lack of chops initially.
He was our band leader, with strong musical opinions and who more or less crafted our setlist. He practiced relentlessly, which motivated the rest of us to improve and not fall behind.
RIP old friend, although we didn’t stay close after high school, those band memories are always there.
It's usually considered not so much triggers as stimulae hitting the overwhelming stage