Aspies For Freedom

Amy's post in simple terms: helping people overcome mental and physical health issues that seriously inhibit their life is supported, trying to force a treatment on someone just because they are different is not.

Uschi, please spend a few more weeks on that research.  Be sure especially to vet the medical opinions being presented you - several new-age types have web sites out there making all sorts of fantastic claims for whatever method they have of "clearing" your problems, and daming "traditional medicine" for preventing them from spreading their good news to all the world.  They are, of course, being silenced by the massive conspiracy of science...  :roll:

I have done quite a bit of research on the topic myself, as my wife has major depressive disorder.  Oddly enough, the two things that help most are talk therapy, and the proper dosage of a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) - which seems rather suggestive of the idea that her depression is biochemically based...  (My own bouts have all been situational depression, which is another breed of cat entirely - times when I've just been worn down from trying to interact with the NT world, and feel bummed about the whole thing.  Doesn't really compare with a pervasive sensation that everything you do, and everything you are, is entirely worthless, and that nothing will ever get better, said sensation persisting for months at a time without medication.)

I like the idea of using cognitive therapy, and showing how to do it yourself. Like there's this book my psychiatrist recommended called 'Feeling Good Handbook' which I'm reading now and is pretty good...

Medication is very useful for depression, either as a treatment or as a palliative.  But, and it's a big but, you have to find the right drug at the right dose that's useful for you and this can take a lot of experimentation.  I've been on (at various doses) Lofepramine (worked slightly); Venlafaxine (did nothing); Fluoxetine (made me worse); and now I'm on a combination of Lofepramine and Lithium (works well but not perfectly).  Took me about 3 years to get to this point.

Drugs wont change who you are, but they can make it easier while you work out who you are.

I don’t know if others with AS become depressed for the same reasons as me; social isolation, being denied the opportunity to use my abilities; like most people I need to be needed.

Every day of my life has been a struggle, but things are hard for normal people as well; how many of them seek solace in medication, alcohol or religion.

I’ve never taken medication for depression but I certainly wouldn’t blame anyone who did; I think that it is better to work out one’s own coping strategies if one can.

john .w., It's interesting how society is so willing to blame us for our own social isolation. When it's that most NTs act cruel, and tend to prey on those not like them. So what are we supposed to do? We have no desire for cruelty like them, or games with peoples feelings.

My own experience of trying to live in a pretty intolerant NT world is of derision, ignorance, and a handful occasions of physical violence by total strangers who I have never seen or spoken to before.

No-one can be so funny looking as to provoke open hostility from total strangers, so I'm going to go with the bad karma theory.

But I digress.

However well meaning quacks and shrinks are, most of them would make you like them if they could, it's just their way. They have all been taught all the way through medical/shrink school that patients need to be cured.
I myself have a few comorbid conditions such as clinical depression and missing time, if they could be cured with the snap of a quack's fingers, I would be happy to be cured, but being an aspie is for life, not just until they make the magic pills called "normality"

Conrad

Boy, am I familiar with that.

I don't blame total strangers for my problems.

It has been said autism is an artifact of the Neanderthal brain... what about this theory?

It makes some sense to me, as Neanderthals hadn't evolved gender roles or advanced communication skills...

Me neither.

Isn't it impossible to cure autism anyway? That's like curing retardation. I don't get it.

Yeah, it's scientifically impossible, or if it isn't, it's too far ahead. They're looking for detection, so abortions can occur.

Re: comorbids - I take venlaflaxine for low mood - works well at the moment. I take clonazapam for anxiety - my magic pill.
Batman 55 - I am studying masters level papers - the markers give me A's and tell me how excited they to have my interest in their specialty - but my work options are limited because of weak interview skills - communication difficulties and my fear of people.
I don't know that I have AS - my son has a diagnosis - I can relate to what some of you say.

Huntington's disease is deadly, so yes, I'd like it cured. But Down Syndrome?
Down Syndrome people don't want to be cured any more than autistics do. Treatment for associated health problems, yes, but not cure.
Sounds to me like another example of the 'seesaw theory' - pushing other people down to get yourself higher in the hierarchy. It's just like lobsters in a pail. We need to work together, not attack each other.