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Bat Ears
USA
14 Posts |
 Posted - 08/24/2006 : 09:39:23
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Asperger Syndrome is a high-function disorder in the autism spectrum of disorders, in people with normal or high intelligence, characterized by deficiencies in social skills among other things.
I recently posted some thoughts on Asperger Syndrome and TMS on another thread, and nobody responded, and it seems to have dropped off the radar screen. I think this may be an insight worth considering. Other threads have recently been talking about personality traits and self-esteem, and one notorious thread (“Al Gore”) recently has been demonstrating some social dysfunction. Not to point fingers at any specific persons, and understanding that I may have AS characteristics, and that AS may be better thought of as a “difference” than a “disorder,” I think some of us may benefit from some deeper insight into what makes us who we are, the root causes of these subconscious processes we TMSers struggle with. Even if AS is not involved, looking at it may help us understand inborn personality traits in general. Here is a good place to start: look up Asperger Syndrome on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page It’s also fun to Google it. Read and think about yourself (do you “see yourself on every page?”) and think about the personalities posting here in this forum. Maybe some understanding would help reduce the antagonism I’m seeing here. I have found that deepening my own insight into my personality has helped me internalize the TMS concepts and not just be a superficial expert on TMS (as I perceive some are in this forum).
Here are some out-of-context quotes from the Wikipedia article that may get your attention: “- -lack the natural ability to see the subtexts of social interaction, and may lack the ability to communicate their own emotional state, resulting in well-meaning remarks that may offend- -.” “- -impaired ability to: read others' feelings, understand intended meanings, gauge level of interest in a conversation, take into account others' level of knowledge and predict someone's reaction to a comment or action- -.”
Relating to Research Into Causes (section 4.1.1) in the Wikipedia article, I recently heard on NPR (interviewing a couple of AS experts) that a “suite” of genes has been discovered in the human genome which are associated with Asperger Syndrome/Autism Spectrum Disorders. The more of the right (wrong?) combinations of them one has, the more severe the syndrome.
Here is my own idea: An AS personality would seem to be a TMS personality: perfectionist, analytical, obsessive, tending to learn compensating/avoidance behaviors. An AS personality would also likely set one up with a huge load of emotional baggage due to the social dysfunction aspect of the syndrome (coupled with normal/high intelligence) and the resulting relationship failures and low self-esteem, which become deeply repressed as social skills/compensatory behaviors are learned. The result, in an undiagnosed mild-AS adult, a particularly nasty and intractable case of TMS.
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2006 : 00:44:26
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Hi Bat Ears,
At the risk of losing another TMS Board "friend", my reaction to your post is: "huh?".
You said you didn't get any response to your first post about this tgopic. TT, that's me, (even I'm starting to think of myself in the third person), being the eternal TMS "goodist", I can't stand to see you being left in the corner, out of the board action. I will take my share of the blame for diverting the board's energy from the purposes of the Good Doctor. This is summer and we're out of school and don't feel like tackling what sounds like a very deep subject like Asperbgers's.
I must admit, your post caught my eye because I thought you were talking about Aspergum, which I am a fan of for warding off colds. I've used Aspergum very successfully to ward-off colds in the sorethroat stage, before they spread any farther. I used to reccommend it a lot, but now I look forward to the occasional cold, as a way of practicing the Western form of meditation, known as staying home sick.
Underneath all the psycho-babble, it does sound like an interesting subject though. And as you caught on, probably a TMS affective equivalent.
I am sure you would get more responses if you would name names and let it all hang out. You can see how popular the Al Gore thread has gotten. People love to watch other people fight. When I was coming out of my significant depression and started lurking the board, I gained great amusement watching a good flame war.
So, Asbergers does sound interesting. I ask you to only put it into your own words because medical texts aren't the most exciting of summer reads.
I hope you don't find my response offensive and go running away from the board because of me being me  . I'm trying to be on my best behavior because I sure Art is taking notes. |
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Bat Ears
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2006 : 04:44:41
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| Hi TT. I appreciate your response. No, I don't think AS is a TMS equivalent. It is a genetically determined personality type kind of thing, (a mild, maybe very, very mild form of autism). What I am saying is that AS, or at least personality types similar to it, may be likely to lead to TMS, and that our good doctors should take that into consideration. Treatments for AS would certainly help TMS, because they would address the social dysfunction, relationship failures, low self-esteem etc. problems that we TMS sufferers repress and cover up subconsciously with pains. And as far as personalities on this forum, I'm thinking mainly of Peter McKay. He is obviously an expert on TMS, but his expertise is superficial; he never took the final step to be at peace with the truth of Sarno. Expertise like that can be a symptom of AS. So can the failure to relate in a mature and understanding manner to others. I have had experience like what I perceive to have been Peter McKay's, where I know that I have the Knowledge (the cure) but the pain won't quit. Anger builds. It gets worse. But I was able to get beyond that, where he apparently wasn't. Studying AS helped me understand my own personality (I'm not diagnosed with AS, nor has it been ruled out; I'm on my own here) and to look back at the emotional baggage I accumulated during my life. Sorry about the big words. Aspergum! HaHa!! |
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tennis tom
USA
4749 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2006 : 12:03:46
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Thanks B.B.,
Just a quick reply, more later, gotta' take my dad to lunch. I agree on Peter Mac. He exhibited a good book-smarts knowledge of TMS but couldn't take it to the next level of internalizeing what he intelectualy learned.
To paraphrase Sarno's quote of E. Dickinson,
"Pity that the slow heart does not percieve what the quick mind see's at every turn."
It took me along time to understand what that really meant. I think PeterMac was just young and book-smart but lacked real life experience to hang TMS theory on. He just needed more seasoning perhaps. Maybe he'll check in someday to update us. That would be interesting or maybe he's here under another name. |
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Hillbilly
USA
385 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2006 : 16:39:40
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| I always thought I was just a clumsy nerd. |
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PeterW
Canada
102 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2006 : 16:53:50
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quote:
“- -lack the natural ability to see the subtexts of social interaction, and may lack the ability to communicate their own emotional state, resulting in well-meaning remarks that may offend- -.” “- -impaired ability to: read others' feelings, understand intended meanings, gauge level of interest in a conversation, take into account others' level of knowledge and predict someone's reaction to a comment or action- -.”
Interesting . . . never heard of this syndrome, but my first thought is that the average TMSer may have unusually high awareness in some of the above areas, except for communicating their own emotional state. Leading to excessive external awareness and thinking and extrapolating and worrying about everyone and everything except one's own needs and emotional reality. Could this be partly inherited too? Who knows.
Just my guess. |
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cheeryquery
Canada
56 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2006 : 17:06:30
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One of my foster daughters has a three year old boy with autism and an eight year old girl with Aspberger's. The boy is a disaster but the girl is a great kid. She isn't any weirder than any other kid who doesn't quite fit into this lovely, lovely world lol.
The people I find interesting are inevitably a bit (or a lot) weird. Does diagnosing the weirdness help anybody? At times, I suppose it does. But it is important not to use the label as an excuse to marginalize the person.
Example: another of my foster kids has an IQ around 60. She is one of the most socially brilliant people I have ever met. She can talk to anybody, anywhere, about darn near anything. But because she is not smart she seldom has an opportunity to contribute to society. It's our loss, it seems to me.
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Scottydog
United Kingdom
330 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2006 : 01:38:30
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My neighbour's daughter, aged 17, had been having social problems at school, moved schools but still made no academic or social progress and has just been diagnosed as having mild Asperger's. She is a good musician and starts a music course this September.
Sad that it was diagnosed so late.
When I first met her a few years ago she seemed very assured and aloof for her age, so turns out is wasn't aloofness, more their different ways of socialising.
But it did go through my head when I heard about her that, given the choice, I would have avoided school altogether, being cooped up all day with several hundred other kids was not my ideal situation. Though I did ok and was never bullied or anything.
There's no doubt a huge variation in the degrees of symptoms for these syndromes. I spose variety makes life more interesting.
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emotional baggage due to the social dysfunction aspect of the syndrome (coupled with normal/high intelligence) and the resulting relationship failures and low self-esteem
I didn't think AS sufferers are aware of their social dysfunction as being such. I've a friend with a daughter with quite severe AS and she gets such a huge amoung of extra care and love from her parents as they help her to lead a normal life that she shouldn't suffer any TMS at all, unlike many TMSers who blame events in the childhood for their probs.
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Are You An "Aspie?"
