I need help understanding different personality types!

[Darus]

Hello hello! Been some interesting questions and comments going on here, and as I have been trained to be an advocate, I must answer these calls and teach more info!

JackHatchet asked if autism can learn social interaction with their interests - Of course! To a degree. I myself am proof of that (social science degrees all around!). And yet, the anxiety still can reign supreme on me some days and makes it hard to initiate contact (I've been rejected a lot in my younger days and never quite learned the core bits that are more or less impossible in this stage of brain development, stuff like that. I know better but the fear and anxiety hold me and I'm conscious of it as it happens). I am a social butterfly, once conversation and connections are started, but getting there is hard.

Ok, so to explain the issue of "mental illness" and "autism". See, the Psychiatrists (doctors), not to be confused with the psychologists (researchers) and counselors (direct helpers), decided to change how "autism" is listed. "Autism Spectrum Disorder" does not differentiate from difference autism type conditions - basically, asperger's syndrome doesn't exist in diagnosis except as reference, it's now "ASD". This made it easier to get insurance payouts for people with autistic conditions, or conditions of similar difficulties. So, "autism" means a VERY VERY broad field of problems now. A person who is mentally 4 years old for their whole life and a person who manages to build a warp engine are BOTH "autistic". Messed up right? That's the current diagnosis for a few years until we stop using the DSM 5 and move to a new model with autistic variants as their specific conditions.

Many with autism develop obsessions, it's specific and almost random. Mine was video game design but after my diagnosis I got lucky and got an obsession in autism itself. The falloff effect of that is this obsession includes knowing psychology, science, and all that stuff. Lucky for me.

The lucky ones with autism aren't as lucky either. Autism tends to lead to a slow mental growth. It doesn't stop, but it can be 10 years behind. I was probably 8 or so years behind by the time I finished high school and stayed a kid well until I hit 30, still am younger than my age even now. It can also cause intellect to increase. So, we now have an issue for the person. They may be 16 years old physically, hormones raging, mentally 8 and innocent as can be, but capable of doing graduate level education projects. Do we put them in special ed, and stunt their potential?, or in advance studies and watch them die socially without any support? It's a chaotic state of being and people with autism may have a suicide rate of 30 times the normal rate. Many of the non suicidal may die from lack of self care due to having miserable lonely lives that don't allow them to use their obsessions and potential or form meaningful relationships.
Honestly, the "problem" with autism is based on society. Proper understanding and programs would mean they could learn at a rate matching their chaotic identity and negate the lack of social growth to a hefty degree. Preventing rejection and promoting the obsession can lead to outrageously capable experts. Autism has always been around and it has benefits as well as deficits. It's most likely a natural occurrence to promote advancement and specialists within the human race.

If vaccines cause autism, then we need to find more vaccines to give to people.

[JackHatchet]

Hello hello! Been some interesting questions and comments going on here, and as I have been trained to be an advocate, I must answer these calls and teach more info!

I have another question!

I noticed with depression. Or the people around me who have depression. Couples where both people with depression end up being a massive negative spiral downward. Where one person needs help, and the other person needs help too. So they both make it worse for each other. Where as in more normal relationships (sorry, I don't have a better word). Couples tend to balance it out better. When one is weak--the other one tends to be stronger, and they compensate and balance out. If John is having a bad day--then Jane can overexert herself a bit to compensate, and vice versa. But with depression, I've seen a few times where if Joe is having a bad day--Jane is constantly depressed and is never able to be strong when Joe needs it, and it always seems like a massive drag. Very very rarely have I seen double-depression couples where they actually counter-balance really well. That one would always be on a high when the other is low, and they rotated in a healthy way.

So my question to you! Do double-autism couples struggle to mesh. Or would autistic people have a stronger understanding of other autistic people and share a stronger form of empathy?

One of the things I'm trying to understand still, is that I hear a lot how Autistic people drift into their own worlds, or they become incredibly dedicated to their hobbies, or such. Basically, that they can be incredibly selfish. Are they able to counter balance that? Would two autistic people get along together well, or would they always be too demanding of the other and feel drained?

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I know that sounded kinda off-topic. I know my ex struggled with a lot of mental-illnesses, and a big hurdle we struggled with was finding balance. The right give and take. Not only between us as a couple, but also between us and the world. Finding a balance between what we can reasonable demand from society, while also counterbalancing it with what we can give back.

Now what you said is absolutely true about a lot of Autistic (and schizophrenics) becoming incredibly intelligent people who give back to society through science. But what are some of the values they can give back socially for those who don't have a scientific inclination?

[Paladinleeds]

So my question to you! Do double-autism couples struggle to mesh. Or would autistic people have a stronger understanding of other autistic people and share a stronger form of empathy?

One of the things I'm trying to understand still, is that I hear a lot how Autistic people drift into their own worlds, or they become incredibly dedicated to their hobbies, or such. Basically, that they can be incredibly selfish. Are they able to counter balance that? Would two autistic people get along together well, or would they always be too demanding of the other and feel drained?

Given the variety of how autistic people can be very different, it's possible to work. Because of the common grounds with autism (of difficulty in communication, being very literal and taking things literally), it looks good to work well. There's a lass I know with autism, and while we occasionally disagree, we seem to click really well. We're both open and honest with each other (as our autism dictates we require). I've found though that as she hates being lied to more than even yourself, I have to make sure if there's something I'm interested in getting or doing, that I make sure I have a get out clause such as "It might be worth getting that", using words like might to make sure it isn't a definite thing. But then again, I guess that's just being honest if using non-commital speech in order to allow us a way out of it. We could potentially work out, though I am single atm and will be for at least a few more months (since I was with someone who had an autistic child who I expected would have understood me, but alas she did not, and we did not break up on good terms. This is all fairly recent too, so I'm needing to heal from it)