Is autism a mental disease?

[AngelOfBlueRoses]

The whole damn internet thinks they have asperger's these days.

I'm not claiming OP doesn't. Just pointing out that not only is it ridiculously over-diagnosed, but it's also far too often self-diagnosed.

Fucking this. I'm sorry, but this just pisses me off. From the internet, and this site alone too, you'd think that half of the damn world has Asperger's and Autism.

My young brother-in-law has autism. He's absolutely terrified to hell of the color orange. You cannot at all mess with anything of his and put it out of order, even unintentionally - even if you were just picking up his toys after him - because anything out of order will throw him into something reminiscent of a bad trip. He's a triplet and his brother and sister are far beating him in many brain development departments, such as struggling with his speech. In fact, he might not be able to go to the same school as them. Thankfully, it's relatively mild and he can, with a lot of help, can be trained and tutored and taught special skills by psychologists to help him be a decent functioning member of society. With all this in mind, the psychologists said that this was a relatively mild-moderate case of autism. It's so annoying to see my brother-in-law, who I love very much, go through all of the stuff he has to go through with his autism and see the word "autism" get thrown around across all of the internet.

In an attempt to understand what he and my lover, who is his sister and goes through so many leaps and bounds to help the poor kid out, I devoted an entire semester to studying autism and Asperger's. It annoys me how many people jump out and say they have Asperger's and Autism and make such articulate posts in the process. You say you were diagnosed with it? Well, here's the thing: autism and Asperger's are so heavily over-diagnosed by parents who want a label, something to blame, and by psychologists who are willing to give the parents the label they so want because they flaunted some cash around. The subject of over-diagnosis of autism and Asperger's is even covered very heavily in most psychology classes. An entire quarter of a very long chapter was devoted solely to the psych class I took. Do people even realize how rare Asperger's actually is and, even in terms of autism, is the most over-diagnosed one on the entire spectrum? It's also the hardest one to diagnose because it shares so many characteristics with other disorders and requires an entire team of professionals, or at least that's how the practice should be run and is by some.

Am I calling anyone out in particular? No. If I was, I would have quoted you. So, don't you quote me to try and justify to me and give me reasons and radda radda radda. I'm not calling -you- out and if you felt I was attacking you personally, well then that's a personal problem, isn't it? I'm calling out the entire internet, not one person in particular.

OT: Calling it a disease is harsh. If you want to be extremely broad and vague, yes. If you want to be more specific, eh less so. Still technically yes, but screw technicalities. It's a neurological disorder.

 

[mad825]

yep, at least in the UK it is.

Spoiler: Oxford dictionary definition

a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury

although it's not a pathogen therefore can not be contagious but rather genetic either through mutation, heritability or both.

 

[SkyeNeko]

i think disease is just so negatively connotated now that no one wants to associate it with anything. its just become so overused now, along with disability, defect, abnormal, etc.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I have been diagnosed with and suspected to have moderate to severe autism by multiple sources (doctors, carers and those who work with people with special needs). I hate the fact that it is so over-diagnosed, because it means that even though I KNOW I have it, I can't say I have it or people will doubt me. Because I don't tell people this they just think I'm rude when I leave without saying goodbye or refuse to hug someone. These are just two examples. I would say it is a disease, but it's still a part of me.

Edit: I also hate certain textures, We have a rice cooker, and the inner part has a rough texture and I have to get someone else to do anything to with it for me. I have had the same pillow and pillowcase for as long as I can remember, and I only ever use my cutlery which has holes in the handles.

 

[Shadu]

Yes, anyway you look at it, it is a disease. It may be minor (in some cases), but it is a disease all the same. It could also be classified as a "condition" more than a disease, but most people interchange them.

Cure or no cure, it's a disease.

 

[Dastardly]

snip

There is no reason to believe that your academic prowess is a function of anything other than aptitude. Generally speaking, it's simply used to explain it so that someone can treat it as "official." It paints our abilities as unquestionable, and our claims unassailable.

 

[The Funslinger]

The whole damn internet thinks they have asperger's these days.

I'm not claiming OP doesn't. Just pointing out that not only is it ridiculously over-diagnosed, but it's also far too often self-diagnosed.

Particularly here in the UK, it's over diagnosed. I apparently have a "very, very mild" case of Asperger's. I kind of accepted the claim when I was a little kid, but I'm afraid I have to call bullshit. I have no social defects whatsoever, and aside from not being good at some things (only to the extent most people have, having certain strong and weak points, which doesn't need a label) I don't struggle at all. I have a small handful of friends, but there are a lot of people I'm at odds with. It's not poor social skills, it's standards. I'm NOT going to be friends with a dick head.

Problem is, anybody with a one or two talents that stand out from everything else is apparently autisic or some such shit. Ooh, wow, I have an epic vocabulary and apparently brilliant writing skills. It means NOTHING. In fact, people with asperger's are supposed to have some trouble with things like sarcasm and subtlety. Shouldn't the fact I've mastered subtle meanings in language, and such kind of disprove this?

My coping mechanism is when people are condescending twats to me, I just treat them like a baby-brained idiot until they shut the hell up. It's fun...

 

[x434343]

I have asperger syndrome, or high-functioning autism (to what is considered a mild degree).

I think autism and aspergers is vastly over-diagnosed depending on country. In places like the USA there's an obsession with diagnosis and people seem to throw around the "A word" like hotcakes compared to other countries.

Wait, so that Asperger's that I was diagnosed with at the end of 8th grade is probably wrong, and my social insecurities were due not to mentality, but fucking bullies? THANK YOU FOR THIS INFO. No, really, I do appreciate it. I've been codgered like a mofo for having "Asperger's". Really, I call it a lack of trust for others because of fucking middle school, AKA "Wake up, go to school, get bullied, tell the truth to the discipline office, get detention for telling the truth (that doesn't match up with the info of the 3 bullies), get on the bus, have goddamn Goldfish crackers crushed into my hair while everyone laughs, go home, go to bed, cry, sleep. Repeat for 3 years."

Great success, thanks.

 

[Jailbird408]

I can't believe Simulord was put on probation for trying to defend us Aspies. I may be missing the point here, but anyone who refuses to put the label of "disease" on what is clearly a "disorder" is a good person. Maybe it's because he used the F-word one too many times, but no-one listens to anything without an F-word nowadays, so he was probably just trying a bit too hard to get a message across.

I'm talking about one of the early posts in this forum so I wouldn't be suprised if you had no clue what I was talking about, but you can't quote a post that puts someone on probation. I have no clue what probation is anyway, but I don't want that big red word popping under my name, so I'm going to try and wrap this up incase Simulord was probationed for overcompensating or something.

 

[Noble Korhedron]

Savant Autistics, as they're called, are the exceptionally fortunate given their condition.

They're also incredibly rare.

With all due respect, W.T.H is a "savant autistic"?!

 

[Sandytimeman]

I still remember the day I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. For years I had been going to a Psychiatrist who diagnosed me with OCD, ADD, and Depression. It wasn't until I was nearly 20 that I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.

I remember literally crying because I though I knew what Autism (I was thinking extremely severe cases at the time) was and to be labeled with that, it was like having the mark of shame stamped on my forehead.

Now days thanks to shows like The Big Bang Theory and Boston Legal, people are more aware of it. I'm not really ashamed of it anymore.

I am very surprised by the number of people in this thread that also have Asperger's or other high functioning autism disorders.

And so that I do still address the main topic, Yes I believe its a mental disease. The Term mental disease seems to be interchangeable with illness and disorder so:

"A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which are not a part of normal development or culture."

 

[Sandytimeman]

Savant Autistics, as they're called, are the exceptionally fortunate given their condition.

They're also incredibly rare.

With all due respect, W.T.H is a "savant autistic"?!

May I help shed some light on the subject? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savant_syndrome

 

[nuba km]

I think autism and aspergers is vastly over-diagnosed depending on country.

Considering the numbers you have to start wondering if that's just how some people are rather than a condition yeah. Though I don't like it when people self diagnose with it and use it as a reason they're not popular, that's just being a jerk and wanting an excuse. The few autistic people I know may not always get social niceties but they're trying and you can tell.

it is not a decease which is something caused by micro organisms, it is a disability something caused by your physical body in this case that you brain is physically different from most brains, so aspergers and autism is more then just a state of mind their is an actual reason for it. I have asperger (not self diagnosed but a psychologist realised it as I was being tested for dyslexia (which I also have)) and the fact is I hate all the social things you have to go around like acting like you like someone even thought you don't and how no one ever bothers to tell you when they have a problem with you (my friends I invisible in social scenarios so often hears people talking about how much of a dick I am for saying when I don't like stuff and why I like it because it's rude.