Is autism a mental disease?

[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.