An interesting article on recent findings with regards to False Memory Syndrome. Read the rest of this entry »

Before I became an autism consultant in 1996, I had heard about a teen and a young adult who both ‘outgrew’ their autism by age 5. It was around 1992, before Aspergers had become a diagnosis in the English speaking world. Both had been formally diagnosed as ‘classically autistic’, one in the late 1960s, one in the late 1970s, both in an era where autism was deemed rare, 4 in 10,000, where one had to be quite recognizably autistic to get a diagnosis, far more so than today with a rate of 1 in 150 where almost any avoidant, solitary, developmentally delayed child with delayed speech who stims is diagnosed with ASD. Read the rest of this entry »

Dissociation is the ability to cut off from what is happening around you or to you. In its simplest form it is daydreaming. It is a skill all children have and which children with autism tend to overdevelop in managing a world they find overwhelming for a whole range of reasons. Dissociation, Derealisation (the feeling nothing is ‘real’ or that everything feels like a dream), and Depersonalisation (cutting off from emotions, detaching, inability to take experiences personally), are experiences most of us have had. Dissociative disorders are where these create problems with functioning and coping in every day life. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve met Aspies with and without Personality Disorders... including some with NPD, BPD and Antisocial… but more often those with Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive or Schizoid personality disorders… so if their PDs constituted 50-70% of what they and others termed their AS, and they were proud of their ‘AS’, are THOSE ONES actually inadvertently saying they are celebrating ‘Personality Disorder pride’? Read the rest of this entry »

I grew up with someone who likely fitted psychopathy, Narcissistic (NPD), Borderline (BPD) and Sadistic personality disorders who was also an alcoholic. So whilst each of these disorders contributed to my developing Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), and I do not have BPD, I’ve been traumatized by the idealisation/demonisation extremes of my abuser’s BPD within this mix. Read the rest of this entry »

There are bigots and purists who can’t cope someone having autism and co-occurring mental health issues. I am diagnosed with autism AND Dissociative Identity Disorder. Anyone who lives with someone with autism will know that most people with autism dissociate (cut off, shutdown) more commonly than most, yet somehow tell people you have a dissociative disorder along the spectrum of dissociative disorders AND that you are a person diagnosed with autism, well, seems for some people, their head falls off. Read the rest of this entry »

Katy Harrison
Hi Donna, what are your thoughts on antidepressants and the dosage for people with Aspergers? I have read that a lower dose is best. Really would love to hear what you think about it. Read the rest of this entry »

I have worked with attachment disordered kids with autism and those who are not. Sometimes its a matter of the level of sensory perceptual chaos they live with, sometimes its about growing up treated more as a case/condition than a person, SOMETIMES its about being in an intensive program your particular personality PERCEIVES as repeatedly invasive, abusive, traumatizing even if an achievement driven (such as those with OCPD), pleaser types (those with AvPD) might thrive in exactly the same program. Of course if we acknowledge any of this we’d have to lose the idea of one-size-fits-all approaches. Read the rest of this entry »

DID is Dissociative Identity Disorder. It is a DISSOCIATIVE DISORDER and part of a SPECTRUM of DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS… so is PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and all human beings dissociate, especially before age 5. Read the rest of this entry »