Hello,
A recent discussion with my dad made me realize that I may fall under the autism spectrum and I’ll be talking to my doctors about it soon. I’ve been diagnosed schizophrenic for years now so I was confused whether I could have both schizophrenia and autism, and looking online I found out that it was possible.
Does anyone here have both of these? If so, any experiences you’re willing to share?
I have comorbid schizophrenia and autism.
At my last appointment the pdoc said schizophrenia and ASD were the best fit. I’m in the process of being assessed for ASD.
I might. Ive been suspected to have pddnos or aspergers. They said at several times that i have, at other times i have not got it. Neither are they sure about sz.
I have ptsd, psychosis, shyness/mild social issues, executive functioning issues and the world is very intense, overwhelming, complex in my eyes. Im slow to process things from fragments into a whole.
I am capable of empathy in less complex situations, and im more chaotic than rigid.emphasized text
I’m schizotypal and autistic. DSM says you cant be both both I’ve been diagnosed with both. I drove myself mad thinking about labels when I should have been concerned with treating various traits.
I found my autism diagnosis to be confusing because I didn’t behave like a book that was recommended to me said I would act (unable to interpret emotion, unable to live by myself and a long list of stupid things) But I think like an autistic person and am good at programming things that most neurotypicals can’t do.
Schizotypal doesn’t describe how I think but I feel like a schizotypal person (intense discomfort with people, suspicious, ideas of reference, etc) and those are not autistic traits. I test high on paranoia, delusions, ideas of persecution, antisocial ideas on the mmpi-2 and mcmi-iv.
I was intensely uncomfortable with an autism diagnosis and challenged it but have come to accept and embrace it. I was uncomfortable with schizotypal but accept and embrace it as well as a host of other mental disorders that the mmpi-2 and mcmi-iv says that i have.
Names are for dogs. Labels are for cans. Don’t worry about labels/names of disorders. You can drive yourself mad worrying about your diagnosis. A diagnosis is an OPINION.
I have been diagnosed as Aspergers by a clinical psychologist and I have been diagnosed as schizophrenic by over seven psychiatrists.
My mum thinks I have Aspergers and that that is all I have.
She refuses to accept schizophrenia diagnosis and says it’s my sensitivity that gets confused into schizophrenia.
@Truemist8, What was the basis of the sz or aspergers diagnosis ? FWIW, they said I was autistic based on 3 or 4 questions without any ‘extensive assessment’.
A lot of people get Asperger’s diagnosis in a single session.
I was hospitalised for psychosis on three occasions.
I had voices,paranoia,delusions.
Later my mum took me to a clinical psychologist a few times because she believes it is not schizophrenia.
She believes it is only Aspergers.
She thinks my psychosis and symptoms are because I am sensitive.
I am a programmer. I know bunches of aspie/autistic programmers. I dont know any of them that heard voices or had delusions. I have never heard voices. I don’t know anyone who has been inpatient for autism (high or low functioning) although depression seems to be more common among autistic folks and you can get hospitalized for that if it gets bad enough.
If you really want an answer on the aspie/high functioning autism thing, go see someone who specializes in it. I got that diagnosis because of a)visual learner, b)poor eye contact c)monotone voice, d)lack of interest in socializing.
I was asked to fill out a PHQ-9 and asked what ‘figidity’ meant and said people told me I made poor eye contact and displayed inappropriate facial gestures when people were talking to me and so that is how I landed in the mental health world.
I asked whether or social anxiety, odd dress/beliefs and such was common in autistic folks and the psych doc said yes. I asked how to tell the difference between autism and personality disorders and as far as I can tell, you can’t so I no longer care that much about the label.
The only thing thing the label means is if you have some license/background check that specifies it is forbidden to people with such and such disorder. That and if you get a diagnosis that tells law enforcement that you are trouble (paranoid or antisocial personality disorder)
The wikipedia page for sz said you can get a differential diagnosis of autism and sz. I am aware that some municipalities provide ‘disability services’ to autistic people if that matters to you.
Hope that helps.
Yeah, officially diagnosed with both now. The autism likely presented first when I was a kid, but was diagnosed much later than the SZ.
I’m diagnosed with autism but not officially schizo but I believe I have schizoaffective.
I don’t know really what to say about it besides they overlap a lot. I think my autistic behaviors and not being liked in school made me retreat more to my fantasy world. A lot of my autistic behaviors also play into negative symptoms. Like I noticed I suddenly withdrew more than ever before.
And my intense fixation on topics make it harder for me to move on from delusions. They just get stuck
I have both. I fall on the spectrum but the older I get the better it is. It’s hard to tell with my childhood I think because my behavior was very disorganized but I could focus on things like crazy. I do have social problems, for as long as I remember. It’s thought they have a link to each other.
I was diagnosed with possible asd as a child and sz as an adult. I think i the asd diagnosis was a misdiagnosis but since it was very mild it doesn’t matter
Thank you for your words.
The psychiatrist that specialises in autism that my mum was hoping would diagnose me as autistic instead of schizophrenic said I am in his opinion schizophrenic and not autistic.
My mum wants me to be autistic or truly believes that explains everything and is less of a stigma.
I have social difficulties but that’s due to schizophrenia I think.
I might have both too.
A clinical psychologist diagnosed me as autistic and psychiatrists as schizophrenic.
I was highly annoyed when I got diagnosed as autistic because I felt lumped in with certain types of behaviors that I did not exhibit. It took me a year to accept it. From time to time people comment on some of my mannerisms as being annoying and when I tell them that it’s an unconscious autistic tendency that I’m working in improving on, they seem much more accepting of my social issues.
I find many of my social difficulties have become much less tense by me accepting the autism diagnosis and being open about it. People find me to be much less offensive than they used to because they know that I’m to improve.
I am open about the fact that I required speech therapy for years before I could make a sentence and that I still have difficulties with speaking more than a few words at a time. If people know you are trying they will be much more accepting. If they think you are ignoring them or don’t talk to them out of contempt, that is where the problems start.
I think high functioning autism is a bit more difficult in some ways to handle than low functioning because people have little expectations of visibly low functioning people. Your mother is correct that there is less stigma with autism than other things because there is an ‘awareness’ campaign to destigmatize autism. I saw a ‘I love my autistic child’ bumper sticker on someone’s car outside my psych dr’s office…
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