Socializing

I am confused. I have been told by my support worker that she thinks I am very good at socializing and am skilled in this area, but believe me I am not!. It is all a fake. I told her this, that I put on an act and am really clueless, but she told me that everyone puts on an act in different situations and behaves more naturally with the nearest and dearest. However, I really can't believe that most people (apart from those with AS) face the same stress that socializing induces. My support worker is really nice and understanding, and I know she told me this in order to compliment me, but it only adds to my confusion.

My question is, Aspergers is defined as a problem with social skills, so if you are told your social skills are good, what does this mean? I think all of us with AS struggle with social skills, BUT, some of us, like myself, simply fake our personality and come across as better at socializing than we really are. It is all superficial. I am really very egocentric, and I admit that I am quite arrogant at times and look down on people who don't think the same way as I do or who don't follow the rules. I am so pedantic it is almost painful. But I keep quiet and don't tell people what I really think, apart from my parents!. People with AS are often described as tactless, which I can be, but most of the time I cover up my AS and am very polite, doing the thing that people expect instead of speaking my mind. This is why I 'pass for normal', because I am socially motivated enough to conform, more or less. But deep down, past my social exterior, I am emotionally immature, extremely narcissistic, and cannot compromise - I have to get my way.

I am seriously confused - who  am I really?

Parents
  • What do you mean by  'label' obscuring actual symptoms'?

    I just feel confused most of the time about my self-identity, who I am, what I have repressed. I guess I hate having to conform and be something I am not; I never know what is an 'act' and what is me. Sometimes I hate my polite voice, it feels so contrived, it is pure mimicry. Sartre once said that 'hell is other people' and I can see that he was right. Other people tell you what they think you are, but they don't really know you, they just see your character mask and never the conflict that goes on within. I know that I act 'inauthentically', to borrow from Sartre; I act according to convention, I yearn for identity, for a role, instead of being spontaneous and uninhibited. I cling to  thingness instead of existing for myself. I probably need psychoanalysis Undecided

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  • What do you mean by  'label' obscuring actual symptoms'?

    I just feel confused most of the time about my self-identity, who I am, what I have repressed. I guess I hate having to conform and be something I am not; I never know what is an 'act' and what is me. Sometimes I hate my polite voice, it feels so contrived, it is pure mimicry. Sartre once said that 'hell is other people' and I can see that he was right. Other people tell you what they think you are, but they don't really know you, they just see your character mask and never the conflict that goes on within. I know that I act 'inauthentically', to borrow from Sartre; I act according to convention, I yearn for identity, for a role, instead of being spontaneous and uninhibited. I cling to  thingness instead of existing for myself. I probably need psychoanalysis Undecided

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