What is Autism classified as?

RoseyLee said:

That makes so much sense now. Thank you!

You are welcome, I was diagnosed 3 years ago and have done a lot of reading and posting on this forum and I am working out what it means to me. It will seem different to you and you have to develop your own knowledge and skills to work out what you need to do to get the most out of life.

I've always felt inferior to others, different and an outcast, I thought nobody would ever understand me and I got into some quite serious lows. When it got bad I attempted to take my own life numerous times and even resorted to SH in my earlier teen and adult years. This is probably why Psychiatrists initially diagnosed me with Borderline Personality Disorder, despite being eventually diagnosed with ASD, the mental health team still refuse to recognise the Autism as my main diagnosis and I'm basically treated like a time waster, the crisis team are the same, they said that I had to learn positive coping mechanisms, and put into practice the 3 week DBT skills group which was pointless. 

Your main, treatable, mental health issue may indeed be BPD. Autism is not treatable as such but obviously any MH treatment has to take it into account. CBT and DBT are recognised as the most appropriate therapies for many people who have developed disorders as a consequence of their autism.

I think that it is important to learn positive coping strategies. When I first suspected that I had ASD I bought this book www.amazon.co.uk/.../1606236342 In my situation it did a lot to confirm my suspicions (that I had autism) but it also gave me the idea that you really could live well with autism. There is a lot of DIY stuff that you can do - autism is not like a lot of stuff that you will go to the doctors for. They can't hand out a treatment that you can just take some tablets and expect to be fixed. You have to figure out how to manage your own mind and your relationships.

I think that there may be an issue with DBT/CBT if one has a picky, critical mind ( a lot of people with autism have a tendency to pick things apart to see how things work) It will be easy to find fault with the therapy and be too sceptical about it. Some scepticism is good but you also have to accept that there may be something to be gained by working hard to find the good bits in a treatment rather than writing it off because it has some things which seem wrong to you.

If some of my comments are off target then please say so. I like to debate and learn from these discussions.

That makes so much sense now. Thank you! I've always felt inferior to others, different and an outcast, I thought nobody would ever understand me and I got into some quite serious lows. When it got bad I attempted to take my own life numerous times and even resorted to SH in my earlier teen and adult years. This is probably why Psychiatrists initially diagnosed me with Borderline Personality Disorder, despite being eventually diagnosed with ASD, the mental health team still refuse to recognise the Autism as my main diagnosis and I'm basically treated like a time waster, the crisis team are the same, they said that I had to learn positive coping mechanisms, and put into practice the 3 week DBT skills group which was pointless. 

Hi Rosey,

Welcome to the forum. Autism is related to the development and operation of the brain. In many cases (but not all) it is inherited and is sometimes easy to see 'eccentric' or otherwise odd behaviour in close relatives. It is a permanent thing but you might want to try and work out what is autism and what is something else. Many people arrive at a diagnosis after suffering problems (social or mental) that have arisen because someones autism was not recognised. An undiagnosed person may get very bad responses from people that they interact with and might withdraw or develop bad behaviours in response to this treatment. It is also possible for people with autism to be brought up in families where the parents are not diagnosed but their behaviour and methods of bringing up their children might be viewed as odd by 'normal' people (there is actually no such thing as a normal person, everyone is different) People with autism often struggle to fit into society until they can learn.It is common for newly diagnosed people to struggle with knowing what is autism, what is due to, or follows, from your autism, what is due to other people people treatment of you etc etc.

Autism is just one part of you, it should not perhaps define you. You will always be, and you should always remember to be, you.