Published on 12, July, 2020
I've been wondering about this for a while...I used to be very depressed but when I looked up the diagnostic criteria, my symptoms never really matched, I used to look up different types of depression too but none of them sounded like me. I went to a professional too and they also said I probably don't have it until I talked about suicidal thoughts, then they gave me a prescription. It all made me feel like an imposter. I had many symptoms but either they fluctuated too greatly and were not as persistent as the criteria says, or I never had the right combinations of symptoms or my experience didn't match with the described experience of that type of depression.
So, was it autism that was doing this?
Autistic depressive symptoms may have something to do with hypoactivity (under activity) of the dopamine reward network in the brain. The dopamine reward network facilitates social contact and is the neurochemical mechanism of action of the extroverted brain. Extroverts have more dopamine motivating them to enter social situations like crowds which then causes them to have an advantage over introverts in that they are more socially experienced therefore less anxious because they have that extra dopamine that pushes them to experience uncomfortable things which over time them become more comfortable hence why extroverts appear as though they don’t get anxious when actually they do it’s just that they tend to be more socially experienced. That’s all. Higher social experience leads to less anxiety hence why exposure therapy is the leading treatment for social phobia.