Customer Reviews

Discovering My Autism: Anxiety, Aggression, Depression and ADHD ¿ A Biopsychological Model with Guidelines for Diagnostics and Treatment

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Edgar Schneider's writing very convingly illustrates the fallacy of the common misperconception that high functioning individuals lack the ability to think abstractly. Drawing from his immense reservoir of knowledge of the humanities and his professional field of mathematics, Schneider draws parallels that few scholars could hope to match.

One problem that I had as a reader was with the task of separating Schneider's own story and functioning from his generalizations and observations about autism across the larger affected population. For example, Schneider repeatedly explores his experience that he represents as largely devoid of emotion (although he does acknowledge a great deal of anxiety associated with uncertainty). Such an absence of affect is, however, far from a uniform characteristic among all autistic individuals. While most autistic individuals tend to be somewhat limited in their EXPRESSION of emotion, this is does not mean that--as appears to be the case with Schneider--it does not exist among a spectrum of others. Schneider does show a great deal of sympathy for Temple Grandin's idea that autism is reflected on a continuum. However, this point, although it is made abstractly, may not come through as strongly as one could have hoped.

Schneider's insight into the "neurotypical" world is impressive, and he makes some some sharp points--albeit occasionally with some repetition. His language and sense of humor are also quite refreshing--especially his wise-cracks. For someone who supposedly thinks of women largely in the intellectual sense, he does come across as having at least a slightly dirty mind when he reflects on the only activity in which the performers get to rate their own performance.

In as much as there are parts of the book to which even I--as someone with a very high functioning case of of Asperger's Syndrome--have difficulty relating, there are passages in the book where I could have cried. And I have to feel a certain kind of brotherhood with someone who shares my fondness for footnotes that frequently run several to the page!

I would recommend it to anyone looking for an inside view written from a fresh perspective. Not only does Ed give an inside view but I learned many, many helpful things besides. If you liked Temple Grandin's books you will love this one!

I found this book interesting on several levels. It illustrated autism in a way that I as a non-autistic person could relate to and feel. I read the book at the suggestion of an autistic friend. Since that time, I have met several families with high-functioning autistic children. It not only let me see them in a different light than I would have had I not read the book, but the book was appreciated and helpful to the parents, as well.

Schneider paints pictures with words and the range of feelings that I experienced while reading the book went from laughter to tears and back again. The book let me see that people with this diagnosis are not autistic people, but people with autism.

This is one of the best autobiographies in re the autism/Asperger's (a/A) spectrum I have ever read. Schneider, who is plainly a gifted man shatters the myth that people with autism are unable to think abstractly. A scholar in the humanities and in his own condition, Schneider draws upon a myriad of resources to support his findings. His background in mathematics and extensive knowledge and research of matters scientific is on a scholarly plane.

Still, Schneider is very inclusive in his writings. He compliments his readers' intelligence by sharing his knowledge; at no time does he deviate from plain speech.

Schneider discusses the paradoxical aspects of autism. One tired myth is that people with autism lack emotion. That is just not true. Autism is a sensori-neurobiological condition that affects sensory processing and communication to varying degrees. It is a chiefly sensory condition and for many people on the spectrum, emotions can be frightening and overwhelming. Many people compensate by displaying a "poker face" rather than give rise to the intensity of their own emotions and responses to stimuli. That is very common among the a/A population.

Show me a person on the a/A spectrum who doesn't hate surprises and having to cope with having things sprung on them and I'll show you a bulldog that flies. For many people with autism, surprises can be very threatening and not knowing what the desired response to same is can make for some tricky social navigation.

However, not all autistics have a limited display of emotion, just as not all autistics think in pictures. Broad generalizations can be very misleading, but I don't get the sense of that with this book.

Autism IS a continuum - its spectrum partner, Asperger's Syndrome is also considered by some to be a form of high functioning autism (HFA). Whether or not Asperger's is HFA, the fact remains that Asperger's IS a form of autism and for any individual on the a/A spectrum, there will be overlapping behaviors and sensory reactions.

Schneider probes into the neurotypical (NT) world with brilliance and logic. He is also very funny and many of his trenchant observations are quite witty. While some may find his risque humor offensive, it can be interpreted as being all in fun and not meant to be taken seriously.

This is a book for everyone, especially people on the a/A spectrum. Many people with Asperger's, will feel a bond with Schneider. He is the voice of reason and explanation; he is the professor with the a/A curriculum. This book is moving; funny; serious; intense; gritty; strong and brilliant. Parts of it might even make you cry. Many parts are uproariously funny. It is a book that will be loved, treasured and savored. Readers will find themselves thinking about this book and author long after they have turned the last page.

Edgar's book is written in small digestible chunks although this is more a book of essays than a flowing narrative. His essays, from a social philosophical stance are interesting, often punctuated with a wry if not cynical wit and his intelligence is clearly quite piercing. I most certainly agree with his comparison of people on the spectrum to cats and, myself, write of 'cat people' in our majority 'dog-person' world and its 'dog-person' social structures.

I'd have preferred, however, to read this as Edgar writing about his own perceptions and experiences without his presumption that his experiences and perceptions define all people's autism (referring to 'all autistics').

The autism field is an evolving field and authors on the spectrum don't need to all be psychologists (it'd be boring and one color if we all were) but do need to have extensive and broad experience of people across the entire spectrum when making generalisations. When they make these presumptions it can detract from the very interesting and valid points they have to make about their own system of functioning and perhaps the applicability this has to those in their particular but significant subgroup.

Having worked with around 600 people on the spectrum over 8 years in the capacity of a qualified teacher diagnosed with autism working as a consultant, I found that Edgar's experiences and perceptions held well for a percentage of those people but not any majority. In this respect his book will certainly inform anyone looking to understand children who fit the 'Mr Spock' mold in which they rely primarily on intellect not sensing and navigate their social world without emotion.

However, even given that stereotype, it can be misapplied to a range of people who actually don't fit it. For example, those with face blindness may consistent react in an emotionally flat manner because even familiar people appear as strangers. Those with severe Scotopic Sensitivity can have such fragmented visual perception they are unable to cohesively process facial expression or body language and so may also fail to respond emotionally yet this is no actual reflection on their capacity to feel emotionally for others. Those with Central Auditory Processing Disorder may fail to get enough consistent meaning from speech to be moved by what others say or only have good enough receptive processing to grasp language on a purely literal level and again this does not equate with being socially emotionless. Those who lack a multi-track capacity to simultaneously process a sense of self and a sense of other may also struggle severely to adapt empathically to the actions and utterances of others and again this is no reflection on their capacity to feel emotions on a social level even though, in the moment, these may fail consistently to be expressed. And there are certain dyspraxias that can limit some people's capacity to connect emotion to their own facial expression or body language and these people, if non-verbal and unable to type are constantly wrongly assumed to be socially emotionless. Those with acute OCD or Tourette's tics may be so harried by their impulse control disorders they have little time to do social-emotional processing and their compulsive disorders can easily be mistaken for lack of empathy. The same can be said of those with depression unable to care about their impact on others any more than they are able to care about themselves or those with bipolar who in manic states lack such a degree of impulse control they may be seen as unempathic. None of these is the same as social emotionlessness and all can and do occur in significant percentages of people on the autistic spectrum with these things labelled part of their 'autism'.

So we have to very very careful when assuming all of these people fit the social emotionlessness of the 'Mr Spock' mold. Just because someone diagnosed with HFA or Asperger's assumes these people are all 'like them' doesn't mean that they, like any onlooker, isn't failing to go beyond the surface behaviors and surface appearances and dare to find that there's a far greater diversity in there than they imagined.

In my experience, however, the Mr Spock stereotype may be more representative of those at the Asperger's and HFA end of the spectrum as many other people with autism are reactionary and physical more than logical, relying on the mapping of pattern, theme and feel and and struggle to hold complex mental ideas and juggle them in their heads yet can be of equal (but usually unrecognised) intelligence to those who fit the Mr Spock mould Edgar (and Temple Grandin) represent well.

Many of the artworks, eloquent poetry and writings of non-verbal people with autism (who have proven the independence of their typing) express a reality far different to this, often one of not of the purely intellectual connection Edgar writes of, but deep emotional connection to others that has, until typing, been unable to be expressed so Edgar's work has to be understood in that context. Given a significant number of people with autism are now being found to have co-morbid bipolar as part of their autism, it is equally hard to imagine Edgar's model strongly applies to these people.

When Edgar casts those with the solitary personality trait (the extreme of which is Schizoid Personality Disorder, which is associated with Social Phobia and fear of emotion and intimacy)out of the autistic circle as he sees it, he also overlooks the fact that this is a natural personality trait that may well be more common in people on the spectrum than he envisions or is comfortable with. Just because he doesn't fit that group, doesn't instantly mean those in that group are not as 'purely autistic' as him. Under extreme chronic stress, as is such with severe processing disorders, it isn't surprising a percentage of people with autism who do have the solitary or avoidant personality traits actually will be socially phobic, have acute social anxiety disorders and fit the Schizoid or Avoidant Personality Disorder criteria and yet be just as autistic as those, like Edgar and Temple Grandin (as he liberally quotes her as being 'like him'), who do not.

I'd have like him to compare this 'social emotionlessness' by which he defines autism with this same widely studied deficit in psychopaths. Whilst a given percentage of brain scans (and certainly not a majority) of those with autism have been found to show damage or atrophy in the areas associated with processing emotion, the majority of psychopaths who underwent the same types of brain scans showed this too. This is not in any way to say people on the autistic spectrum are psychopaths, but this social emotionlessness does add up to one having a choice to intellectually choose to care, or not and the motivation to choose one way or the other may have much to do with which personality traits someone inherits.

Someone with the social emotionlessness Edgar writes of could inherit traits that drive extreme morality (and Edgar clearly highly values his strongly developed and unquestionable morality) in which case they will likely never behave like psychopaths. But others may inherit the self-confident/narcissistic and adventurous/antisocial traits in which case they may well be at far greater risk of psychopathy even if they are on the autistic spectrum. The cases of mass murderers Martin Bryant and Thomas Hamilton come to mind, both of whom have been considered to be 'on the spectrum'. This is not to say someone like Edgar could EVER be 'like that' but this may come down to which collection of personality traits differed as the social emotionlessness seems unavoidably comparable. Similar could be said of the work of Jeanette Purkis (Aspie author of Finding A Different Kind of Normal) who faced this same issue of social emotionlessness without Edgar's natural morality. After years of imprisonment, she came to an awareness of making a choice based on logically not wanting to be on the receiving end of her own types of behaviors.

Psychopathy is not unheard of in individuals on the spectrum, as the work of Dennis Debault informs us. This is where the purist stance of 'all people with autism are X, Y, or Z' falls down because whilst the autisms of all people on the spectrum are
like 'fruit salads', the ingredients of those fruit salads can be simple or complex and can differ so dramatically under the label. A significant percentage of people on the spectrum will NOT have Edgar's social emotionlessness.

Nevertheless, what Edgar writes is quite representative of a significant number of adult men on the autistic spectrum who may go on to live independently and marry. In this regard I would certainly recommend this book to those in this group and their partners as an excellent resource in understanding expectations and the limitations of counseling based on non-autistic assumptions of the person with autism needing to 'work on their emotions'.

... Donna Williams
autistic author of 9 books in the field of autism.

Well, I was looking for the perspective of someone with autism and I guess that's what I got. The book (especially the last few chapters) was helpful in terms of giving me a glimpse of what my son has to and will be dealing with as he grows up. About 3/4 of the book is highly intellectual to the point of being more of a "see what I can accomplish" as opposed to being really valuable and useable for the average reader...but I suppose there's a certain value in that as well. If you know a lot about opera and the Bible, you might give it more than my 3 stars.

As the parent of a teenage daughter with autism, I found this book to be invaluable in understanding how my daughter's mind works. Before reading this book I was puzzled by some of her behaviours and her reactions to certain situations. By describing his thought processes, Edgar made it much easier for me to understand and more importantly ACCEPT how and why my daughter does the things she does. This book is invaluable to anyone trying to unravel the autistic mind. Bless you Edgar!

I am a mother of a 15 year old ASPIE married to a AS spouse. This is probably one of the 'best" books I have read coming from a parent and a adult married to a AS spouse.

Edgar makes me think and pause and yet think again. He is articulate with superior communication skills. His analogy to having AS or being married to someone that is blind is food for thought for all of us living in a non spectrum world. He has a quick wit and cuts to the chase. If you want to know, "HOW" AS can affect someone that has it or is involved in a in a mixed marriage, relationship or friendship without knowing it, this books is a "must" read.

I am a mother of a 15 year old ASPIE married to a AS spouse. This is probably one of the 'best" books I have read coming from a parent and a adult married to a AS spouse.

Edgar makes me think and pause and yet think again. He is articulate with superior communication skills. His analogy to having AS or being married to someone that is blind is food for thought for all of us living in a non spectrum world. He has a quick wit and cuts to the chase. If you want to know, "HOW" AS can affect someone that has it or is involved in a in a mixed marriage, relationship or friendship without knowing it, this books is a "must" read.

I am a mother of a 15 year old ASPIE married to a AS spouse. This is probably one of the 'best" books I have read coming from a adult married to a AS spouse.

Edgar makes me think and pause and yet think again. He is articulate with superior communication skills. His analogy to having AS or being married to someone that is blind is food for thought for all of us living in a non spectrum world. He has a quick wit and cuts to the chase. If you want to know, "HOW" AS can affect someone that has it or is involved in a in a mixed marriage, relationship or friendship without knowing it, this books is a "must" read.