TerryJ2
Well-Known Member
The therapist and I are concerned that difficult child is exhibiting more antisocial personality traits than Asperger's. We can't tell if it's the medications (he's been off of Abilify for 10 days, and he had smoked pot, so he had some awful behaviors where the two drugs mixed) or if it's typical teen X 100, or if he's becoming more entrenched into his way of thinking. The therapist said time will tell.
Of course, I'm reading every stupid thing out there ... but my gut reaction is that difficult child's manipulation is too blatant and stupid to be sociopathic. He is not smooth. He is pushy. And he gets taken advantage of by "Friends," but won't admit it because he wants to fit in. That does not sound sociopathic.
But he really couldn't care less about other people's feelings, i.e. anyone at home, incl the dogs ("Get out of my way").
When he does something spectacularly nice, like when he texted me that he was sorry about my dad dying, I am thrilled, but a part of me is suspicious. Then again, what would he gain by saying something nice like that? It's not like I'm going to buy him a video game because he said he was sorry my dad died.
So many of the traits are so similar. Especially the fundamental lack of impulse control.
Anyway, here's an interesting link I found, when I should have been cleaning my office or weeding the garden ...
http://healthland.time.com/2012/04/...tism-and-antisocial-personality-in-the-brain/
I also found this discussion:
BACKGROUND: There is an overlap between the symptoms of psychopathy and autism
spectrum disorders. AIM: To contribute to an adequate differential diagnosis of
these disorders. METHOD: We reviewed the literature with the help of PubMed,
using as key words: 'empathy', 'psychopathy', 'autism', 'aggression' and
'antisocial' for the period 1980-2004. We also consulted papers listed in the
bibliographic references for these articles. RESULTS: Empathic deficit is a core
symptom of both disorders. In psychopathy there
are signs of an emotional empathic deficit, an inability to feel along with
another person (insensitivity). Research into autism spectrum disorders points to a cognitive
empathic deficit, an inability to take the perspective of another person
(innocence). The antisocial behaviour that can accompany both disorders
might be due to the type of empathic deficit. In psychopathy the antisocial
behavior often involves insensitive manipulation and exploitation of another
person. In autism spectrum disorders there is sometimes antisocial behaviour
which could be caused partly by incorrect evaluation of social situations. In
both psychopathy and autism spectrum disorders dysfunctioning of the
orbitoftontal cortex and the amygdala is often mentioned as a possible cause of
empathic deficit. CONCLUSION: An accurate diagnosis of the type of empathic
deficit involved could help to differentiate psychopathy from autism spectrum
disorders. Good diagnostic tools are not yet available.
Of course, I'm reading every stupid thing out there ... but my gut reaction is that difficult child's manipulation is too blatant and stupid to be sociopathic. He is not smooth. He is pushy. And he gets taken advantage of by "Friends," but won't admit it because he wants to fit in. That does not sound sociopathic.
But he really couldn't care less about other people's feelings, i.e. anyone at home, incl the dogs ("Get out of my way").
When he does something spectacularly nice, like when he texted me that he was sorry about my dad dying, I am thrilled, but a part of me is suspicious. Then again, what would he gain by saying something nice like that? It's not like I'm going to buy him a video game because he said he was sorry my dad died.
So many of the traits are so similar. Especially the fundamental lack of impulse control.
Anyway, here's an interesting link I found, when I should have been cleaning my office or weeding the garden ...
http://healthland.time.com/2012/04/...tism-and-antisocial-personality-in-the-brain/
I also found this discussion:
BACKGROUND: There is an overlap between the symptoms of psychopathy and autism
spectrum disorders. AIM: To contribute to an adequate differential diagnosis of
these disorders. METHOD: We reviewed the literature with the help of PubMed,
using as key words: 'empathy', 'psychopathy', 'autism', 'aggression' and
'antisocial' for the period 1980-2004. We also consulted papers listed in the
bibliographic references for these articles. RESULTS: Empathic deficit is a core
symptom of both disorders. In psychopathy there
are signs of an emotional empathic deficit, an inability to feel along with
another person (insensitivity). Research into autism spectrum disorders points to a cognitive
empathic deficit, an inability to take the perspective of another person
(innocence). The antisocial behaviour that can accompany both disorders
might be due to the type of empathic deficit. In psychopathy the antisocial
behavior often involves insensitive manipulation and exploitation of another
person. In autism spectrum disorders there is sometimes antisocial behaviour
which could be caused partly by incorrect evaluation of social situations. In
both psychopathy and autism spectrum disorders dysfunctioning of the
orbitoftontal cortex and the amygdala is often mentioned as a possible cause of
empathic deficit. CONCLUSION: An accurate diagnosis of the type of empathic
deficit involved could help to differentiate psychopathy from autism spectrum
disorders. Good diagnostic tools are not yet available.
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