Asperger's syndrome: Difference between revisions

People with Asperger's often experience difficulty socializing and blending in with [[normies]], often due to being bad with emotional recognition and expression, the condition sometimes being co-morbid or conflated with Prosopagnosia (face-blindness).<ref>https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/my-life-aspergers/201303/how-much-aspergers-is-really-face-or-emotion-blindness</ref>

On the other hand, they are often exceptionally good at recognizing patterns and investigating certain topics with intense focus. People with Asperger's are also vulnerable targets of [[PUA|pick up artists]] who scam them into buying into their ineffective programs, with Aspies being particularly susceptible to the "[[Attraction ambiguity problem]]".<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886918300941</ref>

The condition is named after Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician who first described the disorder in a medical context, dubbing the condition "autistic psychopathy"(in German the word "psychopathische" was often used to refer to any type of mental illness).<ref>''Die ‘Autistischen Psychopathen’ im Kindesalter'', Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten (1944), 117, pp. 76-136 German:http://www.neurodiversity.com/library_asperger_1944.html English translation:https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-97284-002</ref><ref>"The term psychopathy itself gained a specific and notorious meaning of a condition of amorality and anti-social or violent behavior. Such a morally pejorative concept is said to have not been intended by Koch; he had applied the term 'psychopathic' to mean originating from an organic defect in the brain, and the term inferiority to simply refer to dysfunction. However, it was probably his concept and terminology that provided the unfortunate conglomeration of aspects of inferiority, amorality and socially harmful behavior."https://peoplepill.com/people/julius-ludwig-august-koch/ </ref> Asperger is now a highly controversial figure due to revelations he contributed to the Nazi Aktion T4 'euthanasia' program,<ref>https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05112-1</ref> recent discovery of his role in the T4 program may have also been a factor in the redefinition of the disorder by the APA.

The parents of 190 adolescents with high and low functioning autism were surveyed to evaluate the adolescents' perspectives regarding sexuality.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262581068_Brief_Report_Parent-Child_Sexuality_Communication_and_Autism_Spectrum_Disorders</ref><ref> Graham Holmes, Laura & Himle, Michael. (2014). Brief Report: Parent-Child Sexuality Communication and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 44. 10.1007/s10803-014-2146-2</ref>

Overall this group showed a normal amount of desire for sexual relationships, but a disproportionately low capacity to achieve them.

44.6% of autistic men were found to be virgins among a sample with the average age being 35.7 years.  (Note: This figure is likely understating the number of ASD men who are incel, as there are a disproportionately higher number of homosexual/bisexual men with ASD compared to neurotypicals (NTs). The researchers lumped these men into a single group.)  

Autistic men were found to masturbate more and have a greater desire for a relationship than normal men. So their perpetual virginity couldn't be attributed to a lack of interest in sex. However, despite their strong desire for sexual relationships, only 16% of autistic men were in such a relationship while 82% of NT men were in a relationship. Thus, NT men were 5x more likely to be in a relationship than their autistic counterparts.

Autism did not so greatly reduce women's ability to find relationships with men, as 46% of women were able to have relationships, while only 16% of men were. It was also noted that Female ASD individuals were significantly younger at the time of first sexual intercourse (than males with ASD).

This may be due to autism reducing an individual's capacity for emotional interaction, but normal men also crave emotional interaction less than normal women, so this will disproportionately impair an autistic man's attempts to find a relationship vs. an autistic woman's. Another possible explanation is that autists, due to their atypical behavior and emotional recognition deficits, find it difficult to navigate complex social dominance hierarchies, and are also socially excluded because of these atypical behaviors. Due to women's preference for male status and the fact that men are expected to take the dominant, initiating role in sexual relationships, this would be expected to affect autistic men more than autistic women,<ref>https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-019-04101-1#aboutcontent</ref>

Autistic men were also burdened with a dramatically greater number of paraphilias which are considered socially taboo. These paraphilias which appear to be part of their disease state can only be imagined to make their difficulties in finding sexual and romantic success more difficult.

*''ASD men reported a greater sexual desire for sexual intercourse than their HC counterparts (P<0.05, Table III). ''

A study in 2013 examining a total of 2.3 million individuals born in Sweden in 1950-1970,<ref>https://incels.wiki/w/Scientific_Blackpill#Mental_disorders_significantly_reduce_male_fertility.2C_substantially_more_than_they_do_for_women</ref> using government health care records, found evidence for substantially lower fertility among sufferers of various mental illnesses. The fertility of the mentally ill was computed by measuring the fertility ratio (e.g. a FR of .5 would mean that the diseased group had on average half of the children of the general non-affected population, a FR of 2 would mean double the offspring on average) which reflected the mean number of children that individuals with various mental disorders had, as compared to control individuals of the same age and sex, also accounting for variables such as family size, affected status and parental status. The youngest individuals involved, at the time their data was recorded, were 40 years old, and had thus likely largely completed their reproductive careers.

The researchers found evidence of substantially strong selection pressure against autism with a male FR of .25 vs a female FR of .48. Since there is evidence that female autism is underdiagnosed due to the condition being stereotyped as male,<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/14/thousands-of-autistic-girls-and-women-going-undiagnosed-due-to-gender-bias</ref> it is even conceivable that many milder cases of autism in females go unnoticed, who presumably have higher reproductive success. This should imply that these figures only give us a lower bound on the sex difference in how autists are sexually disadvantaged.

Numerous studies show the harms of autism are painful to those who bear them. Autistic individuals are subjected to at least 4-5x as much bullying as normal children. Autistic children report 28x more suicidal ideation or suicide attempts compared to normal children.<ref> Dickerson Mayes S, Gorman AA, Hillwig-Garcia J, Syed E. 2013. Suicide ideation and attempts in children with autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. 7(1): 109-119. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1750946712000931</ref> Autistic adults report nearly 10 times as many suicidal thoughts.<ref> Collingwood J. 2018. Suicidal Thoughts 10 Times More Likely in Adults With Asperger’s. PsychCentral. https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/10/13/suicidal-thoughts-10-times-more-likely-in-adults-with-aspergers/76016.html</ref> Overall, people with autism are 7.53 times more likely to die by suicide, those with high-functioning autism having a greater risk of committing suicide than the low functioning, being 9.36 times more likely to commit suicide.<ref>Hirvikowski T, Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Boman M, Larsson H. 2016. Premature mortality in autism spectrum disorder. The British Journal of Psychiatry. 208(3): 232-238. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/premature-mortality-in-autism-spectrum-disorder/4C9260DB64DFC29AF945D32D1C15E8F2</ref>

A clinical cohort study of adults recently diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (N = 374, 256 men, 116 women) in 2014 found a much greater prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts/plans for suicide among adults with Asperger's as compared to the general population. Specifically, adults with Asperger’s syndrome are much more likely to report lifetime experience of suicidal ideation than were individuals from a general UK population sample (odds ratio 9.6), and 35% of respondents reported having planned their suicide.<ref>Cassidy S, Bradley P, Robinson J, Allison C, McHugh M, Baron-Cohen S. 2014. Suicidal ideation and suicide plans or attempts in adults with Asperger’s syndrome attending a specialist diagnostic clinic: a clinical cohort study. Lancet Psychiatry 1:142-147 https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanpsy/PIIS2215-0366(14)70248-2.pdf</ref>

==Neurodiversity vs autism as a pathology==

There is a debate in the autistic community as to whether or not high-functioning autism, in particular, should be treated as a health problem or not.  The "neurodivergent" or "neurodiversity" crowd maintain the label is stigmatizing, or they imply autism is good/neutral.  Those opposed to the "neurodivergent" and "neurodiversity" movements claim that these movements downplay the behavioral and social issues often found in those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

This suggests that much of the problems autistics face in social interactions may simply be due to difference in communication styles (especially non-verbal communication), shared interests and presentation styles vs neurotypical interaction partners, as the quality of the conversations were evaluated by TD subjects as being equally high in both groups.<ref>https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361319892701</ref>  

This suggests that autists may generally get on fairly well with each other, but differences in presentation style, flatter affect, and difficulty expressing expected dominant or submissive social dominance hierarchy based behaviors may cause even very high-functioning autists to be commonly be perceived as 'creepy', 'weird' or, more charitably, eccentric, leading to social exclusion and thus the social deficits the condition is known for.

A major controversial theory of the etiology (cause) of ASD is known as the extreme male brain theory. The theory first proposed by the world-famous autism researcher from the University of Cambridge, Simon Baron-Cohen, states that the major cause of ASD is excessive exposure to androgens (male sex hormones) during prenatal development. '''Baron-Cohen does not claim that persons with ASD are more 'masculine' then neuro-typicals, a point often lost on laymen'''. Baron-Cohen merely asserts that this 'extreme' masculinity takes form in a deficit of empathy in ASD individuals, as well as an increase in their mental tendency to attempt to systematize information they receive from the external environment, which a major cause of the obsessional interests and social deficits displayed by those with the disorder. The theory is supported by analysis on the amniotic fluid of children who were later diagnosed with ASD, which found evidence of elevated androgens (androstenedione and testosterone) in the placental fluid.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24888361?dopt=Abstract</ref> However, the relationship between these factors is likely complex; as later studies have also found evidence of elevated levels of estrogens in the pre-natal environment of those later diagnosed with autism<ref>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190729094538.htm/</ref>. This is likely partially due to the activity of the enzyme [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromatase aromatase] in the placenta, converting some of the androgens to estrogens, as there is animal evidence that pre-natal estrogens can have a "paradoxical" masculinizing effect in the right context.

The complementary imprinted brain theory puts psychotic spectrum disorders (such as schizophrenia) on the opposite end of a spectrum from ASD, purportedly resulting from a conflict in the genomic imprinting between paternal and maternal genes, with extreme genomic imprinting in favor of paternal genes being associated with ASD.<ref>https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201506/testing-the-extreme-female-brain-theory-psychosis</ref> This also corresponds with sex differences in empathizing vs systematizing<ref>https://www.pnas.org/content/115/48/12152?fbclid=IwAR0ngaYIo88A77EKpALefnsr54ZZpPWGbatCYNPBcC84HgcDGmsZ2c6VgB4</ref> which find females are generally higher in empathizing and males highest in systematizing, with autistic individuals of both sexes, typically displaying a more masculinized behavioral phenotype. These developmental theories are not necessarily mutually exclusive with the theories of ASD that attribute the etiology of the disorder to greater [[mutation|mutational load]].<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5895441/</ref>

There is some evidence that increasing deleterious [[mutation|mutational load]] in the population, mediated by advanced paternal age and also possibly by reductions in natural selection due to industrialization and modern medicine, is contributing to the increase in global autism diagnoses,<ref>https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/autism-spectrum-disorders</ref> that may not be fully explicable by the broadening of the diagnostic criteria of autism or increased awareness of the issue.  

Iossifov et al. (2015) found that 30% of cases of autism in simplex families (where only one immediate family member has the condition) arises from ''de novo'' (novel) mutations, often transmitted from the mother.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26401017/</ref><ref>https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2015/07/27/autism-risk-genes-success-with-the-simplex-approach/</ref> Taylor et al. found that simplex cases of autism were typically more problematic as compared to multiplex cases (multiple family members affected).<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1750946714002943</ref> Advanced parental age at birth also heightens the risk of ASD in offspring, with a possible mediating role of greater paternal age heightening the incidence of ''de novo'' mutations leading to ASD in offspring.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890856719301261</ref>

Some researchers have claimed that the lessened prevalence of autism in women, rather than being explicable by the extreme male brain theory, may be due to greater levels of mutational load possibly being required for the disorder to be symptomatic in females.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24581740</ref> This also implies that females who have the condition may exhibit stronger symptoms due to carrying more deleterious mutations than males with the condition. However, it is also claimed that the lesser female prevalence of the disorder may be due to higher-functioning female autists being more effective at 'masking' the socially disruptive symptoms of the condition.<ref>https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/females-are-genetically-protected-from-autism/</ref>

It could be that autism is largely a result of impaired brain regions that normally mediate social behavior, but a number of theories have been proposed that aspects of autism could be adaptive, meaning that it or related behavior patterns may have increased [[reproductive success]] in the past.

One theory suggests ASD represents a 'failed' instance of male mating strategies that can be seen in exaggerated forms in two somewhat similar disorders: ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and ASPD (Anti-Social Personality Disorder, commonly known as 'psychopathy').<ref name="risktol">https://www.academia.edu/36525083/ADHD_Autism_and_Psychopathy_as_Life_Strategies_The_Role_of_Risk_Tolerance_on_Evolutionary_Fitness</ref> All three disorders have low empathy in common. ADHD and ASPD in particular have a low arousal threshold (less or no fear, desire for extreme stimulation, very low inhibition) in common. Low empathy and arousal thresholds (i.e. higher activity levels) are likely adaptive in males, as they facilitate gaining dominance status and therefore access to women.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/BlackPillScience/comments/bnnr6r/teenage_boys_with_adhd_are_much_more_successful/</ref><ref>https://incels.wiki/w/Scientific_Blackpill#On_average.2C_women_are_attracted_to_the_Dark_Triad.E2.80.94narcissism.2C_manipulativeness.2C_.26_psychopathy</ref>

ASD males, do have low empathy, so they are hyper-masculine in that regard, but they have a ''high'' arousal threshold as they easily get overstimulated and then withdraw from dominance competitions.<ref name="risktol"></ref> This may, in part, explain, the poor reproductive success of autists.<ref>https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-019-00213-0</ref>

In a similar vein, Overskied (2016) argued that many powerful politicians throughout recent history, such as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former US president Lyndon B Johnson, and the former South African president Nelson Mandela, among many others, exhibited significant subclinical autistic traits, and argued increase in male [[reproductive success]] associated with this status could explain some of the apparent increase in the prevalence of ASD in recent times. Overskied attempted to explain the discrepancy in the diagnosis of the disorder by sex by noting the reproductive success associated with high status is typically only found in men, with women's high status decreasing their reproductive success. He claims these subclinical autistic behaviors shared a common cause with actual autism, pre-natal [[testosterone]] exposure, per Baron-Cohen's extreme male brain theory. He also stated that the high cortisol levels often found in autistics may serve to inhibit the expression of such socially dominant behaviors in them, whereas the powerful figures he claimed exhibited sub-clinical autistic traits may not be subject to such high cortisol levels.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5005963/</ref>

Other theorists have examined autism through a [[life history]] framework, claiming that autism represents an extreme slow [[life history]] strategy (later age of reproduction, slower growth, focus on acquiring resources instead of early reproduction, and so on), with autistic traits perhaps being associated with the acquisition of specialized skills that may have served to enhance the eventual reproductive success of individuals that bore these traits in human's ancestral past. Some research has indeed indicated that autistic traits are associated with other traits that reflect a slow life history strategy, while schizotypic traits were found to possibly reflect a fast life history strategy.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513814000580</ref>

The authors hypothesize that those with ASD have a more androgynous physical appearance but more masculine brains in regards to systematizing/empathizing. However, their findings are directly contradicted by another study using a similar methodology, which found that pre-pubescent children with ASD were more facially masculine and that those with more severe symptoms tended towards being the most masculinized, utilizing 3D face tracking software. <ref> https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09939-y#Sec17</ref>  

One of the explanations given by the authors of the newer study is that the first study examined adults, while theirs studied children. Social victimization and exclusion suffered by many autists results in higher levels of cortisol and the subsequent lowering of testosterone that results from high cortisol levels, leads to a higher Cortisol/T ratio, possibly producing an incomplete level of masculinization of the face and body during puberty.  Other explanations for this discrepancy the authors of the series of studies pointed to were possible methodological errors in the first study, and since autism is not a single concrete disorder and set of universal symptoms but a 'spectrum' of behaviors and neurological differences, there is the possibility that the autists higher in social deficits are the more masculinized ones, whereas those higher in systematizing and obsessive interests are not.

In accordance with the [[blackpill]] there is also some evidence that the social difficulties that those with ASD face do not only originate with the sufferer's social deficits but perhaps are substantially due to the negative perceptions of them by others.

An article in the scientific journal Nature<ref>https://www.nature.com/articles/srep40700</ref> presented a series of studies that demonstrated that when shown photos and clips of social interactions(filmed via a first-person perspective with a go pro camera) of a group of ASD versus neurotypical individuals. ASD individuals were as a group perceived as significantly less attractive, dominant, likable, and fun to 'hang-out' with. They were, however, perceived as roughly equally 'trustworthy', 'smart' and 'good to live near' compared to NT controls. Their findings also demonstrated that the "negative first impressions of adults with ASD occurred only when audio and/or visual information was present, and not when the transcript of their speech content was evaluated. This discrepancy suggests that social presentation style rather than the substantive content of social speech drove negative impression formation of individuals with ASD."

In seeming contradiction to the "extreme male brain" theory of the etiology of ASD, there is also evidence that ASD is associated with behavioral androgyny in both sexes. However, as stated above, the theory does not claim that those with ASD are more "masculine" in the sense that accords with cultural/biological definitions of masculinity. This theory merely proposes that exposure to excessive levels of androgens in the pre-natal environment is one of the main causes of the disorder, and this elevated androgen exposure is associated with traits that masculinize the brain of those with ASD in certain contexts, such as causing a lack of empathizing capabilities and a greater tendency toward systematizing (e.g. an extreme exaggeration of the general male tendency to be interested in "things" instead of "people").<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/38061313_Men_and_Things_Women_and_People_A_Meta-Analysis_of_Sex_Differences_in_Interests</ref><ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166361/</ref>  

Another study in 2010 found that those with ASD were 10 times more likely to be referred to a gender identity clinic than those in the general population.<ref>https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10803-010-0935-9</ref>. This poses a problem to the extreme male brain theory of autism because both sexes were equally likely to exhibit gender dysphoria. Whereas one would expect females to be dysphoric than males if the extreme male brain theory was valid. However, the authors state that this form of gender dysphoria may be atypical, and is possibly related to the obsessional interests often found in those in ASD.  

It was also found that, contrary to the majority of typically developing individuals with gender dysphoria, those in the study who exhibited both gender dysphoria and ASD were not attracted to their natal sex, but were attracted to individuals of the opposite birth sex. This may also be explained by the [[Trans-vestigiality hypothesis]], i.e. the idea that the social exclusion and sexual frustration often experienced by autistic males, in particular, may contribute to them 'transitioning' to female gender identity to gain access to women, via the evasion of direct competition with other males. They possibly also romantically benefit from the social cachét that progressive circles often confer upon transsexuals.

Some have also suggested that this much greater prevalence of gender dysphoria among autistics may be attributed to the higher rate of sexual paraphilias among autistics, as one of the causes of gender dysphoria is autogynephilia, or being sexually aroused by the thought of oneself being a woman. <ref>https://www.bitchute.com/video/GHSVtLYcS48/</ref> <ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3180619/</ref>

Even though some Asperger's do manage to get into relationships, possibly due to some making good [[betabux]], there is some anecdotal evidence that these relationships are often unstable, leading e.g. to some post-[[wall]] [[foid]] hating on her sperg ex-husband by writing an entire website on the ordeal titled "Heartless Aspergers".<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20190430010937/http://heartlessaspergers.com/</ref> The author conducted a survey collecting opinions of 43 women on their sperg husbands, many of which have been affirmative.  

Here are a few quote from said disgruntled [[wife|wives]] (also good evidence of [[female solipsism]]):

{{quote|After 23 years of marriage to an AS husband who is a [[betabux|good provider]] and [[nice guy|basically decent person]], all I can say is “DON’T DO IT. Run, run, run as fast as you can. You may love this person, but unless you also despise yourself, you need to leave the relationship as far behind you as possible.”}}

{{quote|What do we do about aspie men? Do we just name and shame them on a website so other women can avoid? And what about the issue of being a man enough to confess you are an aspie, on the first or second date? Shouldn’t that be mandatory? This is a psych condition that badly hurts women like me, after all. I think we have a right to know.”}}

{{quote|Aspergers men are a nightmare. I accidentally married someone with AS. And I stress ACCIDENTALLY, as I have seen the devastation that is “being” with one of these people. They should come with a warning and anyone displaying these behaviors should be tested in school so that us normal people don’t get trapped in something that ruins our lives. Yeah they’re all different yeah yeah, I know, some are worse than others. No one can be happy with these people. NO ONE. WHATSOEVER. Seriously. My life is devastated from one of these un-empathetic, desolate wasteland-of-emotions people. Learn to think like them? F*** that. That’s impossible and would require losing most of the characteristics that make us human, that allow us to connect to others.}}

When women as well as people in general talk about "fake nice guys" they may be referring to autistic (or ugly) males. Autists may naturally overestimate the optimal amount of pro-social communication/behavior most people generally prefer. Overly formal or polite behavior, which is often found among autists, is counter to establishing dominance. Sexually, women do tend to prefer "assholes". This may be hard to understand for autistics, who are claimed to be prone to black and white thinking.<ref>https://www.psychedconsult.com/blog/no-room-for-gray-here</ref>

One study developed 3 key tips for autistic online daters:<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563219301566</ref>

*"Further, similar to speed-dating studies with typical adults, participants matched from speed-dating events led to electronic communication between couples, and dates for approximately one third of matches."

*"the content of participants’ conversations felt formal to an outside observer"