Risking hurting people or risking making people uncomfortable is the main reason I mask. It’s horrible knowing that your natural way of being and communicating makes most people uncomfortable. I think the best thing our allies can do, particularly when a person is in the process of unmasking, is when an autistic person says or does something that makes you uncomfortable or even hurt, ask “when you said [], it made me feel []. was that your intention?” (Fill in the brackets as the situation dictates). This allows us to communicate what our intention actually was whilst acknowledging the resulting feelings.
They hurt us EVERY. Single. Day. Many times a day. They have no issues letting US know WE make THEM feel uncomfortable. It's classic DARVO and I'm over it. If they're willing to tell me to change for their comfort, I'm willing to throw it right back at them.
@@CreativeMagique they need understanding, but so do you. Prosising life differently from others means to you there odd to them your odd. You are the minority thou most people view the difference odd. People conform its what we do so not being able to make you stand out.
Masking is like being an undercover spy or in the closet. A constant state of hyper vigilance to keep up an image, that is exhausting and eventually you just burn out! The 24/7 performance anxiety and adrenaline is a brutal way to live.
I was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD at age 49. As much as a revelation that was I still felt something was still hidden after the initial relief. I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m actually autistic and Dr Price’s (audio)book has been a huge assist in my finally unmaking at age 51. So grateful for this book.
Thanks for posting this talk. I'm autistic, and was formally diagnosed very late at 57. One big reason to seek formal diagnosis is to gain accomodation when you need medical care. Autistic people have much shorter lifespans on average than neurotypical people. I suspect part of this is because of how stressful medical settings are for us. The sights, sounds and touching by strangers. The often unpleasant, even terrifying proccedures. The small-talk, chit-chat and medical humor so often used by Drs and nurses to ease anxiety of ordinary people can be hell for us. There's a huge power imbalance in these settings as well between patient and Doctors, something most autistic struggle with - It's the whole difficulty with social hierarchies / unspoken "repect" for those "above us" thing. My current GP and I don't have a good relationship because I'm always questioning her recomendations. Not because I don't respect her, but because I'm autistic. I'm a bottom-up processor. I need to know why something is necessary. Dr.s generally hate being questioned by patients. All of this leads some of us to avoid medical care reflexively, with potentially dire consequences. Now that I have a formal diagnosis of "Autism Spectrum Disorder" at the top of my chart, I'm (usually) taken seriously when I tell medical personel that I'm autistic, and have support needs. I feel a little safer around these people and their torture chamb....er...waiting and exam rooms. I'm more likely to seek, demand, and get care that's more autism freindly. In a similar vein, a lifetime of bad experiences with mental health providers has me at an impasse right now. I feel like I could benefit from psychotherapy that's specifically tailored to helm me identify and manage the social and emotional challenges I face as an older autistic man. I'm reluctant to see any therapist who isnt #actuallyautistic however. Psychotheraphy in general is of questionable utility for nuerotypical people dealing with depression and axiety. It's generally predicated on "normalization" of behavior. That's the opposite of what autistic people need. It's anti-support. Seeking treatment from non-autistic therapists, however well meaning is like seeking theraphy for the challenges that come with being queer or trans from a cis gendered straight therapist will probably do more harm than good. Non autistic therapists have as much ability to form an accurate "theory of mind" about us as we do about neurotypical people. Without an accurate theory of mind, therapists are unable to put themselves in their patient's shoes. To empathize with their plight, and to offer feedback that's suppportive in meaninful ways. It's a big problem. When I specifically requested an autistic therapist from Kaiser's regional autism coordinator, she was taken aback. Her response was: "Therapists are not required to disclose their diagnosis" My question in return was "Why not? I'm expected to disclose my most intimate thoughts and details of my life - shouldn't they be obligated to do the same with me?" Again, it's a power thing. As an autistic person, I've been on the wrong side of such power dynamics most of my life. I've learned that it's not safe to be around nuerotypical people when such imbalances exist.
I’m crying. Everything I’ve read and heard makes me wonder if I also have autism. I keep asking for help though. I keep saying, why is everything so hard. I still get scolded about my eye contact, if not enough I’m staring too much. I don’t know when I’m being annoying. I’m trying so hard. I was dx’ed ADHD this last year at 32, that explained a lot, noises, stimming, breakdowns in bright crowded places. I’ve always had issue with foods and clothing, and so much more and have so many systems. My son has autism which I have a lot of the same sensory stuff as him. I just feel like life and school and work and relationships are a video game and got stuck on hard mode. It hurts. It hurts me physically and emotionally. I’m so tired.
I remember crying to my dad when he was tucking me into bed. I said I felt like I have so many different masks I have to put on, and he said everyone does that.
This booked changed my life. I’m so excited to have this video as a resource to show friends and family members who don’t have time/ability to read the book. I really think this information will help us understand ourselves and each other better. Thank you so much!!
Such a good podcast!! Im a 35 yo ex British Army Soldier, was diagnosed with ADHD (CT) earlier this year and have an ASD assessment next Wednesday..,.. I have never been so nervous about anything in my life.... 🙈😭
Me too. I was really surprised to find another person who had to go through all the stuff he talked about in the introduction. Really well put in ways even I couldn't word before.
I'm halfway through Unmasking Autism right now and I love it! I'm 52 and have only just recently put things together and understood that I am autistic. I was sort of half-ass ADHD diagnosed at 35, and I think that is an actual misdiagnosis rather than an overlapping condition. I have been masking my Autism from myself for so long that there is a lot to unpack. The stages of accepting late diagnosis (even self DX) really are like Dr Price stated.
Love his mind and thought process. I really am inspired by him. I want to help others drawing from the things I've went through and going through. I respect you so much 🌈 💜
The most unrelatable part of this video is the fact that his ceiling fan isn't on. I'm a 35 year old woman who is just, in the last year or so, discovering my own autism. Media like this has been instrumental in putting the puzzle pieces in place.
Sir my child is 3 and half years old. Not able to speak. Not able to understand many thing. But still understands many things. Not able to communicate. Please help and suggest.
Time to grow up. Probably the reason psychiatry has "relented" on trans issues is it is a means of socially homogenizing the visual appearance of heterosexuality and of sterilizing undiagnosed autistic females. People want puberty blockers young so desperately for the most part because they're still living under the roof of the parent who is rejecting their sexual orientation. So in other words it's an attachment strategy. We've been horribly mistreated by Medicine, which need not have enmity for us if it would advise us for example that as young adults we have developmental incapacities to enter into contracts (such as marriage) and that ASD is a prognostic certainty for postpartum (the mechanism of behavioral heritability). The reason there's so much overlap between homosexual orientation and autism is that first trimester androstenedione selects for trait homosexuality in both sexes as an adrenal response to the anxiety of keeping an unwanted pregnancy. As a side note the irony of pro-lifers deciding it's okay to mutilate kids it would have been wrong to terminate when their same-sex attraction begins to emerge in puberty cannot be overstated. Postpartum psychosis is of course a wish for the child to become "unborn", so there's significant overlap. ASD females trying to believe they have some "genetic" disability that of course can present with unknown severity have had no business babytrapping to secure their own futures at the expense of their unborn children but I do see it as more of a social failure than a personal one as we are emotionally unindividuated as young adults. AAMOF it is an evolutionarily adaptive postponement of ego development, and although it likely goes badly more frequently than it goes well it does enable us to survive families of origin that didn't tolerate the emergence of our autonomy long enough to get away from them and try to raise ourselves. Unfortunately one rarely hears of those who have done it successfully as it should be obvious the vast majority of autism in the world is undiagnosed unaware and intellectually compensating. Successful individuation implies becoming subclinical. I think there's some evidence Parkinson's is end-stage autism and very strong evidence autistic catatonia (burnout) is misdiagnosed as early onset dementia then treated with contraindicated antipsychotics which hasten decline and confirm those misdiagnoses. Clearly the geriatric dementias are end-stage egodecompensatory regressions in lifelong undiagnosed psychotic illness, in the 80% of Alzheimer's patients who are female and 75% of autistic and schizophrenic patients who are male indicate natural selection's prioritization of the primary attachment figure's relative mental health during her childbearing years. Those diagnosed in childhood become viable proxies as Munchausen is an inevitable sequela of untreated postpartum and their diagnosis is actually the insulting stressor psychogenic to that stage of the progression or that complication depending on whether this is an autistic mother becoming borderline or one who's been an abusive narcissist all along. What's clear is that psychiatry claims there's no such thing as an adult onset PD but refuses to diagnose them until adulthood because diagnosing BPD or ASPD in an adolescent exposes clinicians to malpractice liability for having not previously diagnosed ASD in the same patient. As if any of their ASD treatments even work... which is a little less surprising when you realize they apparently overlook a significant number of existing patients. Gay autistic man here and I just have to say nothing could have been less neurodiverse than the borderlines and sociopaths who really do think they're still just autistic (and call themselves The ASD Community) needing to tear other autistics down by kicking asperger out of the club so badly they didn't even notice Hitler's autism in the process. I can understand a person having identity issues but an identity is not the same thing as an orientation. Binary gender isn't transphobia--it's just a necessity and consequence of sexual reproduction. The clear evolutionary purpose of trait homosexuality is diversion from the parenting pool without imposing the inefficiency of our hypothetical sterility onto a heterosexual partner's fertility. So it fits with the rest of medicine's omniscience that they are directly contravening the natural order by trannying us up. As an attachment strategy in toddlers rejected for their physical sex it made some sense, but rejected gay adolescent boys and undiagnosed autistic females trying to separate from the displaced rage toward their mothers they internalize as self-hatred have no business being induced to transgender delusion. Gender identity is a false equivalency to sexual orientation and has made more of a mockery of it than the "bisexuals" (psychopaths misperceiving their opportunism) already had. You do know that the intersection of insanity and ignorance is irrationality, right? Calling it inclusivity has been foolhardy in an omnivorous species which regulates its masks of sanity by dropping them with regard to culturally-designated ideological outgroups as a consequence of civilization obviating our need of interspecies predation. Undoubtedly my mother would have seen turning me trans as a way to fix my gayness and I would have thought it was my own idea too. The difference wasn't that it couldn't be done, it's that my parents (who never treated me the same again after I told them) were barely outside the window of acceptability to disown me. After asking me if I was sure this might never change (when I hadn't been trying to talk about it in the first place I just didn't lie when I was outed) my stepmother told me "well you don't have to have to worry Eddie's decided he's not going to throw you out or anything". Decided! Or anything! I was 15 and had already been in boarding school 3 years so being any more thrown out meant getting molested at covenant house. The only way the gay and autistic lots in life will ever improve for us as individuals and as persistent populations is to get honest about what we are why. IT'S OUR INFANTILIZED DENIAL FANTASIES THAT GET US GOT. Strength of character to drop the vulnerability is the ONLY thing that will send this type of emotional vampirism back to making emotional bloodbags of outsiders by way of fixed political and religious delusion. IT'S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER NO PARENT OF A GAY KID WILL EVER WANT A GAY KID NO MATTER WHAT IT'S SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE FOR THEM TO SAY OR DO BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T WANT THE PREGNANCY IN THE FIRST PLACE. That it's an anxiety response has been known for DECADES, and what the anxiety is about becomes empirically obvious when you just get fucking real with yourself as you think it through. Child sacrifice (currently iterated as gay and autistic suicidality) absolutely persisted through the era of animal sacrifice as indicated by the abrahamic filicidal impulse on Sinai using Isaac to over-correct damage to his reputation for schwarzeneggering his maid when it was of course (probably autistic) Ishmael he'd wanted to kill. Guess the rabbis didn't understand that a family's best goat was worth more than the child chosen as a disturbed parent''s split off persecuted aspects of self when they thought that would put a stop to it. So hell yeah Psycho Abe found a way to parlay that shit into divine favor for obedience to his made up god. As a psychologist you should be able to figure out that schizophrenia is nothing more than an uncontextualized ego discontinuity, decompensation is basically the opposite of Stockholm syndrome, and autism is only psychosis for nonseparation from a psychotic mother (who tends to regulate a mask of sanity for the rest of the world and her other children at the scapegoat's expense). Sounds like it was a little different in your family and that's entirely possible as lots of families have more than one autistic kid. I got news for you though any of them getting dementia were not autistic. Perhaps misdiagnosed and no better narcissistic mask than autistic "empath"🙄 but I would think you would know the difference. Harder to be objective about one's own family I suppose but the only way to make a kid autistic is by being his primary attachment figure and having no concern for his distress. The narcissistic histrionic mother asks if she caused it because she already knows and is fishing to be told no or she's not coming back, duh. Autistic mother doesn't even bother to ask because she grew up in chaos and can't figure out she's a whole brand new borderline. All that plus antipsychotics working better in geriatric dementias than even schizophrenia and psychopathy not being a dx tell the story of where the psychosis REALLY is.
8:33 Defining autism as preponderance of bottom-up processing, was novel & very helpful.
I need the diagnosis for validation. Even if I'm 99% certain i'm on the spectrum, i need proof before i can tell people, on the off chance i'm wrong
Risking hurting people or risking making people uncomfortable is the main reason I mask. It’s horrible knowing that your natural way of being and communicating makes most people uncomfortable.
I think the best thing our allies can do, particularly when a person is in the process of unmasking, is when an autistic person says or does something that makes you uncomfortable or even hurt, ask “when you said [], it made me feel []. was that your intention?” (Fill in the brackets as the situation dictates). This allows us to communicate what our intention actually was whilst acknowledging the resulting feelings.
I love that! I have strained relationships with my sister because I say there mean and bullying and puting me down they say "...it was a joke.."
They hurt us EVERY. Single. Day. Many times a day. They have no issues letting US know WE make THEM feel uncomfortable. It's classic DARVO and I'm over it. If they're willing to tell me to change for their comfort, I'm willing to throw it right back at them.
@@CreativeMagique they need understanding, but so do you. Prosising life differently from others means to you there odd to them your odd. You are the minority thou most people view the difference odd. People conform its what we do so not being able to make you stand out.
Masking is like being an undercover spy or in the closet. A constant state of hyper vigilance to keep up an image, that is exhausting and eventually you just burn out! The 24/7 performance anxiety and adrenaline is a brutal way to live.
I was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD at age 49. As much as a revelation that was I still felt something was still hidden after the initial relief. I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m actually autistic and Dr Price’s (audio)book has been a huge assist in my finally unmaking at age 51. So grateful for this book.
Thanks for posting this talk. I'm autistic, and was formally diagnosed very late at 57. One big reason to seek formal diagnosis is to gain accomodation when you need medical care. Autistic people have much shorter lifespans on average than neurotypical people. I suspect part of this is because of how stressful medical settings are for us. The sights, sounds and touching by strangers. The often unpleasant, even terrifying proccedures. The small-talk, chit-chat and medical humor so often used by Drs and nurses to ease anxiety of ordinary people can be hell for us. There's a huge power imbalance in these settings as well between patient and Doctors, something most autistic struggle with - It's the whole difficulty with social hierarchies / unspoken "repect" for those "above us" thing. My current GP and I don't have a good relationship because I'm always questioning her recomendations. Not because I don't respect her, but because I'm autistic. I'm a bottom-up processor. I need to know why something is necessary. Dr.s generally hate being questioned by patients. All of this leads some of us to avoid medical care reflexively, with potentially dire consequences.
Now that I have a formal diagnosis of "Autism Spectrum Disorder" at the top of my chart, I'm (usually) taken seriously when I tell medical personel that I'm autistic, and have support needs. I feel a little safer around these people and their torture chamb....er...waiting and exam rooms.
I'm more likely to seek, demand, and get care that's more autism freindly.
In a similar vein, a lifetime of bad experiences with mental health providers has me at an impasse right now. I feel like I could benefit from psychotherapy that's specifically tailored to helm me identify and manage the social and emotional challenges I face as an older autistic man. I'm reluctant to see any therapist who isnt #actuallyautistic however. Psychotheraphy in general is of questionable utility for nuerotypical people dealing with depression and axiety. It's generally predicated on "normalization" of behavior. That's the opposite of what autistic people need. It's anti-support. Seeking treatment from non-autistic therapists, however well meaning is like seeking theraphy for the challenges that come with being queer or trans from a cis gendered straight therapist will probably do more harm than good. Non autistic therapists have as much ability to form an accurate "theory of mind" about us as we do about neurotypical people. Without an accurate theory of mind, therapists are unable to put themselves in their patient's shoes. To empathize with their plight, and to offer feedback that's suppportive in meaninful ways.
It's a big problem. When I specifically requested an autistic therapist from Kaiser's regional autism coordinator, she was taken aback. Her response was:
"Therapists are not required to disclose their diagnosis"
My question in return was "Why not? I'm expected to disclose my most intimate thoughts and details of my life - shouldn't they be obligated to do the same with me?"
Again, it's a power thing. As an autistic person, I've been on the wrong side of such power dynamics most of my life. I've learned that it's not safe to be around nuerotypical people when such imbalances exist.
I’m crying. Everything I’ve read and heard makes me wonder if I also have autism. I keep asking for help though. I keep saying, why is everything so hard. I still get scolded about my eye contact, if not enough I’m staring too much. I don’t know when I’m being annoying. I’m trying so hard. I was dx’ed ADHD this last year at 32, that explained a lot, noises, stimming, breakdowns in bright crowded places. I’ve always had issue with foods and clothing, and so much more and have so many systems. My son has autism which I have a lot of the same sensory stuff as him. I just feel like life and school and work and relationships are a video game and got stuck on hard mode. It hurts. It hurts me physically and emotionally. I’m so tired.
I remember crying to my dad when he was tucking me into bed. I said I felt like I have so many different masks I have to put on, and he said everyone does that.
Hearing you talking feels like coming home
This booked changed my life. I’m so excited to have this video as a resource to show friends and family members who don’t have time/ability to read the book. I really think this information will help us understand ourselves and each other better. Thank you so much!!
Such a good podcast!!
Im a 35 yo ex British Army Soldier, was diagnosed with ADHD (CT) earlier this year and have an ASD assessment next Wednesday..,.. I have never been so nervous about anything in my life.... 🙈😭
Thanks for doing this! Devon has been a huge comfort to me! You guys do good stuff at this library.
Excellent discussion and great interview. Thanks so much!
“Pretending that you know what the hell is going on”. This made me die with laughter. This. This just sums it all up in one hilarious sentence. ❤
Oh god that first part of the introductory bit Dr Price read... Eerily exact to my current situation. Can't wait for the book to arrive!
Me too. I was really surprised to find another person who had to go through all the stuff he talked about in the introduction. Really well put in ways even I couldn't word before.
Thank you! I watched this with my wife. I look forward to reading the book.
I'm halfway through Unmasking Autism right now and I love it! I'm 52 and have only just recently put things together and understood that I am autistic. I was sort of half-ass ADHD diagnosed at 35, and I think that is an actual misdiagnosis rather than an overlapping condition. I have been masking my Autism from myself for so long that there is a lot to unpack. The stages of accepting late diagnosis (even self DX) really are like Dr Price stated.
I’m 61 and just now connecting the dots.
Thank you both, the question and response was very well done 👍
Love his mind and thought process. I really am inspired by him. I want to help others drawing from the things I've went through and going through. I respect you so much 🌈 💜
Another fantastic talk by Dr. Price.
I should read this
I love this book!
Great interview with one of the transformative minds of our time. I want to know more about Devon. A part ll just on Devon’s first 10-15 years.
This is very wholesome
The most unrelatable part of this video is the fact that his ceiling fan isn't on.
I'm a 35 year old woman who is just, in the last year or so, discovering my own autism. Media like this has been instrumental in putting the puzzle pieces in place.
Such a great book! Masking is so draining!
Sir my child is 3 and half years old. Not able to speak. Not able to understand many thing. But still understands many things. Not able to communicate. Please help and suggest.
Time to grow up. Probably the reason psychiatry has "relented" on trans issues is it is a means of socially homogenizing the visual appearance of heterosexuality and of sterilizing undiagnosed autistic females. People want puberty blockers young so desperately for the most part because they're still living under the roof of the parent who is rejecting their sexual orientation. So in other words it's an attachment strategy. We've been horribly mistreated by Medicine, which need not have enmity for us if it would advise us for example that as young adults we have developmental incapacities to enter into contracts (such as marriage) and that ASD is a prognostic certainty for postpartum (the mechanism of behavioral heritability).
The reason there's so much overlap between homosexual orientation and autism is that first trimester androstenedione selects for trait homosexuality in both sexes as an adrenal response to the anxiety of keeping an unwanted pregnancy. As a side note the irony of pro-lifers deciding it's okay to mutilate kids it would have been wrong to terminate when their same-sex attraction begins to emerge in puberty cannot be overstated. Postpartum psychosis is of course a wish for the child to become "unborn", so there's significant overlap.
ASD females trying to believe they have some "genetic" disability that of course can present with unknown severity have had no business babytrapping to secure their own futures at the expense of their unborn children but I do see it as more of a social failure than a personal one as we are emotionally unindividuated as young adults. AAMOF it is an evolutionarily adaptive postponement of ego development, and although it likely goes badly more frequently than it goes well it does enable us to survive families of origin that didn't tolerate the emergence of our autonomy long enough to get away from them and try to raise ourselves. Unfortunately one rarely hears of those who have done it successfully as it should be obvious the vast majority of autism in the world is undiagnosed unaware and intellectually compensating. Successful individuation implies becoming subclinical.
I think there's some evidence Parkinson's is end-stage autism and very strong evidence autistic catatonia (burnout) is misdiagnosed as early onset dementia then treated with contraindicated antipsychotics which hasten decline and confirm those misdiagnoses. Clearly the geriatric dementias are end-stage egodecompensatory regressions in lifelong undiagnosed psychotic illness, in the 80% of Alzheimer's patients who are female and 75% of autistic and schizophrenic patients who are male indicate natural selection's prioritization of the primary attachment figure's relative mental health during her childbearing years.
Those diagnosed in childhood become viable proxies as Munchausen is an inevitable sequela of untreated postpartum and their diagnosis is actually the insulting stressor psychogenic to that stage of the progression or that complication depending on whether this is an autistic mother becoming borderline or one who's been an abusive narcissist all along. What's clear is that psychiatry claims there's no such thing as an adult onset PD but refuses to diagnose them until adulthood because diagnosing BPD or ASPD in an adolescent exposes clinicians to malpractice liability for having not previously diagnosed ASD in the same patient. As if any of their ASD treatments even work... which is a little less surprising when you realize they apparently overlook a significant number of existing patients.
Gay autistic man here and I just have to say nothing could have been less neurodiverse than the borderlines and sociopaths who really do think they're still just autistic (and call themselves The ASD Community) needing to tear other autistics down by kicking asperger out of the club so badly they didn't even notice Hitler's autism in the process. I can understand a person having identity issues but an identity is not the same thing as an orientation. Binary gender isn't transphobia--it's just a necessity and consequence of sexual reproduction. The clear evolutionary purpose of trait homosexuality is diversion from the parenting pool without imposing the inefficiency of our hypothetical sterility onto a heterosexual partner's fertility. So it fits with the rest of medicine's omniscience that they are directly contravening the natural order by trannying us up.
As an attachment strategy in toddlers rejected for their physical sex it made some sense, but rejected gay adolescent boys and undiagnosed autistic females trying to separate from the displaced rage toward their mothers they internalize as self-hatred have no business being induced to transgender delusion. Gender identity is a false equivalency to sexual orientation and has made more of a mockery of it than the "bisexuals" (psychopaths misperceiving their opportunism) already had.
You do know that the intersection of insanity and ignorance is irrationality, right? Calling it inclusivity has been foolhardy in an omnivorous species which regulates its masks of sanity by dropping them with regard to culturally-designated ideological outgroups as a consequence of civilization obviating our need of interspecies predation. Undoubtedly my mother would have seen turning me trans as a way to fix my gayness and I would have thought it was my own idea too. The difference wasn't that it couldn't be done, it's that my parents (who never treated me the same again after I told them) were barely outside the window of acceptability to disown me. After asking me if I was sure this might never change (when I hadn't been trying to talk about it in the first place I just didn't lie when I was outed) my stepmother told me "well you don't have to have to worry Eddie's decided he's not going to throw you out or anything". Decided! Or anything! I was 15 and had already been in boarding school 3 years so being any more thrown out meant getting molested at covenant house.
The only way the gay and autistic lots in life will ever improve for us as individuals and as persistent populations is to get honest about what we are why. IT'S OUR INFANTILIZED DENIAL FANTASIES THAT GET US GOT. Strength of character to drop the vulnerability is the ONLY thing that will send this type of emotional vampirism back to making emotional bloodbags of outsiders by way of fixed political and religious delusion. IT'S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER NO PARENT OF A GAY KID WILL EVER WANT A GAY KID NO MATTER WHAT IT'S SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE FOR THEM TO SAY OR DO BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T WANT THE PREGNANCY IN THE FIRST PLACE. That it's an anxiety response has been known for DECADES, and what the anxiety is about becomes empirically obvious when you just get fucking real with yourself as you think it through.
Child sacrifice (currently iterated as gay and autistic suicidality) absolutely persisted through the era of animal sacrifice as indicated by the abrahamic filicidal impulse on Sinai using Isaac to over-correct damage to his reputation for schwarzeneggering his maid when it was of course (probably autistic) Ishmael he'd wanted to kill. Guess the rabbis didn't understand that a family's best goat was worth more than the child chosen as a disturbed parent''s split off persecuted aspects of self when they thought that would put a stop to it. So hell yeah Psycho Abe found a way to parlay that shit into divine favor for obedience to his made up god.
As a psychologist you should be able to figure out that schizophrenia is nothing more than an uncontextualized ego discontinuity, decompensation is basically the opposite of Stockholm syndrome, and autism is only psychosis for nonseparation from a psychotic mother (who tends to regulate a mask of sanity for the rest of the world and her other children at the scapegoat's expense). Sounds like it was a little different in your family and that's entirely possible as lots of families have more than one autistic kid. I got news for you though any of them getting dementia were not autistic. Perhaps misdiagnosed and no better narcissistic mask than autistic "empath"🙄 but I would think you would know the difference. Harder to be objective about one's own family I suppose but the only way to make a kid autistic is by being his primary attachment figure and having no concern for his distress. The narcissistic histrionic mother asks if she caused it because she already knows and is fishing to be told no or she's not coming back, duh. Autistic mother doesn't even bother to ask because she grew up in chaos and can't figure out she's a whole brand new borderline. All that plus antipsychotics working better in geriatric dementias than even schizophrenia and psychopathy not being a dx tell the story of where the psychosis REALLY is.
Crunchy granola thats labelling. Aren't you saying dont label?
Autistic here and ewww Im not a fan of the Doc