I recently discovered a book entitled "Writers With Asperger Syndrome". I was diagnosed with the disorder 6 years ago. I used to wonder why all my efforts to get my words out were laborous. Now I know. Then by the aid of this book I unearthed many helpful hints and pieces of information. Since I'm tired I won't go into great detail. But did you know such greats as Emily Dickinson, Sherwood Anderson, Melville, Yeats and Lewis Carrol all had Asperger Syndrome? In this book I've found most of them did a jig saw type thing when creating their stories or poems, and were better with visual and descriptive matter than character development. I am going to order this book. Its made me realized that I can go further and I don't have to let any disease stop me. I also discovered H.P. Lovecraft may have had Aspergers, but talking with S.T. Joshi I may lean toward the negative.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 9 Jul 11 | 11:31PM by OConnor,CD.

OConnor,CD Wrote:
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> I also discovered H.P. Lovecraft may have had Aspergers, but talking with S.T. Joshi I may lean toward the negative.

I recall that there was a (very) brief discussion of this in one of the Mythoscon panels; someone -- just possibly Robert M. Price -- brought it up in passing. While there may be something to be said for this, as a layman I'd lean on the negative, too. Perhaps he was a borderline case, though. The criteria for diagnosis would seem to be somewhat loose, however.

Juha-Matti

Well, a significant number of these DSM 4 disorders are a bit silly. It seems to me that there is a definite tendency there to "overpathologize" virtually every aspect of the human life.

That said, I think if HPL had anything - and I'm not seeing it personally - then maybe a touch of what is called "Schizoid Personality Disorder." (I believe you could make a fair case that JD Salinger was likewise a victim of this to some extent.) But even granting that (which I'm not, except for the sake of argument), I don't particularly see why "Schizoid" is a disorder at all! Indeed, I think it has more to do with a "personality style" that is perhaps a bit unconventional, but so what? I fail to see how the associated traits are harmful to either their possessor or to society at large.

I don't know enough about Asperger's to opine, but my layman's impression is that it is on a generally similar spectrum with SPD. How do you feel about that, CD? And to what extent is Asperger's truly "disabling"?

As Dexterward states, many instances of "mental illness" merely result from the bias toward the neurotypical.

For that reason, among others, contemporary diagnoses of so-called "mental disorders" are so dubious that I question their application even to living persons, in many, if not most, instances, but I am foursquare against the ridiculous practice of making diagnoses of deceased individuals. So would any reputable mental health professional, I would imagine.

Absquatch Wrote:

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> As Dexterward states, many instances of "mental
> illness" merely result from the bias toward the
> neurotypical.

Neurotypical GOOD... Neuro-normative BETTER... (baa)

"Neurotypical" seems to me to accept (implicitly) that there IS such a thing as a typical brain.... whatever... Neuro-normative better expresses what (2 me) is Da Troot: mental-"health"/"lack"-there-of is a societal construction.