Link between asperger's and pd?

Started by Writingthepain, November 30, 2019, 06:13:44 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Writingthepain

I've been reading up on asperger's and the autism spectrum. My npd mom fits 2/3s of the signs for asperger's. Do you think theres a link? Or maybe this is just coincidence?

Monologue Magnet

Writingthepain:

I am not a professional and this is just my opinion only. 

That said, I think I could probably write a book on my take on "links" but I"ll try not to.

Basically there can be a link or connection in the one person themselves or close family members, IMO.

I am the sibling of a person professionally diagnosed with autism, intellectual disability and bi-polar. I am also the adult child of a suspected narcissist and grand child of a suspected (by both me and a now-deceased person who was both a family member and a therapist) Borderline.

On this and other boards, I've noticed that there seems to be a very much increased prevalence of Bi-polar, Schizophrenia, Aspergers, Autism, ADD, ADHD, epilepsy, depression, intellectual disability, sensory processing issues, and substance use disorder among close family members of suspected PDs.  I've also noticed that PDs themselves could potentially have other mental health conditions that they may be what is known as "co-morbid" along with the PD.  PD and Bi-polar and PD and schizophrenia are 2 combinations in the same person that I've seen in the literature, so I don't see why someone couldn't have PD and Aspergers as well.

Monologue Magnet

writingthepain:

I just wanted to add to this, and I want to be careful here, people have different views on what causes PD.  I'm a member of the school of thought that some people in a family can inherit a genetic vulnerability to a PD and then environment can make it better or worse to an extent.

In addition to my disabled sibling and probably NPD parent, there's a person in the extended family who is criminally versatile, a person in the family who is a notorious rip-off artist bigot who likewise has a mentally disabled child, a person who was shanked to death in prison, and a person who was arrested for heinous crimes that were in the media.

Given both the extended family criminal history (and news reports!), as well as my sibling and cousin formal diagnosis, there is in my mind absolutely no doubt that both PD and other mental issues are active in the same extended family group.  It is then not that much of a reach that one single person could have more than one thing going on as well.

I think this is sometimes kind of a third rail, or taboo topic in some arenas of the therapeutic and legal realm.  If PD is some kind of a mental illness, even if it is one that makes people do what they do on purpose, there's a fear that people would be obligated to remain in proximity to them or that they should be "let off the hook" for the illegal things they do.  I don't hold that view.  I look at it the way I look at an outbreak of bubonic plague.  If that happens to somebody, you may think it's very unfortunate, but if a situation is hazardous to anyone else's health, you protect first.

Regardless of what is causing it, if someone is toxic to another person, that other person may need to stay away from them or use boundaries regardless of what the label is.

I just wanted to mention sometimes it is in fact difficult for us as lay people to be exactly certain what is going on.  I think I recall that there was a person somewhere on the Out of the FOG board who had an ex-husband that treated her as a narcissist would, even though the psychiatrist actually diagnosed him as schizophrenic, but she continued getting interaction and support here because as a narcissist was the reality of the way he was affecting her.

There are mental conditions that can look like other things and sometimes I don't think the professionals always get it right either. Mistaking someone who's actually Borderline as Bi-polar is or was a biggie, I think I recall.

Rose1

Exbpdh's doctor told me that he believed in the modified nurture theory for the following reasons:
Exh was diagnosed with bi polar, bpd adhd and strong family history of adhd on one side and bi polar and pd on the other (never diagnosed). His theory was that children with big polar (or who eventually get diagnosed) are more vulnerable and will develop bad behaviors to cope with the bi polar chemical imbalance and also copy what they see as working for others in the family.

Often there is at least one parent with the condition as well or similar and in that situation you can have a very disordered and emotionally abusive upbringing. Even more it can be a family history situation where good parenting has never been taught and the what's in it for me environment is very strong. So while there is often an underlying mental illness the pd is the result of environment.

That made sense to me in my exhs case. The Dr also told me that because  we have a structured environment and are not modelling pd behaviour that it would be unlikely for my d to develop it although she was also diagnosed with bipolar.

My d was also medicated early on for epilepsy which helped with the bi polar and my gut feel is that also made a difference.

Sadly there is still a lot of resistance against juvenile onset big polar diagnosis imo and this can cause a lot of issues for kids growing up. Imo if you have the gene, whether environmental factors trigger it later or not, you can have issues growing up.

Other parents of young people with bipolar have also confirmed that their children had issues. The book "the bi polar child" makes for interesting reading.

Starboard Song

A personality is just a collection of behaviors and feelings. And a disordered personality is just one of these that consistently fails to follow some set of norms in a severe way. So, I figure any other mental disorder or impairment makes a person a little more buggy, and perhaps more likely to present as a PD.

But I wouldn't spend much time on it. One doesn't "catch" or "have" a PD the way one does a cold, and if we put much energy in these connections I suspect we forget that important fact. Whatever one's symptoms, a blood test affirms that you do or do not have the flu. But a PD is nothing but symptoms. Maybe it is caused by mental impairments, sure. Or maybe it is damage from one's substance abuse. Or another person maybe is taking legit meds with side effects.

We can chase and chase and chase and never change the reality that there is no germ to be killed, no gene to be excised, no shattered bone to be mended. There are only behaviors, and the hidden emotions that spawn them.
Radical Acceptance, by Brach   |   Self-Compassion, by Neff    |   Mindfulness, by Williams   |   The Book of Joy, by the Dalai Lama and Tutu
Healing From Family Rifts, by Sichel   |  Stop Walking on Egshells, by Mason    |    Emotional Blackmail, by Susan Forward