That is a stupid comment.
Keep trolling.
"I do have some weaknesses though."
Any that aren't apathy or murderous ideation based?
Yeah, I find it hard to trust people, I'm impulsive (though not always) and I'm over-confident. I mean, I'm aware of my capabilities, but I often feel ten foot tall and made of steel, which makes me feel fearless. I've been in situations where the flight response should have kicked in, but didn't and I took on more than I could handle.
Actually, you've self-reported many symptoms of PTSD, and you've described experiencing traumatic events;
- outbursts of anger
- irritability
-feelings of detachment and numbness
- distrust
- difficulty sleeping
- difficulty concentrating
- loss of interest
- sense of a limited future (no plans for career, marriage etc)
As for your career history; safe to say that you, a person of the above described qualities (toughness et al), have not thrived in the business world. Would that be a fair assessment?
I've only minored in Psych (I'm too poor to pay for the full degree), so I can't say I work in it either, but the presence of my own disorders gave me a lot of experience (and interest) from the other side of it. It didn't help that people threw me into the therapist role a little too often either...
If it wasn't from the things I had to deal with, it was the countless stories collected from other disorderly minds that my personality and quirks drew in. Misdiagnosis is far too common, and traits of the person can be either unnoticed (for a variety of reasons) or latent. Even without misdiagnosis, there's also the problems that surface from growing up on the pills that were supposed to be curing the person. This affects them developmentally, chemically, and it affects the life they live as they grow, their nurture during very important years. Even without meds, living up to the label can affect how hard a person tries. Someone told that they have poor focus because of "ADD" for instance may learn to accept that instead of feel challenged to overcome it, armed with an excuse.
The field's in a stage where people in the future will be laughing at us if not shuddering.
The comparison to Occam's razor was a little bit crude; it's not so much the simplest explanation, as it is the most statistically likely (read: probably chickenpox, probably not smallpox).
I don't work in psychiatry, and we have very few issues with misdiagnosis in my particular area (multi-trauma is usually pretty easy to identify XD).
I have heard similar concerns though.
They have a huge issue with research funding, (in Ireland and Australia, at least) same as the poor souls in rheumatology.
There's a lot of politics in medicine, and unfortunately, some fields aren't as glamorous and don't attract government funding/bequeathments/fancy peak body campaigns.
"My anger and irritability are related to AsPD (which is what I was diagnosed with). I have poor behavioral controls."
So because you were diagnosed with it, that must mean that that is why?
It makes the most sense.
Poor behavioral controls can result from many things. Your later mention of "Adult ADD" fits this as well, as would PTSD.
I'm sure it probably can, but in my case it relates to ASPD.
"I don't form emotional attachments cause that's just the way I am. I've been that way my entire life, since infancy. I never even bonded with my own mother."
...infancy? How vivid is your childhood memory exactly?
At no stage in my life have I ever bonded with my mother. Therefore, one can assume there was no bonding in infancy either.
This is something my mother and I discussed at one point. So, it's not like I'm basing this purely of my own opinion.
As far back as I can remember, into early childhood, there was never any close attachment between my mother and I.
"And I don't feel numb. I feel neutral, as though my emotions are in off mode by default."
That's... sort of the same thing.
When I think of numb, I think of people who purposefully numb themselves in order to not feel anything - it's the numbing of emotions that existed.
What I feel is not a numbing of emotion because I don't do that. I've never needed to. I just feel neutral, like every emotion is automatically off. I didn't have to numb anything.
"Any other emotions I may feel from time to time are shallow and short-lived."
PTSD could explain this too, as could other disorders.
You could have that same argument with a psychopath, who shares a lot of my other traits as well, many of which can be found on the PCL-R.
"Distrust: A common trait among people with AsPD."
That doesn't rid of the PTSD possibility, nor a lot of other areas.
Let's have a look at the symptoms of PTSD that I don't have:
- Intrusive, upsetting memories of the event
- Flashbacks (acting or feeling like the event is happening again)
- Nightmares (either of the event or other frightening things)
- Feelings of intense distress when reminded of the trauma
- Intense physical reactions to reminders of the event (e.g. pounding heart, rapid breathing, nausea, muscle tension, sweating)
- Avoiding activities, places, thoughts, or feelings that remind you of the trauma
- Inability to remember important aspects of the trauma (considering there was no trauma, that one doesn't apply to me either way)
- Loss of interest in activities and life in general
- Feeling emotionally numb
- Sense of a limited future (you don’t expect to live a normal life span, get married, have a career)
- Difficulty falling or staying asleep
- Hypervigilance (on constant “red alertâ€)
- Feeling jumpy and easily startled
That is a LOT of symptoms that I can't relate to. Do you still think PTSD is a possibility? lol
"I sleep like a baby. I rarely ever experience insomnia."
No shit, you take codeine and enjoy alcohol. We can't accurately model your resting patterns with those affecting the results.
I don't take codeine much anymore and I only drink alcohol about 2 or 3 days a week most of the time. Sometimes 4, but that's not often.
"Adult ADD would explain that. ADD is common among people with ASPD."
That doesn't necessarily mean it's the cause in your case, or, more importantly, maybe you have aspects of Adult ADD independently of ASPD.
Neither of us are in a position to determine that.
Or, you know, it could be PTSD.
Sure... if I didn't lack the vast majority of symptoms that define PTSD.
"I have a lot of interests."
That one isn't about the interests themselves, but rather the difficulty in maintaining interest in them. You sound and complain of being bored rather often, so I feel like "loss of interest" applies to you strongly enough to factor in.
Loss of interest means that you've lost interest in the things you used to enjoy. That has never happened to me.
Even though I often experience boredom, my interests can alleviate the boredom temporarily. They just don't excite me enough to keep it alleviated. So, I tend to get bored very quickly and very easily.
"I live in the here and now. I've always been that way."
I still question the accuracy of your recall.
It pays to question what diagnosis you've been pinned with at points. Misdiagnosis is extremely likely in a field like this when the right context and other factors are lacking. Simply not noticing a symptom or two can make for wildly different labels. Throw in co-morbidity potentials and it becomes a real mess.
Misdiagnosis can happen to anyone. Neither of us are in a position to make that determination, especially not you considering you don't really know a lot about me and seem to find it hard to accept what it is you do know about me.