Hi.
I’m in the process of diagnosis for Autism and I’m reading up as much as I can on it, and have come across a lot of people talking about Highly Sensitive Persons / Sensory Processing Syndrome.
I read this link:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-highly-sensitive-child/202112/no-being-autistic-is-not-the-same-being-highly-sensitive
But it seems to me to basically sum up to:
There’s too many HSP to be autists.
The diagnosis of autism seems to be widening it’s criterias from the classic “white male child” tropes, yet still takes a firm stance away from HSP/SPS.
Why can HSP not be a subset of Autism?
They express that it can be comorbid with Autism, does that mean that every autistic person with sensory processing issues has SPS?
In: 0
Autism encompasses many different symptoms.
High sensitivity is one of those. Another is difficulty with unspoken language, being able to read between the lines or understand sarcasm. Another symptom is executive dysfunctioning, which is shared with ADHD. It relates to not being able to start a complex task, even when the willpower to do so is there.
For me, I have difficulty learning through osmosis. While I can force myself to look at other people’s behaviors and copy them, it’s not a subconscious behavior for me, like it is for normal people. Put me in a garden where people pick flowers and tell me to just begin, and I will be confused to what to do and not also pick flowers.
Many autistic people also have a special interest. Limited interest in other things, but the master of their own special interest. Even when they might know it doesn’t lead to anything, they might just be compelled to learn more about their special interest.
In addition to that, high sensitivity is a trait often seen in autistic individuals.
One of the main things about a diagnosis of a disorder is, you have to check off 2/3 of all the symptoms in a given disorder to be able to get diagnosed. Among other things. Like you need to find living with it difficult in your daily life.
I can be wrong about this. It can also be 5 out of 9 or something. Not sure.
Thing is, high sensitivity is just one thing. That alone is never enough to be autism.
But…
It can be its separate thing! If being highly sensitive brings you difficulty in such a way that it’s making your daily life worse, that way it can still be diagnosed and treated.
Because, you deserve to be treated.
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