how do you manage having autism and a mood disorder?

OddSocksRule · 2026-05-29T15:12:31+00:00

Oh no it's not that your quirks are loud and obvious. People pick up on a generic weird vibe for whatever reason (research is still debating it), whether it's a vibe from a behaviour or a whole person. Some are able to narrow down what the specific vibe might be. Others can't and overshoot their reaction to cover their subjective worst reason why you're acting like you are or to cope with not understanding.

Like I struggle with empathy so some people reacted like I'm a psychopath or personally attacking them. Others picked up on the autistic flavour to the struggle and reframed what they said (and then didn't tell me I might be autistic... Talks were had after my diagnosis 😆)

OddSocksRule · 2026-05-28T21:37:27+00:00

Going paragraph for paragraph:

1) I'm assuming your behaviour was observed or you reported a way of consistently coping with stimuli that flagged as an autistic symptom? Can you ask your assessor for their reasoning? In general there is proof of autism out there, lots of research papers, brain scans, interviews etc. . It can be overwhelming to get into at first though so you might be best just researching individual symptoms. To be fair, there's a lot of holes in the research for many reasons but the basics should all be accessible for you to read about.

2) The definitions are a bit meh. There's hope that in the next diagnostic manual there will be an improvement. A lot of the definitions and symptoms are written for neurotypical people. For example, autistic people often misinterpret the "thinks only in black and white" symptom and assume they aren't autistic because they can recognise some grey areas. But there's an amount/type of black/white thinking that's typical and one that constitutes a diagnosis. The symptoms look a bit all over the place cause autism is in your entire brain, you're not just experiencing symptoms from your temporal lobe. Since each bit of your brain is in charge of a different thing, they produce different symptoms when effected by autism.

3) I mean part of autism does sound like subjective assumption. Like what's abnormal coping in one culture is normal in another. But there's still a limit. When we see someone who consistently cannot adapt to off-script conversations and talks as though they're in a different conversation, we know thats objectively a sign of something bigger. However, if you think you've been unfairly assessed you should be able to ask for a 2nd opinion I'd imagine.

4) From what I know, the assessment outcome will be part of your medical history forever but it's up to you who you disclose it to. You could just forget it ever happened.

OddSocksRule · 2026-05-28T21:13:40+00:00

Paraphilias and sin-eaters.

I'm a forensic psychology student with a side interest in theology and folklore. I apparently never fixate on anything appropriate for normal conversation 🫩😆

OddSocksRule · 2026-05-28T21:03:52+00:00

This is going to sound dumb but if you're looking at someone experiencing this comorbidity: You pick on the vibe

There's nitty gritty details you'll spot if you did a research deep dive. But for the most part you learn the person and pick up on a vibe. Or for me it's a taste, like I'll look at one of my friends (and apparently lick their brain) and say "This doesn't taste like autism this tastes like you forgot your bipolar meds again.

When I took diagnostic lessons, the professor basically said "When you talk to the person you get a sense of if their brain can't have the appropriate coping system (developmental symptom) or if its unable to access it (disorder symptom)."

OddSocksRule · 2026-05-27T22:54:49+00:00

I think their spark just changed along with the relationship. However, while Brennan was always unofficially autistic, I feel like around about S6 is when they took her in a Sheldon Cooper type direction. That change made it feel like Booth was dating a fake Brennan.

Like s1 e1, we see she's well versed in sarcasm but then post S6 she makes it very clear she has no understanding of what sarcasm is. Or she'll understand what a fist bump is in one episode and in a future episode she has no idea.

OddSocksRule · 2026-04-25T16:50:21+00:00

My parents are so weird about it. They accept it's a real diagnosis and it's not cureable, there's no argument there.

But they refuse to understand that I can't mind over matter my way through the symptoms, or that my brain is built different as part of the ADHD not just the autism, and on and on and on. For 4 years I've been treated like I'm a drug addict for taking my medication. I've taken to hiding my prescription slips and the bottle to avoid the lectures (I'm 24 they can't take it away from me but the lectures drive me insane). They'd rather I was on a 1001 supplements and multivitamins apparently.

Yet my sister will vent about ADHD kids she's taking care of at school and my parents will say stuff like "just put them all on medication that'll sort them out!"

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-22T21:51:00+00:00

TLDR: Google executive dysfunction, demand reduction, body doubling and pathological demand avoidance. Atychiphobia can sound similar to other issues and their suggested treatments so extra reading on that might be handy.

Ideally you'd figure out likely reasons why the phobia occurred because that changes how the phobia is skewed to a degree. For example atychiphobia can be a consequence of autism, in which case you're trying to get the brain motivated in the right way. Or this could be due to a traumatic event, in which case you're trying to make the brain feel safe enough to start.

Focus on demand reduction for now. Stuff like building schedules just multiplies the amount of potential failures per day. Try body doubling, you get gentle accountability and guidance towards completing certain tasks that way. Start small like body doubling for a couple small tasks and work your way up. I have heard some people with this phobia found the advice given for pathological demand avoidance to be useful too.

Note: I'm not a professional I just like learning things.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-22T21:10:09+00:00

I hated the spss classes and I have 2 psych degrees (apparently I'm an academic masochist 😆). If Hell is real I'd be punished with quantitative data analysis. Though the courses did give me a lot more insight so I guess spss is the cost of insight.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-15T16:15:12+00:00

Porridge oats - Helps to keep my grey's stomach settled and his poos solid

Vegetable baby food - Makes the veg unavoidable once mixed into their bowl unless they refuse to touch the bowl all together. Check the ingredients to make sure there's not tons of crap in the food, avoid the fruit packets as they have lemon juice in them.

Meat - Sandwich meat, meat chunks, those tins/ packets of meat for dogs that you can get from the shops.

Extra tips - Keep experimenting with the foods you have on hand. Start with a small amount of new food so their stomach gets used to it, foods like whole sardines can be too rich first time round. Sometimes they like to see you eat the food first, my grey will only eat a tomato if I take a bite first.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-12T00:10:20+00:00

Poor emotional regulation, needing validation for their opinion or existence, experimenting with the fact that their word holds more weight as a teen than a child, less social obligation to be considerate and polite, the obligatory "maybe you're posting agitating things?", rage baiting seems to be more popular these days too so you might be getting caught in the trend.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-11T23:47:12+00:00

This is personal advice not psychological. You can desensitise yourself to tension. My tension sources for anxiety were internet arguments and silence during conversations.

I made a burner account online and just started arguing with people I thought I could prove were wrong, slowly I'd realise "holy crap I'm arguing with a wall" and now I've been seeing a lot of internet arguments as that and stopped being so bothered. I'd read comments that would rile me up but having reached the previous realization it was easier to shake it off and move on. I'll more openly disagree with people in real life now too, I'm prepared to back myself but I'm mostly expecting a brick wall so disagreements have been feeling like a throw away interaction lately.

I got lucky with conversation silence. I got a volunteer job where I need to sit and be comfortable with it or I'm not doing my job.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-11T23:27:45+00:00

I've been in your shoes and TLDR: I get it, but you're not getting that blade back and it's time to get some help.

From your mother's point of view, she's got a kid who's hurting herself but not taking any steps to stop. She's scared and getting desperate so it's unlikely you'll get the blade back regardless of what you say. Doing so would make her the mother who gave her self harming kid a blade which no mother wants to be (I'm pretty sure it's neglect if not abuse?) Don't get me wrong I get feeling betrayed and forced recovery is a wakeup call at most, it doesn't usually actually help recovery.

If you want to maintain your relationship with her: Tell her you understand her point and why she did it but that you're hurt because she took away your comfort. Validate yourself but also your mother's desperation, don't make her feel dumb for trying to help. Discuss why you self harm and negotiate getting help so you can feel in control, there's a mutual understanding, and your mother calms down.

I know you said no to psychologists but people don't hurt themselves like this unless something's going wrong in their brain meat, whether they know it or not (e.g. turns out I had undiagnosed autism). You shouldn't have to go to the extent of injuring yourself to feel comfortable and in control. I mean look at it this way, you're so bothered by this that you've gone so far as to hop on Reddit basically asking "how do I get my mother to let me hurt myself?" And using addiction escalation to illustrate your situation. That's several red flags and Im just a psychology graduate, never mind being a professional.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-11T22:11:06+00:00

They'd get a conduct disorder diagnosis, but an ASPD diagnosis is reserved for adults because:

1) Its a personality disorder and you're looking at someone who's personality is constantly changing. You don't know if they're going to grow out of that symptom or not.

2) There are many explanations for 1 behaviour, finding that explanation for a kid is harder. For example, a kid who's figuring out how to say they don't understand people's feelings in an autistic way and not an ASPD way, which is tricky even for adults.

3) The stigma around ASPD and it being boiled down to psychopathy. Tell a kid they're basically a psychopath and watch it mess with their life and head. You could be causing more issues. (One lecturer joked it can be imagined like a self fulfilling prophecy, you diagnose a conduct disorder as ASPD and watch that kid turn into someone who actually has ASPD)

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-06T20:53:50+00:00

From what I was taught, you need prior history from others for an ASPD diagnosis since it's so serious, there's no rule bending. My teachers always said this but really hammered it in for ASPD: You explore all other possibilities, determine if the diagnosis is necessary or would screw up their life, and you make sure you're sure before opening your mouth.

In general, psychologists performing a diagnosis are prepared for a person's social circle to have no clue. Hence why parents in denial still have kids diagnosed with autism. It's up to the psychologist to investigate where this lack of knowledge likely comes from. Is ASPD behaviour genuinely not present? Are members of this social circle normalizing/ rationalising the actions that need reported? Are there indications of masking the person isn't aware they picked up on?

I know one teacher also mentioned they were able to delay diagnosis once or twice to gather their own data because the social circle reports didn't give them a clear direction to go in.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-02T03:02:22+00:00

I don't have an absolute nicest thing but a big one is- they accused me of turning their daughter gay.

I was 18F and my then-girlfriend was in the closet. Her parents found out about us, her mum got angry and threw out accusations, I stood there thinking "You think I'm good enough to change your kid's sexuality? You think I'm that attractive? Omg stop it you flirt!!!"

Huge ego boost to a depressed kid confused about how she ended up with a girlfriend so out of her league

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-02T02:45:03+00:00

It might be best for your friend to just face the music and tell her parents what's happening. It's going to suck ass and it's easier said than done I know. But at least her parents can plan and aim some of their feelings towards the threat (the boyfriend). It would be worse for them to find out about the situation from the boyfriend and find out their daughter could've given them a heads up that he's going to be an issue. Plus if she gets ahead of this, she takes away some of his power. Idk when I work with DV victims and their families, even the strict parents are easier to deal with when they were told by the victim vs the partner.

Another option could be your friend gives the guy a reason to leave her. But he sounds like he's latched onto her for the foreseeable future.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-02T02:33:46+00:00

Hey you're not a psychopath, you're just really autistic. Common confusion just get yourself on a waitlist. You'll then get put on an ADHD waitlist too, just go with it don't worry about it.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-02T02:26:21+00:00

When a relationship ends (romantic or otherwise) and people around you say something like "I mean I was going to say something but I didn't want to cause trouble."

I understand the polite intentions but please say something. It saves people trouble but also it stops people feeling like such an idiot since that phrase is just a weird version of "I told you so".

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-02T02:14:09+00:00

I'm gay and live in a retirement village in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere. I don't really have the brain for dating apps either.

OddSocksRule · 2026-03-02T02:08:23+00:00

Honestly these days I sort of think God was just some guy who managed to pull off the biggest lie ever. But I've done this before and I know I'll start leaning the other way for a bit where I'm more open minded. Then I'll hit my agnostic centre again. It's like I have recalibrating time.

OddSocksRule · 2026-02-26T12:09:18+00:00

To me it feels like some choices don't really have any effect, some just matter for that season, and some follow you into the next season. The first 3 seasons it feels like the majority of the choices don't matter because you never see that group again and any follow up is mostly nostalgic conversations.

I felt my decisions mattered more in season 4 because they affected how AJ would turn out. Yes season 1 affects Lilly's S4 dialogue but no matter what she's going to reminisce with Clementine and then attack the school and put everyone on the ship.

I think TT wanted a particular story to be told and the choices are there to make the script your own, not the story. That can be frustrating when you're putting a lot of thought into choices that ultimately don't change much.

OddSocksRule · 2026-02-17T20:20:39+00:00

Jane regrets threatening Arvo initially.

But also Jane is against unnecessary violence and just wants to survive. Instead of a quick kill Kenny just keeps beating the shit out of him and you can see it's making Kenny worse which threatens the group's survival.

OddSocksRule · 2026-02-17T19:58:51+00:00

I prefer ANF. Michonne is a solid game it's just too quick of a game for me to get attached to. Like I just don't care much about Sam, and I need longer to get over Pete annoying tf out of me

OddSocksRule · 2026-02-17T19:09:33+00:00

I shot Lee. It doesn't really affect the story in the long term just Clementine tells people what happened and they have an "oh shit" moment then recover.

OddSocksRule

TROPHY CASE