Saturday, February 28, 2009

Loonier Still

As I've reported in this space, I have applied for disability, both with state and federal agencies. I recently won one case on the state level (it means I qualify for Medicaid) after being seen by a psychologist at the behest of the state. I requested my file and received portions of it yesterday.

While we each have certain images about ourselves -- some that agree with the opinions of others and some that do not -- it's a rather interesting experience reading what several professionals think about you! It's even more interesting when the deciding diagnosis is NOT something you listed as the cause of your disability.

I expected that the rationale regarding the approval of my claim would center around my physical disabilities (fibromyalgia and Klinefelter's Syndrome) in combination with Asperger's Syndrome (AS). However, this turns out not to be the case at all! My physical issues basically were ignored and the psychological diagnosis was not AS; it is Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD).

I don't know about you, but, any diagnosis with the label "schizo" at the front, is rather alarming. Most people, me included, generally associate schizo with schizophrenia. It turns out though that, while SPD is in the same family as schizophrenia, it's definately not the same thing. Whew! That had me really worried.

In fact, after doing some web research tonight, I found that SPD and AS are very closely related and many of the symptoms overlap. In Europe, many mental health professionals believe these two conditions describe the same general malady; in the US, each is treated as distinct.

Here are the general symptoms of AS and SPD from the Mayo Clinic. I've placed a red X next to the symptoms that I seem to have.

Asperger's Syndrome
  • Engaging in one-sided, long-winded conversations, without noticing if the listener is listening or trying to change the subject X
  • Displaying unusual nonverbal communication, such as lack of eye contact, few facial expressions, or awkward body postures and gestures X
  • Showing an intense obsession with one or two specific, narrow subjects, such as baseball statistics, train schedules, weather or snakes X
  • Appearing not to understand, empathize with or be sensitive to others' feelings X
  • Having a hard time "reading" other people or understanding humor X
  • Speaking in a voice that is monotonous, rigid or unusually fast
  • Moving clumsily, with poor coordination X
  • Having an odd posture or a rigid gait X
  • Incorrect interpretation of events, including feeling that external events have personal meaning
  • Peculiar thinking, beliefs or behavior X
  • Belief in special powers, such as telepathy
  • Perceptual alterations, in some cases bodily illusions, including phantom pains or other distortions in the sense of touch X
  • Idiosyncratic speech, such as loose or vague patterns of speaking or tendency to go off on tangents X
  • Suspicious or paranoid ideas
  • Flat emotions or inappropriate emotional responses
  • Lack of close friends outside of the immediate family X
  • Persistent and excessive social anxiety that doesn't abate with time X
So, looking at the scorecard, my score with AS is 7/8 and for SPD it's 5/9. To my untrained eye, AS seems more on target with some overlap with SPD.

But what do I know? I'm loony. :-)

8 comments:

  1. Baaaaaa!

    Having not read all your posts I just had you down as physically disabled. Is it the case that you are mentally? You obviously write well and have a wise mind - is that madness these days?

    I saw a little of a documentary recently where diagnosis are as well carried out by a dice as a professional such is the potential for misdiagnosis. (oh, never noticed the gnosis in misdiagnosis before).

    Well hopefully you get all the support you need.

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  2. The health care system in this country is an absolute nightmare, but I wish you the best of luck in navigating through it.

    My wife had fibromyalgia, so I can understand some of what you're going through.

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  3. Meh. Shrinks rarely get a diagnosis right. I was diagnosed with depression for so many years, turned out I was bipolar, but they can't diagnose that until you actually HAVE a manic episode. I finally had one, triggered by menopausal hormonal changes... and now I'm just fine, thanks, after having talked my shrink into the proper medication finally as well. (Which he thanks me for doing whenever I see him, since it helped so many of his other patients, too...)

    Now I see bipolar people so often who are undiagnosed but it's obvious to me that they are, they just haven't ever had a full-blown manic episode.

    AS is only recently becoming more recognized and acknowledged.

    And Tao, I don't honestly know many Americans who are not mentally ill in some form, diagnosed or not. This society is absolutely nuts. I long ago decided society itself is sick in this country, not me.

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  4. Even if the diagnosis is correct the important thing is that you know yourself and that you understand your behaviors (we all have them). And keep in mind the movie, "A Beautiful Mind" and the struggle of a Nobel Prize winner.

    Finally, your brutal honesty is refreshing.

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  5. Thanks for your kind comments. I too realize the vaunted American health care system isn't as "healthy" as it should be. Who knows what the genuine accurate label for my maladies is, but there's no question whatsoever that my OCD and social phobia aren't within the norm.

    To Geri,
    I can't take any credit for brutal honesty. My supposed openness about myself and others simply is the result of my peculiar brain wiring.

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  6. I must agree with Geri and 'A Beautiful Mind.' In that sense, the health care system might be better served to realize not everyone is going to find inside their pre-defined boxes. Just wonder if their 'diagnoses' lead to particular treatment recommendations that end up benefiting the system more than the individual. I guess we all have to do our due diligence as well; I just feel for those who cannot. (Timely in terms of my own recent work, and thanks for adding your keen points there as well.)

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  7. You know- these labels thrown around are just the desperate attempts of the psychiatrists to look scientific.
    They are insubstantial and often unhelpful. You are clearly embarked on a spiritual path- and that is the most important label to understand.

    I speak as a medical practitioner, one who has tried a few of these labels on for himself, and found them all wanting. However, in general I found those who were applying the labels were MORE wanting than the labels.

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  8. Andrew,
    I would suggest you read some of my more current writings on this topic. It turns out that SPD diagnosis was a lot more on target than I initially cared to admit...even to myself.

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