
A Link Between Autism and Addiction - pmcpinto
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/03/autism-and-addiction/518289/?single_page=true
======
leggomylibro
I can definitely see the aspect of returning to a familiar activity, which is
apparently very soothing to many people on the spectrum. Heck, even in
'normal' people quitting cigarettes, it's pretty common to have trouble not
just with the lack of nicotine, but also the lack of the comforting 'hand-to-
mouth' motion.

But I'll bet that the isolation plays a big part too. I could be wrong about
this, and the article only mentions a few cases where people found that
alternative cultures were simply more accepting of their quirks, but it seems
like people on the spectrum often think a little differently, are painfully
aware of it, and feel the need to be constantly scrutinizing their words and
actions around other people. Combine that with all of the constant pressures
of modern life, between staying on top of bills, holding down a job/career,
managing social events, keeping up on housework...it's like fingers on a
chalkboard to a spectrum dweller's overarching craving for some quiet
isolation every now and then. Life just feels so loud and hectic, with some
days dominated by a desire to tuck your head between your knees and scream at
the whole world to just hold up and calm down for a goddamned minute. And the
aversion to sudden, unexpected changes doesn't help. How can you ever really
relax when just the act of navigating day-to-day life feels like tap-dancing
on an avalanche?

So would it really be surprising if it does turn out that many such people
reach for the bottle at an early age? I don't think so, but I'm sure glad to
see people putting more effort into finding an answer than my vague 'that
makes sense' hand-waving.

~~~
FascinatedBox
As some with Aspergers, much of the middle part is true for me. I feel extreme
discomfort in highly social situations. It's tough because being social
doesn't come naturally ever, but it's more of constantly pushing myself to go
out and then becoming exhausted easily from it.

I'm acutely aware of it, every single day.

~~~
jankedeen
Yes. Depression results in turn as you realize that you are not normal..that
other highly intelligent and 'normal' people have a better angle on the future
and that your peculiar perceptions are not something you can leverage.

Then alcohol to forget..and competition with others who recognize your illness
and take pity on you. Cyclical and ugly.

------
ClassyJacket
"It’s believed that people on the spectrum don’t get hooked on alcohol or
other drugs."

Sorry, but by who? I don't recall ever hearing this and googling it turned up
nothing.

~~~
kosma
Alcohol, drugs and sex on autism spectrum are still largely a taboo among
mental health professionals, hence the lack of results. For many on the autism
spectrum, it works out just as the article says:

 _> Many people with autism have a penchant for strictly following rules,
which would seem to make them less likely to try alcohol or illegal drugs._

For others, especially the higher-functioning, undiagnosed and too smart,
alcohol, drugs and sex may become the means, end, and medicine. I'm speaking
from personal experience.

~~~
stagbeetle
> _For others, especially the higher-functioning, undiagnosed and too smart,
> alcohol, drugs and sex may become the means, end, and medicine._

How's your sex life? Is it an escorts thing or do you try for relationships?

~~~
tuxxy
Hey, there! I'm on the spectrum (Aspergers), so take this as face value..

I've been in a relationship for almost one year now (my first serious one).
I'm exceptionally independent and spend a lot of time to myself coding and
working on projects.

My sex life is... different, I think. I'm bisexual and so is my girlfriend. I
think my sex drive is much lower than most people. I crave it occasionally
(maybe, seriously, like once a month) and it feels more mechanical for me than
emotional. I enjoy it and it's fun, but it feels like work a lot of the times.
I'm very sexually open and sex positive, too.

I'll answer more questions about my relationship, if wanted.

~~~
stagbeetle
Cool. I appreciate the frankness.

How was the journey getting to this point in your life?

I don't know if you have a reference for a neurotypical + neurotypical
relationship, but if any, what accommodations have you had to make? For
example: the way introverts have to make time for themselves and for their
partner to understand and respect that.

~~~
tuxxy
My journey thus far? Well, I'm only 20. I have a full time job as a software
engineer making a fairly high salary. (College dropouts ftw!) I'm about to buy
my first house, too. Getting to this point in my life was fairly interesting.
Lots of changes (from Mormon to agnostic, for example.)

Some accommodations? Well, I guess I have to put off some side project time to
spend time with my SO. Sometimes I really have to force myself to do it even
though I really want to to work on one of my projects.

------
eric_h
> he was drinking “lethal” amounts of alcohol: three liters of gin every day.

This is slightly OT as it's a minor(ish) sentence in the article, but I fail
to see the reason for the quotes. For anyone but the most hardened alcoholics,
that is a lethal dose of alcohol.

Edit: pluralized a word, regardless, I think you have to be in the ~98th
percentile for daily liquor consumption to survive this.

~~~
striking
I think the fact that it's not unilaterally lethal, but typically so, is the
reason for the quotes. If it were literally lethal, no quotes, it would imply
that any human that drank that quantity would die and that the subject here is
simply superhuman.

It is totally offtopic, but I consider their grammar absolutely correct.

~~~
roywiggins
I assumed the quote marks were because he had described the amounts that way
himself.

------
philliphaydon
I'll probably be down voted for saying this...

But I really can't help but feel like Austim is being thrown around like the
new ADHD...

~~~
anigbrowl
And you deserve to be. As someone who has raging ADHD I am sick to the back
teeth of knee-jerk contrarians venting their feels while making no effort to
contribute anything of substance.

~~~
philliphaydon
As someone who was flagged with ADHD and shoved on Ritalin for 5 years, I'm
sick to my back teeth with doctors just throwing around diagnosis's willy
nilly.

~~~
anigbrowl
Being concerned about overdiagnosis is perfectly valid, but you should take
the time to say that. I'm sorry about your bad experience, but your flip
comments contribute to my ongoing bad experience. Please consider the
different contexts in which your statements might be interpreted when you're
discussing this subject.

------
taurath
Isn't it obvious that a personality that can become hyperfocused on one or a
few hobbies or interests become hyperfocused on drugs, alcohol or sex?

The only reason I could think of that it WOULDN'T be as such would be people
on the lower-functioning end of the spectrum who can't support themselves - if
someone can't manage basic functions without help its unlikely they're going
to be exposed to that lifestyle.

~~~
kosma
This is not the full story. Alcohol provides some other "benefits" (quotes
intentional) for those on the autism spectrum:

* Alleviates sensory problems. I used to get hammered before heading out for the city; it was the only way to survive the usual barrage of stimuli that accompanies a hectic Saturday night.

* Numbs emotions. A hallmark of autism is a great difficulty regulating emotions. Alcohol and drugs make them manageable, even if only temporarily.

* Dissolves the usual rigid thinking, which makes social contacts much easier.

* Makes you forget all the damage, guilt and shame that the neurotypical world has inflicted upon you.

Answering your post - yes, the majority never gets exposed to the drinking
world. But those that do - tend to sink in, often with disastrous
consequences.

~~~
taurath
Absolutely, and I've struggled with finding a good balance of use myself.
There's a fine line between what it does for neurotypical people and what it
does for people on the spectrum.

~~~
kosma
In my experience, using a substance as a form of relief, in any amount,
prevents developing healthy coping mechanisms. More often than not quitting is
not enough - it takes lots of reading, therapy, experience and time to find
and learn a non-harmful alternative.

~~~
taurath
There's a point at which having 100 coping techniques and mechanisms that work
sometimes but not all the time just don't cut it. Healthy habits need to be
kept up in perpetuity even through hard or highly stressful times.

------
CryoLogic
Could be totally unrelated, but my brother and I fall on the spectrum and I
personally was taking adderall (prescription) at the maximum dose for about a
year.

I decided I wanted to stop due to side effects, and quit cold turkey one day
with minimal withdrawals (just sleepy). Doctor was very surprised I didn't
have dependence although it was an amphetamine.

I have a theory on why it could be the case, and based on what I've researched
I think it could be due to issues with neurotransmitters.

~~~
kosma
Surprisingly, Adderall doesn't have a significant physical addiction
potential. I suppose you could get psychologically addicted if you used it
recreationally but I've never met anyone who had. The XR (extended release)
version is even less addictive because it doesn't give you a "kick".

~~~
soylentcola
I guess it really depends on the person. I've been on Adderall for the past
several years (overall positive outcome) and I don't get a kick/buzz from it.
Early on it felt akin to morning coffee where it perked me up but as I
adjusted to it, that has gone away and I'm glad because I don't want to get
attached to any sort of buzz or whatever.

But if I go off it for more than a day without any sort of tapering off, I
feel like a zombie for quite a while. Last time I was unable to fill a
prescription while the pharmacy was behind on supplies, I felt as one might
expect after using a drug to adjust neurochemistry for a long time - the
symptoms I'd originally been treating multiplied due to having adjusted to the
medication.

It's hard to describe but it was like being tired, having the worst "brain
fog" in history, and the occasional mild tics. Not sure how long it would've
taken me to readjust but it's apparently longer than a week. It's made me more
aware of the relationship between medication and my natural state and it's one
of the main reasons I've never wanted to abuse this drug by taking more than I
need for improved function.

If I ever decide to go off it for good, I plan to wean off to avoid the barely
tolerable but unpleasant symptoms of abrupt withdrawal.

------
partycoder
This is a very good TED talk about addiction. I think it is a must watch.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66cYcSak6nE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66cYcSak6nE)

------
huddo121
On my first pass of the title on the front page I figured this was going to be
a Legend of Zelda game... This article is not as fun as LoZ, not even in the
slightest.

------
zxcvvcxz
Fun fact about autism: given current trends, by 2032 one in two Americans will
be diagnosed as autistic (80% of all boys).

This observation was made by MIT Professor Stephanie Seneff:

[http://weeksmd.com/2015/12/18170/](http://weeksmd.com/2015/12/18170/)

It's hard to agree which such a claim (exponentials typically become sigmoids,
right?), but it is certainly interesting to think about.

> The risk for autism for a child born today is one in 25 at least. This is
> not a genetic disorder. This is an environmental disorder. I would go one
> step further: this is a manmade disorder.

A lot of sources suggest that autism is genetic. This explanation logically
fails for the simple reason that such an exponential increase over the last 40
years is not possible for a genetic condition - it can't all have occurred at
once. Are you telling me that autistic people, who are typically severely
impaired in how they function in society, were able to breed and pass on a
genetic condition at such a high rate in such a short time?

From 1975 to 2015, the autistic population has exploded in orders of magnitude
from ~60,000 to ~ _6 million_. Two percent of the population.

Perhaps it's all because of under-diagnosis of the past. Various types of
mental retardation may now be classified as autism.

But was two percent of the population always a victim of some form of mental
retardation?

This is somewhat of a silent epidemic (when's the last time you heard about it
in the mainstream media?) and we need to figure out what's going on.

~~~
watwut
High functioning autistic are not mentally retarded. They are able to function
and breed - especially in past society where everyone was expected to marry
and stick together forever no matter what. The surplus of kids who are
diagnozed as hf autistic today would be simply labeled bad or spoiled in the
past.

