Re: PTD was the most-respected of the AUE regulars ...

On 27 Jul 2024 18:34:39 GMT, ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram)
wrote:

Rich Ulrich <rich.ulrich@comcast.net> wrote or quoted:

Also typical for the autistic spectrum --he frequently called people
'stupid' and 'liar'.

>
 I've never met an autistic person. But I've seen plenty of
 self-proclaimed psychologists on Usenet diagnosing everyone
 under the sun!

Is that a jab?  Yeah, even worse, Fox News has echoed that
Biden is demented.

The Goldwater Rule only 'rules' members of the APA -

   "The American Psychiatric Association adopted the Goldwater Rule in
1973 prohibiting members from offering psychological opinions about
individuals whom they had not personally examined. The issue arose
   after a magazine published opinions by psychiatrists about
   presidential candidate Barry Goldwater."

Psychiatrists in 1973 were also prone to believe that talk-therapy
uncovered "true diagnoses" in ways that overt behavior could not.
The modern trend is to put a lot of weight on behavior. Trump's
narcissism, for instance, EXISTs in his public behavior and a
personal interview has little to add. An interview, I think, would
not be totally useless-- it might reveal more about co-diagnoses
such as sociopathy.

>
 The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can only be made by
 qualified professionals who actually know what they're doing and have

Well, the childhood ASDs are dysfunctional and not searching for
Dx on Usenet.  Aspies, on the other hand, are sometimes /grateful/
to learn that they are not alone, and that they can learn something
more.

 the right training to spot the signs and symptoms. Usually, the whole
 process involves clinical observations, interviews, questionnaires,
 standardized tests, and a differential diagnosis. So yeah, even a
 qualified pro can't just throw out a diagnosis based on Usenet posts!

One of the tendencies of Aspies on Usenet is to over-share.
So, we learned a lot that his therapist would.  And we have his
behaviors.

So, Bill told us that he was a member of the Three-Nines Society
(compare: Mensa selects out only 98%). He got into grad-school
on the personal recommendation of a senior facutly member
after he bombed the Verbal portion of the GREs.

He retired early from his tenured faculty position because he did
not like anyone in his department, and they treated him badly. 
He (apparentlly) did not recognize that they were trying to drive
him out when they loaded him up with grad-students and assigned
him to teach a lab-section of someone else's course. 

He changed nyms once or twice in the 3 years he posted, and that
was because he offended in some other group so much that they
protested and he was kicked off his account. Scuba diving?

>
 No, wait, I /did/ have one student in a class once. Either
 the admin or he himself told me before the course started,
 "Heads up, autistic!" But honestly, I didn't see any of
 the behaviors you mentioned in him.

The diagnoses given in schools have sometimes been warped by
the funding available for help in various categories.  So, autistic
and retarded and ADHD can be arbitrary labels that help to
obtain Special Care.

--
Rich Ulrich