Tbh, women wouldn’t admit to doing this either - there’s absolutely a shame around women having to make friends with an AI (because we’re meant to be innately social I guess). And I don’t think that other women realize that they are contributing to the issues of women feeling shame using AI by implying it’s a male issue and all about sex and toxic masculinity.

Like as a woman who has used AI, how am I supposed to feel about admitting that I’ve done something that only asshole, horny, incels do (according to a lot of people)?

So the stigma goes all ways and none of it helps anyone. People just need to be more curious than judgemental. Someone does something you don’t understand? That’s okay you don’t understand. Ask them why. Listen. Try to see a different perspective instead of just filling in the gaps with incel, men, sex, ugly, etc. etc.

Psychiatry is in need of reform. But people need to stop targeting autism as the condition that gets over-diagnosed or misdiagnosed. All conditions are getting misdiagnosed and mistreated in certain cases. Focusing on just autism (and ADHD) is ignoring a huge part of the problem - which to your last point is that PSYCHIATRY needs reform - on all levels for all diagnoses and all the things you mention because there are so many issues.

It’s just “easy” to reduce it to autism and ADHD are being over-diagnosed because big pharma. It’s ignorant AF and peddling out the easy targeted rhetoric and misinformation only contributes to the issues that the whole health system has. It’s not a 2D picture, you got to look at every side to get any inkling of the full picture.

You spoke about autism and bipolar. You don’t get amphetamines for either.

No. It’s actually really well documented why there’s been an increase.

Previously women were seen as less likely to be autistic and often considered for other diagnoses without considering autism. This was also the case for POC.

Secondly, until 2014 ADHD and autism were exclusive diagnoses - if you had one you couldn’t have the other. Now they have realized that they actually occur together naturally diagnoses for both have increased.

Asperger’s is no longer diagnosed in a lot of places (only since around 2015, depending on location) therefore these diagnoses are now joining autism diagnosis numbers.

Access to healthcare, more education, more research than ever before and an ever increasing understanding that autism can occur with or without a low IQ.

Naught to do with insurance and everything to do with fantastic people who have done a lot of research to deepen the understanding of autism and include previously excluded people in a diagnosis that has no exclusions (any colour, any gender, any IQ level, any culture, any age).

Exactly. It’s targeted. All medical conditions have some level of misdiagnosis. Mental illness and developmental disabilities. But people love to just zero in one diagnosis for this discussion which means it’s targeted and there’s an agenda behind it.

Nobody is getting an autism diagnosis to back up their comorbidities of depression and anxiety to get medication. If anything, people having a diagnosis of depression and anxiety is going to be a reason autism gets overlooked. If you want medication, you aren’t going to go through an autism assessment (cost, time, stress, etc) and then be like “oh yeah you know how I’m autistic, don’t you think that means I am depressed too? Pills please!” If that’s your thing you’d just go for the depression.

Autism has zero benefit trying to obtain medication and actually is LESS likely to go straight for medication because if you’re autistic then the first thing to do is make sure you’re not overloading yourself and managing your sensory issues and such before even determining IF there’s a reason to try drugs. Autisms first line of defense is environmental factors, self care, learning how to manage your energy and capacity, accommodations. The last resort is medication. Ffs I wish people would have a clue what they’re talking about sometimes.

I had somewhat similar but my autism and ADHD were overlooked until I was an adult. I was diagnosed with bipolar, schizo affective disorder and a scattering of others. I was put on;

Efexor 400mg - still can’t get off this though I am down to 225mg

Seroquel 1300mg - which is an insane dose. I was 40kg (teenager) when I started this medication, a year later I was 70kg. I am still struggling with my weight and down to 100mg. For context, they say 600-700mg is the standard for a severe schizophrenic adult. I was an underdeveloped teenager (as in underweight, “failure to thrive”, lack of nutrition etc) and I was not experiencing psychosis. I had years where I could barely get from the bedroom to the lounge room because I was that sedated.

Lithium - 1000mg.

And I would be here all night to list every medication. Seroquel was the worst - it has significantly reduced my quality of life and my life expectancy and contributed to developing other health conditions.

So the issue is ANY misdiagnosis. That’s the conversation to have. Mental illness and neurodivergent conditions are all extremely difficult to get right and that’s an important discussion to have. But when we start targeting one or two conditions; autism and ADHD, that’s not a discussion in good faith - it’s a discussion with an agenda.

I have cPTSD - which I have been told is from drumroll the medical system (as well as childhood trauma). Medical trauma is a true cruelty because sadly, you can’t avoid being re-traumatised because you can’t avoid the medical system… especially when you have chronic conditions and disabilities. You literally have to continue engaging with the system that has traumatized you. Repeatedly. Medical trauma is another important discussion.

Lol it’s not healthy to have an anti autism diagnosis campaign to begin with. The issue is that EVERY diagnosis will have people who find out later they were misdiagnosed. So it is targeted to just be discussing one or two diagnoses.

Nobody’s diagnosing/seeking a diagnosis of autism to get meds. There are no meds specifically for autism. That doesn’t make sense

The comparison they are making is that there was a stage where all of a sudden a bunch of people were claiming to de-transition and people believe it was a kind of co-ordinated thing to “prove” that transgender was just some kind of fad. OL is saying now that they are doing a similar thing with autistic people going back on their diagnosis and that the strings are being pulled by those who want to “prove” that autism is being over-diagnosed.

Essentially, it’s the “strategy” being used that’s comparable. It’s designed with an agenda.

I’ll consider this discussion when people start discussing how often people are misdiagnosed and mis-medicated for mental illnesses and other illnesses. But whilst it’s just a narrow attack on one or two diagnoses (autism and ADHD) it’s not a discussion that’s being had in good faith. It’s one with an agenda.

So what did they think it was? Because autism is linked to genetics so…

It’s all bollocks. I’m autistic. I was misdiagnosed as bipolar for 15 years including psychosis and sedated heavily for 15 years. THAT has had a major ongoing impact on my life. But there’s no “wave” of people who come out about being misdiagnosed as bipolar…or borderline personality disorder - both of which are common misdiagnoses for late diagnosed autistic people.

There’s a comfort in knowing who you are and being able to look after yourself and play to your strengths.

Anyone, with any diagnosis or not, can find a “reason” or “excuse” to not try or to be a shit person. That’s not exclusive to literally any demographic or diagnosis. Lazy people exist, bad people exist, etc. autistic, non autistic, man, woman, young, old, mental illness, whatever isn’t the thing that makes a person lazy, good, bad, etc.

Oh trust me a LOT of peoples instinct is to accuse autistic people of being “fakers”. It’s something autistic people without an intellectual disability deal with regularly from general public and the government (various ones, I’m not even in the US) aren’t helping at the moment.

And do people really believe that women don’t talk to AI companions, in various forms, too?

I’m a woman and I spoke to one of the apps for a while because I was bloody lonely (still am 🤷‍♀️). Had zero to do with men or murder. I didn’t have anyone, of either gender, to connect with.

It’s really easy to just reduce this to a male issue, a toxic masculinity, a male violence issue. We need to go deeper than that if we actually want to understand why people, men, women, everyone, use different AI.

But threads like this, with all the judgement, aren’t going to get a lot of people who admit they use/have used/have considered using AI. By just criticising/laughing, etc at people who do it, ironically, we turn more people towards the AIs.

I think you’re making some interesting observations. I definitely agree that it’s the easy answer to just dismiss people who use AI therapists, friends, relationships are just stupid.

You’re right that it says something about the system we live in and I extend that to society in general. We have a society who criticizes people for answering “how are you” honestly, who doesn’t have time for each other, who use terms like “trauma dumping” - so personally, I can see why some people are turning to machines whether it’s therapy or connection. It’s really bloody sad and it’s not a good solution but I can see the WHY behind it - which is what I think you’re also getting at.

We do need to listen to why people turn to these services and figure out what people aren’t finding in human connection that they are, or think they are, in machines. I don’t buy that an individuals intelligence has much to do with why people turn to AI.

❤️ autistic, ADHD adult. I cried watching the movie “I swear” last night about a boy through to man with Tourettes syndrome. It’s too relatable just how hard life can be why you’re different. I liked the message of the movie though which was that the disability isn’t the problem, it’s the lack of education for society that puts up the barriers. A lot of truth in that.

I hope your son finds people who he connects with without having to change who he is.