Trigger warning: this article discusses Asperger syndrome as a mental disorder.
Asperger syndrome, also known as Asperger’s, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the development of individuals. It affects the way that they behave, the way they talk, and how they interact in social settings. Those with Asperger’s are typically considered to fall under autism in the autism spectrum.
Symptoms
There are different ways in which individuals may behave that indicate that they might have this disorder, some of which include:
- Repetitive behaviors: This is a common behavior of Asperger’s. Examples of this include having the same thing for breakfast every morning, having the same routine every morning, and opening the door a certain way.
- Inability to understand emotions: People with Asperger’s usually face some difficulty in interpreting either their own or other people’s emotions.
- Lack of empathy: People with Asperger’s find it very difficult to see things from another’s person perspective.
- People with Asperger’s usually struggle with being able to express their emotions and find it difficult to express themselves in emotional situations. This tends to lead to outbursts of emotion.
- Hypersensitivity to sound and light
- Social anxiety: They may struggle with being able to carry a conversation.
- Above-average verbal skills: Individuals tend to have a strong vocabulary and good grammar but struggle with using this language in a social setting.
- Absence of eye contact: They cannot keep up eye contact when talking to another person.
- Heavy handedness: Due to motor coordination difficulties in their brain, they may find difficulty with basic tasks such as walking or sitting correctly.
- Infatuation with certain topics: People with Asperger’s usually have a hyper fixation on a certain topic and constantly insist on talking about it with others.
- Average intelligence
- Speech that sounds tone-deaf – almost robotic – without expression of any emotion
- Dislike for change: This results in obsessive, repetitive behavior.
Treatment
When it comes to treatment, every person suffering from this disease is very different, meaning that there is not a standardized approach and there may need to be a few different treatments administered to find one that has a long-lasting effect. Some of these treatments may include:
- Medicine: Currently, there are not any drugs relating to Asperger’s that are medically approved and used. However, doctors tend to prescribe some medication that help with anxiety, which is typically a symptom of this disorder
- Social skills training: This is usually done in groups and would teach them how to express themselves in a social setting in a more appropriate way by modeling another person’s behavior.
- Speech-language therapy: This therapy helps with the individuals’ communication skills in hopes that they can keep a steady two-way communication where they can understand non-verbal communication.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy: This helps individuals change the way that they think for them to have a better grasp of their emotions and be able to handle bursts healthily.
- Applied behavior analysis: This therapy motivates individuals to use positive communication skills and demoralizes negative behavior.
Being Mindful
Even though people with Asperger syndrome share common traits and symptoms, every person is different, and their condition varies in intensity. They also have completely different ways in which they express their emotions. This is due to the fact that they might be in different phases of the neurodevelopmental stage. There are infinite possibilities of characteristics of those diagnosed with the syndrome.