Autism or CPTSD?

[BlueMoon_]

For a while I have wondered if I might have autism, for a couple of reasons, but a big one is it seems so impossible how people can just interact with each other and make friends so easily. It seems like I'm from another planet from everyone in the socializing department.

I also have other things that make me question if I'm autistic, but I'm not sure if they are strong enough to say for sure they are from autism. For example disliking loud noises, fidgeting around a lot, and liking routine.

I'm not sure enough about having autism to go and get diagnosed, though.

However I have read that symptoms of CPTSD can be similar to autism.

Are any of you guys autistic or wondered if you were autistic before, but found out it was CPTSD instead? How did you find out the difference? Thanks!

[storyworld]

Hello!
I am not autistic but wanted to reply to say that I saw your post and understand how confusing this might be. I've read that CPTSD can mimic ADHD. Since autism (I've heard) is supposedly related (loosely?) to ASD, it seems like there could be some crossover.

[Kizzie]

I read up on this and found this one sentence kind of says it best: "Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that presents in early childhood, whereas CPTSD is a mental health condition that emerges after exposure to complex trauma".

This is not to say you don't have autism though, the two can co-occur according to what I read.  Just Google something to the effect "Are autism and CPTSD the same thing?" and lots of info will pop up.

[sanmagic7]

hi, bluemoon,  i'm one of the lucky ones? to have c-ptsd and am also on the cusp of autism.  i can relate to your awkwardness in social interactions, feeling out of step, so to speak, with others, liking routine, including repetitive activities (i was the tetris queen in our household!), and am startled easily - altho i'm not sure if that's an autism or c-ptsd response.

i self-diagnosed w/ autism - i looked it up online - sorry, it's been a few years, and i can't give you a specific link - but i took the test twice, 6 mos. apart so as not to remember and simply repeat my answers.  once i was just on the border, and the second time i was one point on the autistic side of the border.

it explained a lot of my interactions w/ others throughout my life, while also dealing w/ dissociation, depersonalization, anxiety, sleep problems, intrusive thoughts and other symptoms of c-ptsd.  so, as far as i'm concerned, dealing with both (and alexithymia as well, which after researching that situation led me to check myself for autistic tendencies) at the same time is definitely a possibility.

best to you with all this.  it helped me to know.  i hope it helps you one way or the other.   

[Armee]

There's a book that might help:

Living with PTSD on the Autism Spectrum by Lisa Morgan, Mary Donahue: New Paperback (2020) | Rarewaves.com UK https://share.google/0zPbSit9tSAOVkPSq

When we've had symptoms of cptsd our whole lives and exposure to brain-altering trauma from a very young age, I don't know how you tease apart what is cpstd and what is autism and what is both.

There's an online psych testing platform for therapists you can sign up for an account and test yourself as a "dummy client." Novopsych.

There are at least 2 autism scale assessments. AQ and Ritvo. I score quite high on those for autism. I haven't been professionally assessed and won't be because i do not want a medical record of some of the other assessments i would score high on. I could be autistic but the things that drive my score high really are functions of trauma and cptsd. I'd suggest perhaps if you take the assessments, look at the questions that drove your scores high and think about if your answer is driven by something that is likely a trauma response or something more intrinsic. 

I think one thing that is helpful from the autism side of things is self-acceptance. Understanding that your difficulties are a form of neurodiversity and that you are OK just the way you are. We can apply that understanding to our experiences of cptsd symptoms too.

Sending you lots of support in figuring out what you would like to understand about yourself.