To the person who thinks that they might be autistic. - a thread. /1

I imagine you have gone your entire life wondering why you are different, why you can't seem to understand things the way that others can and why everything just seems so hard. I'm proud of you for getting this far. /2

Part of you might be thinking:
"But if I was autistic, surely it would've been noticed when I was a kid? So maybe I'm making this up."
So many autistic people aren't diagnosed until they are adults, if diagnosed at all. You would not be the first and you won't be the last. /3

"My family and friends don't think that I could be autistic."
People's understandings of autism tend to be based off of the media, which doesn't show every possible presentation of autism, or based off of someone they know, and all autistic people present differently. /4

People's perceptions of autism can also be based off stereotypes, for example, "autistic people can't make eye contact, so you can't be autistic." While this is true for some, it isn't for all, so you can begin to see how one presentation of autism can't possibly fit everyone. /5

A brief overview of the history of personality disorders - a thread. 1/23

The history of personality disorders can be traced to 400BC, when Hippocrates described four personality patterns. These were choleric (irritable), melancholic (sad), sanguine (optimistic) and phlegmatic (apathetic). He believed these patterns were based on the four humors. 2/23

The four humors were black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm. Hippocrates believed that a person's personality pattern depending on the level of each of these humors. 3/23

Theories of disordered personality can also be traced back to ancient Chinese and Greek philosophy. Theophrastus (c 371 - c 287 BC) described 30 character types. For example, 'The Suspicious Man' has obvious links with today's paranoid personality disorder. 4/23

The category "Manie sans delire" (meaning mania without delusion) coined by Pinel in the 18th century appears to describe for the first time what is now known as a PD. He described a set of patients who he thought to behave irrationally despite being in touch with reality. 5/23