That is very interesting and surprising. Could you expand on what you mean by ‘Asperger Syndrome defined’? Do you mean the lyrics are as though a definition of AS, or that the song is elsewhere been defined as related to AS?
As a lifelong XTC fan (did I mention I saw their last ever completed gig?) and with a 30 year career in psychiatry so far, I’ve never got that vibe from him. I’ve watched and read many interviews and known people who have worked with him. His anxiety issues are well documented as well as being addicted to valium from being prescribed it as a child, but not a whiff of autism - nor have I ever seen it speculated until now.
I always wondered if he might have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (through hearing about working with him in books and through friends, through such songs as Another Satellite, Ship Trapped in the Ice, The Art Song and Your Dictionary) but now I’ve read what you wrote it is very interesting to look at it through that lens.
It will be interesting to read the new book of interviews with him about the songs that comes out next month.
The description for which includes this; Filled with anecdotes about Partridge, his XTC bandmates, and the band’s adventures around the world (all told with AP’s legendary humour),
There’s a story in today’s Washington Post that’ll break your heart. It’s about Debi Thomas, a beautiful, gifted woman who won Olympic gold as an ice skater in the '80s and who subsequently became an orthopedic surgeon. She was diagnosed bipolar and now her life is in ruins. She’s penniless and living in a trailer. The article is at
That’s a myth. I know close on 200 autistic people, and they don’t avoid eye contact, with the exception of people who avoid it in certain circumstances, because they are trying to communicate something they can’t communicate in words. Personally, I think that the “avoids eye contact,” along with “avoids physical contact” are institutional behaviors that you will see even in perfectly normal people after situations like being POWs, and these behaviors were observed decades ago in autistic people who had been in institutions. We need fresh data on the current generation of young adults, who have never been institutionalized.
People who avoid eye contact either have something wrong with their vision, or they are just shy. There are actors who are pathologically ahy when they are not acting, believe it or not. I’m not saying Keanu Reeves is one-- I know nothing about him, but it’s possible. Imogene Coca apparently could barely talk to people, and sat in the corner by herself any time she wasn’t “on,” but when she was, when she was working, she was entirely different.
That’s such a horrible name. I know it’s fictional, but the brothels really did exist, and I knew someone who had been forced into one when she was 17. It makes me shudder every time I hear it.
People with ADHD are more-often-than-is-easy-to-believe mistaken for autistic because we don’t do eye contact very well either. There are a lot more actors/actresses with that than autism.
Not too weird: that’s what Folie à deux is. Typically the pair/family is pretty isolated and one person becomes delusional, and the other (weaker willed) person comes to believe too.
Does anyone know if Amanda Bynes has been officially diagnosed as schizophrenic or bipolar yet? (she has been in mental hospitals) Clearly she’s delusional at least some of the time. Britney Spears has mentioned both anxiety and bipolar disorder, and fortunately got help with that.
Even if she hadn’t been prescribing drugs for her boyfriend, which is what she did to put her license in jeopardy, she would at the very least been censured for boundary violations. You DO NOT socialize with your patients, or their guardians, if you know them only through your practice.
The story said their only income is Social Security death benefits he gets because his kids’ mom is deceased. I’m surprised she isn’t on some kind of disability herself. She definitely had grandiose delusions of some kind.
BTW, there was a big story about her a few months ago, saying pretty much the same thing.
Dana Plato (from Diff’rent Strokes) had a lot of substance abuse issues; she died from an overdose of prescription drugs.
Freddie Prinze (from Chico and the Man) had depression and ultimately killed himself.
As far as Prince, I don’t think he has a psychiatric disorder: He’s just an extremely creative person with an individual view of the world who isn’t afraid to be different from the “norm.”
ETA: I do think Miley Cyrus has something going on.
“In 1988, McNichol played Barbara Weston on the NBC sitcom Empty Nest, a spin-off of The Golden Girls, alongside Richard Mulligan and Dinah Manoff. Kristy left the series in 1992 when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.[5] She returned to the series for its final episode in 1995, her last screen appearance as an actress to date, though she went on to voice characters in the animated TV series Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) and Invasion America (1998).”
She spoke about being bullied because of her sexuality.