From addiction and self-experimentation:
I am coming to believe that [my] addiction may be caused by a specific kind of autism-related syndrome. I don’t crave order in everything that I do but I do crave order and structure in order for me to relate to others. I need to figure out some ways to get that structured social interaction that my brain requires. . . A 12-step meeting could be [seen] as just a highly structured social event.
A friend of mine became an Orthodox Jew in college; his parents were not very religious. Now and then I went to his house for Shabbat. As I got to know him better — outside the religious rituals — I was astonished at the difficulty he had carrying on a conversation. The many structures (rituals) of Orthodox Judaism made it much easier for him to spend time with other people.
This is absolutely fascinating. Thanks so much for posting! I will have to check the blog you referenced. I have a husband who is an addict and a son with autism, and I have noticed that there are many, many other families in which both addiction and autism are found together. Both addiction and autism have obsessive/compulsive components, and as the writer pointed out, a need for order and structure and difficulty relating to others.
This post has me thinking as well. Thank you.
how to handle addiction if one has Asperger or PDD?