I think there is also a tendency of dual diagnosis that you are missing. I'd assume that many of us here were still diagnosed or going by the "old" definition of aspie that wasn't changed until the DSM-5 came out in 2013. BUT, as with many mental health issues, there is a tendency of dual diagnosis. Very few issues are so cut an dry and many humans tend to have more than one issue at a time.
For instance, I have a friend who is a female aspie. She was abused as a child. (probably because many abusers go after the "weakest link" and aspie children often already have social issues. Thus, when she was abused the symptoms of her abuse were written off as being a part of her aspergeres and as a child she was unable to understand and communicate what was happening. As an adult she now has PTSD, generalized anxiety as a symptom of the PTSD, depression, also a symptom of the PTSD, and aspergers. But it was only recently that her anxiety and depression wasn't included as a symptom specific to aspergers but rather as a symptom related to PTSD.
I think in many cases kids with aspergers grow up to be adults with anxiety and depression for reasons not necessarily BECAUSE of the aspergers, but rather BECAUSE of the way society treats those with aspergers.
For instance, my anxiety is generalized which is it's own whole issue, but it's also MOSTLY social based. I know for a fact that it's because I've felt so out of the loop with how society functions and what they expect from us. A lot of my social anxiety has been borne out trying to cope with aspergers before understanding what was going on and not being able to function the way I was told I should be.
Ex. I'm absolutely horrible at eye contact. I can't do it. Forcing myself to do it is a struggle. Now, I know that it's not "normal" to not make eye contact and I have anxiety over meeting new people because I'm worried that they'll find out I'm not "normal" because I'm incapable of such a small detail of life. The more I try to remind myself to make eye contact, the worse my anxiety becomes. For example, my brain when meeting new people goes like this: "Will they notice if I don't look them in the eyes, ...., look them in the eyes, am I doing this right? it feels so weird, maybe I'm making TOO much eye contact, ...., I'm supposed to say something here. OH NO, now I went off onto a diatribe. Rein in the conversation. Oh jesus, what do I even say here. Damn, you got distracted and haven't made eye contact in 10 minutes. And they really didn't care what you said because you did that fact dropping thing again and talked to them for 10 minutes straight about some random topic."
Thus, my anxiety isn't a symptom of being an aspie so much as it is my brain creating a constant fear of being "found out" and trying to force myself to obey common etiquette. It's caused BY the aspergers but not a symptom OF aspergers. . .
if that made any sense.
