The continued version of the previous entry.

Previously on the last entry, we have covered three overused disorders: OCD, schizophrenia, and Dissociative Identity Disorder. On this entry, we're covering ADHD, autism, and bipolar disorder.

ADHD - No excuse for randomness

Having a number of friends with ADHD, or Attention deficit hyperactive disorder, as well as taking classes in Psychology, I'll list the symptoms of ADHD:

- Easily distracted and have difficult on paying attention or focus on one task

- Easily bored with tasks

- Trouble with completing tasks

- Often losing things (one of my friends, which I will classify only as "J.D.", usually forgets his pencils and pens a lot, sometimes even his pencil box and folder)

- Have trouble listening to directions

- Blurt out inappropriate comments (the friend "J.D." I previously mentioned regularly blurts out comments relating to gaming in P.E. or such)

- Interrupt conversations (though I don't have ADHD myself, I often do this)

- Talk nonstop (I also do this, as well as a number of my friends, in topics we're interested of; TF2, Half Life, Fallout, Borderlands, occasionally CoD hate)

More indirect symptoms are:

- Poor handwriting (honestly, one friend of mine has this >.>)

- Poor social skills (one of my other friends can sometimes be a jerk, and pushes me aside, though it's not intended)

ADHD isn't random speech or thoughts at all. It's difficult with paying attention and listening. If your OC doesn't accurately portray most of the traits shown here, then it's not a representative of an "animal" with ADHD, it's just someone acting stupid.

Bipolar Disorder - Not just crazy mood swings

Bipolar disorder a.k.a manic depression is where people experience episodes of explicitly changing mood states a.k.a manic episodes. Mania, the period of elevated and irritable mood, does not just last for a few hours; they almost always remain for several days. Symptoms can include decrease of sleep – people with severe episodes can go days without going back to bed. Sometimes, they can going into a break in reality with their thinking is eventually affected by their mood.

Of course, not everyone with bipolar disorder has mania episodes. Sometimes, they have a less severe "hypomania" episodes, where they do not experience hallucinations or delusions (NOT to be confused with schizophrenia), and have a milder episode of elevated mood, though sleep may still be affected.

There are also depression episode, where people with bipolar disorder undergo a stage of anxiety, sadness, and, of course, depression, and for severe cases, also experience hallucinations and delusions like the mania episode, only in an unpleasant state.

Take note that this is NOT dissociative identity disorder, where people have split personalities, nor is this not madness/insanity, it is simply a series of episodic mood swings from increased energy to a depressive state. Do not confuse it with any either disorder; though in a some cases they may be associated with other disorders, such as people with ADHD.

This disorder is less played, though I would like people to take note of this, as bipolar disorder is sometimes misused.

Autism - Let the tirade begin

I can't believe how pissed I am when I'm explaining this to people.

Really, I'm just that angry that I'll probably use profanity to show it. But I won't, of course.

It is not mental retardation.

It is not craziness.

And it is not a baby in an adult's body.

While being one of the most hated disorders ("autistic" is a commonplace insult both in the cyber-world and real world), it's also one of the most liked (stereotypically, people see these autistic people as geniuses).

Let's just say both of them aren't always right.

People with autism aren't really stupid or retarded (note that this is not at all an insult) at all, but they often lack social development and communication skills. They may lack empathy or the skill to look from other people's point of view/making inferences.

An example of this: if Andrew placed a handful of coins into the bag after returning from the grocery store, and several minutes later, Matt comes in and notices the bag, what will he expect will be in the bag? Unaffected people would answer "food"; autistic people would answer "coins".

Another type of autism is the Asperger Syndrome; where I land. It is a "less severe" autism, and may simply have issues with social skills and minor issues with communication (autistic people may have some trouble expressing their thoughts or even talking). They may also have a peaked interest in something, sometimes to an extreme (Ex: I have an interest with mathematics, physics, chemistry, chess, collecting stuff from the early to mid 20th century, MLP, and gaming).

Stereotypically, people with Asperser's = genius.

Another type of autism is PDD-NOS, which is a disorder that does not fit into the Asperger syndrome or regular autism category, which means they may have traits that are similar to Aspies (the nickname for people with Asperger), or autism. Females with autism, Aspergers, or PDD-NOS are less common, though they do exist. Most cases, however, are males.

I, as a person technically with autism, will explain how it feels like.

First of all, I have an addiction to MLP. And TF2. And Assassin's Creed. And Half Life. And psychology. And astronomy. And physics. The list goes on. I can basically do anything I'm highly interested in for several hours non-stop. One blink of an eye, two hours have passed. It affects my life sometimes; in class, I read ahead of the class because I'm bored with the lesson. I talk for an excessive amount of time on the things I'm addicted with. And despite my interest in science, I have a B in it now; I'm not sure if anyone thinks that bad, but it's bad for me (probably because I'm Asian [stereotype]), mostly because I don't turn in classwork or homework; I'm doing something else. I sure wished someone would have helped me and say, "Now Cartophile, let's read about Napoleon the Third and his war with Prussia later and go back to reading about how Louis XVI got his head chopped off in page 152."

I also have trouble of comprehending sarcasm or making inferences and decisions. True, I can guess what's going to come out of Andrew's paper bag if he came back from the grocery store, but I might have problems in coming up with a compromise if, say, your friend is loitering at someone else's store to hang out. I can get panicked if these situations happen in real life.

I have some problems making real friends. It's easier on the Internet, where you can actually think what you're going to say. Not so much in real life, where I usually blurt out answers or sentences, interrupt teaches and classmates, or just talk about stuff nobody wants to hear, like how the Pakfront tactic from WWII applies the flying wedge tactic in a larger scale and with tanks seen in this 17th century encyclopedia, or how the Sentry Gun in TF2 is most likely based off the M2 Browning or the M134 Minigun. You get what I mean?

I haven't had any friends when I was in grade school, and I often got into fights and breakdowns. Yeah...I had a pretty unpopular reputation in the unified school district, so I was given IQ tests and was soon diagnosed with Asperger syndrome when I was eight.

They may have considered me a savant back then; I had an IQ of 142 in the third grade; I was able to solve square units, x squared, x cubed, and areas of triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids - not to be a braggart. It's 139 now, as in June 2012.

Honestly, IQ is nothing to me. It's just a number. It can be 70 or 180, I don't really care. It doesn't even measure intellect at all, nor does it make you smart; that insignificant number, like all numbers, is a representation that tells you how much potential knowledge can you absorb; getting that knowledge is a different story. It doesn't measure social intellect, artistic intellect, programming intellect, or business intellect.

I have once gone through a stage of depression when I was twelve. It feels like everything in the whole world is useless; I skipped sleep for almost a week and had suicidal thoughts. It's not a feeling of sadness, as people who haven't experienced it think. It's more than that.

I hate how people say Asperger syndrome is high functioning autism. There is no such thing as "functioning" in people, nor do their value decrease by that. Even people with autism can succeed.

But I also hate it when people say autists are geniuses. To be honest, that's unfair. What about the neurotypical people who are exceedingly talent? Don't they count too? Is that what intelligence is: how easy it is to solve a bunch of equations and learn vocabulary words?

That's why autism is the hardest to pull off. Making them look like geniuses is denying that you can be one too; making them look like anti-social people or stupid is simply being ignorant. It isn't about being the center of attention or making a model of your "better" self. If you want to become better, then get up and do something productive.

Like roleplaying how everyone should do it.