We call that a shut-in and it’s a behavior pattern (not exclusively) of teens, not something you can have/be. It can be caused by social tension/exclusion in school, in this case likely caused by misunderstandings due to light autism.
About autism (infodump):
it’s a range of (in most cases multiple) deviations in details of neurochemical parameters. Neurons communicate with each other not via direct contact but via transport chemicals. To nake things even more complex, those chemicals need to be “carried” by proteins. If somethong is wrong “configured”, the target can be under/overstimulated and/or give a too weak/strong signal or have a delay or whatever.
Luckily, the brain doesn’t work on the base of single neurons but on “waves” of synchronizated signales instead, so alltogether, such a “misconfigured” brain can still work well enough to allow some level of functioning/consciousness, with slight differences in understanding or performance in light cases.
Tl;dr: autism is not something you can “catch” or “have”, it’s how they are born, it’s how they are.
And while stress or some substances can have a influence on the likelyness, it’s something that happens in nature now and then and in most cases, one of the parents shows signs already.
A understanding and supporting environment is especially important for autists.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
You sure you talked to a real doctor?