“To be autistic is to be misunderstood”

I have ASD and I have historically worried about the same thing, as has my sister. From the outside ASD and psychopathy can look similar to untrained eyes. The biggest “tell” is how you feel (or dont feel) inside.

I recommend looking into Autistic Masking to see if that explains the “alter ego” you seemed to describe earlier.

While you’re researching this, I will tell you that autism is probably the one thing where you will have better luck listening/talking to other autistic people than to just read data from something like the DSM-5. There are a lot of YouTube people with various profiles of autism and I have had far better luck learning from them and an autistic friend than anything clinical.

There are also different profiles of ASD. The main ones are:

• Classic Autism
• Asperger’s (now called HFA or High Functioning Autism, but there is still a LOT of info out there from when it was still called Asperger’s)
• PDA or Pathological Demand Avoidance So be sure to check out all of them before thinking you aren’t just because one doesn’t fit. I thought I wasn’t autistic for YEARS because I did not know the right profile.

Long story short, ASD is HUGE and largely not understood. If you have questions, shoot me a message. As you look around, I’m sure you’ll learn about Autistic Special Interests. Psychology and especially ASD are mine, so I’m happy to rant teach about it forever.

Good luck in your journey!