Was Syd autistic?

Even though LCD and (supposedly)schizophrenia were what drove him to edge, a lot of his traits are very similar to the traits of autistic people. And no, I don't mean mentally-challenged people.

1) Writing songs that seem to be reminiscent of his childhood.
2) Eccentricness, creativity and wanting to be by and to himself
2) His living with his mother afterward

Albert Einstein was autistic and the traits of his kind of autism are similar to the traits Syd had. A lot of people with autism seem to be very isolated and to themselves(And very eccentric) yet they're usually very smart, creative and sharp and are usually scared of change and transition and of being far away from home in an almost childlike manner. Even though a lot of Syd's problems were supposedly schizophrenia, it seems as though his schizophrenic traits(The ones which don't already share a similarity with autism), seem like the kind that could be developed through a strong drug use and that mixed with his autism could've been what drove him to insanity as opposed to schizophrenia alone.

Eh, be careful with the word autistic, because it is a big word, and loads of people have som autistic in them. I know to little about Syd to really take a side...

I own a copy of his biography.. and although i'm aware that it's not the be all and end all.. i never got that impression from reading it

cheers

Autistic he is not, dudes. He has paranoid Schizophrenia.

paranoid Schizophrenia?????

NO MAN this is not correct.. he was not paranoid he just had schizophrenia. i dunno where u got this info from but personally i really do not think that is true at all.. I believe he was just to smart for us all to understand hes a genius!

Yes I also read this somewhere.

Paranoid Schizophrenia is a form of schizophrenia, it's just a fancy way of saying schizo. It's the psychological term. I took AP Psychology this year. Don't fret. he wasn't Dissing Syd.

I think he was very creative and certainly revolutionary but i wouldnt go so far as to call syd a genius but thats my opinion only, no offense intended but i mean considering all the other musical greats out there im not sure how you would define his genius in comparison.Unique, creative, and revolutionary but genius well genius is in the eye of the beholder....

Paranoid Schizophrenia means having delusions or hallucinations but maintaining organized speech and normal cognitive affect and behaviors.
I wrote two papers just on that subtype of Schizophrenia for my Psychopathology class.
And I don't believe he was autistic.

It was without a doubt the LSD and Schizo. Probaly mostly the acid that lead to and/or increased his Schizo. I almost possitive he was not autistic.

LCD- Liquid Crystal Display (screens on electronics).
LSD- Lysergic Acid Dietylamide (synthasized grain/mold, AKA Acid)
Just had to clarify that for you.

yup yup.... it was mostly, if not ALL the acid, which was slipped to him alot, on top of the hits he was knowingly taking

But wasn't he pretty outgoing and friendly before he became schiophrenic or whatnot? I thought autistic people generally kept to themselves. Syd wasn't reclusive until after the drugs and all that.

And I don't think him living with his mother would be considered specific to autism. I would believe that any person with such problems would want someone to live with, and to help take care of them.

I worked with Autistic children for about a year, and the one characteristic that they all shared was that Autism was a consistent thing throughout their lives. It didn't just appear one day. Syd certainly displayed similarities to them as an adult, but as far as I know he was a pretty normal child.

I don't want to make anyone angry, but I think its very possible that Syd had high-functioning autism or Aspergers syndrome. I have been diagnosed with mild aspergers myself, and I can relate to him. In response to DollyRocker, not all people with mild autism are reclusive, and some can even seem to be outgoing. Another thing to consider is that Aspergers is often misdiagnosed as schizophrenia. It wasn't heard of until the 90s so theres no way he could have been diagnosed back then. There are several reasons I think he may have been mildly autistic. The most obvious is his inability to handle the pressures of fame and eventually withdrawing into himself. Also, his extreme creativity and a different way of looking at the world. I'm not saying he definitely had it or anything, and the drugs definitely played a part. We will never know for sure, but its certainly a possibility to consider.

I am planning on upgrading from my cheap guitar to one of better quality and I wanted to know what guitar Syd Barrett used. I usually play his songs from Piper at the Gates and his two solo albums. Anyone know what kind of guitar he used for these albums?