Circular reasoning

It's kind of funny, really. In a really messed-up way.

The abuse I received from my father -- or rather, the point at which it seems physical punishment elevated into abuse -- started roughly when I was five-years-old. This, coincidentally, was around the time the headmaster at my primary school informed my parents that he believed I should be checked for some condition, as I was showing abnormal, anti-social tendencies.

I have come to the conclusion, rightly or wrongly, that he may have tried to 'beat me' into 'becoming normal'. Or at least I believe this may have been the initial motivation, as there appeared to be a greater malicious intent, or simply frustration, once I hit my teens. More on that at a later point, though.

I was reading one of the many books on psychology at my University's library earlier, and it suggested, although somewhat in passing, that abuse can cause 'semi-autistic' symptoms. Hence, the more abused the child is, the more they display behaviours associated with autistic disorders.

In other words... my father was beating me to 'make me become less autistic', while such abuse may have actually exacerbated my autistic traits.

Talk about irony!