Are most self-diagnoses correct?

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If you're obsessed with finding out if you're autistic, you're probably autistic.

You did NOT answer my questions. I asked you if you were inside him and could feel thru his skin and think thru his brain. You instead replied "But I just know".

That's quasi-delusional.

The fact that you then lash out when someone confronts you shows that you're lost in a fantasy without solid basis, that deep inside you KNOW you have no solid basis, and that if anyone shatters your little dream world you become somewhat violent.

Guess what?

That suggests that you're NOT right, and that you have nothing supporting you but bluster.

Welcome to reality, Norny, and I couldn't care less that you don't like reality being forced under your nose for you to smell. DEAL WITH IT.

If you can't handle reality, you really shouldn't be on your own.

Am I being blunt and rude? I guess so, but in this case what little I've learned in the way of NT coping mechanisms is going out the window. You have this coming. You're potentially hurting people, and it has to stop.

Grow up and WAKE UP.

Sorry man, but if you don't want people speaking plainly to you, then don't raise the issue. We're not here to stroke you and satisfy your whims. You wanted REAL replies, and you're getting them.

I'd stop and think about the fact we're all telling you the same thing, if I were you. It should be telling you SOMETHING.

I like you. Heh.

How's about YOU get some qualifications, and then you formally diagnose ME?

As I said, I've talked to my mom, and although she acknowledges all of the characteristics I've noticed in myself, she doesn't like labels and still insists that I was a "normal" kid (although, given that I was her firstborn and homeschooled, she didn't have much to compare me to.) I'm concerned that she will skew my results, if the doctor needs to talk to one of my parents for the assessment; my dad is still in the picture, but he's always been very uninvolved and unobservant, so he wouldn't be able to provide any insight into my characteristics as a child.


I mean, in the cases where someone has self-diagnosed and then pursued a formal diagnosis, that the formal diagnosis has agreed with their self-diagnosis.


That is so encouraging to read; I've easily spent over a hundred hours in the past couple of months researching autism and reading blogs and posts of people who have it. I'm not good at casual interests; I'm either obsessed or indifferent.

Autism is not some "glamour" diagnosis or "disease of the week."

I don't think people really want to skew their symptomography toward the "autism" side of things.

I don't find it a "shameful" diagnosis--there are some attributes to autism which could lead to inventiveness and to the revealing of other, useful viewpoints pertaining to any question.

But it isn't glamorous, either.

Yeah, being proud of autism is basically the same thing as being proud of your nationality or skin color. If I am to be proud of something, it should be an achievement or some impressive feat, like building a hot air airship or erradicating organized crime in my neighborhood, for example.

Are you really that mislead that you believe I am attacking those who are self-diagnosed? Jesus Christ.

I've known my friend for 10 years. I have OCD. He knows I have OCD. He very clearly does not. It is a serious disorder, and I don't want it trivialized.

When Seinfeld had his whole autistic debacle going on, there was somewhat of an uproar by those who felt their condition was being trivialized. Now imagine somebody claimed that they were autistic because 'they smashed plates when they were angry', indicating a meltdown. That's very damaging. If you can't see my perspective, that doesn't bother me. I don't want a disorder that I have (a very real one) to be fashionable (and yes, it does feel that way to me).

I get that perhaps others didn't believe you when have expressed your concerns in the past, but I did none of that. I won't doubt your self-diagnosis if you have one. However I am absolutely confident that my friend does not have clinical OCD. For you to dismiss this as 'me playing god' and to completely ignore any perceptions that I may have had IRL is to be as arrogant as those that dismiss your own suffering.

Lastly, I did not lash out. I posted twice, both simple, and you disagreed. Fair enough. But let's examine what you wrote in response:



Completely dismissive of my perspective and presuming that his situation is exactly like yours, and thus likely once again making the presumption that I am attacking you or others, rather than expressing my honest experience. Not to disregard the last paragraph which is clearly condescending. Despite that I kept my cool in my next post.



Same thing, but more extreme.

Trivializing of disorders does exist.

You're the one that's potentially harming others, in need of facing reality, not I. Thus the first post of yours that I have quoted where you rage at me is nothing but a sick joke in my eyes.

I won't be replying to this. I suggest you re-read what we have written and try to understand without suspecting I have an ulterior motive. Do whatever you want with it.

Hey Norny,

I missed you somewhat. I hope you're okay.

There's somebody in Melbourne who is, or will be, taking cognitive neuroscience in an Australian university. I mentioned you to her. I'm wondering if she might be able to offer advice pertaining to the possibility of taking cognitive neuroscience.

If I'm obsessed with finding out if I have bowel cancer or not, do I probably have bowel cancer?

If I'm obsessed with finding out if I'm a table or not, am I probably a table?

Do you mean it isn't correct until such time as a formal diagnosis is undertaken/completed?

Do you mean it is speculative until such time?

Sorry, I'm struggling with the meaning of when it becomes correct.

Not so much that it isn't correct until a formal diagnosis is done, but that it the self-diagnosis is confirmed by the formal diagnosis. I'm not saying that formal assessments can't be wrong (speaking as someone who has been misdiagnosed multiple times by multiple doctors, I know for certain that they can be), but they're the typical standard our society often uses for determining the validity of someone's claims.

Do you mean a self-diagnosis is only a claim until a medical diagnosis, and a medical diagnosis is what ascribes 'correctness' to a previously held claim?

Seconded.

I mean that, as a person who has done months of reading and research and who is confident enough in her knowledge of both herself and the characteristics of autism to consider herself self-diagnosed, I am aware that the people who make up my friends/acquaintances/society will, for the most part, not take my self-diagnosis seriously until it is reinforced by a professional assessment.

I didn't make this post as some sort of statement about self-diagnosis vs. professional diagnosis, and I would prefer not to be dragged into whatever semantics war you are trying to have. I am just looking for some insight into what I can expect as far as the probability that my medical diagnosis will agree with my belief that I have autism, and I appreciate all the answers that people have given in regards to this.