Late life psychiatric evaluation for Autism spectrum.

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Dang. If I had known, I wouldn't have written the long response.

Oops, I meant to say bumping these gems

Be yourself it's going to be a long couple of sessions. I'm not going to say much cause I don't want to coach you through it. Just be yourself

This is common question--is there not a sticky or compiled list of providers who specializes in diagnosing adults on spectrum not just kids? I think there was one on autism women's network years ago but I lost the link.

If your from the United States call your insurance ask them for a referral let them know what your interested in and they will give you a list. If your from a country will free socialized healthcare, good luck

I was diagnosed at 57yo. It was WrongPlanet that allowed me to move from "pathology" to "neurodiversity." By which I mean sickness vs different. After hanging around WP for a while, I saw that all kinds of people thought they were experts on autism. If I was not sick but only different, I decided to build a life that was more appropriate to the real me.

I wanted a solid foundation so I got myself referred to our big mental hospital for Dx. When I had it in writing from them, then I could ignore the people who would say, "You can't have autism, you smiled." Or "You can't have autism, you looked me in the eye." I had spent a lifetime training myself to smile and look people in the eye (briefly). So with my rock-solid Dx, I proceeded to build a life more suitable, more comfortable. There's a book underneath my signature - I started with that.

How wonderful that you are a chef! I do understand about the pressure, but having a profession where you are accepted as you are is a great support.

About your daughter - age 3 is usually when they can diagnose around here - if they catch it that early they can help the child *as she develops* more easily to live in this society. Example: to teach behaviours that do not attract bullying, and how to handle bullies. There's no training for adults and I envy the 3yo's.

I'm not about conforming. I'm about reshaping myself to my satisfaction.

All my best to you!

Insurance can give general referrals to therapist or psychiatrist but couldn't know who specializes in diagnosing autism for adults.
I've used https://psychiatrists.psychologytoday.com/rms/ and https://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms which allow psychiatrists and therapists to give autism as option they specialize in but some it seems just check all the options without paying much attention or necessarily addressing adults. Top option in my area specifically says she only does toddlers and preschool children.

It's called a Clinical Psychologist. Problem with some people the online quizzers they sometimes coach themselves asking how should I respond to this or that during testing. Which is a problem.

Don't go in expecting to get a Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis just be honest and yourself.

If you go in and get diagnosis of something other than autism than perhaps it's time to sit back and get the treatment for whatever ailment you have.

We recently had a guy in an autism group we go to who self diagnosised since our group enabled him to keep going about believing in the online quiz after he was officially diagnosised with a mania and not autism he eventually had a break down and hurt someone else. Now he is locked up in an institution finally getting the help he needs.

You can't go in looking for the answers you want. Your either born autistic or your not no need to be coached and no need for a online quiz to tell you something you prob aren't

I went in looking for a specific diagnosis and I told them that. I have other problems, like PTSD and major depression, which I wanted them to put aside for the diagnosis. I needed to know, just yes or no, do I have autism. If you're a mix of troubles, you could very well come out with yet another diagnosis of, say, depression, and even more pills, but that's a waste of time. If you do have autism, you will undertake a project to improve your life (and your family). What you are seeking is the truth, which is why you will bring the truth and the doc will diagnose.

I don't think it works like that. You can't ask a doctor to ignore something wrong and try to push them into the direction you want them to go in. Just see someone who has the power to diagnosis. After you get list call and let them know you had thoughts about this or that and wanted to know if it was true or not.

Also as I said before you want a Clinical Psychologist. A Clinical Psychologist can diagnosis but they cannot write you a script. So if you need medication or have a serious mental disorder that requires medication they will most likely refer you to a psychiatrist.

With Autism, you do not need pills to stabilize you if you're the type of person who is on meds for other disorders issues that might not be known to you I would urge you to see someone like a Clinical Psychologist whose first thought is not to get you on meds but to get to the bottom of what is wrong or how many things are wrong with you and give you their unbiased diagnosis.

Sadly again many people on meds often suffer from mania's and self diagnosis believing that to be the best solution because they can somewhat fit in with autistic people because most don't question. However when you have a manic episode from a disorder you might not know you had or something you know you had but are in denial so you still claim to be 'autistic' you could hurt yourself and others.

As I mentioned earlier we had a guy who was manic screaming at us that the online quiz knows all and eventually went out and hurt someone. Go get help. If they want to get you on meds, then thats what you need don't run away from it.

Maybe I didn't mention a few steps. First get a referral from your family doctor to (in my case, a mental hospital). On the referral, the doc wrote only "Dx as to autism." Under those circumstances, the other doctor will ignore anything that isn't autism. I got a Clinical Psychologist for the observation part, and he worked with a Psychiatrist who signed the letter that I wanted so much. A psychologist can't sign that kind of letter. Something about the law.

That letter put an end to speculation and allowed me to go forward building a better life for myself. I really think that without it, I'd still be sitting here letting everybody diagnose me.

You say "Go get help." Do you mean me? But that's what I did, once I had proof of what was glitching things. That was the whole point. As for meds, none were prescribed for autism by the Psychiatrist, but he referred me back to my family doc, who also didn't prescribe.