self diagnosing

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I personally think self-diagnosing your AS is more accurate than having some head shrink do it. I mean, who knows yourself better than you? My psych said he has worked with many aspies and he doesn't think I am one, but I meet most of the criteria. And on that 100+ aspie quiz I scored a 140 out of 200. My NT score was 60.

Other people may notice things you may not.

Still, I agree with you for the most part. A professional opinion seems more of a technicality in most cases, with different doctors giving different diagnoses.

Why is it that we don't need a diagnosis to determine our sexual orientation? When I came out as 'gay', I got support, hugs, and even a few people who were like, "I knew it!" If I came out as autistic, I would probably get a lot of skepticism or at least confusion, and I would probably be uncomfortable not having the documentation with me. Why? The only difference is that I'm not as sure about my orientation.

Note: I didn't only get hugs, of course, I live in the Bible Belt. I also got a few sermons. But the point is, no one was skeptical.

i you go to ten different councillors/ psychologist's you may get ten different answers.

You most likely will. Even if two give you the same diagnosis, they will still have a different understanding, most likely.

Yeah, too many psychiatrists and psychologists treat psychology like a flexible art, instead of a science. Of course, throw too much art into science, and you basically have magic, and I don't believe in magic!

But YEAH, there are things I never told people, things people never noticed, and I changed various aspects of my personality a lot. Frankly, I never WANTED to seem odd. I was surprised to hear how my school knew SOMETHING was up when I was 6, and even surprised to hear how I was different even well before 1yr of age.

I once went to a counsellor at an Aspergers Centre. I had just said a few sentences when he said "Oh, I definitely think you are an aspie. A milder version though."

I saw a counsellor at another Aspergers centre another time and I told her about the idea that I might have it and the reasons and she said it was a strong possibility. She wasnt a diagnostician for it though.

Online tests can point one in a certain direction, but that's it.

If I'm to believe online tests, I have:
Schizoaffective Disorder
Schizophrenia
Schizoid PD
Asperger's disorder
Autistic disorder
Conduct disorder

All of these point to a certain effect, i.e., social withdrawal/difficulty, but that's it; they don't tell me which one I actually have, or even if I have a disorder to begin with. The profesisonals are the ones who tell me such.

according to one of the tests i have ocd, add/adhd and aspies ... i really don't believe i show any such traits of any of these things at all

I guess my thinking is too black, and white for me to self diagnose. I can say that I think I have AS, but I don't feel comfortable actually saying that I do for a fact have it, because I haven't been formally diagnosed.

When I'm faced with a situation where I HAVE to offer an explanation for why I can't do something that seems so easy for everyone else, or I have to explain my behavior I just say " you don't have to look very far to see where my boys got it." lol Most people admit that they already figured as much. Even that situation happens very infrequently.

I have a brother that I'm 99.9% sure has AS, and I feel comfortable referring to him as such, even though he hasn't been formally diagnosed. I've known him his entire life, and he most definitely fits the criteria from an outsider's view, as well as his own. (even though he was very angry with me when I first mentioned it.) I think it's hard to be objective when evaluating yourself.

With that being said, I don't have a problem with other people self-diagnosing. To each their own.

If I am to believe online tests, I have Asperger Syndrome, If I am to believe the psychotherapist I have AS and if I am to believe the psychologist, I am an aspie, but then again, I DO have AS, so they all got it right

I believe it's definitely useful to do a self diagnosis because like grey kameleon said, you know you better than anyone else. I originally wanted a doctor's diagnosis to help confirm what I know is true. A formal diagnosis wouldn't get me anything other than peace of mind so it's not all that important. I would someday like to get a formal diagnosis but I'm not gunning for it like I used to. I know AS fits me perfectly so that's good enough for me.

With self diagnosising, i am almost sure my daughter is an Aspie, and waiting a long time for a consult, what do i tell her school?

I agree that you need to perhaps self-diagnose to an extent to motivate yourself to get an appointment with a specialist. But the thing is, in response to an earlier post, being gay isn't really a medical thing; it's not an abnormality, whereas AS has neural bases, according to a lot of research. I myself am not comfortable with self-diagnosis, as this doesn't impact your life. I have severe socialisation problems which impede my performance at school, and a diagnosis by a specialist would give me access to materials which could help.
Also, I have a friend who is a hypochondriac, and, exhibiting none of the symptoms according to the DSM-IV criteria, has decided that she has AS.

I personally think differently. A head shrink probably knows more about psychology and how to diagnose autism or AS than a lot of folks who think they do.

I think it is a bit of both, you know yourself the best and the professional knows the condition the best(hopefully). A patient that has done their research paired with a doctor that is competent will have great results, any other combination will have problems. Unfortunately it seems there are just as many doctors that are incompetent as there are patients that have never even attempted a google search or have any interest in their own health.

And homosexuality may indeed by a "medical thing". Research has linked it to certain genetic traits and it is more frequent in people with certain traits that would seem unrelated. Homosexuality may be one of the best comparisons to ASDs, they both may be the product of indirect selection in small-mid sized societies. Homosexuals may provide extra care for the children of relatives and father figures so the other males can spend more time away. The same thing could be proposed for ASDs in a different manner. All speculative but i couldn't resist after reading the post about them being different.

Well yeah, I would never trust online tests. I've been eDiagnosed with Schizophrenia and Bipolar (the second one may be accurate, who knows), but I know I'm not schizophrenic, and I don't recall those tests actually asking anything related to schizophrenia.

I'm talking mainly about extensive research of autism and other PDDs, learning disabilities, etcetera (preferably over a long period of time, which is why I'm holding off on even a self-diagnosis), which seems to be more than what many professionals do.