seeking a diagnosis didn't go so well

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There are some professionals who indeed don't take ASD seriously and are not likely to diagnose an adult with it, especially an adult female, who may have a very different presentation of autistic traits than a male. Adults have spent years learning to "correct" their social skills to fit in. ALL adults, not just people on the spectrum. And because of the socialization of females starting from when they're infants, it makes it easier for autistic adult women to appear NT. So it's important to listen to someone when they're describing their internal state and what efforts they have to make in order to do things.

I agree with you that you should keep looking for someone to diagnose you so you're protected at work. You didn't work so hard on your education to be held back now. It can be profoundly helpful just to be able to dictate your own workspace and be in better control of your social time at work.

I would just shop around and find someone else.

Oh and I agree with that other poster about neuropyschologists being better for diagnosis because they use more tests and less opinion. But with any doctor you can get someone who is not listening to you and isn't keeping up with current literature.

Here in Norway I first had to "bully" my GP into referring me to be assessed for Asperger's.
He said he really doubted I had it, but I was insistent and he referred me to a psychologist.

The first psychologist woman was more interested in WHY I thought I had Asperger's instead of finding out IF I had it, I stopped going after a couple of appointments, she and I REALLY didn't click, she mostly just sat there blinking at me like an owl, ugh..

A few months later I tried again, new psychologist, another woman, she at least did some of the standard tests and in the end admitted that, yes, I might have Asperger's, then she flat out told me that it didn't matter since there wasn't anyone qualified to diagnose adult females and the only help they could offer was to treat comorbidities like depression and anxiety...

So I simply gave up.

Why is it that the professionals think that Asperger's just magically manifested at the same time as the diagnosis became more common? Surely they should be intelligent enough to understand that the condition has always existed, regardless of when someone named it?

I was already nearing my teens when Asperger's entered people's vocabulary, and at that time it was nearly inconceivable that girls had it too, even now girls with the condition are seen as an anomaly here in Norway... It's just so wrong...

I'm yet to get formal diagnosis. Psychologist said I should. In Australia there are restrictions as to who can diagnose.
Reading through these is interesting and reassuring that, if I'm crazy, then I'm crazy like the rest of you. Sorry I know it's not crazy just that people treat me that way at times. I couldn't believe that I've finally heard of someone else finding cold painful. I live in Qld Australia and often others are complaining about the heat and humidity but I hate the cold dry air caused by air conditioning. I hate having sleeves down on my wrists. I hate water on my face. I flap when I'm excited and other wonderfully eccentric behaviour.

Just one problem........ I'm not rich enough to be called eccentric.

I have a formal diagnosis of Asperger's as of a couple of weeks ago.
I had suspected for several years that I may have an ASD, but remained skeptical and bulldozed on ahead with life anyways.
I have suffered from depression and anxiety issues from a young age, and gone through several cycles of "gain job, excel, fail at the social component, get stressed, meltdown, lose job" with the periods of unemployment in between getting longer and longer.
I have been on medical benefits for the last three years, and living in supported housing as I became homeless after losing my last job.

During all of the last 5 years I have been receiving treatment for the depression and anxiety. I was considered a low priority case as I'm no danger to myself or others, so medication was thrown at me and I was assigned a social worker.
After several years of trying different medications which all made me feel considerably worse, I put my foot down and refused any more of them. At this point I raised the issue of Asperger's with my social worker in a more serious fashion than I had previously. After some persistence from me he administered the AQ screener (Baron-Cohen). I scored over the threshold, but in one breath this social worker (whom I have had sessions with for years now) admitted that he was not qualified to call it, but he was gonna call it a false positive anyway. He claimed no knowledge of an NHS clinician in the area who could diagnose adults. I refused to let the issue stand on my subsequent visits, and he finally spilled the beans, saying that I needed to get my GP to refer me to a local clinic. I have since discovered that this was not true, and he should have referred me.
My GP succumbed after 15 minutes of badgering and my utter refusal to accept any argument he had. I think he just wanted me out of his office.

So, once the several months waiting list was clear I had the diagnostic session. The clinician used the CLASS testing system as well as a 3 hour interview with myself and my mother. Once she confirmed the diagnosis and explained the condition in a manner I could understand I was no longer skeptical. I have always suspected that things worked differently inside my mind, but until you can be sure you have to operate on the assumption that it's pretty much the same for everyone.
This confirmation has had a pretty profound effect on me already, in terms of my self esteem. It's early days yet, and it may not last (who knows?!). However, I no longer find myself chasing some nebulous goal of easy social acceptance and a natural ability to just "get on" with other people. The fact that I can pass for NT even some of the time is an achievement, and I can be pleased with how far I've come. It's no reason to give up trying, any further improvements I can make will of course be a bonus! But I beat myself up about it less.

So for me, so far, gaining a diagnosis has been positive. Incidentally, the people I care about have been really supportive. I've yet to see how it affects my employment prospects, but what with having been off work for 3 years already, I can't see how it could get much worse.

I have the first appointment with the above mentioned social worker since my diagnosis tomorrow. The first thing he asked me after he found out about it over the phone? "What do you want me to do now?" He clearly has no contingency for my future care plan including a diagnosis. He has some questions to answer tomorrow and if I'm not satisfied with his responses then I'm asking that my case be transferred to someone else. After several years of reporting ASD symptoms and traits to him, suggesting the possibility, his obstructive behaviour and my subsequent diagnosis... I am not impressed.

I'm so happy for you AudioSperg and I wish you all the best. It's possible that now when people say why can't you or you should be able to you can just say "not me". I ask people if they can do quadratic equations, make a quilt or cook a sponge, if they can't do that why should I feel bad just because I can't do things that they can.

I've just had the appointment with my social worker, and thought I'd update here since I mentioned it in a previous post.
Unsurprisingly he did not have a contingency in place for my care plan in the event of a diagnosis.
Thankfully he did not try to defend his previous obstructive behaviour, and he even managed to apologise for all the difficulties he inadvertently caused or exacerbated.
Adult Autism services in this corner of the world are pretty much nonexistent. However I have outlined a rough plan for what I expect from him moving forward, including restructured CBT, low doses of medication, and social skills sessions. This will be for the treatment of the depression and anxiety issues I have. He was unaware of the restructured CBT techniques that are (apparently, according to Tony Attwood) available, but hopefully he can find out enough about them to administer the treatment. He is already trained in standard CBT so with a bit of luck it won't be too much of a stretch for him.
Well, that's where things stand for me at the moment, still looking pretty positive as long as I can keep everything moving!

Most psychologists/ psychiatrists are jerks in my experience. Sorry to put it so bluntly but they all were, and I saw my fair share of them. In fact some of them were downright horrid.

Healthcare practitioners, in general, often get very defensive when you walk in with a self diagnosis-- even for regular medical stuff. I have had experiences with medical drs where I'll say,"I think I have this..." and they get all defensive and start pointing out how I might not have that... and then sure enough I eventually am diagnosed with just that. Medicine is, to a degree, a p*ssing contest. And a lot of practitioners are burnt out and have lost their empathy (yet they say we are the ones lacking empathy...).

Second, AS is wrongly undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed as other disorders (I too have gotten the PTSD diagnosis) in women and girls all the time, so much so that it may not even be worth pursuing if you will not be seeking any kind of disability protection.

I breathed a big sigh of relief when I realized there was a name for why my life had been constant pain, stress, and exclusion. It doesn't solve problems to have a name for it, but it does provide some relief, and some degree of community if you can find others like you. Just knowing you're not alone can help.

I apologize if what I am about to say has been mentioned, but I do not have the time right now to read the entire thread.

Since you are female, you may be able to find someone through the Autism Women's Network (sorry can't post link yet) to diagnose you.
That's where I found the person who finally confirmed my diagnosis last week.. and after many failed attempts with in-network so-called specialists who thought I was just bipolar or had some other mood disorder. (And many of them saying Aspergers is only for kids!)

Just to show the lack of knowledge and to vent my frustration, here's my history of official diagnoses:

1988: ADHD, anxiety and oppositional defiant disorder
1997: ADHD and highly gifted
2001: ADD and personality disorder not otherwise specified
2004: ADHD, OCD and depression
2007: depression and severe anxiety disorders

Oh and I would like to recommend to keep trying to get your diagnosis, no matter how hard it may be to get there. I always told myself that being self-diagnosed was good enough, but it turned out I just couldn't let it go until I got it confirmed. It just ate up too much of my brain processing time.