Do you struggle with doubting your diagnosis?

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Do you struggle with doubting your diagnosis?
Yes 63%  63%  [ 37 ]
No 37%  37%  [ 22 ]
Total votes : 59

gamerdad
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30 Dec 2014, 11:50 am

I got my diagnosis back in October. But even though I sought it out myself, I still struggle from time to time with doubts about its validity. It's like I oscillate back and forth between feeling like ASD is this key that suddenly makes all these disparate portions of my life line up and make sense, and worrying that I'm just fooling myself and that I'm imagining my issues to be bigger than they really are. Does anyone else struggle with this?



Nick22
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30 Dec 2014, 12:33 pm

Yes, me too. I had my diagnosis about eighteen months ago, and I'd convinced myself that I would be diagnosed with ASD based on the criteria, childhood history, etc. For 2-3 months after getting the diagnosis I went through the "that explains xx" phase, but after that I went through stages of thinking "maybe I'm exaggerating this" or "maybe I overstated xx at my diagnosis" so I now oscillate. I don't know your background but I'm guessing you might be similar to me in that you have had your diagnosis after learning to cope with/hide a lot of the typical characteristics. I think this will always bring on such doubts, but I find it helpful to think back to my earlier childhood, and then it seems a bit clearer to me.



drchcat85
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30 Dec 2014, 12:44 pm

I still struggle too, despite others told me that I might have Aspergers and I feel that I am different since childhood. I was diagnosed with ASD in june 2014, on ADOS score. At home, or in other familiar situation, I am doubting the idea that I have ASD, because I feel good and my parents and my friends are accommodated with my odd habitus and my faux pas. But, at work or in other official situation, I don't know what to do and what to say, then I think that I have beyound Aspergers! When I perform psychiatric assessment, I create an structured environment, my imagination works and I feel that I engage in my special interest that is a criterion for ASD.


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StarTrekker
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30 Dec 2014, 1:47 pm

Before my diagnosis, I used to oscillate all the time, to the point that I literally felt like I was stuck in a kind of limbo, like Schrodinger's cat; I both was, and wasn't autistic at the same time, and it was only by getting diagnosed that I would finally be one or the other. Ever since my diagnosis eight months and twenty days ago, I finally feel like I've found where I fit.


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andrethemoogle
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30 Dec 2014, 1:48 pm

Used to, but not anymore.

Took a good three years (got diagnosed in 2005, finally accepted it in 2008).



gamerdad
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30 Dec 2014, 1:57 pm

Nick22 wrote:
Yes, me too. I had my diagnosis about eighteen months ago, and I'd convinced myself that I would be diagnosed with ASD based on the criteria, childhood history, etc. For 2-3 months after getting the diagnosis I went through the "that explains xx" phase, but after that I went through stages of thinking "maybe I'm exaggerating this" or "maybe I overstated xx at my diagnosis" so I now oscillate. I don't know your background but I'm guessing you might be similar to me in that you have had your diagnosis after learning to cope with/hide a lot of the typical characteristics. I think this will always bring on such doubts, but I find it helpful to think back to my earlier childhood, and then it seems a bit clearer to me.

Yeah, I got my diagnosis at 31. So whatever coping mechanisms I've developed have been in place for a long time. One thing that makes it harder is that I'm estranged from my parents, so I don't have much childhood history to rely on, just the bits and pieces I can recall myself.

Also, my diagnosis report was a mess. Tons of errors, all over the place. I had to bug her for weeks to get the follow up appointment, then when she finally did see me she spent 10 minutes of the session rewriting the report and fixing errors that I had spotted, and she still didn't fix them all. I've had another therapist since then unofficially confirm that she also thinks I'm on the spectrum. But still, the process has given me a lot less closure than I was hoping it would.



BTDT
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30 Dec 2014, 3:12 pm

No doubts at all from the very beginning--I've always been special. Both in good and bad ways.

Since my diagnosis I've made a lot of adaptations to make life easier--but since I'm special, lots of clever things I've done don't apply to everyone. That has been perhaps the biggest realization--a lot of stuff I do just isn't normal--but there isn't anything I should do about it either. It is what is is. 8O



tetris
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30 Dec 2014, 3:18 pm

Nope, can't say I do.



Hansgrohe
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30 Dec 2014, 4:21 pm

I officially have "Asperger syndrome" but I have traits which are much more closer to schizotypal disorders, but I still have a lot of Asperger syndrome traits as well.

You can imagine life is difficult as it is.



Andrejake
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30 Dec 2014, 9:57 pm

I had my doubts before i was diagnosed but ever since i understood Asperger better and especially after the official diagnosis come out i never doubted it.



Rocket123
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30 Dec 2014, 11:01 pm

I doubted my diagnosis for > 1 year. Fortunately, those doubts have since been erased.



drchcat85
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31 Dec 2014, 7:23 am

I am very happy with my diagnosis of ASD because is a explanation to my social difficulties along my life. My doubt that I have Asperger comes from an afraid that I don't realy have ASD, I am just bad, immature, stupid and clumsy, words that I heard along my life.



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31 Dec 2014, 8:12 am

I would say no - not at all - I have read the DSM IV and DSM V criteria and I meet it. My psychiatrist agrees that I meet it. It explains all kinds of things about myself I previously never understood before. My diagnoses illuminates myself to me.

BUT - I do understand why people who are unfamiliar with more mild forms of Autism might doubt or even not believe my diagnoses. I do understand why some parents of severely disabled and completely dependent children with autism - don't believe someone like me belongs under the same label as their child. I do understand why people who have misconceptions about autism or Asperger syndrome might look at me and not believe I have it.


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badgerface
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31 Dec 2014, 8:20 am

Sometimes, yes. I was diagnosed in November this year; it "explains a lot" as aluded to be other posters here; but at the same time, I find myself doubting it when comfortably talking to a work colleague on a lunch break, maintaining eye contact and realising when to stop talking about something etc etc, but then not doubting it when, at home I find myself getting concerned about what order to eat certain (Christmas) biscuits in :?


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gamerdad
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31 Dec 2014, 9:03 am

r2d2 wrote:
BUT - I do understand why people who are unfamiliar with more mild forms of Autism might doubt or even not believe my diagnoses. I do understand why some parents of severely disabled and completely dependent children with autism - don't believe someone like me belongs under the same label as their child. I do understand why people who have misconceptions about autism or Asperger syndrome might look at me and not believe I have it.

I think maybe this is my problem. When I'm only thinking about the diagnosis as it pertains to me and how I think of myself, I don't have any issues. In my mind I can accept the parts that apply to me and ignore the things that don't. It works as a tool for helping me understand my life better and learning to cope with new situations.

It's when I start thinking about discussing it with other people that I start doubting. Either I'm worried about people who aren't familiar with ASD rejecting it because of their ignorance, or I'm worried about other people who are diagnosed rejecting it because I may not struggle as much as they do. Even here, where I think there's a pretty accepting community, I sometimes get a feeling of not quite fitting in. Reading stories from other people on the spectrum can simultaneously be the source of some of my biggest reassurances that I do fit on it, and some of my biggest doubts that I don't.



nca14
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31 Dec 2014, 9:12 am

Yes, I struggle with doubts about my AS diagnosis. I suppose that it may be just nonverbal learning disorder (maybe with anxiety disorder). My doubts were even obsessive...