Your Views on Pyschatrists(sp)

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Yes, I know I misspelled psychotrists, it's one of the very few words I can't spell.

Anyway, your views?

Children today will (hopefully) be assessed by a specialist developmental psychologist or psychiatrist who will recognise Autism Spectrum Disorders broader than just extreme autism ... older people are typically not so lucky

As a child, I was assessed for Autism in '78, '79 and '81 ... each time I was found to have "some pronounced autistic traits, but was too high functioning to be autistic". (I didn't speak until I was 3 ... from the age of 2, I would wake myself at 4am, climb out of bed, go down stairs and watch "Open university" programs, apparently my favourite shows were Algebra, trigonometry and physics . When I started speaking, it was in "sentences". I had regular melt downs in school (during my first two years at school, I spent a lot of time curled up in a ball under the desk with my hands over my ears ... later I had fewer visible meltdowns ... but I would shut down or withdraw and would never go out to the yard ... the few times I did i was bullied).

If I was a child today, I'm sure I would almost definitely be given a diagnosis of Aspergers or PDD-NOS ... but those Dxs were not available when I was a child - I graduated high school in '93 (Apergers was only added to the DRM in '92).

As an adult, I've been treated for "social withdrawal" and depression ... which to be honest are symptoms, not causes!

No psychiatrist has considered an ASD dx simply because I'm an adult.

I don't have much faith in Psychiatrists ... but if you fight hard enough, you can make sure the same thing doesn't happen to your kids!

they are evil incarnate.

It depends on which one I have been to. Some were good and others were just plain mean. Like there was this one on my first visit with him I froze and became almost catatonic because meeting people for the first time is stressful, and he yelled in my face to stop it like I have total control over my freezing. There have been days where I freeze 50 or more times but those were very short ones and no it isn't a seizure. The longest I froze for is about an hour where I was unaware of what was going on around me and I wouldn't move or talk. So I never went back to him. I hope he treats all his patients like that and he didn't single me out so I hope one of these days he gets fired. Then there was another one at the hospital where I went on my birthday (how fun) that he told me to my face that he believed what I was going through was real and not made up. Then I picked up the report and it said something totally different. It basically said that I read things on the Internet and that is how I got my symptoms. What is wrong with this guy? Both of them are nothing but jerks. And there is one I go to now and when I am talking about killing myself or self injury, the only thing he focuses on is me drinking pop and nothing else. He doesn't seem to care that my life is in danger or was in danger. The only good thing about him is that he believes what I am suffering from is real and I am not making it up. That is good news I guess. My current psychologist doesn't care when bad things are happening, she only wants me to report the positive and never the negative so I feel restricted about my feelings when I am talking to her. She is nice and everything but I thought people go to a psychologist/ Psychiatrist to talk about feelings both the positive AND negative and not be restricted. So, sometimes it takes awhile to find the right one. There are good ones and bad ones just like any job. There are ones who really care about you and others who don't. So, what is the reason why you want to see one? Depression or the autism/ Asperger's?

Didn't you ever hear of a dictionary?

The only good psychiatrists are DEAD ones.

No need to attack me, I can spell pusillanimous and miscellaneous, and synchronize.

There's a term for that, isn't there? I think that phenomenon tells us your feelings pretty clearly.


Psycho-docs? I make 'em cry.

Seriously. Last year I saw a professor who specialises in trauma. Three minutes into the session, he got distracted by my accent, which reminded him of his dashed America hopes and dreams. I got him talking about his stuff and turned on my encouraging, understanding, the-universe-believes-in-you mojo. As I left, he grasped my hand longer than a handshake, and thanked me effusively. The next time I saw him was to complain about the BS diagnosis he'd issued; he complained I was so "hard" vs. how open and gentle I'd been in the session. I keep getting reminders about the 160 Euros his institute wants me to pay.

The ones who don't cry end up hating me b/c I question their dx, process, call them out on patient privacy compromises etc.