In Need of Advice

Post Reply New Topic

I apologize for the lengthy post.

Why would I be interested in a label? Because I want to be able to explain to other people when I'm acting weird or need to do my own thing, or if they catch me hand flapping, that there isn't anything wrong with me as a person. And I understand that any label can cause negative feed-back too. That's the risk, I suppose.

So over the past year I have been toying around with the idea of seeking out help for a potential diagnosis. I talked to a psychologist for a bit. She didn't like labeling people and I was ok with that. She was helpful in some respects (more of a counselor), but not necessarily what I was looking for.

Today, however, I had a meeting with a psychiatrist. It was only one hour, but she concluded without a doubt that I have social anxiety disorder. I am not contesting that as of yet. I do have anxiety when it comes to other (strange) people. They drain me and stress me out to no end. I do not avoid people, but I do avoid interacting with them.

My concern is not the SAD. I feel like it may be an incomplete diagnosis. I feel as though she didn't want to talk about the spectrum with me. She certainly didn't appear interested in my behaviors when I was a child. I do admit it was at the end of our time limit though. That could have been more the case. I have scheduled a second appointment with her. She is going to tell me why I hand flap (I wasn't aware SAD included hand flapping your entire life) and discuss medication. I told her flat out I wasn't interested in SSRI's (the side effects are unacceptable) and she insisted we discuss medications our next visit.

1) Neither were specialists. I understand that I should be searching for one if that's what I would like a consult about. My main concern is removing the anxiety so I can get rid of the depression that often results from it. BUT that doesn't mean I'm not interested in discussing the spectrum. In your opinion, do you believe a specialist is the only way to go?

2) I have read that SAD often accompanies or is mistaken for some autism. Would you mind sharing your experiences with me if this has happened to you? Did you pursue the autism diagnosis anyway? And for what purpose?

3) I am female, making this all the more difficult from my perspective. In your opinion, is it even worth pursuing this beyond the treatment of the symptoms?

I am just trying to find out what the populus has to say about this. I have little known experience with individuals on the spectrum. I can't talk to family about it either so I'm fairly isolated. If it's just SAD, I'll be ok with that too. I just have a feeling that isn't the entire story and being the black/white, logical person I am, makes it difficult to accept without questioning.

It would really help to read your opinions and experiences. Thanks.

Did I happen to post this in the wrong section of the forum some how? It wouldn't surprise me if I did...

If symptomatic treatment works, then why would you need to pursue diagnosis any further? Most people seek a diagnosis because it answers fundamental questions about themselves (and having a treatment that works would seem to be an answer), because diagnosis is a condition for state benefits or treatment, or because symptomatic treatment is not working (i.e. wrong diagnosis).

Your post was quite long and did not have a concise question ("advice" is rather broad), which might have been one reason people did not answer.