Greetings / Unsure about diagnostic

Post Reply New Topic

Hi guys,

I've been lurking the forums for a while. I read a lot, but must admit posting is a little stressful to me. I tend to overthink too much, write stuff then erase it. I'll try my best to contribute to the forum and speak about myself, but it ain't that easy for me to do. I'm quite sure I'm not alone in that situation here

To resume my situation, let's say that I am really confused about whether or not I have Asperger. I am 34 and have been thinking about this since a few years now. I made steps to get an evaluation, but it is very expensive and I fear doing it for nothing, so I didn't get evaluated. Even though it is pretty clear in my head that I am ''different'' and that I'm probably somewhere on the spectrum, I feel that there is plenty of reason why it would make no sense to pretend I have Asperger.

I work as a social worker for child and family services. When I chose that field of study, my family was very surprised and doubt my capacity to do this kind of job. I didn't understood why back then. Turns out I'm a very decent worker, but I am described as a very rational, law-obedient and ''rigid'' person. I work with a lot of children with autism, at different levels some of them having very special needs. Meeting them and learning from them made me realized that I had much in common with them.

I'm not sure if it would make sense that a social worker has asperger. Seems irrational to me.

However, a lot of other traits of my personalty would suggest otherwise. I have no friends. I don't feel need to socialize outside of my work. Someday, when I come back from work, I have to lay down in the dark to get my mind clear, otherwise I get abnormally tired. I like rules, methodology, stats, graph a lot. I most often the only one to spot incoherence or mistake in different situations. That gets people annoyed, they often think that I want to bother them, but this is just the way I see things.

I'm married and father of two beautiful girls. My rigidity often gets hard on my marriage. I find it difficult to manage three girls speaking all the time, making noise, interrupting my thought process and ''not respecting'' the house rules I make to make the household function neatly. I find difficult to understand on my wife can be that chaotic, but I guess that is also why I love her.

Anyway, guess I said a lot for a first post. I'll be glad to meet you, have some help from you, and maybe be able to give back some someday!

Welcome to Wrong Planet! There are some on-line test that will give you an approximation. One is called Autism Spectrum Quotient test. Here is a link to one but there are others. Autism Spectrum Quotient

I think a social worker with aspergers makes perfect sense. Many autistic people are good listeners and keen observers of patterns and tend to have a strong sense of social justice. Aspies can also relate to people who are on the fringes of society, or have low social status (like children). Donna Williams is an autistic author and artist who trained and worked as a social worker.

I think aspies can work well in the helping professions. I'm a clinical psychologist with aspegers. I chose that field of study as I found the social world baffling as an adolescent and found I enjoyed learning psychological theories which helped me to understand myself and other people.

I work with children too, I'm not great with adults as they don't say what they mean and are too polite. I think my career choice comes at a cost though. I'm exhausted at the end of every work day and just want to be a hermit on my days off. I haven't worked full time for years as I need so much downtime to recover. I have no friends either. I don't really need or want them as I get all the social interaction I need from my work.

Glad to meet you

Welcome to Wrong Planet. I work with people with developmental disabilities including autism. I didn't realize I was also on the spectrum until two years ago. I also get exhausted from my work and even just life in general.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

I did a few of those test over the past years and often get mixed results.
I just did the one on the link you provided and got a score of 33 out of 50, which seems to be just on the line between NT and autistic traits.
I do not feel like those test are conclusive enough to auto-diagnostic myself as an autist, however they still confirm me that I am "different"...

A (relatively) very inexpensive option you might want to consider: getting diagnosed at a place where psychology grad student "externs" work under the supervision of a fully qualified psychotherapist.

One drawback of this option: Very long waiting lists.

Anyhow, regardless of whether you are seen by an "extern" or directly by a fully qualified psychotherapist, make sure you seek an evaluation at a place that does thorough psychological testing and will give you a thorough report at the end, regardless of whether you are deemed to meet the criteria for ASD or not. That way, hopefully the procedure will give you some useful insights into your strengths and weaknesses regardless of whether not you end up being given the label "ASD."

Hi and a very warm welcome MT ! I used to find it very difficult to post here, a sort of "exposure anxiety". I too have long worked with children with various disabilities/differences, strong sense of justice(considered becoming a policewoman at one point), and have 3 adult children on the spectrum(all doing exceptionally well, thankfully). Congrats on having your own family, and absolutely, there are are quite a few of us, working in the "caring fields" ... doctors, nursing, social work, psychologists, psychiatry, therapists, teachers and more ... Needing time to recover goes with the territory, that's for sure. If you have workaholic tendencies, as I did, can lead to serious health issues. Many of us don't socialise outside of work, though some can just about manage it. All the best, diagnosis or not. Sounds like you're learning to manage within your limits, and I wonder whether your childhood background gives you any further clues/signs that would indicate autism/AS. Things such as childhood behaviour, speech, sensitivities, rigidity, socialisation issues that might shed further light on your situation.

Hello from Peta

I am reading a book "Very Late Diagnosis..." and human resources and social work is listed as career choices. Although I have an engineering background and work in IT, I could just as soon be counseling or teaching, or something similar. I was equally interested in advanced Engineering and Psychology courses. Come to think of it, a "friend" of mine was an HR professor.

Personally I would generally warn against self-diagnosing, as autism is quite a complex neurological disorder and can be very difficult for a layman to pinpoint. That said, there's nothing wrong with saying you "suspect you may have autism".

You may be part of the "broader autism phenotype", a "level zero" if you will, on the autism spectrum. These people have autistic traits, but not enough to be officially diagnosed with anything. A major part of diagnosis is that your traits impact your daily functioning and you need outside supports (family members, therapists, medications, etc.) in order to get by.