My Shrink Never Heard of AS

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I guess it all depends on why you are there in the first place. I go because of bipolar, and basically a quick checkup every 3 months and prescription refill. On the surface, that approach seems to be working, most telling by the fact that I am now fairly stable, and looking into other aspects of my psychological constitution, such as the possibility of AS.

So what does the psychiatrist look for in a checkup: Are you stable or messed up? If stable, case closed, keep doing what works, send in the next patient. If messed up adjust or try new meds first. If things are still bad or get worse, try other approaches.

Also consider that Canada has public health funding for psychiatry, with a fixed fee per visit, no extra billing allowed. Plus caseloads are quite high as there is a doctor shortage. A psychologist, on the other hand, who gets paid by the hour by the patient (or his private insurance if he has it), would be more open to taking the time to explore options, because it's on the patient's dime. In rare cases such professionals also use a sliding scale or do work pro bono.

A psychiatrist deals with mentally ill patients, some who are really crippled by their illness. They require (and deserve) alot more of the doctor's time and energy.

A patient who is stable and is ready and capable of taking the next step really requires little else, other than a doctor' blessing.

1.The criteria is heavily flawed.

2. The criteria for Adult AS should completely different.

I'm maybe even thinking there should be 2 adult criteria, one for people who had early dx, and for those getting their first dx as an adult. They are different, very different.

I asked the community mental health organization around here to find me a therapist or shrink that knows how to deal with people who have Asperger's Syndrome.

I asked them this a year ago.

I still have not heard back from them.

Wow the person that diagnosed me I believe heads a department at the University of Washington.

Of course it's great that children with AS are caught early on and intervention starts before major damage is done to self esteem and whatnot, but it frustrates me that adults who have suffered terribly because AS was NOT dianosed when they really needed it are suddenly completely out in the cold because they're not children anymore. Sure for some they may develop coping strategies until they don't need intervention anymore, but I feel I don't fit into that group as I still have really crippling difficulties coping with the world. Getting a referral to someone who even knows about AS in any depth at all has been a very long road for me and it's not over yet.

Get another shrink.

ruveyn

Problem is, the grass is always greener... many new referrals are at best anticlimatic and at worse an experience you were better off without.