Has anybody ever been NOT 'diagnosed'?

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I've been through 4 diagnostic processes, though only 2 were at all intensive. They all say I'm not autistic (diagnoses I received were avoidant personality disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and ADHD (inattentive).

The last evaluation was 8 years ago. Since I'm an adult female, I feel that I've somehow learned to present as neurotypical, and I believe if I'd go in now with more being known about autism in women, I would probably be diagnosed. But it would cost a lot of money, and I'd have to save for a long time to get it together (I haven't checked yet to see if insurance would cover any of it, but I doubt it.)

I just feel that all my social and judgment and anxiety problems, as well as clumsiness, have to come from something because I've had them all my life. I've never been able to advance very far at work, and always have to check everything with my bosses before I go ahead and do it, for instance.

It is your right as a client to ask for an explanation of your diagnosis be it ASD related or something else. If the explanation shows the person does not have knowledge of ASD's in adults/females you should question it even if it is the diagnosis you wanted.

Indeed. Your best option is to see someone who specialises in the screening of adult ASD, and if you are a woman it would be helpful to see someone who specialises in female ASD. Though I understand that these specialists are very rare and probably very expensive.
My GP agreed whole-heartedly that I have all of the 'traits', and even added to the list herself, but as soon as the term, 'Aspergers' was mentioned, it suddenly could not apply to me at all. She did not seem able to explain why she thought this. This is key. If the physician does not seem familiar with adult ASD and cannot explain why they think a diagnosis is inappropriate, or indeed avoids the issue completely, then you need to see someone who knows more about it.

over the years we have had quite a number of members be honest with us and say they werent autistic after finaly getting assessed but after that they never stayed around,they were diagnosed with mental illnesses or mental disorders instead so they werent wrong about the fact there was something going on in them.

who is to say that members who just never came back were told they werent on the spectrum?
its like feedback of companies online,will never see a balanced view as most people only bother to talk to them when they have something to complain about.

I have read a number of posts from people who were told they are not on the spectrum after going for an assessment. Some of them go for a second opinion and others agree with the results they got. It seems to happen quite a bit, from what I've read.

Exactly. I didn?t know this when I sought my AS diagnosis, but I learned quickly when it was botched.


Immediately after my misdiagnosis, I wanted to get a second opinion. I didn't agree completely with the diagnoses. But, I told myself to wait until I had learned more about the process. As time has passed, I have come to realize that I might not seek the second opinion for some time; maybe, maybe not. I admit that there is no legal or medical need for a diagnosis beyond my screening results.

I had 2 inofficial diagnoses and called a psychiatrist, who is an expert in adult ASD. I told him about it and mentioned, that I fit every single point in his description. He asked me for my net results AQ and EQ. They weren´t high enough above cutoff for him, so he decided, that I don´t have AS, and he never answered, when I insisted and asked, how much he would take for an assessment. Arrogant man.
Luckily I found a good clinical psychiatrist.

that is incompetent, unfortunately I have heard of people being fobbed of like that, there certainly needs to be more research made into adult and female autism

In searching around for a diagnostician, I spoke first with a clinic just two blocks from my home. The telephone conversation went swimmingly until I admitted that I was seeking an adult AS diagnosis "for curiousity's sake." She practically ended the conversation there and told me that her clinic doesn't accept patients who seek diagnoses for that reason and don't plan to attend ongoing therapy. Huh?!? It took me a few hours to realize that her clinic was only interested in an ongoing cash flow, and, despite my stated willingness to pay for the diagnosis, it wasn't apparently an open-ended contract, so she declined.

I guess there are, indeed, some diagnosticians who are in it for their own reasons; whatever those might be.

curiosity sake is definitely a good reason, I would have thought there is some rules against denying someone something if they are willing to pay for it, its your choice to pay for a diagnosis after all

You would think that there are some professional rules against doing so, even if most state and federal laws allow providers to decline accepting a patient for some reasons. Indeed, it was a little baffling to me that, in this economy, somebody refused to accept a few hundred dollars for a couple hours of work. Strange. Hehe.

I may not understand you completely, but as far as I know AS is defined as a set of symptoms. (Unlike, say, influenza, which is defined as a certain viral infection, and if you have the same symptoms but a different cause, it's not influenza.) I think this means that having AS doesn't explain the symptoms, it's just a short name for those symptoms.

One AS symptom (e. g. hypersensitivity) may cause other symptoms, but then, even if you get a negative diagnosis, that sub-threshold symptom may still explain the other sub-threshold symptoms.

Yes, people have posted to say that they went for assessment, but they were not diagnosed with ASD, but they were diagnosed with something else, and they agree with and accept the psych's opinions, and other people have posted that they went for assessment, and they were not diagnosed with ASD, and the psych is wrong about them not having ASD.

This has been yet another extremely interesting exchange of ideas, and it is only on WrongPlanet that these calm discussions take place - most forums tend to descend into personal abuse at the first opportunity.

If somebody goes for confirmation of their self-diagnosis of ASD and is told that their problem is real, but goes by another name, then I guess it is reasonable to assume that the assessor has at least given the question some serious thought.

But I would also guess that most assessors are well aware of the pressing need for self-diagnosed aspies to have their self-diagnosis confirmed. This makes their job very easy, and it is inevitable that some of them will see no need to spend a great deal of time and effort on the process. Indeed, it is possible that some assessors would simply tick the necessary boxes in order to ensure 'customer satisfaction'.

What we need is a well-funded research programme which we could all sign up to - there is very little to be gained from a simple diagnosis, without any meaningful follow-up.

What kind of program do you mean, MrGrumpy?
Can you post more details?

Surely, there is very little to be gained from diagnosis of any kind: no specific treatment, no standard symptom reducing therapy. No particular help of any kind. What is this program that you propose? How would it do something more?

Can you explain what you mean by "simple diagnosis" or "meaningful follow-up?"