(Vent) Confused & Stressed About Diagnosis

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Or, a “lack there of”, rather.

I never thought I could be autistic until I specifically looked into symptoms in people AFAB. I then realized I’ve had a s**t ton of symptoms my entire life and I relate to even some of the most specific experiences people have had.

I discussed the idea of an autism diagnosis with my therapist and he’s very affirming of my symptoms. He thinks it’s much more likely I have ASD than BPD (I’m still convinced I have undiagnosed BPD though) and said he’d be happy to make a referral.

I just got back from seeing my psychiatrist who’s the complete opposite. Just as I suspected he’d do, he blamed all my symptoms on my GAD and CPTSD. He wasn’t directly rude about it, but basically said I’m too “socially warm/nice and emotionally mature” to be autistic. It felt very outdated and ableist, so I told him I still want to go ahead with an assessment because there’s so much misinformation and misconceptions about ASD, especially in AFAB.

Am I being rude for this, or questioning my psychiatrist who’s been working over 30 years? I don’t know what to make of my therapist saying one thing and my psychiatrist the complete opposite.

I really associate with the symptoms and just want an unbiased opinion. I’m not sure what to do anymore and it’s extremely stressful.

I've had much better interactions with those who aren't psychiatrists. I find they tend to be rather set in their ways, especially if they've been doing it for a long time. Some certainly don't like you suggesting things that could be. I have several other complaints about psychiatrists, for another day. This isn't to say they're all like that, that would be wrong, they're some very good ones out there.

Ask your doctor for a referral to someone whose job it is to evaluate.

If you get a diagnosis of ASD, nothing changes about you outside of having more information, and that's a positive.

Do ados or some other test, go through proper diagnostic procedure

Welcome to Wrong Planet.

The job of a Psychiatrist is to treat mental illnesses, which these days often means prescribing drugs. Autism is not considered a mental illness but a developmental disability. Therein lies the problem with using a psychiatrist for diagnosing autism.

Bipolar disorder shares similar symptoms/traits with Autism is a mental health issue and thus is best diagnosed by a psychiatrist.
Can Autism and Bipolar Disorder Co-Occur?

Is that psychiatrist an autism specialist? I came to realize that many non-autistic-specialist mental health professionals know very little about autism. Individual psychiatrists/psychologists can have very different interpretations of your symptoms. It's quite subjective although the diagnostic criteria exist to make the diagnosis as objective as possible. I'd say if that psychiatrist denies what your therapist suspects, then you can always go and get a second opinion elsewhere.

An Adult Autism Assessment requires someone who does Adult Autism Assessments.

And since you have other stuff going on you would probably be an "interesting" patient to assess.

I suspect you would need someone who is experienced with Autism and doing Adult Autism Assessments.