Self Diagnosis.

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Some people are uninsured, and can't afford to get evaluated. Do I eat, and pay my rent this month, or do I go to a doctor to obtain a piece of paper confirming what I pretty much already know? Hmmm....

well, this is just hogwash. Not that he said it to you, but that he has some sort of evidence to back up this statement. So, all diagnosticians in the world report to one clearing house where they evaluate and distribute this data? I have been on WP for three years and change, always working with later DXed Aspies and if his information is correct they have mostly been the elusive 1 our of 10 self DXed Aspie that made the official assessment. That is as difficult to believe as your Psychologist's statement.

just sayin' it doesn't add up.

You haven't met the quacks I have. Have you never been misdiagnosed? Romanticize? What are you imagining? I have worked so hard since I realized what I've got and started digging for what to do about it. I've improved my life.

There is nothing "true" about a professional diagnosis. Go to ten for Dx, you'll get ten different Dx's. That is why I went to the mental hospital and asked them to diagnose yes or no for Asperger's. They diagnosed positive. That's to show to doctors or whoever (maybe even you).

Have you ever heard of arthritis of the head? My aunt's doctor diagnosed that, which is why she's 100% blind today. It was glaucoma.

Professionals have failed me entirely. I do not appreciate being criticized because my life doesn't match yours.

At the risk of feeding the troll...

Asperger's was only added to the DSM in 1994. So the medical profession has been wrong about the condition from the dawn of humanity until 15 years ago. Now what qualifies the medical profession as being the experts? Mostly only the social order. I beleive the medical profession has done such a failing job with Asperger's that it should be removed from their domain.

I suspect from the evidence of stories on this site that it would be statistically provable that self diagnosis of Asperger's in adults is superior to medical profession diagnosis.

Get your facts right.

I get it!

You *are* a professional.

Right?

Well, what happened was this.
I was thinking one day, "I am so awesome and popular, the corporation that I own is doing booming business, and my life is perfect. There has to be a name for this." So I went to Wikipedia and found the article for Asperger's Syndrome, because I'd heard that it was the cool new thing to have, and that getting teh Asperger's would make me brilliant with computers (which appealed to me because that meant I could save on wages by firing my IT department!) , extremely good-looking, and a saint.

I discovered that I fit the criteria perfectly! Sometimes, I didn't really feel like talking to people, and occasionally I wouldn't know what to talk about to a stranger. Clearly, I had a severe social impairment. I liked to watch the cricket on the weekend: I mean, how doesn't a few hours of sport-watching in a week count as an all-encompassing preoccupation with a single subject? And sometimes, I tap my fingers when I'm impatient. It was obvious that I had a textbook case of Awesomeness Synd- uh... I mean, Asperger's Syndrome.

Since discovering just how awesome I am, I've gained PhD's in astrophysics, engineering, computing and flower-arranging; had 1700 marriage proposals; brought about world peace; been knighted; had my music album sell 21 billion copies; and everyone I see tries to give me their life savings. The only problem I have is that those stupid NTs insist that there is something wrong with me. I wouldn't want to fit in with those morons anyway.








(It had nothing to do with spending my whole life wondering what was wrong with me, and why I found so many things so difficult despite being very intelligent, and then happening to read (numerous) books about autism spectrum disorders, including AS, where the authors had evidently either gone inside my head to get their information, or had been watching my life very, very closely.)

Who Am I,



I love you!

Is this leading up to my 1701st marriage proposal? Not that I want to disappoint you or anything, but since your profile says that you're female, I don't it's legal where I am for us to get married.

Well, come to the states and get it taken care of, then. At least, a few of them.

At the risk of feeding a troll, from my best impartial evaluation of the criteria, including reflecting back to childhood, I feel with overwhelming confidence that I meet the diagnostic threshold. My spouse, probably the only person on Earth with enough knowledge, agrees with the assessment. As best I know, I don't qualify under any of the other related diagnoses due to missing or exclusive criteria. I show a correlation to typical associated traits well beyond the level of coincidental.

Finally, I recently saw a psychologist for unrelated (as much as anything could be) counseling. Due to insurance, I had to switch counselors before we did any diagnostic screening, but when I left, he said he strongly suspected me to have AS almost immediately.

I cope with the world around me, I've been gainfully (and rather well-) employed almost without break for the past 16 years, and I managed (somehow) to get married along the way and have a family. I'm familiar with the "workarounds", many of which I'd been using for years before even hearing of AS. Not that it would be a bad thing, but there's no immediate tangible benefit to a formal diagnosis, unless one counts satisfying particularly prickly members of anonymous internet fora.

I find question very difficult.

On the one hand there are people who are wrongly diagnosed by a professional as having Asperger's, just because it's become a convenient diagnosis to use when the diagnostician can't figure out what's wrong.

On the other hand there are plenty of people who want to believe they have a disorder, AS or other, in order to feel that they belong and to explain the failures of their lives.

I'm betting there are quite a few people who have been diagnosed by non-specialist professionals who actually have something else, maybe a borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, or a combination of a couple of anxiety disorders.

I'm also pretty sure not everyone who is self-diagnosed actually have AS. It also seems to be the case that if a selfdiagnosed Aspie is told he or she doesn't have AS they're more than willing to reject the professional opinion and try again until someone confirms their beliefs.

So what's the harm? Well, obviously, people won't get the help they need if they don't have the right diagnosis. And convincing onseself of having AS I think may lead to making assumptions about yourself that might hurt you more than help you.

On a personal level I sometimes feel a bit lost on WP with all these discussions about what it's like to have AS when so many people haven't been evaluated by a specialist. How can I know what it's like for other aspies, when I don't know if people here are really aspies?

As for the whole "it's not rocket science"-thing, I disagree. I'm sure some cases are easy to diagnose, but of nobody's picked up on it when you're all grown up it's likely you're not the most obvious case. For people who are not obvious cases I'd say "yes, it is rocket science". There are so many people in the world who feel unhappy and alienated and need a sense of purpose and belonging, but they don't all have autism. And I think it does require a specialist to be able to tell between those who have AS and those who wish they do because they need an identity.

There are quite a few disorders and mental states that may lead to an exaggerated search for an identity, and as I said before, if you're suffering you're much more likely to be able to change that if you know what your ailment is. With a bit of luck it might be more treatable than AS even, and it would be a shame to miss out on that.

But I certainly feel for all of those who can't afford an evaluation, that's really being caught between a rock and a hard place. And I'm not saying you shouldn't be here on WP, of course you should if you feel like you belong here. It's just a difficult question. It would certainly be a lot easier if everyone had good health insurance, but I won't go all political on you just yet.

oops.

Last edited by ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo on 21 Aug 2009, 10:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

True, and thanks for that.

I'm one of the self-diagnosed, and while I've tentatively shared it with some groups of people I know well online, it's not something I've revealed to my family, work or anywhere else. One, there's every possibility that without a formal diagnosis they wouldn't take me seriously anyway. And two, I'm not so sure it would get me 'special treatment' in the positive sense.

I've been officially diagnosed with depression in the past, and revealing that fact, even now I'm not actually depressed, has gotten me into some awkward enough situations. I've come to the conclusion that, until people's atittudes to mental/psychological health problems undergo a sea-change, revealing that you have or have had anything in DSM-IV may be best avoided unless you're in immediate need of help for that problem or a situation which is contributing to it. This is what's held me back, to some extent, from trying to get a formal diagnosis, because I wonder about the effect of having AS in my medical records. (Also, just because the UK has the NHS doesn't mean adults can just go and get a diagnosis...lots of UK people on this board have had huge trouble on that count. They're much more interested in diagnosing it in kids here.)

As my life stands, like Rorgg, I'm coping pretty well; I'm married, gainfully employed, and I've learned strategies that mostly, work for me in dealing with the real world, or avoiding the bits of it I'd rather not deal with, where I can do that withough it being directly detrimental to me or others. I treat AS as a way of better understanding myself in order to do the dealing-with-life bit. If I know why certain things affect me the way they do, it's easier for me to come up with alternative strategies.

Were I to encounter problems that impinged directly on my AS - e.g. if I had a klutz of a boss, like a few years back, who insisted on putting me in a counter position where I suffered total sensory and people overwhelm (which was when I got the diagnosis of depression - AS wasn't something I'd considered back then) - then it would be something I might want to raise. But it would be with an eye to finding a solution to the situation, not milking it for what I could get out of it. There are a few people who will do that with any physical or mental disability - real or not - but they only make it harder for those with real issues.

I see what you are saying and it's because of the Asperger's "genius" component. I wonder, sometimes, if genius wasn't associated with AS how many people would want themselves or their family members diagnosed with it? What if the disorder was defined as "struggling socially, not being well liked, not enjoying being with other people, not going to parties, family gatherings, dances, not wanting to go to school". I wonder how many people would identify with the disorder then?
I also wonder how direct the connection really is between genius and AS? Plenty of people are extremely intelligent, yet they are able to socialize and are able to do what it takes to be gainfully employed, have a high quality life, find happiness and joy being with others. Even when I was on an SSRI I still didn't seek out others or want to be with them. (I don't think it's a part of a depression but instead, part of my neurology, judging by the effects of the SSRI which made me manic)
That's why I say take the genius component out of the AS diagnosis because it's misleading. Even though it's not specifically in the DSM, AS is often associated with genius and the super rich, like Bill Gates. It misleads others about the true nature of the diagnosis. People aren't inclined to care or think you are impaired if they think of Bill Gates when they hear Asperger's Syndrome.
So many who are diagnosed either can't get a job or stay employed... and this is the reality of many with AS, not the super rich, influential reverence of Bill Gates.
This is why I like the idea of having everything lumped under the catagory ASDs in the new DSM. People get a much clearer picture of the difficulties one encounters when trying to live like everyone else.

Something of note, for those who're self-diagnosed and are unsure if you're "severe" enough or not to receive a label, you may be able to receive one even if you are "too mild" now when they bring out the new DSM-V. They appear to be adding a couple of subclinical manifestations of an ASD, like a personality type or "difference" compared to a "disorder".

Considering how I haven't heard of a single Asperger's trait that doesn't describe me perfectly (except "no sense of humour"; I have an unconventional sense of humour), I'd think that's a pretty big indicator.

B-long topic

I must be an odd aspie. For me, getting a Dx was not about belonging. I do not belong anywhere. I like this site because I like to write and see what others are up to, but not to engage in chat. I like to comment on what others write, but not to answer a lot of pointed questioning. I find that annoying. I suppose this makes me appear shallow, but I am no longer interested in a lot of dialogue of a personal nature. I am just too private for that.

I tried chat on another site but there was a problem about a faux pas, so I decided not to bother anymore or I would risk banishment. Better to have a situation where I can think long and hard before I answer, and not incur problems.