Who can say you are an Aspie?

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I was assessed as having Asperger's by an AS specialist at a center for AS/HFA adults and children. She said that I could treat her assessment as a diagnosis...though I believe that she does not have a PHD...she is working towards one though..I was up in the air for a very long time as to whether I could actually treat her assessment as a diagnosis...and I guess I still am.
I have had two professionals (If she counted as being a professional) agree that I am on the spectrum, though the second one, a young Psych. who did not know very much about autism put me down as having PDD-NOS...and, like the AS specialist, that was just his opinion after a brief interview in which i had mentioned my assessment.

I still have no idea where I would go for a formal diagnosis, if it is mandatory that a formal diagnosis entail the opinion of a PHD and a battery of expensive tests.

I was diagnosed first by a psychiatry resident under supervision of a psychiatrist, and then again by a psychologist. I hav eno clue whether eithter the psychiatrist or th epsychologist had a Ph.D. - in the Netherlands, you can be a licensed psychologist without a Ph.D. I think for the purposes of self-identification, it doesn't matter what specific credentials your professionals have if they say you can treat their opinion as a dx. For insurance purposes however it does matter. I know someone who was asssessed at the same place where got my first dx, but they got theirs from a psychologist. Insurance wouldn't take it cause they said the dx had to come from a psychiatrist. My dx, on the other hand, which came from the resident and was only supervised by the psychiatrist, was readily accepted.

The real question you need to answer for yourself is how important it is to you that other professionals, not just the pro who DX's you, accept the DX. Many may not accept a DX from a "therapist." If it's important to you that the DX be taken seriously, and it's not just a matter of your own satisfaction, I would go with a MD (Psychiatrist), or PHD (Psychologist), not just a counselor.

I personally sway toward Psychologists, since an MD's usual approach is medications for pretty much everything. I refuse to take any more drugs for this or anything else, because it's been my personal experience that none of them seem to have a clue how the drugs really work, but more importantly I've found that every drug I've been given either made my overall life experience worse, or changed nothing. There was a single exception that for personal reasons I won't get into here. The overall result of being put on this drug or that drug, and "let's see how it works" left me feeling like performing as my own guinea pig. But I digress...

One thing that should be important to you is what you want to accomplish by getting a DX.

Another thing that should become VERY important to you is to learn as much as you can about AS before seeking the diagnosis, and ask yourself if you think it fits you. Trust me! There are MANY professionals out there dispensing opinions about AS and ASD's that have no business doing so. If they see you for 45 minutes and tell you they don't think you have it, they are NOT experts! An accurate DX cannot be done that fast. If I hear an opinion after that short a visit, I don't consider it a diagnosis, because they have not done the full amount of evaluation and testing that is required for an accurate DX. Any opinion offered after such a short visit, is just an opinion, and if offered to you, in my opinion, is unprofessional.

Yeah, nor have I.

You remind me of that scene in the "Wizard of Oz" where the wizard presents the characters with diplomas and awards to prove their abilities.
Why do you NEED a piece of paper signed by an "expert" to prove you're AS? If you're applying for government funds, then fine, go ahead. But if you THINK you need this, you DON'T ! !
In short, you are the best judge of you. If you have good reason to believe you have AS, then go with that feeling. But Blimey ! ! therapists are not the best judge of you and your abilities ....

In my experience, the psychiatrist I was under didn't have a clue about AS. Apparently, if I had AS I would walk into a room and do something completely inappropriate lol. It was a psychologist who listened to me and had a good understanding of what it was. I suspect if it can't be treated with drugs then psychiatrists either don't know or don't want to know.

A LMSW is a licensed master social worker. I have never been to a LMSW but my understanding is that since they are licensed by the state they work in as a mental health professional then they can officially diagnose AS. Though, they probably won't do it in a void by themselves.

Yeah, I was confused, because in the past he wondered if he dxed me with one condition because he updated my dx... but now he's saying that he's going to run it past the psychiatrist.

Anyway in the past they only put one disorder down that was the main one they were treating me for because that was good enough for insurance, but now they want to add more because I'm trying to get disability benefits and they agree I should have them, but they are not just pulling stuff out of thin air, they said they knew I had this stuff for a while but never bothered to make it official until now.

i would have assumed that, as with prescribing medication, you had to have a PhD to officially diagnose; i may be wrong about this though. it is just an assumption that seems sensible. licensed social workers i.e. therapists aren't always familiar with AS and don't necessarily look for it. also therapists sometimes have an "anti-labeling" bent where psychiatrists are more geared toward diagnosing and providing medication but don't spend as much time with you.

my therapist has a PhD and agrees i have AS but will not officially diagnose me because she is not an ASD specialist (and i agree with her reluctance for that reason), though IMO she may know more about AS presentation in adult women than the specialist she referred me to, who when questioned about his knowledge of AS in women told me most specialists had never seen an adult woman with an ASD diagnosis as men outnumber them 15:1. i decided i was better off not going to him as he clearly did not know what AS looked like in adult women, nor had he kept up with current research about possible gender ratio, nor did he have any real interest in it. no diagnosis is better than a dodgy diagnosis that may or may not be accurate.

i would trust a diagnosis coming from multiple sources, or one source (AS / ASD specialist) whose credentials and abilities you are very confident about. and someone who has spent a lot of time with you (therapist, for example) will know you much better that someone who only sees you for diagnosis. but both a very solid understanding of you & your condition and expertise in the area of diagnosis (with consideration to your age and gender) are important if you want to trust the diagnosis.