Why in depth self diagnosis is complicated in AS

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Oh dear.... this is my fault. IGNORE THE TITLE the point is that there are some things which we cant be certain of due to our social inexpertise. This in turn complicates self diagnosis

So thats whats going on. People are taking this thread personally. Ignore the title please - just ignore.the.title. The actual content of the post is not saying that you cant self diagnose. Im saying that THERE ARE ASPECTS OF ASPERGER'S THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO ASCERTAIN. How is that contentious?

Kleigh. That's insightful and quite correct. I do question my own self diagnosis. But then I obsessively analyse reanalyse and revisit every aspect of my life. Asperger's is no different. Because I have 80% of the symptoms in the DSM the remaining 20% is enough to make me question the entire thing. Silly and illogical I know, but there it is.

This thread is not referring primarily to self diagnosis but rather certain aspects of AS which we cant gauge due to inexperience or social naivety etc and that doesnt apply to everyone.

That's what I thought you were saying. But again, how does this make any difference when a suspected-AS individual approaches a qualified and experienced diagnostician, who is qualified to ascertain such characteristics? This, surely, is the logical outcome of the process that begins with self-diagnosis.

If what you are talking about is people who never make such approaches, then I agree with you: Their subjective feelings do not have as much worth as a clinical diagnosis, and should not be taken as seriously as such. I do not have nearly as much time for those who are not officially diagnosed.

That seems unduly harsh. In fact that paragraph could easily replace the original post as it contains all the "Contentious" material people have taken objection to.
The problem with placing the official diagnosis on such a lofty pedestal is that there is no consistency with regards to the criteria for autism. This is why the DSM V moved the goalposts so much. 5 different psychologists will have 5 varying opinions. Unless you're a classic classic case there will be no unanimous agreement that you're an aspie.
So I would say that clinical diagnosis is not that much worthier than self diagnosis. I think its very easy to place oneself on the autistic spectrum but going deeper and actually starting to identify exactly where you're going wrong socially is beyond most autists imo.

How would you regard someone who claimed to have a life-altering condition but never sought diagnosis?

I think erring on the side of 'hypochondria' is the only sane response.

That's not to say that some self-diagnosers DON'T have AS -- but again, why not get it official?

why seek diagnosis? If you already have support structures in place... whats the point?

Access to more appropriate health care and access to disability-related benefits are the two most obvious ones I can think of.

Those should be enough. After all, what has an AS-suspected person got to lose by seeking formal diagnosis?

I don't think I could have diagnose myself because the only symptoms I had of it was my inability to socialize. Which is something I would have blamed more on not learning or a learning disability but would have never had a clue I was dealing with autism. It wasn't until I had a psychiatrist actually walk up to me and tell my what was going on. Before that. I had never herd of the word Aspergers let alone knowing that I was dealing with an autism issue.

Binary: I understand what you are saying and I agree. I both knew I had AS when I read the symptomology, yet I also knew I was still totally unaware of how I was coming off to others and I needed others, finally, to tell me what I was doing wrong.

THIS!! !!

Nope. I still cannot make eye contact. I need to be on stimulants or have had a few drinks. I find it impossible to mask behaviours.


Although I have more awareness of my social abilities I was able to way back when come to the conclusion that I may have Asperger's. I'm a pretty stereotypical case; intense interests, boring people with said interests, and being a rather blunt fellow. But I'm more than the symptoms. It's hard to explain but I just give off the impression that I'm autistic. Must be all the staring at trees, clouds, signs, etc.

By comparing myself to others I can pick up that something is not right about my emotional reciprocity and I've done a very long EQ test which got me about a 60/100.

My self-diagnosis eventually led to an officially diagnosis because I went to a lot effort to intensely research this condition. There were moments when I was uncertain, especially after my ADHD diagnosis. I had absolutely no idea how many ADHD symptoms I actually fit. I just thought I had a really poor memory and often fell asleep when I attempted to read anything.

But I know I'm autistic by the very poor way I communicate.

It was a wise thing I self-diagnosed because no one would have told me I may have Aspergers, except for my mother who I ignored anyway. Growing up we didn't go to doctors unless it was a medical emergency. Usually it was bed rest and prayer. Since my diagnosis I've learned a lot about myself, applied some mechanisms that have helped me deal with symptoms and I teach people about what it's like living with Aspergers. Also, I'm on the pension and that helps because barely a year ago I developed some seriously bad mental problems.

My other self-diagnosis, PMDD, saved me from suicide. Although in my mind it is a very easy condition to be diagnosed with. There's a period where these symptoms come about and then they disappear and you no longer feel so low you want to kill yourself. The doctor still turned me away and said check back with him in two months which is when the whole suicide attempt happened.

Self-diagnosing my current under diagnosed mental health issues actually makes me feel more secure. The minute I think 'nah, it's probably not bipolar' I feel like I'm about to lose my footing on this Earth and be flung into the cosmos. But when I think BPD I tend to freak out too.
I remember the moment when I finally realised I had delusions. It was both unpleasant and embarrassing. Unpleasant like a bad taste in my mouth, I was sickened by my behaviour and embarrassed for saying all those things so publicly.

Yep. Pretty much was I was thinking when I read it. I've wondered for years and years why I got teased all through school, virtually ignored by men, and was unable to keep friends. I was just a normal girl/woman, right? Or was I? Apparently not. After reading about ASD and starting picking up on my traits, I realized what a weirdo I was/am. I have even seen people who I thought were oddballs who in reality weren't as bad as I am! I wasn't aware that I walked on the balls of my feet, I never paid attention to the fact that I'm TERRIBLE at eye contact, and that my stimming and involuntary movements are much more obvious than I ever thought. But since all of this I've done my whole life, it seems normal to me. I can only estimate how severe my AS is. A formal diagnosis can remedy that.

Are you not able to edit the title?

Essentially, you're wrong. I'm so tired of this argument that I don't even want to go into the whole thing again, but you're wrong. And this argument is a waste of time. People are going to self-diagnose because that's what people have always done. In the case of autistic people (as well as many others) a large number of these self-diagnoses will be correct, and many will be confirmed by professional diagnosis.

Instead of arguing that it's wrong because you can't properly observe the social and communication impairments (which may be true, but does not actually seem to interfere with one's ability to self-diagnose autism), you need to actually find the benefit for choosing a professional diagnosis, and explain how one will conclude they need an evaluation if they're not allowed to evaluate themselves beforehand because "self-diagnosis is a fool's game."

Your theory that our own lack of self-awareness makes it impossible to self diagnose is already wrong because many of us have self-diagnosed and then had it confirmed with professional diagnosis. I'm not talking about exceptions, but about a rather significant number of autistic adults.

You don't know what is going on in the minds of other people. Your opening line reminds me of a Zen koan I heard a while back...

Two Zen monks were standing on a little bridge in a garden, watching the Koi fish swimming below. The first monk bursts out, "Look how happy the fish are swimming there!" The second monk pauses for a second, and then replies, "You don't know if the fish are happy or not!" The first monk says back... without looking up, "You don't know, if I know, if the fish are happy or not."

Please read revised OP