Too much of a coincidence? I keep denying it could be true.

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Yeah, many good insights have been posted already. rebbieh, please do not worry - you're obviously very bright and with much potential. And with an introspective nature, which is a great quality. At times, drawing attention to your difference can only make it harder. I know, because I do it too. For an analogous example, I am really shy. Do you know what the worst approach is for dealing with shyness? Focusing on your shyness. Instead, look outwardly and do not so much worry what others might think.

Anyhow, you might like this book by Dr Sheldon Kopp (American psychiatrist) as his approach turns it around:
If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of Psychotherapy Patients (plus it's fun/easy to read & even entertaining).

Kopp learns that nobody really *needs* any outside neuro/psych professional, instead the journey is finding that you already have all the answers. Because you do.

LabPet: You're right. It's not always good drawing attention to your difference. I think that's what happened when I found out about AS and started analysing myself. Anyway, I read a book the other day and found the following quote:

"The worst thing about this illness isn't the things it makes me believe, or what it makes me do. It's not the control it has over me, or even the control it's allowed other people to take. Worse than all of that is how I have become selfish. Mental illness turns people inwards. That's what I reckon. It keeps us forever trapped by the pain of our minds, in the same way a broken leg or a cut thumb will grab your attention, holding it so tightly that your good leg or your good thumb seems to cease to exist. I'm stuck looking inwards. Nearly every thought I have is about me ..."
- Nathan Filer, The Shock of the Fall

I'm not saying autism is a mental illness (the book where I found the quote is a book about a guy with schizophrenia). What I'm trying to say is that I'm stuck looking inwards too. It's hard to "look outwardly", don't you think? Anyway, I'll see if I can find the book you suggested and read it. Thank you.

Magnanimous: I think it's sad that you think of psychologists/mental health professionals that way. Yes, it's a normal job so of course they get paid and to them I might just be a patient/client they have to deal with to get paid. Still, they're educated in the area of psychology/neuropsychology and many (though probably not all) are in the profession because they want to help people on some level. Perhaps I'm just naive and trying to believe the best in my psychologist, but she seems to really care. Maybe she doesn't, but the things she say and the things she does make me think she at least cares a little bit. Also, I disagree that friends are better than therapists when it comes to talking about things in my head, but perhaps I haven't found the right friends yet.

MrGrumpy: Of course they pay for it through taxes. Everyone in the country who pays taxes pays for it. That's not the point though. The point is they will not be talking about the psychologist's fees on the phone next week and they don't need to think of how they're paying taxes to be able to talk with the psychologist on the phone. You pay taxes for most things; education, health care, the military etc.

I am reading all these conspiracy theories about your psychologist?s malevolent motives. As a somewhat paranoid person myself I just do not see it. With the exception of taking too long between sessions what I see is the most through, well done diagnostic process I have read about. Since autism is believed to something you are born with, talking to your parents about your baby years is the right thing to do. If the information is not available your psychologist could have said I can?t prove autism 100% and ended the assessment process and left you out in the lurch. Instead if all other symptoms indicate autism she is going to take the approach it probably is autism and if it is not autism the treatments for the autistic symptoms are the same so she will call it ?Atypical Autism? so you get treatments.

I think it is great you are getting extra sessions post assessment. One reason is obvious in that you are a type of person that needs a thorough lengthy explanation. Another reason is while Autism is a particularly grey area nothing in life is 100% certain. That stinks. You need the extra sessions so you learn to live with life?s uncertainties and not be crippled by them.

Rebbieh. Your reaction is completely normal. When suddenly the attenton is drawn to conditions, you know and are used to, but in a new light, it is natural to feel them more strongly. Lots of questions arise and your focus intensifies.
The same happened to me, and I thought, "what a fraud I am", - but I think it is a natural thing, when you re-discover things and go back in your history to restructure your story.
Any symptoms are being reinforced in a period like that. It will go away.