Should i tell my shrink i am autistic

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WHile that last statement is true... You cannot say you are autistic until you have a diagnosis. You suspect you have autism. You cannot say, for a fact, that you are autistic. Period. End of story.

Your psychiatric professional studied for YEARS to be able to make this diagnosis. You do not have that expertise.

Further, the stance you have taken (you are autistic but do not need a diagnosis), will not get you far with Autistic Spectrum Individuals.

Until you have a diagnosis, you are crapping on all of us that went through the arduous task of diagnosis, treatment plans and more... ADDITIONALLY... you LITERALLY asked us if you should tell your psych professional that you have a diagnosis...

At this point - you suspect an autistic spectrum disorder... You are not autistic.

A person is either autistic or is not autistic.

If the OP’s suspicion is correct the OP is autistic.

If a person gets a diagnosis of autism and the diagnosis is incorrect the person is not autistic.

Expertise gives a person a better chance of getting a diagnosis correctly be it self or proffessional.

For most conditions the idea that the patient has a better knowledge of a condition then a doctor is preposterous. Not so much autism because it has been recently discovered and the dignostic criteria keeps changing formally and even more so informally. Not all doctors especially generalists have much or current knowledge.

The OP is at worst is crapping on him or herself and is doing no harm to us professionally diagnosed people. Those people using autism as a criminal defence, as a way to get undeserved benefits, as an excuse for being an as*hole, who push autism supremacy and anti NT hate hurt us.

I know myself (38 years, that's an expertise), I have done the tests which give me a clear result. I read about it, it is clearly me 100%

I am sure I am autistic, and I say it if I wish, please don't tell me what I may say or not. You may choose to believe it or not.

don't let him push you around, there are many valid reasons not to seek a diagnosis as an autistic person.

I'll have to admit that Feralucce makes a valid point here, but that aside, I believe you have nothing to lose by telling your shrink that you're autistic.

Arganger, i wonder the reasons. Getting a diagnosis may be harming? Eugenics? or kind of racism towards autism? If this is likely to happen, I would better not tell her...

I am however sure that this would help my psychologist to gain time, because i am not speaking a lot and pretending to be normal fairly good. So it could take some meetings for her to diagnose me.

I don't think that is logically correct. As ASPartofMe says, a person is either autistic or not. If they are autistic then that was true before the diagnosis as well as after. What changes with the diagnosis is the knowledge as to whether the person is autistic or not, not the fact of their being autistic or not.

And strictly, it is not a matter of absolute knowledge, but rather of probabilities. Sometimes even with professional diagnoses an autistic person may be mis-diagnosed as not being autistic, and sometimes a non-autistic person may be mis-diagnosed as being autistic.

If someone such as the OP has researched the subject of autism extensively, finding a close concordance with their own experiences and feelings, taken screening tests that lead to a strong indication of ASD traits, and so on, then it may very well be that the balance of probabilities has shifted sufficiently that it is more likely they are autistic than non-autistic. I don't think it is helpful, or useful, to assert in such a case, as a factual declaration, that the person is not autistic just because they have not received a formal diagnosis.

A person who exhibits all the symptoms of having a cold is quite reasonably entitled to self-diagnose and say they have a cold, even if they have not visited to a doctor to rule out some remote and unlikely alternative possibility. If the balance of probabilities points strongly in a particular direction, it is not unreasonable to adopt that as the most likely explanation. Especially if there may be large bureaucratic, financial or other obstacles to getting a more extensive evualation.

I live in Europe. I just saw in France, the biggest association for autism
compares autism to other devastating illnesses like AIDS and Cancer to be fought by all means.

Those are their words.

Maybe my shrink has been tought stuff like that as well. Hope she has some more brain than this association. I only met my shrink a few times and she sounds clever, well educated, open. So there are chances she would not engage in such belligerent fallacies, i hope so.

France is the one of the worst countries as far as understanding and treating autism. I would research how Autism is viewed and treated in your European country and in your region.

Unless it is really serious most people self diagnose a cold or the flu and treat themselves accordingly. Rarely does anyone question these self diagnosis even though especially with the flu these self diagnosis are often wrong. Professionally diagnosed flu sufferers are rarely offended by the hoards of people self diagnosing with the flu but Autism yet again has to be different.



Lets make a hypothetical assumption that the OP incorrectly diagnosed him or herself, what are the likely consequences?

1. The treatments/coping methods are of great help due to overlapping traits to whatever the OP really has.

2. The treatments/coping methods are partially effective because while there are some overlapping traits by getting the condition wrong the OP misses some triats or uses a treatment not designed for the actual condition. If the OP actual condition is curable the OP misses out on this.

3. The treatments/coping mechanisms do not help or hurt. Like with option 2 the OP misses out on easing or curing the actual condition.

4. The treatment/coping mechanism are harmful because of treatments themselves or because the actual condition is left untreated

Again I ask even with a worst case scenario outside of the the OP and those close to the OP who is a potential wrong self diagnosis hurting?



As many posts on this website have shown even with a proffessional diagnosis if you go public with it you very well may be told you are not autistic by non autistics and non autistics alike. If you go public with self diagnosis the chances that you will not be believed increases, probably substantially.



Last but not least it is a valid opinion to say those who have not gotten a professional diagnosis should not say they are autistic, but if one is going to take that point of view it is completly hypocritial of one who is a non professional who has not examined a person to say he or she is not autistic.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 08 May 2018, 6:04 pm, edited 4 times in total.

I very firmly believe that AS people are born AS, not created by diagnosis by NTs. Diagnosis is (sometimes) a confirmation, and at other times a confusing misdiagnosis, when it is missed which is more common than some like to think.

Self discovery is one of the most important journeys in life, diminishing its value is offensive. I think you go to far Ferraluce in your comment about "crapping on the rest of us" and encourage you to be more sensitive to those who like myself realised AS status long before a diagnosis chapter occurred. This is a support forum, and not just for the formally diagnosed, and I urge you to bear that in mind.

Yes... but without a diagnosis, the OP cannot say they are autistic. ANd I disagree, whole heartedly that they are only crapping on themselves...

Every self diagnosed individual that refuses to get a diagnosis that I have ever met is like the character on Glee that stated "ASperger's, self diagnosed." Those people actually impact the perception of autistic spectrum individuals a great deal. During the interviews for my series, I found that a majority of the ill impressions that most of the NTs had of us were from individuals that stated they were self diagnosed... Anecdotal evidence, yes...

Considering the sheer number that share diagnostic criteria that have overlap in ASD and other mental disorders, misdiagnosis is already rife.

Additionally, to take on the mantle of autistic without going through the same things we all had to do to prove it, is a form of cultural appropriation... Self-diagnosis, without the training to back it up is simply suspicion and supposition. It is not, however, a diagnosis.

It bears repeating... Self-diagnosis is not a diagnosis at all. This is the reason that only doctors can write prescriptions... My statement is echoed by almost every psychiatric professional I have ever spoken to. They are the experts. I have given the words as they presented them.

I am not trying to push anyone around. I am simply answering and responding to points brought up in this discussion.

I will not, however, coddle someone who refuses the proper diagnostics protocols.

I can liken it to this my job. I repair computers... I am an expert... Have studied long and hard to do it. The number of times that my clients have presented me with a proper diagnosis of the problem is about 15%... However, I still have to take the proper steps to make sure the diagnosis is correct, lest I aggravate the problem, fix the wrong thing that changes nothing, or waste everyone's time.

It's the same with mental health issues. Hyperlexia, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, Avoidant personality disorder, Social (pragmatic) communication disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Cornelia DeLange Syndrome, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, William’s Syndrome and more are often misdiagnosed as autistic spectrum disorders, and vice versa... As a result, an expert is needed to make the proper diagnosis.

Telling a shrink that you are autistic when you do not have a diagnosis is like the guy who came in insisting that his video card was DOA when he had malware and a driver conflict. The approaches and treatments are drastically different in some cases, and can cause harm when applied to the wrong problem.

That being said. I am not pushing anyone around. I don't care what the OP does. They asked a question, I answered it. They can take my advice and opinion, or not... No skin off my ass either way.

I prefer the more balanced and nuanced approach offered by musingsofanaspie.com:

Weighing Self- vs. Professional Diagnosis

Obtaining a diagnosis as an adult can be very difficult.
Not everyone needs or wants a professional diagnosis.
Self-diagnosis is widely accepted in the autism community when done with diligence.
Self-discovery is a good first step toward professional diagnosis if you choose to pursue it.


You are entitled to your opinion but projecting it onto others in such a harsh condemnatory way is sad.

The people running around like Moby saying I am self diagnosed and blabbing it to all based on the Wikipedia article because they think it is cool are hurting the reputation of people who are more serious about self diagnosing or keep it limited to themselves and forums like this. They do not hurt us.

The “self diagnosis” issue is a result of the main issue issue which is that there is there is at best partial understanding and widespread disagreement as to what Autism is and what the diagnostic criteria should be. That the diagnosis is subjective based on behaviors hurts also. Once there is a way to objectively test for it the self diagnosers will go to the fringe of fringes as will those yelling “fake disease”.

This is more a PPR topic but “Cultural Appropriation” by an and of itself is a good thing not a bad thing. If I took a stance that it is bad I need to stop listening to most British bands of the last 60 or so years since they culturally appropriate from American blacks.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 08 May 2018, 7:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'll say it again. I have spoken to over (at this point) over 300 psychiatric professionals in interviews, at conventions, online, after reading studies... My statements are based on their opinions... Which was in DIRECT response to the question: "Can a psychiatric self-diagnosis be considered a diagnosis?"

There is no condemnation... That is an active act against the person. I don't condemn the OP. I bear no ill will towards them. You ascribe emotional content that is not there. There is no anger, negative implication, negative emotion, disgust, condemnation. I simply answered a question in a logical manner. I am not attacking anyone...

I stand by my statement. I tried to explain why in a logical and reasoned manner, and appear to have failed - and that is on me. The burden of communication, after all, falls on the communicator.

I don't condemn anyone... but I will stridently maintain that without the input of a psychiatric professional, there can be no diagnosis.

As I said. The OP is free to take my input or discard it. There is really no emotion behind it.

~Signed
Studying for his Masters in Psychiatry