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Self diagnosed people here don't have aspergers

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mechanicalgirl39
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24 Jan 2010, 2:07 pm

kfa91 wrote:
I've been here for less than a week and looking around the forum it seems like many people are self diagnosed. They hear about aspergers and think they have it because they are kind of shy and have a hobby they are obsessed with. They take the online test and tell themselves that all their inabilities in life are from aspergers. Self diagnosed should just be undiagnosed. Aspergers is such a complicated disorder that only a doctor can tell you if you have it or not.


Isn't this a bit like saying you can't diagnose yourself with internal bleeding even if you're vomiting blood, you must wait for a doctor to say so??


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24 Jan 2010, 2:27 pm

TheMachine1 wrote:
Female: Other Autism spectrum : 251 : 58 %
Male: Other Autism spectrum : 182 : 42%

Female: Neurotypical : 280 : 63%
Male: Neurotypical : 167 : 27%

Female: Family with Autism:1696 : 80%
Male: Family with Autism: 420 : 20%

Female: unsure: 514: 35%
Male: unsure: 965: 65%

Female: Undiagnosed AS: 580 : 35%
Male: Undiagnosed AS: 1063: 65%

Female: Diagnosed: 1150 : 29%
Male: Diagnosed: 2785 : 71%

That puts the self diagnosed at (580+1063) / 10053 = 16 % of the members are self-dx
aspergers. And we can assume alot of them are correct so whats your point? A few percent of people claiming to have aspergers when they do not is some how causing you problems?


I like this take on the issue.

Around the time that I joined this site, a lot of people were whining about the presence of the "self-diagnosed". Initially, this made me uncomfortable because:
1. This was the first forum I ever participated in.
2. I had not been formally diagnosed as an adult.
3. I had not been formally informed that I had actually been formally diagnosed at a young age.

Then I noticed that the same members who complained about "self-diagnosed" people being present on the site and (god forbid!) contributing to conversations were often the same ones who whined about other people whining. Whining about whining is one of the most useless forum behavior patterns I can think of.

So I chose to ignore the posts by those members, and a lot of them left anyway.

"Self-diagnosed", "Diagnosed", etc - these are simply options that you can select in your profile and change at any time. Different doctors have different opinions, and the way in which people present themselves online compared to the way they behave irl tends to vary with the individual. You don't really know anything about anyone on personal level; we're just exchanging ideas and information in a purely text-based dialog.



mikkyh
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24 Jan 2010, 7:05 pm

I dont think people should self diagnose themselves. It's not healthy.

If they do they shouldn't say that they have Aspergers as though it's a matter of fact. It's not concrete. Doctors know what they're talking about more than an online test.

Sorry but it's true.


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mechanicalgirl39
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24 Jan 2010, 7:22 pm

mikkyh wrote:
I dont think people should self diagnose themselves. It's not healthy.

If they do they shouldn't say that they have Aspergers as though it's a matter of fact. It's not concrete. Doctors know what they're talking about more than an online test.

Sorry but it's true.


I think it's fine to say you think you have it. Or to specify that you haven't been diagnosed but that you likely do.


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24 Jan 2010, 7:26 pm

It really is silly to self-diagnose based on an online test, though. The best online tests may identify 90% of all autism cases and only mis-identify a neurotypical as autistic 5% of the time, but that still means that when the test calls you autistic, four out of five times you'll actually be NT.


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Last edited by Callista on 24 Jan 2010, 7:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.

mikkyh
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24 Jan 2010, 7:26 pm

mechanicalgirl39 wrote:
mikkyh wrote:
I dont think people should self diagnose themselves. It's not healthy.

If they do they shouldn't say that they have Aspergers as though it's a matter of fact. It's not concrete. Doctors know what they're talking about more than an online test.

Sorry but it's true.


I think it's fine to say you think you have it. Or to specify that you haven't been diagnosed but that you likely do.


Yes, that's perfectly acceptable. But I think if you suspect you have it you should really see a doctor - there are so many benefits when you actually have the diagnoses.

However...I think to say it as though it's definite and a matter of fact would be wrong.


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24 Jan 2010, 7:35 pm

You can't say that with a doctor's diagnosis, either. Doctors can be wrong too.


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24 Jan 2010, 7:35 pm

mikkyh wrote:
mechanicalgirl39 wrote:
mikkyh wrote:
I dont think people should self diagnose themselves. It's not healthy.

If they do they shouldn't say that they have Aspergers as though it's a matter of fact. It's not concrete. Doctors know what they're talking about more than an online test.

Sorry but it's true.


I think it's fine to say you think you have it. Or to specify that you haven't been diagnosed but that you likely do.


Yes, that's perfectly acceptable. But I think if you suspect you have it you should really see a doctor - there are so many benefits when you actually have the diagnoses.

However...I think to say it as though it's definite and a matter of fact would be wrong.


Yeah, if anyone knows the name of a doctor who has the remotest clue about AS in middle-aged women, somewhere reasonably close to Oakland, CA, just go ahead and PM me. I've got an extra $800 burning a hole in my pocket, ready to spend on a professional evaluation.



mikkyh
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24 Jan 2010, 7:39 pm

Callista wrote:
You can't say that with a doctor's diagnosis, either. Doctors can be wrong too.


Yes, but I got diagnosed by a 60 year old or so psychiatrist that had worked in her field for over 30 years. I got a second and third opinion from another two psychiatrists and they all confirmed the same.

I think it's pretty definite I do have Asperger Syndrome and therefore I feel at ease saying that I DO have it. I don't think people self diagnosed should say they have it without adding in that it's likely but they haven't been diagnosed or that they are diagnosed.

Also...it was my sister that spotted the traits in me. The same psychiatrist that admitted me to a mental hospital for depression also gave me my diagnoses. I had known her for over a year so she knew me quite a lot.


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mikkyh
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24 Jan 2010, 7:40 pm

elderwanda wrote:
mikkyh wrote:
mechanicalgirl39 wrote:
mikkyh wrote:
I dont think people should self diagnose themselves. It's not healthy.

If they do they shouldn't say that they have Aspergers as though it's a matter of fact. It's not concrete. Doctors know what they're talking about more than an online test.

Sorry but it's true.


I think it's fine to say you think you have it. Or to specify that you haven't been diagnosed but that you likely do.


Yes, that's perfectly acceptable. But I think if you suspect you have it you should really see a doctor - there are so many benefits when you actually have the diagnoses.

However...I think to say it as though it's definite and a matter of fact would be wrong.


Yeah, if anyone knows the name of a doctor who has the remotest clue about AS in middle-aged women, somewhere reasonably close to Oakland, CA, just go ahead and PM me. I've got an extra $800 burning a hole in my pocket, ready to spend on a professional evaluation.


Well I'm in the UK and from what I've heard things are handled much better over here.


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24 Jan 2010, 7:41 pm

TylerPaul wrote:
I grew up with people saying stuff like 'you have to know how to speak Tyler' and stuff like that. I can't tell the you the vast amout of analytical judgments I've made about myself over the years trying to figuare out why I am the way I am. When I found AS every single one them was referenced. I certainly don't lack social skills (except on my bad days. Does everyone with AS have there good days, there bad days, or immediate jump between the two states?) but as Xenon said I have no idea what's going on in other's heads. I'm empathetic but I never know what to be empathetic about if they don't tell me. Half of the time I can understand where they're coming from and feel for them. The other half of the time I don't see what the big deal is or can't see how much something is really bothering them.

That's sympathy, not empathy. There's a difference.


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flamingshorts
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24 Jan 2010, 10:09 pm

mikkyh wrote:
I dont think people should self diagnose themselves. It's not healthy.

If they do they shouldn't say that they have Aspergers as though it's a matter of fact. It's not concrete. Doctors know what they're talking about more than an online test.

Sorry but it's true.


Proof that doctors know more than an online test? Any study to confirm this? My experience suggest that may not the case. Are these the same doctors that took fifty years to get from Freud to the refrigerator mother theory? I had a psych that had the criteria reversed. I think a house brick should be included in the study as a control. And you never know it might win.



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24 Jan 2010, 10:34 pm

Ok


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Last edited by Blindspot149 on 24 Jan 2010, 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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24 Jan 2010, 10:35 pm

Again - this is a ZOMBIE THREAD, resurrected after two years inactivity. Please - venting anger at someone who is no longer active here doesn't serve any useful purpose.


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25 Jan 2010, 3:04 am

mikkyh wrote:
I dont think people should self diagnose themselves. It's not healthy.

If they do they shouldn't say that they have Aspergers as though it's a matter of fact. It's not concrete. Doctors know what they're talking about more than an online test.

Sorry but it's true.

Some doctors do, but some know less. I had to self diagnose, it was necessary to my health. Then I had to fight for access to a specialist, it was necessary to my health. And through all this I was fought tooth and nail by doctors, including one who knew I could not have Aspergers Syndrome because I appeared intelligent to her. Does she sound like she has the first clue about Aspergers Syndrome to have made such a comment?

The specialist had an entirely different opinion and confirmed that in my own case, I and the online tests knew more than a number of doctors.

As for benefit, the only benefit was to confirm that I do not have the conditions other doctors had attributed my symptoms to and were pressuring me to take medication for. No other benefits have accrued that I can see.



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25 Jan 2010, 3:41 am

The zombie thread wants to eat your BRAAAAIIINNNNSSSSSSS!! !! !! !! !! !


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