Is self-diagnosis okay/valid/a good thing?

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Not sure I agree with that.

My assessment lasted for 4 months (met up with the psychologist on average about once every two weeks) but I wasn't at all certain before I went through all of that. I was really confused, really uncertain and wanted someone else, someone experienced in working with people with autism, to sort out the mess. Which they did.

That's not really the point.



Russiank12 touches the point I was thinking of. Now in no way do I mean to imply that wrongplanet is similar to Tumblr... it's quite the opposite. /r/tumblrinaction kind of demonstrates how there are people who pretend to have mental illnesses, different genders, and even things as ridiculous as being dragon-kin or angel-kin or dog-kin or whatever... I guess it means children of [kintype] but I honestly don't know. So what I'm saying is that these self diagnosed idiots are painting a very bad image for people who are diagnosed with AS. I would never want to count myself among them AND by no means do I or any other 'suspicious' person know for sure without an actual diagnosis. If I were to go in and get an evaluation and lets say I was diagnosed with AS... I would certainly not get any disability benefits... for that matter I wouldn't tell ANYONE except maybe my mom.

LOL!! !

Care to elaborate?

Obviously a person who has it is likely to care
If they are on the spectrum they would likely be into categorization
Obviously a person who self diagnosed or knows somebody involved would care. That does not mean they are on the spectrum.
Psychologists, Psychiatrists would certainly care because self diagnosis is costing them money. Not likely to be on the spectrum.

Agreed



Proof?.
Do you often see people going around being rude and blaming it on their Autism or faking it to get benefits? I started a thread asking this very questions about a year ago and in 4 or 5 pages of responses there were only a couple people who had encountered one person who did this. I have seen plenty of posts here from the self diagnosed and it usually came about because they were researching autism because their kid had it, or somebody sent them an article and the traits explained to them why there life was a mess.

There are a lot of people in the world so I am sure there are a few people who do these things. When they do it they are going to find out like Seinfeld apparently did that Aspergers/Autusm isn't so trendy, it is quite the opposite. They are going to be stigmatized by family, by friends, by psychologists, and at times on WP. If they are faking it to receive services if they are going to be disappointed. If they are an adult they will find there is not much if any services. If they are young they will get 40 hours a week of behavioural modification designed to make act nuerotypical.

I will agree that there is a perception that this is a widespread phenomenon and I guess that is all that matters. The damage is being done. This perception is one reason Aspegers is no longer an official diagnosis. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/aspergers-alive/201305/is-asperger-s-overdiagnosed-because-parents-want-free-stuff This perception is the reason autistic people who instead of dealing with it, self advocating and spreading awareness are doubting their own autism. If this perception is true then it is something we just have to deal with. But without even basic antidotal evidence to support these claims, I have to conclude that all this pain and suffering is a result of an urban legend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend Maddening.

quote = ASPartOfMe

Proof?.
Do you often see people going around being rude and blaming it on their Autism or faking it to get benefits? I started a thread asking this very questions about a year ago and in 4 or 5 pages of responses there were only a couple people who had encountered one person who did this. I have seen plenty of posts here from the self diagnosed and it usually came about because they were researching autism because their kid had it, or somebody sent them an article and the traits explained to them why there life was a mess.

There are a lot of people in the world so I am sure there are a few people who do these things. When they do it they are going to find out like Seinfeld apparently did that Aspergers/Autusm isn't so trendy, it is quite the opposite. They are going to be stigmatized by family, by friends, by psychologists, and at times on WP. If they are faking it to receive services if they are going to be disappointed. If they are an adult they will find there is not much if any services. If they are young they will get 40 hours a week of behavioural modification designed to make act nuerotypical.


I will agree that there is a perception that this is a widespread phenomenon and I guess that is all that matters. The damage is being done. This perception is one reason Aspegers is no longer an official diagnosis. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/aspergers-alive/201305/is-asperger-s-overdiagnosed-because-parents-want-free-stuff This perception is the reason autistic people who instead of dealing with it, self advocating and spreading awareness are doubting their own autism. If this perception is true then it is something we just have to deal with. But without even basic antidotal evidence to support these claims, I have to conclude that all this pain and suffering is a result of an urban legend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend Maddening.[/quote]

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That is an excellent article from Psychology Today -BTW:

Is Asperger’s Overdiagnosed Because Parents Want Free Stuff?

And this is the way to get it? That's what some DSM-5 professionals claim.

Published on May 25, 2013 by Lucy Berrington in Asperger's Alive

And some still don't get them

Let's bear in mind, too, that plenty of students who are floundering in those ways still don’t get appropriate services, because those options aren’t presented and the parents don’t have the knowledge or resources to fight for them. Those students are more likely to drop out than move into appropriate special ed. If they’re lucky, they’ll be homeschooled (what does this save the taxpayer? Let’s factor that in).

The Asperger diagnosis is just the beginning
When the Asperger or autism diagnosis does help determine need and appropriate services, it’s only the beginning of an arduous, time-consuming process that continues through grade school and beyond. The growth of special education doesn’t reflect fake learning needs any more than food stamps reflect fake hunger. Instead, the growth of special ed reflects our increasing ability to understand and address the struggles of students who learn atypically.


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/aspergers-alive/201305/is-asperger-s-overdiagnosed-because-parents-want-free-stuff

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I have to agree with you - I have never, ever come across a single person who claimed Asperger's as an excuse for being rude. I certainly have never seen anyone make a serious claim of having Asperger's or an Autism Spectrum Disorder to be trendy and cool. If anyone thinks it is trendy and cool - they will learn very quickly that here are a lot more negative stereotypes and lot more people who believe negative stereotypes about people on the Autism Spectrum than there are positive stereotypes and people who believe them.

Having said all this - I do believe that if a person has access to a proper psychiatrist or psychologist who is knowledgeable about Autism and if they have the means for a proper assessment I do think that is preferable in most cases. Just listening to the input and advice from my fortunately knowledgeable psychiatrist - that alone has been a big help for me.

Obviously I have no way of really knowing who or who is not on the spectrum here and I don't really care. I'm here to discus the spectrum with whom ever is interested. I'm not against these discussions either. Everyone has been pretty civil about them for the most part.

The laughable part is how typical this argument is of people on the spectrum. Who fits in what category and why. This is my irrefutable logic and all others are invalid. This is the line and anything on one side is this and anything on the other is that. The fact that these exact same type of posts have been all over WP for years now should make people think.

There are some extremely smart people that post here and all have made good points for one side or the other, it just never seems to lead to anything. It's not going to stop anyone from self diagnosing.

We're all on a journey to try and understand ourselves and our place in the world. Some have (professional) help and other have/want to do it themselves. Any of these people could find that they are on the wrong path but maybe that is the road they have to take to find the right one.

Oh, good. Because we needed another thread to bash, minimalize, and invalidate people.

Help!

I could vote yes, but that would be a contradiction.

I could say psychology is a definate, but we all know that is not true.

It is important to know yourself.

Obviously I have no way of really knowing who or who is not on the spectrum here and I don't really care. I'm here to discus the spectrum with whom ever is interested. I'm not against these discussions either. Everyone has been pretty civil about them for the most part.

The laughable part is how typical this argument is of people on the spectrum. Who fits in what category and why. This is my irrefutable logic and all others are invalid. This is the line and anything on one side is this and anything on the other is that. The fact that these exact same type of posts have been all over WP for years now should make people think.

There are some extremely smart people that post here and all have made good points for one side or the other, it just never seems to lead to anything. It's not going to stop anyone from self diagnosing.

We're all on a journey to try and understand ourselves and our place in the world. Some have (professional) help and other have/want to do it themselves. Any of these people could find that they are on the wrong path but maybe that is the road they have to take to find the right one.[/quote]

Recently I saw the film "The Lunch Box" - a subtle study of many things - isolation, ageing, the need for social connection at all stages of life, the breaking down of barriers between isolated people, the discovery of love when all hope of it has died. The theme of the movie is articulated several times: "sometimes you have to get on the wrong train to end up at the right place". How true that is, as the film depicts.

I really like self-recognised better than self-diagnosed.

I am not okay with the phrase self-diagnosed. It bothers me a lot. I am okay with people searching out disorders themselves, and eventually saying "yes, I really do think this fits me" after a lot of research. I'm okay with people going through and searching parts of themselves and traits of themselves and groups of traits of themselves and comparing them to external descriptions. Recognized says that better.

It basically says "I recognize this in myself and myself in this". Rather than saying "I diagnose myself with this" which is something you cannot do even as a medical professional.

The thing is that the definition of diagnose is to recognize a condition. The definition doesn't require that the person doing a diagnosis be an accredited medical professional. So your preference is really just a personal preference not based on anything.

If the term "self-diagnosed" bothers you, I doubt you're going to be able to convince the rest of the entire world to change the definition of diagnosis.

If it's a medical diagnosis, it usually does require that, unless it's for something extremely common and transient (like colds, headaches, etc.)

I wouldn't say autism falls under the category of extremely common and transient and something that you can buy OTC meds for.

Hm, you are right!


Seems all very simple to me. I (and many others) have been using these definitions without even knowing it; at least in my case. Thanks, Alex.

Last edited by AspieUtah on 02 Dec 2014, 6:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Except that we're talking in a field where "diagnosis" is short for "medical diagnosis", and the word is understood to be short for it even when its not. Medical diagnosis is from a health care professional and not from yourself or any lay-person. This is not because lay-people cannot understand yourself, and in every one of my major medical diagnoses I've known what it was going to be before I went there, and asking me was a major part of the diagnostic process.

It's a question of how people understand language. You can't just take the dictionary definition of "diagnosis" of other fields and apply it to a medical field. It's not what it means here and whenever you use the word diagnosis around medical stuff, it will imply that to people. Whether or not you want autism to be medical and to be societal, it is currently in that class of stuff.

It's also a question of how people react to language - you see people in here arguing more because of it being called self-diagnosis. The words cause more argument, because we do understand diagnosis in this field to mean something, and so even if we want it to mean two things, that's difficult within one field.

Do I expect it to change? No, it's what people already know and are used to.

Do I want it to change? Yes. I think that another phrase could be more accurate, cause less conflict, and make people more comfortable with people identifying as autistic when they don't have professional diagnoses.

Will I use a different set of language when I'm referring to things for people close to me? Absolutely. I'd not thought of those words and I think they actually work a lot better than any of the forced phrases I'd been attempting to come up with in my time before my official diagnosis.