Dangers of Self-Diagnosis?

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My apologies in advance for the pity party.

So here's the conversation I had with my advisor at Academic Assistance, after I told her I thought I might have Asperger's. She's much more sympathetic than the conversation implies when it's put down on paper--she can't help circumstances any more than I can.

No apology needed, Cal. Doesn't sound like a pity party to me. I really don't see much danger in self-diagnosis. As you said, it's about you wanting to pass your degree with high grades. You know what your problems are insomuch as studying goes, and you want to talk about ways other people have managed to overcome it. I don't see any problems, which is why I'll be living with a carer. There's noone to teach me what I need to know, because it's been the family attitude to just ignore problems and expect everything to work out right. It's like you tell them you're failing, and they tell you to pull your finger out of your ass. It's like that a lot in life. So my advice would be to find someone who can see your problems and solutions to them, and help give you direction. Myself, I'd go to my mother, but things are different for everybody.
At any rate, good luck, Cal.

Mother... ah. Yes, she was the occupational therapist who saw that I would be diagnosed with Asperger's if I stayed in school; so she home-schooled me so I wouldn't be.

No help from that quarter.

I'm pretty much trying to stay away from diagnosing myself, and leaving it up to my doctor to run some more tests. I have too many symptoms. A lot fall under Aspergers, but some fall under other disorders so I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm short on patience, but its a good thing I didn't diagnose myself because something recently came up, and it might have gone ignored if I was relying on my little knowledge of medical care.

Avoiding labels is not the same as ignoring the problem by homeschooling, if that is indeed what happened. A label, however, means that you know better what to look for when searching for help.

A diagnosis is kind of like blinders on a horse. The horse doesn't see what's in its peripheral vision; so its vision becomes narrower. However, it becomes more focused and able to move towards a goal, because it knows where it is going.

A diagnosis--whether made by a doctor or a patient--does help in strategizing about how to overcome difficulties.

There aren't any tried-and-true strategies for a problem named "Callista's Weird Brain". No one's done research on it; no one knows exactly how it works. And no one's going to do research about it in the future, because there's only one person who has that specific problem.

There ARE ways to handle "Asperger's Syndrome" and "Attention Deficit Disorder", though; and people have done research and tried different ways to handle them. No one truly fits into either of those labels--that is, they don't define everything anyone is. But if the definitions of those two "labels" are overlap enough with the definition of the problem named "Callista's Weird Brain", then perhaps their solutions overlap as well.

The danger in attempting to figure myself out is that I can't step outside myself and look at myself objectively. The brain that is doing the diagnosing is the same one that has the problem; and not only am I emotionally involved, I'm so used to my own weirdness that I might miss some things or overemphasize others.

Maybe the problem labeled "Callista's Weird Brain" fits better into the label "Depression" or "After-effects of Childhood Abuse". Maybe it just fits into "Lazy" or "Eccentric" or "Shy" or "Undisciplined". Maybe it fits into all of them. But I can't tell whether that's so; because I can't look at myself from the perspective of someone who not only knows about all sorts of difficulties and disorders rather than just Asperger's, but who also is uninvolved and can see me the way others see me.

The thing is, I'm being forced to either self-diagnose or just tell myself that there's nothing wrong with me and I'm just (lazy/undisciplined/eccentric/shy)--because if I don't do either, I'm stuck in the middle and all I can say is "I don't know." With no way to plan out a path towards improvement--because I don't know what my problem is--I have very little chance of improving at all.

Psychologists look at self diagnosis of anykind like this. If you’re crazy enough to know you’re crazy then you just might be sane.

But if you're sane and you think you're crazy, aren't you crazy?

(Also: This statement is false.)

Having AS is not the same as being crazy.

AS is simply a style of thinking and processing sensory input. The crazy ones are the people who can't deal with the way that people with AS minds function.

The advantage of understanding about AS or any similar behavioural characteristics is largely about gaining an understanding of why certain things happen the way they do. Once you understand you can start to control the situation rather than letting it control you.

Aspies tend to be objective in self diagnosis, so if you're an Aspie and you self diagnose you probably are an Aspie
Nts tend not to be objective in self diagnosis, so if you're an NT and you self diagnose you probably arn't an Aspie.

I think self diagnosis is as bad as professional. They are equally bad.

Edit: I think bad can be replaced by harmful.

I've long wondered if self diagnosis is a dangerous thing to do. I know i show a lot of Aspie traits but i also know that things have got a little easier since i found out about it, i have started to react better to most situations then i normally would but have also learnt to know where my limit is. This has helped, i'm less stressed out and have been sleeping a lot better recently but the idea of actually going and getting myself diagnosed still doesn't appeal. Partly because i'd rather learn to understand my own brain for what it is (whether i have asperger's or not) then to see a therapist who probably won't be able to help me much.

I am also afraid that doing that might cause family problems, i have a very close knit family and although they are very open to me being the way i am, i know that they might worry to death about me if i told them of the likelyhood that i have AS.

I think self diagnosis is not necessarily a bad thing if it helps you to focus on the things that are important to you in your life but i'm still a little reluctant to label the way i am as AS.

Yes--she told me that I don't have Asperger's, I'm just a difficult child who always wanted her own way. Oh, and I have a dramatic personality, and maybe minor brain damage. (I don't know where she got that last one.)