Every been denied a diagnosis?

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Have you ever seen an evaluator and been told you don't have it?

That's what just happened today. I went to a psych evaluation a few weeks ago, and today they called and said I'm not getting a diagnosis, because I don't show any symptoms. I'm frustrated, because the interview didn't ask much of anything about things on the spectrum. I'm kinda trying not to cry right now, because I don't see how I can share all these traits and not have it. What should I do?

Most adults with Aspergers have learned not to show symptoms by the time they are in their teen years to avoid being bullied a good doctor would know this.

Last edited by Todesking on 10 Nov 2010, 8:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have seen lot of aspies at my autism groups and I sure don't see much symptoms in them and I sure don't see it in all of them. Gosh, I wonder how they got diagnosed?

I would go get a second opinion. Some doctors are quacks.

this is my worst fear at the moment. as everyone who knows me can see it, but no dr. has been able to see anything "wrong" with me.

Yes, I've been told by a neuropsychologist, a neurologist and a psychologist that I didn't have it.
The thing is that they are not ASD specialists, and I suspect that I'd pretty much have to be acting like RainMan for them to think I had it.


Last month, I went to the Maudsley Hospital, which has a specialist ASD unit, and they pretty much "passed" me on the spot as having it (ok, not on the spot, but after several hours of testing, but you get the gist).
My advice, if you want a diagnosis, is to find a unit that specialises in ASD.
Good luck!

Yeah, that's part of why I'm a little ticked off. The person who referred me said she was "good" and she dealt with things like this all the time. I feel I was mislead.

I would suggest seeing an autism specialist. I was denied an Asperger's diagnosis from a Clinical Psychologist, because I'm female. Basically, only people who specialized can diagnose a ASD.

I don't know why that person misled you. Maybe they were mistaken in their belief, maybe they were on commission, or some other reason we don't know.

But at least now you are armed with the knowledge of how to go about getting what you want.

They don't want to give my daughter a diagnosis for fear of labeling her, also insurance covers other wordings like PDD better for some things. Sometimes it seems like, unless you can produce some talent with numbers, our symptoms are explained away as something everyone has from time to time.

Agreed!

Oh I know. They go, "Eh... don't worry bout it. We all get it sometimes..."

For health problems, I've had to deal with a lot of doctors over the last 20 years, and I've always found it hard to get good information about them. My experience is that is that people tell you who has been good for them, without thinking about how your situation may be different. There's this common idea that if a doctor is good at one thing, s/he must be good at everything. I.e. good with ASC kids doesn't necessarily meant good with ASC adults.

I've had to argue with a cardiologist before (and it turned out I was right; and it was important) -- so try not to be too intimated by them. Your life can be damaged for decades because of their mistakes, whereas their lives will not. No one will ever be as concerned about your life as you. So, keep trying to make your case, to people who know what they're doing (as best as can be determined, anyway).

Yeah, my last therapist who wasn't a specialist said I "clearly have ASD traits" but denied the diagnosis because I was married.

She also insinuated some things about me in her report that were derogatory and made me question her professionalism. Honestly I think she got off on denying me.

I still feel the need to see a specialist, I just don't have the money to spend on it ATM. One day I will.

I know how you feel. It really sucks. Hang in there.

That's kinda how mine was with me. I started getting impatient because I didn't see how all these evaluation questions were relevant to a DX on the spectrum. She picked up on the irritation and asks, "Do you want to be here?" Of course I did. She also asked me things that touched on sore points, and I ranted about it. She diagnosed me all right- with a mood disorder and personality disorder. What a b*tch. It's an outrage our tax dollars pay for such useless, incompetent service.

That's been my experience with psychiatrists in general- a lot are just pissed off jerks.

Yes, but there's always the possibility that they are right and you don't have an ASD. You may be the expert on yourself, but you can't see yourself from the outside and you haven't had years of training in psychology (unless, of course, you have). I wouldn't completely reject the idea that you're not autistic. It's quite possible; there are other things that mimic autism, as well as a large group of people who are not impaired and thus shouldn't be diagnosed, but who share a lot of traits with actual autistic disorder. The doctor's reasoning seems particularly relevant here; if he didn't diagnose autism because you're female or because you're married or for some other irrelevant or mostly irrelevant reason, then it's safe to say that this doctor wasn't qualified to either diagnose you or rule out a diagnosis. But it is quite possible for someone to think they have autism and not have autism, but some related condition like social anxiety disorder, ADHD, schizoid personality, learning disabilities, speech/language disorders, or subclinical autistic traits.

I'm writing that down. That might be the case here- I have traits, but most are really not that strong. In other news, you mentioned schizoid personality disorder, and while that might sound serious, I also think I might have that. My friend is a brilliant, funny schizotypal -or so he says- and when I described some of myself, he looked up schizoid personality disorder on his laptop, turned the screen to me, and said, "read this." I have some of that too. I think a lot of this overlaps.

Still, she (the doctor) seemed stupid. I mean, she gave me a print out of criteria list for aspergers and wants me to mark the ones that describe me, and bring back the list on another day. She didn't even wait to see how that turned out. Geez...