Inquiring About A Diagnosis

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If I wanted to inquire about Asperger's being a possibility how would I go about either getting a diagnosis or ruling it out? I am presently diagnosed with severe Social Anxiety but am not sure if my social problems run a bit deeper than that. My symptoms could be the result of multiple disorders (such as OCD, ie my need for sameness and routines and being obsessed with my interests and/or social anxiety in regards to the social difficulties and so on) or it could be they are all part of one issue...ie Asperger's.

I have read some posts about getting a diagnosis, however, the process seems to require a history of your childhood from your relatives. I have no relatives left that I am in contact with or can contact as they are either deceased or estranged (too many family feuds in my family, I couldn't keep up with them!). Basically I only have my childhood memories or things that I have been told by relatives in the past to go on. Would I be able to ask about either getting a diagnosis or ruling it out without relatives to give them a detailed history of my childhood?

You can't develop it, so it's usually pretty obvious.

I had an IQ test and some surveys (which were dull) and they said they didn't need any further testing,

I went in complaining about my previous diagnosis from my family doctor of depressive anxiety ... and was inquiring about PDD and Bi-polar and I was diagnosed Aspergers with Bi-polar tendencies.

You would need to see a psychiatrist and a psychometrist or to rule it out you would need to be neurotypical?

There's a few NT , AS surveys online as well.

It's is hard to tell what developed when as I was always socially awkward as a child so always remember having difficulties but whether that was due to social anxiety I don't know. I do know that my problems were made worse by bullying due to my not fitting in socially. I was an odd child and am an odd adult lol. Unfortunately I can't remember a massive amount about my childhood as it was so long ago. But my social problems, whatever is causing them, have been life long.

I also had other oddities as a child but just put them down to the usual childhood quirks...

I have never had an official IQ test but I was always an A average at University and excelled academically but because my social problems are so bad I am presently unable to use my skills or work. Which is frustrating lol. I am on disability at the moment because I am unable to cope with the social aspects of working. Back when I did work I was unable to hold a job because of my inability to mix with the other employees etc. I was capable of doing the job though if I worked alone.

I want to make sure I have the right diagnosis as so far using cognitive therapy on myself to help with the social anxiety is not working. It does not really help with my deeper social issues. My need for routines and sameness to the point of having a meltdown if they are disturbed makes it impossible to hold on to relationships. I have difficulty making friends and holding friendships because of my oddities. I always get socialising wrong even though I try very hard at it and I'm so bad at reading what someone is saying if they don't verbally say it that I spend half my life feeling confused by people lol.

Add to that I also have a highly introverted nature in that I can't tolerate long periods of socialising without becoming exhausted (even if not socially anxious around someone) and that I can't enjoy certain activities because I cant tolerate crowds or crowded places (far too much noise and stuff going on) and I seem to be getting no where in regards to improving my social problems myself or via a therapist when I have one.

CBT techniques help a bit but don't really cure the problem. Neither does medication.

It's frustrating.

You could approach your community mental health team if you have used them in the past around your social anxiety issues and see if rather then do a whole diagnostic processes that takes a considerable amount of time and effort, let alone access to parents like you've identified. What they can do instead is use a "screening" tool that can be carried out by a clinical psychologist. It would give you an indication of whether you are someone on the autistic spectrum or not.

Although it wouldn't stand as an "official diagnosis" it would give you what is referred to as an "informal" diagnosis. And that carries with it some status, particularly if it came from your mental health services.

You fit the profile of a marginilised population on the spectrum and you do have a common secondary diagnosis as a consequence of undiagnosed aspergers.

Sadly your probably the most under represented, unrecognised and therefore grossly under-diagnosed population on the autistic spectrum

BUT. The powers that be are beginning to wake up to the possibility of a "hidden" population, especially mental health services.

Hope that helps. Good luck let us know how it goes

I was able to get a DX without any childhood records. But I did a lot of research before hand and had very specific examples that correlated to autism from my earliest memories to the present. I also was able to present reasons why other diagnoses did not fit. But this also came from many years of being misdiagnosed. I KNEW the other diagnoses didn't fit. I just never put the pieces together. Once I did, I was able to build a pretty convincing case.

I went to a shrink for grief therapy and acted autistic.

There's no standard protocol for assessments, so the requirements depend on whatever a particular professional wants.

It's probably a good idea to "know your stuff" when you go in, as there are a lot of "dumb professional" stories here. Also, remember that people diagnosed young may lack some perspective on things.