Im not sure who is qualified to diagnose Asperger's

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I have the list of 'therapists' from my insurance website that include Asperger's treatment. I see MD, LPC, LP, LCSW, DO, I think thats it. Can any of these formally diagnose Aspergers?

When I asked my current psychiatrist about investingating the possibility that I have Aspergers he said he believes psychotherapy would be right for me. He doesnt know me, he is the third psychiatrist Ive been transferred to due to promotions, hospital affiliation changes, etc since I was first diagnosed with ADHD. All he has done is write my scripts. The psychotherapy sessions are silly. Im too frank to have these hidden motivations he keeps looking for. And from some of his questions I dont think he really knows what it is and doubt that this process a part of diagnosis. He doesnt ask about my behavior or perception, he asks how I feel and what I have been dreaming about! So, Im looking for someone who knows a little about it.

I hope you have better luck than I have! For some reason, doctors get really offended if you say you have a certain condition. I've been through testing, but because I make good eye contact, have been married for the past 4+ years, had one job for 6 years, I was told I can't have AS. She says it was inconclusive. I've done enough research along with years of personal experiences to understand what makes me tick. Prior to the testing, I was told by psychologists & a psychiatrist (without testing) that I was bi-polar. The shrink was ready to prescribe meds without any kind of testing first. Oddly enough, the tests I took earlier this year confirmed something I already knew....I am not BP. Anyone can get a degree in psychology but not really know the different "disorders,." or know them well. Some will only know certain markers & if you don't seem to have those particular markers, they'll tell you you have something else. Proceed with caution, & stick to your instincts.

Best of luck!

Tomboy

I'm in USA an I have United Healthcare. All "specialists" listed on my insurance website are therapists. I've seen a couple of psychiatrists and both had different theories: PTSD, Bipolar, GAD, OCD, OPD ... I called several others and all said they only do therapy for people with AS but the patients need to be diagnosed elsewhere. But I can't find this "elsewhere" and I'm in NY where there is a psychiatrists office on every corner. I must have called over 30 people so far. Then I started seeing a Masters Level Clinician, a psychologist, for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and right away he said I probably have AS and he told me I should seek "an autism center" that has psychologists, preferably PhDs, and neurologists who specialize in Autism. So I did find one, they do psychological and neurological testing in diagnosing but it's a bit expensive, $1,800 in my case (4 sessions) they're out of network and insurance will cover maybe half of it. But I want to do this because I'm sick and tired of psychiatrists. My life has always been difficult (I'm 44) but the last 10 years was progressively worse to the point I can't take it any more and nothing the psychiatrists tried brought me any relief so far. After 5+ years and over 10 medications I'm literally ready to end my life if I don't find answers to the question: "WTF is wrong with me?!". I feel like guinea pig trying all the meds, suffering through side effects while my work and personal life deteriorates: I started feeling worse once I took on a more demanding job in my middle 30s and as the job gets more complex I feel worse and worse and it does look like AS.

And yeah, the psychiatrist I'm seeing currently disagrees and gets visibly upset when I insists on AS. His current theory is childhood related PTSD that causes anxiety in adults. I happen to work for a biomedical research facility and there is actually one scientist who does research on this very subject. So I talked to him and he said it's a very recent and controversial theory, nothing has been proven so far and he says that my psychiatrists is wrong to jump into such conclusion. So I told my psychiatrists about that and I wrote him a long letter describing all my issues in detail and comparing them to AS symptoms and he was finally, like "Hmmm.... OK, let's see then what the autism center finds out".

I'm lucky, my bosses are very understanding and I'm given a lot of slack even without AS diagnosis (coming late, working less than others) but that won't last forever. In any other place I would have been fired years ago. So I need the answers. I have a decent disability plan that I will take advantage of if I'm diagnosed with AS so I can have some time to put my life in order.