Help, opinions, PLEASE

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Okay, so I am a 20 year old male, living in Australia. Since the age of probably 13 onwards I've had a lot of difficulties with schooling and life in general.

When I turned 16 I changed high schools half way through completion, and this was when I noticed I was not 'normal'. I went to multiple doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists, and was finally diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and also generalised anxiety disorder. However, I think there is something more than just anxiety there.

So I've continued researching, and think that my social anxiety diagnosis in particular overlapped with either Asperger's or Autism, and that is why my doctors never picked up on it. (They just related everything to social anxiety, nothing else).

I dropped out of school, have never worked, I prefer to be alone, have no friends except 1, who I am losing because I want to be alone instead of going out and I don't know why. I haven't been able to stick to university courses either, I just find everything so hard (might be the anxiety). Anyway, after researching, I believe strongly that I am suffering from Autism/Asperger's. I don't know whether to talk to my current psychiatrist and risk being told I am wrong because she just palms it off as anxiety, or go see somebody new.

I don't really know the point of this post to be honest. I just wanted any opinions you guys might have for me. I am guessing you were all diagnosed without yourself personally asking about it? Or did you suspect you had it and then asked about it? Also are you glad you are diagnosed or does it not even matter?

Sorry for the rambling.

if you are thinking about getting diagnosed, you should try to see a specialist -autism is a relatively young diagnosis so you need someone qualified. I don't know how the system works in Australia, but here in Canada there are no services for people over 18 on the spectrum -the younger you get it the better off. In the world of disability it's not what you know, but who.

Be patient, getting a diagnosis can take a long time.

While a lot of us got diagnosed over our heads (when we were little, or without even knowing what autism was before being told we had it) there are some people on the spectrum who don't view autism as something they 'suffer'. Personally autism is a part of me -colouring all my choices and the way I see/interact with the world. If you get diagnosed this may be something you have to come to terms with.

Understand that getting a diagnosis isn't the end -while it was great to finally have answers, I still needed to learn (from the ground up) all kinds of rules and keep practicing and putting myself in social situations even when I didn't really want to. It's hard work -always.

good luck