My parents don't believe me. Any advice?

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rebbieh
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14 Aug 2012, 10:25 am

So I'm having some trouble with my parents. They don't really believe there's anything "wrong" with me. I don't know if I've got AS or some sort of anxiety disorder or both. All I know is that I've got good reason to suspect all of it. Anyway, it's like my parents have decided they're not going to believe me no matter what I say. A while ago I told my mum (in writing because I don't like talking about it) about how I remember my childhood and how I felt and about all my issues etc. Her only response was "I don't recognise that. I don't remember you being like that." That's how she responded even though she's said herself that I've always been a person who never talked about things or showed my feelings to the outside world. Why would I lie and fake memories from my childhood? That wouldn't help me. I don't know, it just sort of hurts. Last time I tried to explain the whole situation and what I'm going through I had a major meltdown (hit things, kicked things, threw things, hit myself, cried, paced, hyperventilated, rocked back and forth etc) because I felt like they didn't understand me. I know they love me and they care about me but it's like they've just decided they're not going to believe me on this one.

I feel a bit let down and disappointed. And anxious. What if the people who assess me believe them more than they believe me? Something tells me my parents won't believe me until I have an official diagnosis (whatever the diagnosis might be). And then they wonder why I'm so introverted and why I don't want to talk about things.

Anyone else gone through something similar? What should I do? What did you do? I don't know how to make them realise the seriousness of this situation.



thewhitrbbit
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14 Aug 2012, 10:41 am

It's not easy for a parent to accept that there might be something wrong with a child. It's very, very, very, very, very hard to accept.

Sounds like they are just in denial.



YellowBanana
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14 Aug 2012, 10:46 am

Haven't gone through anything like this because I know my parents would react the same way which is why I haven't told them, and why they weren't involved in my diagnosis.

Fortunately the diagnosing psychiatrist and the autism specialist I saw, while noting that there may be a lack of early developmental history due to lack of parent involvement in the diagnostic process, believed that there was sufficient other evidence to warrant an ASD diagnosis.

I did provide them with my school reports, and also the details of as short conversation I had had with my mother about my early development (though of course they have now way of knowing that what I reported was actually what my mother said ... which it was, but how are they to know?)

I don't believe my parents would understand, even though no-one I have told has been particularly surprised about my diagnosis. The funniest reaction was from someone I've known since I was 3 ... she said "I would never have guessed, but now that I know it all seems so obvious!" Hehe.


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Mishra2012
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14 Aug 2012, 10:48 am

My dad is in denial it is about his ego... My mother has been suspecting something was wrong with me since I was a child and I always did said whatever I could to avoid being diagnosed with anything. The previous poster is correct but I think for most parents in denial it is ego. Many parents have kids to have extenions of themselves... many want to "live through" their child(ren). I think live through is the term lol.


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MissMoneypenny
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14 Aug 2012, 11:42 am

That's why I don't want my parents involved in any way in the diagnostic process. I feel sure they would gloss over any symptoms, despite the fact that THEY were the ones who kept coming up with tons of stories about how I wasn't like my brother and sister etc. and did weird sh*t, particularly at Infant school. At best I think they'd try to blame brain damage due to a severe childhood illness I had, and at worst they'd try to blame it on me for just being an awkward so-and-so.

The last thing they'd countenance is the concept that I could have simply inherited some slightly different neurological wiring.



Vomelche
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14 Aug 2012, 1:28 pm

I think the previous generation was raised by propaganda and discipline, and as such they don`t understand concepts that are foreign to them and are now too old to change their viewpoints. So, I wouldn't expect them to change for you or understand you, but at least they are always there for you.