[Diagnosis] Should i stop the process?

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Hi,

I thought i had features of Autism so i mentioned this a few months ago to my therapist, she said it's a possibility and sent me to their Autism expert. There i was told that they need to perform some interviews and tests. But lately i feel like distancing myself from Asperger's Syndrome. I had some moments i thought i had it but maybe my behavior can also be explained by other issues i have.

I only had about 4 appointments so far and if i push on i could know in a month or something. But i am afraid and confused, i been reanalyzing my life and i just don't think i have any disorder other than depression and anxiety. My specialist seems to believe i should press on while my feeling tells me to back down. I have a history of hypochondriac thoughts but perhaps i just use a lot of caution. I had moments i thought myself to have certain things but it never took so long to snap out of it.

So now this diagnosis thing feels like a over exaggeration. Truth is i have problems but not a whole lot more than other people. And i don't want to be like someone who blames every problem on a disorder. I always been a good and normal kid but bullying brought out depression. It's not like i had autism all my life and it only got bad at age 15 or something. That's not possible. Although my expert thinks it would be good to go on with the test. I really don't want to anymore, they have given me a week to decide. I think i am going to quit. Any ideas?

First off the fundamental component of diagnosis is child hood.

You either stimmed as a child, couldn't make eye contact, and were awkward or you weren't.

It typically lessens with age.

However it's typical atleast in my case to "forget" your childhood, and out grow certain traits such as stimming. This means it's very easy to not see the signs clearly. I was only alerted to the issue this summer at my grandmothers funeral.

It brought back tons of strange memories I had forgotten. Also we had to go through 200-300 pictures of the grand kids. I became very alarmed when no one could find pictures of me smiling(correctly, or atleast at people), throughtout my childhood.

Anyhow don't worry about playing into a disorder. I think in a lot of ways it's the exact opposite. For me it's about taking responsibility for my actions, and elevating my personal expectations, not lowering them.

I no longer compare myself to anyone else. There are things I do poorly that I still must work hard at, I've just gotten better idea of what needs to be done.
. There are things I do well and now realize I need to do even better. As using NT's as my benchmark isn't a good idea.

Me and my father had a 2.5 hour appointment with this specialist and we talked about my childhood. Very few things are different from your typical childhood. That is basically another main reason i want to stop this. I think it's bad to experience bad times and give the blame to some "disorder", i am still myself and i need to learn some things from my mistakes. At the moment i can decide really, do i let this stay part of my thoughts or part of reality? I rather have it tucked away and as soon as if i feel i am actually getting problems from something i can't fight i could consider going back.

Also i don't really "trust" the judgement of some of my help givers. It is perfectly common for someone to be shy and avoid eye contact, it's possible that when you're shy you have gone trough hardship leaving you questioning details/distrusting other people like someone with Asperger's could. I don't claim to know a whole lot about Autism but after some research i have noticed very odd "tell-tale sings" of people with Asperger and i cannot help thinking that my specialist uses some as well.

Things like hand/finger posture, body posture, facial gestures. I feel as if i do have some of the same manners as people on the spectrum but why should behavior like that be exclusive to someone on the spectrum?

I think you should go through with it. If you don't have an ASD, they probably won't diagnose you with it anyway, and if they do you can just choose to ignore the label if you don't feel like it "fits".

2 points:

1) Yes, autism needs to be present in childhood. However, much of the literature says that the symptoms may go unnoticed until puberty.
2) There is no need to halt the diagnostic process. If you have it, you'll get the diagnosis. If you don't have it, then they'll rule out the diagnosis. Not everyone who goes in for testing automatically gets a diagnosis.

With that said, it sounds like your doubts are normal! Why not get evaluated and find out from professionals?

While this is the most common path, its not at all the only one. There is also developmental paths where people seem to get more autistic with age. I've taken one of those.

Puberty is a common age for people to jump in how autistic they seem either way.

My immediate response to your situation is that it's worth going through and continuing because while you probably aren't autistic you want to know if you'd have any other diagnoses (like avoidant personality disorder, or like adhd, or like sensory processing disorder, or such) because that would help shape your treatment plan for your anxiety and depression.

I will tell you what I tell anyone that is considering getting a diagnosis:

If AS does not prevent you from supporting yourself (aka it only affects your social life not your ability to secure a job, shelter and food) then do not.

The diagnosis in such situation closes a lot more doors than it opens. Among those doors:


When applying for jobs the diagnosis alone will get your rejected from employment. Technically its illegal but the reality is the job goes to someone that is more qualified. Socializing skills = qualification.

Want to move to another country in the future? That diagnosis in your file (which must be disclosed as part of your medical history for the residency application) = instant denial.

What about just leaving the dissability field blank (in the UK this is optional for any candidate) and then making the employer aware once you have signed on the dotted line?

I find actually writing out pros and cons lists helpful at times like this. In this case, I might do 2: One: pros of finishing process and cons of finishing process and two, which has 2 parts: pros of finding out AS, cons of finding out AS and pros of finding out NT and cons of finding out NT.

I would do the second (two) lists first, because that would help me understand my motivations and fears, then I would create the first list. Then I would go with whichever argument was strongest.

No question: Go through it and get an answer. If you don't, you will always question it and it will always be in the back of your mind. The reason it takes so many appointments is to weed out anyone who is falsely acting autistic and to get it right. By the time the process is done, you can be pretty much certain that you either have it or you don't.

Really? My wife and I are planning to live one year in the UK at some point in the future, would an AS diagnosis make that impossible?

Interesting idea about the immigration. I can see myself living in a english speaking country and i will probably try it some day. Who's to say what is "affected enough". What about this scenario: Kid doesn't know how to keep conversations going and is quiet, yet at the same time doesn't do a thing about it. I think it's just to easy to say it's ASD. I will go ahead on my gut feeling to stop the process for now.

By the way what's the thing with patient confidentiality? The country i live in they tell me there is NO way that anyone except yourself and the person helping you will know, and that it is even illegal to ask for medical records. I guess where you live it's different. With this reassuring thought that nothing can become public i am still trying to be real and aware, and no i don't want any label of any kind to be put on my head.

If the person was merely a bit shy that I think you're right to stop the process. However, if the preson was shy with problems making eye contact, reading tone of voice and facial expressions, was frequently offending people accidentally, had deeply niche and obsessive interests, stimmed in various ways, felt a lifelong sense of disconnection from people that they could never fully explain, obsessed about details at the expense of being able to plan the bigger picture, had issues with spacial awareness, judging times and distances and fine motor skills and problems sleeping....or the majority of these things, then they might want to get an answer professionally.

Here's an online quiz to assess autism spectrum traits in adults. You will see many posts here with reference to this quiz. You might want to try this before deciding to return for more diagnostic sessions. And, remember, even with a professional there is no test to absolutely identify autism spectrum conditions. It will always be an opinion, and yours is the only one that counts. [url=http://rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php ]Aspie Quiz RDOS[/url]

Unless you can prove you have rather good financial situation and you are not going to become a burden to the social services you may receive residence. However if the two of you make enough just to pay for your home and eat or if you do not have a job offer in the UK waiting for you chances are they will not let you in.

I am not from the UK nor have I tried to relocate to the UK. I did become a US resident and been trying to relocate to New Zealand ...which has a very similar system to the UK for immigration so im guessing it will be the same in this area.



When you apply for residence anywhere they do require medical records to be disclosed. If you dont want to disclose them then they wont process your application. Its illegal for employers and such to ask for your medical records..its none of their bussiness. A gov. that is deciding if they will give you residence on the other hand, does have a right to know if they're taking in a person that might become a drain on their social services.

What is affected enough? It doesn't matter. This is bureaucracy you're traveling through. They don't care. All they see is the label 'autistic' in your file and slam the DENIED stamp on your forehead.