Social Anxiety or Asperger's?

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So I was so convinced that I have Asperger's (or something on the spectrum) but at my 2nd visit with a Psychologist, he told me that I very likely don't have it, and so much of my issues are from social anxiety. I agree that I have a lot of social anxiety, but I'm not sure if it is just anxiety or if I have ASD as well. I could have had bad experiences socially, retreated, and never learned the social skills that I need? Or, I could be on the spectrum, had bad experiences socially due to naturally bad social skills and uncertainty, and grown anxiety from that? I do know that I've adapted myself a lot to fit in socially (and still can't), so I don't know if I've just adapted myself well enough to not be obviously ASD, or if I'm just finally getting around to developing social skills. I do know that I've never identified with people more than I have when reading aspie blogs. Should I talk to my parents and see what I was like as a kid?? Did you guys have a lot of social anxiety?

I had social anxiety. But my problems were there before and are after.

There's more to AS than just social stuff. Maybe you should check out the diagnostic criteria yourself and see what applies and what doesn't.

When I first went to a psychologist at my university's student counseling clinic to talk about social skills problems, the psychologist right away said it's social anxiety and started doing the standard therapy for that. Now, I certainly have social anxiety, but I didn't feel like the therapy was getting to the root of the problem, and I had a difficult time trying to communicate that and ended up discontinuing the therapy. Fast forward two years and I was still frustrated with my social difficulties, and I remembered a conversation I had a long time ago with my Mom about Aspergers (but we never looked into it). I looked up information about it online, and felt like the description fitted very well. I e-mailed the psychologist I had seen before, and instead of asking her if she thought I had it, I asked her for a referral for someone who could diagnose aspergers in young adults. She gave me the name of a neuropsychiatrist, I went, I was diagnosed with Aspergers, and started getting the help that I needed.

The point of my story: psychologists are not the best people to diagnose Aspergers. You should ask your psychologist for a referral to an appropriate neuropsychiatrist. If he won't give you one, start looking around online for neuropsychiatrist near where you live, preferrably one that has experience working with adults with Aspergers.

I am just a grumpy old man, but these psychologists... these men and women in the "helping" profession, are just giving their opinion. It's like an art critic discussing a painting, and telling you whether or not it is abstract expressionist work, or more influenced by surrealism. I am sure you could find someone who says you are an Aspie, and another might tell you both.

The big problem, as I see it, is that drugs are often prescribed, and you have to keep coming back...forever.

Hmm. Would social anxiety explain
1. Saying the wrong thing in conversations?
2. Intense fascination on a narrow subject?
3. Tics and stims?
4. Hyper/hyposensitivity to light, sound and/or textures?
5. Odd speech or patterns of behavior?
6. Lack of eye contact?
7. Taking apart a toy car to see what makes it run as opposed to simply playing with it like everyone else?

LOL. I took apart the inner door of the family microbus when I was a kid. I also tore into my fathers' model trains to see about the enigines inside. Also, a few insects ( but the cruelty of this finally got to me, do not worry I did not take up killing small animals!)
Sounds like an ASD to me, but a psychologist could do nothing for this. They cannot even rx medications for you ( that requires a MD degree in the USA).

Sincerely,
Matthew