Completely Misunderstood at my Initial Evaluation

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(this is my first post btw)

I've recently become friends because we both instantly connected due to many factors but the main one being that we both sustpected that we have aspergers/autism. So we eventually got appointments at a University Psychiatric clinic.He had the first appointment on july 1st and I had the 2nd one a week later on the july 8th.

I went with him last week to be moral support and by doing this I observed the structure of his visit; it was two sessions ... 1:30 with a social worker where he was asked standard questions that they ask everyone on their first visit ... then he he met with a psychiatrist and had an open-ended conversation ... in that conversation he asked the Dr. if he had aspergers/autism and the doctor said yes ...

So my appointment/evaluation was yesterday ... i'm not seen by a social worker; instead i get a new intern doctor on her first day being her first patient ... the psychiatrist that my friend saw last week sat in and observed for about 45-1hr
when i was asked questions, i would go into detail giving backstory explaining myself


i made it clear in the beginning that i was there because i thought i had autism; i made it clear that at least i thought i did that my overall life was going well but financial burdens really put a hinderance on me ... and my social retardedness hurts me in the aspect/context of being an artist/musician

later through the questionnaire ... survey whatever the intern/new doctor mentioned time .. that it was running short ... when the questions were over i felt like i wasn't finished ... i was expecting to see a psychiatrist where i could talk open ended ... about aspergers ... and nope, i was done ... i was so flustered i wanted to cry ... so i went back to ask if i could ask her a question "do you think it's possible that i might have aspergers?" ... i left a message she called me about 2/3 hours later and i asked her and she wouldn't not say yes to my question, instead she mentioned 'other symptoms' ... my disruptive sleep patterns, mood swings, and anxiety ... this floored me ... when i was asked about my sleeping habits i explained that i didn't have a typical sleep pattern ... i sleep when i'm tired and it takes me longer to get tired than it does most people, so i can stay up for 2 days ... i made it clear that it wasn't a problem and explained i used to get anxiety about it because it wasn't normal but i had come to accept it quite a few years ago and ever since then i function fine ...


i never once told her i had mood swings ... so i don't know where the hell she got that

and i never once told her i had anxiety ... the only thing i can think of that she maybe came to this conclusion is that i told her that i'm socially akward ... she also mentioned depression because i don't leave the house that much ... ugh, it was so frustrating because i the reason why i don't get out much is because of money, it costs money to go out and be social ... so yeah, i feel like once again in my life ... i'm COMPLETELY misunderstood/misinterpreted ...

I have taken the numerous test and I score very high. In fact, my friend thinks that my symptoms are way more pronounced than his.

I'm really really dissapointed with how my initial evaluation went; when i asked the doctor on the phone a few hours after my visit if she thought it was a possibility she said that it's not something that can be determined after one visit ... and instead she mentions other symptoms that i have according to her ... but i don't have them,forgive me, i was really looking for help and it's like ... 'once again, people don't listen to me and what they do hear they completely misinterpret or take out of context.'

I'm sorry that you didn't feel heard. I can't advise you as to wheat her or not you may be on the spectrum. However it is my understanding that your experience is not uncommon for first assessments. Universities in particular are often focused on what you need to get through school and so can focus more on individual symptoms and co- morbids than on what is the underlying issue. My university assessment indicated that I had a learning disability, sleep issues, some depression/anxiety symptoms that didn't amount to clinical depression and sensory issues but the psychologists who worked with me were reluctant to diagnose the sensory issues and none of them were experienced wit ASDs. (and I saw a few different people over the course of a number of days, it hardly seems adequate to only have spoken to one person for a short period of time, particularly if your friend'd experience was different). The next psychologist I saw was experienced with adults who had moderate to severe classic autism and little experience with women and after a brief interview and no assessment of any kind she said that I couldn't possibly be on the spectrum because people with AS can't have jobs, finish school or maintain friendships. She compleatly misinterpreted my mom's explaination of my childhood symptoms (I was not compleatly adverse to interaction, but I didn't seek it out. We sought a second opinion with someone more experienced with "high functioning" women and the preliminary results confirm that I am on the spectrum. Based on the comments of others I've met this is not an unusual experience. In short if you feel you weren't listened to, and you have the means to continue looking into a diagnosis, don't get too discouraged.

Sounds a bit like my assessment. But they only let me talk for 10 minutes and I didn't have 2 people see me, just one guy who told me to shut up and that ADHD was much more interesting. You can ask for a second opinion.

Just wondering, was this the opinion of the inexperienced intern who has no experience whatsoever, or the psychiatrist who sat in on the interview? If it was the intern, then I'd be asking for the psychiatrists opinion not hers!

_________________
Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house

I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.

I just got a call from the doctor I saw on Monday. She seemed more open to the possibility that I'm on the spectrum. I don't think she's an intern, I think she's just a new doctor there ...

She recommended that I look into Temple Grandin; I quickly responded that I knew of her and that I had watched her TED talk.

She also recommended that I write things down, that that might help when I see her again next week.

I guess I'm just defensive ... I've had bad experiences with doctors in the past.

Here's my AQ test results: 45

RAADS-R: 197

Friendship quotient: 39

I wonder if I should print these out when I go next week?

oh, i should add that i had temper tantrums, and during them i would hit my head with hands in a fist position ... I'm sure there are other things i'll remember but much of my childhood was sad so I have a tendency to forget the sad things.

Maeghan – I just posted this same thing in another thread. A while back, I wrote the following:

I had a similar experience recently. The psychiatrist kept talking about anxiety, OCD, depression etc and seemed to be trying to "help" me with those problems rather than diagnosing me. So right from the beginning the psychiatrist had a wrong purpose though I clearly mentioned at the beginning of the session my purpose of my visit.

I think unless you go and see a psychiatrist/psychologist who specifically specializes in diagnosis of AS/autism and has plenty of experience in doing that, it's likely that the psychiatrist/psychologist will try to see your problem in terms of depression/anxiety/OCD or any other mental/psychological issues. As many psycological/psychiatric diagnoses can be very subjective, depending on who does the evaluation, the outcome can be very different, or even wrong if it's done by an inexperienced "professional".

I'm in a very similar situation at the moment. I'm wondering what I should try next.