Is it impossible to be misdiagnosed with autism?

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DevilKisses
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13 Aug 2015, 9:47 pm

I don't think it is, but a lot of people act like it is.


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13 Aug 2015, 9:52 pm

Autism can be misdiagnosed just as easily as any other condition--maybe even more than some because of it's a spectrum.


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13 Aug 2015, 11:19 pm

Possible? Definitely. But I don't think it's nearly as common as people tend to act like or think it is. There were similar attitudes towards ADHD during the 90's when diagnosis rates were increasing quickly.

People assume the world is full of people like them, and when they're confronted with the possibility that it isn't, they find it easier to think of ways to dismiss that possibility than to adopt a newer, more complex worldview.

There are definitely people who get misdiagnosed. But I think there are a lot more people with legitimate diagnoses being treated like fakes than there are people with misdiagnoses being treated as legitimate. That's just my intuition though.



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13 Aug 2015, 11:33 pm

Any condition can be misdiagnosed. Just because a person is misdiagnosed doesn't mean they don't have any problems.


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ToughDiamond
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14 Aug 2015, 12:01 am

I wouldn't think it was impossible. Diagnosticians are definitely fallible, and a large part of the DX is subjective and self-assessed, so there's scope for errors. I'd expect more false negatives than false positives though, because in some countries the DX is useful for getting benefits, and it doesn't necessarily lead to psych meds as readily as most other "head problems." Unless diagnosticians are uncorruptable of course.



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14 Aug 2015, 12:56 am

I think it is far less likely to be misdiagnosed than ADHD but still possible.


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14 Aug 2015, 7:03 am

Yes like any disability misdiagnosis is possible, and so is being in denial.

I think Aspergers is often under diagnosed in women especially.
Growing up I was diagnosed as unidentifiable learning disability.



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14 Aug 2015, 7:42 am

It can be misdiagnosed. Autism can be confused for ADHD, social communication disorder, sensory processing disorder, social anxiety and even schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

It's not impossible to be misdiagnosed, if it was then why to people have to have an assessment after their diagnosis to make sure there was no misdiagnosis.


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14 Aug 2015, 8:35 am

I think it's more common to be misdiagnosed with something else while you actually have autism.

But nothing is absolute. Misdiagnosis can very easily happen.

There was the perception, about 5 or so years ago, that Asperger's Syndrome was being overly diagnosed. This was, supposed addressed within DSM V's take on the autistic spectrum.



Rudin
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14 Aug 2015, 8:39 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
I think it's more common to be misdiagnosed with something else while you actually have autism.

But nothing is absolute. Misdiagnosis can very easily happen.

There was the perception, about 5 or so years ago, that Asperger's Syndrome was being overly diagnosed. This was, supposed addressed within DSM V's take on the autistic spectrum.


Yes I heard Asperger's was being over-diagnosed a while ago. They would just diagnose them regardless of their past, if someone lived in their parent's basement playing WoW and didn't leave the house for days then they would say it was Asperger's regardless of their past. They misdiagnosed ASD as plain social awkwardness.


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kraftiekortie
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14 Aug 2015, 8:42 am

Yep....that's the crux of it, really--as far as over-diagnosis of Asperger's was concerned back then.



naturalplastic
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14 Aug 2015, 10:20 am

Why don't you just go get a second opinion on yourself already?

You're whole posting history on WP revolves around this diagnosis that you got that - maybe was forced through by your mom, or not- to get you benefits (that's my understanding and recollection of the story you told) back when you were a little kid- that might have been right, or might not have been.

Rightly, or wrongly, you've always been in denial of your diagnosis. Either drop the other shoe and get tested again, or just drop it! I know the real test with by a professional costs money, but if you need the peace of mind of knowing for sure then it might be worth it.



League_Girl
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14 Aug 2015, 10:41 am

Rudin wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
I think it's more common to be misdiagnosed with something else while you actually have autism.

But nothing is absolute. Misdiagnosis can very easily happen.

There was the perception, about 5 or so years ago, that Asperger's Syndrome was being overly diagnosed. This was, supposed addressed within DSM V's take on the autistic spectrum.


Yes I heard Asperger's was being over-diagnosed a while ago. They would just diagnose them regardless of their past, if someone lived in their parent's basement playing WoW and didn't leave the house for days then they would say it was Asperger's regardless of their past. They misdiagnosed ASD as plain social awkwardness.


It looks to me it was diagnosed by people who knew nothing about it.


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