Had my first appointment today

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I had my first appointment today with the clinician nurse, she was really nice and understanding, what came out of it today was that I had low mood and social anxiety, she's also going to refer me to the Autism Service for Adults as she said to me that she could see that I had traits of Aspergers, so two weeks from now, I'll be doing CBT for six weeks which will focus on Social Anxiety and Mood Management, although my mum doesn't believe that I could have Aspergers as I have been through that before, although the doctor was young and told my mum and grandmother that I would be autistic and would never be able to walk or talk, that didn't happen, but I said to my mum that a lot of adults with Aspergers go undiagnosed, but she doesn't believe that I could have it.

The Autism Service where I live is opening soon for adults who may have Autism/Aspergers/HFA and PDD-NOS, there is an Autism service for children and adolescents which is provided by CAMHS, but the Adults service was only recently established, I'm shocked at this revelation.

Congrats on the referral Keep us posted about how things go, there and in therapy! I'm finding CBT to be quite helpful for my anxiety and obsessive tendencies.

Good luck to you JonathanCampbell99

I hope you'll come back and let us know how the next steps go. It sounds as if getting
to start on the CBT for anxiety and mood before the next steps to Dx (if you pursue them)
might be really useful.

Please post back about what the CBT is like and if it helps. I have only just been Dx-ed last week and
am deciding between some minimal follow-ups and what else I might ask for.

I think your mum doesn't want to accept your diagnosis,rather than not believing you. It can be hard for parents to adjust to the fact that we are not perfect, as most parents tend to see only the positive side of us.

We just have to give them time.

Glad your first appointment went well, it's important that our health care professionals make a good first impression and set a firm foundation.

Yeah the Autism Diagnosis for Adults in the UK is a bit of a joke. There isn't even a referral to diagnosis target for adults! The one for kids/adolescents is 17 weeks.

If you look at this article I found (Northern Ireland) that's generally not the case:

Belfast Telegraph

Its for children but you get the gist, the diagnosis times are a bit of a post code lottery. But with service just opened hopefully for you there shouldn't be a big waiting list, so you should be seen quite quick

I had to wait a over a year to get diagnosed (it would have been longer if I hadn't complained) That was quite frankly taking the p**s!.

Anyway, Good Luck hope everything goes well for you.


(p.s. Some stats for Scottish diagnosis times if your interested - used them in my complaint letter.lol)

Scottish waiting times

I was 18 months waiting for the referral for Autism testing, it really is taking the pish.

Massive cuts to NHS, we pose no danger to others, just slipping through the cracks.

The good thing is because I live in the Southern Trust Area, their waiting list is 12 weeks, which means that is the shortest waiting time in Northern Ireland to get referred to an Autism diagnostic service, so I should hopefully not have to wait a long period to be seen by the Adults Autism Service.

That's great. Waiting is often the hardest part of things like this.

Congradulations on the support, i hope things will get better for you.