Could I be misdiagnosed?

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TL;DR: I think I have strong signs of Asperger's but have no Idea. A counselor thinks it may be GAD. I listed points as to why it might be and why it might not be. Read the first sentence by each hyphen for a quick summary. Please tell me what you think. Please at least one response, I always get ignored on forums.



I've been struggling with symptoms of Asperger's for a while and I recently decided it was time to get it checked out. I went in for a screening the other day and I was fairly surprised when General Anxiety Disorder was the conclusion she came to. I'm aware this isn't an official diagnosis and I'd be fine if it were the case. However, I'd like to get outside opinions on the matter.

There are cases to be made for and against GAD, I'll start with why I think it wouldn't be:
- I find myself at a loss as to how to communicate to people effectively, verbal or nonverbal. I've always been on the outside looking in when it comes to nearly all social situations. The difference here, I feel, is that it isn't a feeling of anxiety or fear causing me distress during conversation. It's more like an overall feeling of confusion, as if the other person and myself speak two different languages. Not to mention how tricky sarcasm can be for me sometimes. As an adult, I have a small circle of friends and have only been in one serious relationship that only lasted a couple months. My family believes I'm distant and don't want to be with them even though it's not true and any attempts to prove otherwise fall through. I'm always confused at how certain interactions take place and the unspoken rules everyone else seems to be abiding by. It frustrates my daily how my relationships (or lack thereof) just seem to fall apart. It almost feels as though I've been doomed to have every conversation I have end in awkward misunderstandings. This has led to loneliness in nearly every aspect of my life, it's awful.

-My interests border on obsession. To deal with the frustration of social isolation I immersed myself in the world of television and film. I was especially fond of animated productions as it opened up the world of imagination for me. Writing was also a really big hobby for me when I was younger. I would often daydream and make my own stories and characters to the point where I started to slip out of the real world. This made me the target of some teasing. I learned not to talk about it to others with as much intensity as I did. It was disappointing realizing how alone I was in my passion. I've now taught myself to animate, write, and play a few instruments (all averagely). This isn't to say I'm completely closed off to other hobbies. I am either completely obsessed with something or utterly disinterested, no grey area.

-My routine is my life and and any interruptions upset me. I like routines and patterns. Anything that compromises an otherwise uniform system will bother me.

-I have a lot of awkward habits and tendencies people point out to me regularly. If I get too lost in thought I can't control my facial expressions. My neutral stance and gait are pointed out as either "weird" or "robotic". I find myself clicking pens and tapping things repeatedly. Some say the way I speak is too formal or "white" which I suppose isn't expected of me because I'm black.

These are the major points I've noticed to hint at Asperger's. There's also evidence against it:
-I feel I'm too emotional. I'm not sure how the relationship between Aspies and their emotions work but I'm emotionally neutral most of the time until something triggers an emotional response from me. These moments are few but intense. I feel very strongly even if it's not something to get worked up over from a "normal" person's standpoint.

-I love social interactions. I'm not sure if this has to do with a disorder or just my personality. Even with as much grief as I get from trying to reach out to people it's not all bad and I've met some really interesting and kind people. Those are the people I keep throwing myself out there for. It's really rare but every once in a while I can find someone who not understands me but accepts me and all the misunderstandings I come with. I adore these people.

-I work as a server in a restaurant. Like I said, I like the social scene and wile I'm not that great at it I manage to get by. What I find is that when I'm talking to customers at my table I can be a totally different person. I'm suddenly funny, witty, charming. I sometimes walk away from a table full of laughing people scratching my head as to how I can get the same reaction out of my co-workers and friends. I find I'm much better at handling myself in social situations whens there's more organization or if there's a goal to work towards.

All of these points combined with someone thinking it could be GAD instead of something (that I believe) I'm showing stronger symptoms for has left me feeling uneasy. I'm not sure if it's Asperger's, GAD, or if I'm just a neurotypical who's somehow missed something up to this point. I'd hate to go through the trouble of getting a diagnosis just to have it be wrong. I feel like there's something obvious I'm not seeing here but it's not a new feeling. Please let me know what you think.

The fact you are able to be witty and charming with your customers doesn't mean you don't have Asperger. With customers you can subconciously follow scripts of what to say; it doesn't matter if you repeat yourself. And also the conversation is very short.

I can also be good at it if I want to, although after a short while it would make me tired at my age but in my 20's I used to work in door to door sale and absolutely loved that. However if I had to for some reason come back to the same customer, I felt very uncomfortable.

Do you have any sensory sensitivities?

It sounds as if you have some symptoms in common with Asperger's. I'm wondering if your evaluator has enough experience diagnosing ASD.

One of my previous therapists did not think that I could have Asperger's when I mentioned it, but she had little to no experience with ASD. But I was diagnosed by a person who specializes in ASD, has many years of experience, and has done research on high-functioning ASD as well.

I'm very emotional. I don't think that those with ASD are necessarily more or less emotional than others. I would say I'm more emotional, but have a deficit in cognitive empathy.

There are also those with autism who are extroverts and love company. I would say that I am a pretty friendly person. I don't necessarily dislike socializing, and I really enjoy it at times. Social interactions can be awkward for me and cause anxiety, however.

Certainly the blank expressions, obsessive interests, need for routine are autistic traits. Whether it's autism or not, no one here could tell you, you'd have to have a professional make that determination. As for emotions, autistics feel emotions, and I tend to think we feel them more than NT's do-- we have a problem expressing emotions, not feeling them.

On a side note to your post-- a lot of autistics here are white, we have a few black members but they are few and far between. I find this an oddity, I think in minority populations autism is actually under diagnosed for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, when we see images of an autistic child it's always some bubbly little white kid that's portrayed as broken-- I think this has an effect on diagnosis. I think subconsciously many minority autistics deny they have autism because of that bubbly little white kid image and I also think psychologist have that image running in their subconscious and misdiagnose a lot of minority patients. Sorry, I know it's your first post, and I hate to bring a controversial race topic in, but it did catch my eye. All that being said, if you do get a diagnosis, make sure the psychologist is focusing on autism and not some unrelated disorder-- if they determine it's not autism, then it's ok, but if they push you into some other disorder right off the bat I'd see a different psychologist. Like I said, I have a bad gut feeling that there's an under diagnosis going on in minority populations, and I think you should keep that in mind to protect your own rights.

And, one last thing. As for people not replying on forums, you have to understand they're social things. If you make one or two posts, most people won't respond because they don't know you and even know if you're coming back. The more you post, the more replies you'll get because more people will "know" you. Don't be discouraged by lack of replies, just keep posting and eventually people will start responding back. We're a bit different here (obviously, lol) in the fact that a large portion of our forums could almost be considered help/therapy focused-- and a lot of our members are more than willing to give advice. You may have autism, you may not have autism, but realize you're still welcome to post here either way.