Diagonsed, undiagonsed, and self-diagonsed

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What's the difference?

diagnosed means officially.
self-diagnosed means you think you fit the criteria.
undiagnosed means you never bothered to check, or feel you don't, or don't want to say.

Steve

Diagnosed = Proffesionaly diagnosed with aspergers/autism

Self-diagnosed = Pretty sure you have it but it is not recognized by proffesionals or for jobs/ have all the requirements

undiagnosed = no diagnosis, may be self diagnosed, may be NT

I don't know. Was that a rhetorical question?

I'm not really sure what "diagnosed" means. I think it's different depending on where you live. Does it mean "certified"?

I have a cousin who is severely schizophrenic and he was diagnosed/certified in the United States and he was kicked out of the army for it (with a pension of course). Then he moved to Canada and there was no support for him here and he started causing trouble because of his delusions, threatening people and causing property damage. He had to see another psychiatrist here and get officially re-diagnosed/re-certified for Canadian authorities.

If a psychiatrist says you're on the autistic spectrum but doesn't give you papers or anything for it, are you diagnosed? Is it just put in your file somewhere, and that's that? Or is it still not "official", and that's what happens with people who come join WP and call themselves "undiagnosed"?

I'm hoping it was a rhetorical question because I think the difference is pretty obvious.

Dunno. My NLD diagnosis is on file somewhere, plus I have a copy of the diagnosis form. I would think that anyone who has had a psychiatrist/psychologist/etc. tell them they have AS (or whatever) could consider themselves officially diagnosed. I don't think it needs to be on file with the government or anything. I think "diagnosed" just means that some authority has corroborated the diagnosis.

I've been wondering about the diagnosed thing myself a bit. I've been told by two psychiatrists that I have ASD, but never had any official forms given to me. Does this mean it's not official?

I would consider that official, but that's just me. I mean, as long as they said it in a clinical setting while you were being evaluated, rather than say, meeting a psychiatrist at a party who says, "Man, you really seem like you have Asperger's!"

What's this about a "diagnosis form"? Because I think that's what I'm asking. What country do you live in, and what does the form say, and what governmental body or organization disttributes such a form?

Interesting - just like when an incident occurs some question if there was an "official" diagnosis. Like that seems to imply some kind of paperwork filled out or something. Basically though I think it just means that a medical professional has put down in writing somewhere (like in your patient file) that they consider you AS (or whatever label). That way there would be a record of it instead of just a conversation. That is how I would define officially diagnosed. If you have been told by a professional that they think you have AS then that may be possibly unofficially diagnosed - because some people don't want that in their record. While this question initially seemed to answer itself it did make me think about when my son was being specifically tested for autism. After asking about my labels the therapist told me that they often find out one of the parents is on the spectrum too but we would focus on my son first. Maybe that would be unofficial then (lol).

I sincerely doubt there is a central store of all of the different DSM diagnosis throughout repsective countries. This would be tantamount to Big Brother, the state really does not need to know what illness you have unless you are a danger to those around you, or you are claiming some benefit from your illness/condition.

In relation to AS, I would say that with most, it only gets written down on there medical sheet, which will go to different doctors you switch to etc.

I think actually the word "form" wasn't the right word to use- it isn't a standardized from, and it's not from the government or anything. It's actually more like a clinic report, I guess. It has patient history, subjective impressions of the examiner, test results, analysis, and diagnosis. I asked the woman if the information was going to go anywhere, and she said no. So, yes my diagnosis is on file, but no, not with the government, just with the clinic where I was tested.
I live in the US by the way.

I was self diagnosed before officially diagnosed. I think people with AS can be very good at diagnosing themselves because we tend to be very introspective, logical and sometimes view ourselves objectively, almost in a dissociative sense. I may be wrong and I am not trying to generalize but that's how it seems to me.

so can they dx something without you agreeing to it? for instance, a while ago my therapist was talking to me about all this stuff to do with add, i knew where she was going. she asked if i agreed with me having add and would i like to have testing and treatment. do you want to talk about it?
i said no, i dont need another dx. thanks. and i dont want medicine, thanks. and if ive been this way my whole life, im ok with it. and lets consider this having talked about it.

so then no, she didnt dx. i never say i have it or even worry with it, i feel like its just the way i am.

They certainly can label you without your permission - especially for certain psychiatric disorders. No one asked what I thought about my labels nor did they even inform me of them until I asked. And one time because I had agreed initially to allow them to discuss things with my husband they talked to him and not me. Someone also told me that if people are seeing a psychiatrist they should review their file because they can be surprised by what is written in there. For AS though - it really requires alot of input from the patient and it may not be considered a psychiatric disorder that the doctor could be responsible for not treating.