Did anyone else worry about a forthcoming ASD assessment ?

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Or is it just me being a chronic worry wort? I'm more certain I'm neurodiverse than I am I'm on the spectrum. Things like dyspraxia and NVLD make as much , or more, sense.

My fear is that not being found to be on the spectrum would shut down other avenues re being neurodiverse.

I was bricking it before my assessment , also had a nasty PM from a member here the night before my assessment when they knew I was stressed about it.

At the pre assessment interview , my mind was put at ease a lot , it wasn't just an ASD assessment I was told if I wasn't found on the spectrum they would refer me on to the appropriate service , and if there were any doubts it would go to a panel of shrinks to decide the best outcome.

I then knew I was going to find out what was wrong either way , it was a great relief.

The assessment still caused a huge amount of anxiety though as I had to spill my guts to a complete stranger and tell her everything that was going on in my head , my GF was also very helpful filling in the gaps and correcting me when I was talking BS. e.g. I was asked what I found funny as I said nothing , it was then pointed out that I found lots of things funny including people falling over

I plan to have my stepdaughter with me to fill in as many gaps as possible. She has known me for 33 years. My main concern is covering the childhood years . My father is 88 and has admitted his memory of my early years is patchy. My mother has been dead since 2010. I have a younger brother and sister (2 and 3 years younger) but not sure if their input would count for much.

Yeah, that was a concern for me too , I was worried my mum's bias ( i was perfect ) and patchy memory might cause conflicting views , they didn't even contact my mum , don't know why

Of course. I was certain I had it, but had heard it was hard for adults, and even harder for females, to get a diagnosis, so I was worried about not being taken seriously, and I was even more worried about getting misdiagnosed and mahybe put on harmful medication.

It should be added that in my childhood I had a very bad experience with psychiatry so I feared it was a very bad idea to get in touch with anything like that again. I was afraid it was a mistake, safe to keep away from it.

Thankfully for me, the shrink was someone who had some experience with ASDs in adults, and thought I was a fairly obvious case.

Yes, I was plenty anxious before my assessment (I am also a perennial worry-wort, though, so make of that what you may.) After 30 years of bouncing around various mental health services, and hearing a load of "suggested" diagnoses that didn't seem to fit and which were never formally checked out (GAD, bipolar, personality disorder), I had the feeling that it might be the one and only chance I'd get to really find out what was going on (it took me three attempts to get an assessment due to CCG funding problems.)

Once I was finally at the assessment, all that changed though. I actually found it very refreshing to talk to someone who understood what I was telling them, and who gave feedback that confirmed that I wasn't just being paranoid or a hypochondriac. The thing that most got my attention was the way that the psychologist framed a whole load of things that I though were unrelated into a picture of autism as a whole. I had always perceived my dyspraxic traits, social problems, sensory issues, etc. as completely unrelated things, and struggled to see the connection between these things and the mental health problems that I'd always struggled with. I was also unaware until then of how much I was masking my traits; it was a real eye opener to realise that my vague sense of having to work so much harder than other people to achieve "simple" things was not just pity seeking or poor self-esteem - my autistic traits are more profound than I ever would have guessed because I took my attempts to compensate for them so much for granted, having never known any different than to do that.

this was a big eye opener for me too

No firemonkey, I decided whatever will be will be and endeavoured not to think about it until I was walking towards the building. Are you pursuing an assessment or just thinking about it?

Same stressful situation for me... I think in hindsight that overthinking, anxiety, being overwhelmed by an unknown situation is also a pointer in the aspie positive diagnosis direction.

I was pretty clear and forthcoming about these feelings and the way I was "not coping" really good with the situation, to the assessment meeting.

I was told this is a common reaction, and I think it was taken into account in my positive diagnosis. This exercise is not only about telling your story, or answering questions... it's also about how you tell it, how you react emotionally and physically. If it was only about answering, it would be a paper questionnaire, with no physical or emotional observations.

Highly stressful at the age of 58, and in a life situation of considerably depressing circumstances.

Enormous over thinking, anxiety, and realising that my hypochondria was in fact a product of hypochondria itself.

At my last pdoc appointment I mentioned autistic traits. At the end of the appointment the pdoc said he thought ASD +schizophrenia was the best fit and he'd refer me for an assessment.

Same here.

Yeah I was worried too. I knew that I was different and I didn't want to have to go back to square one of searching for what it was. I was worried that I would mask too well and that it wouldn't be noticed. I remember asking my assessor should I respond the way I would in social situations or the way that I naturally would? They were essentially able to figure out that the fact that I had to overthink my responses and give so many details and qualifiers was a sign of ASD in and of itself. Also, firemonkey, you can have NVLD and ASD too. NVLD is just determined by having a significant gap between Verbal IQ and Non Verbal/Performance IQ. I have both although since NVLD isn't in the DSM or ICD it's not officially diagnosed.

I can only go on online tests where my non-verbal score averages about 72. This contrasts with sample Wonderlic like tests in which I scored the equivalent of the 98th/99th percentile.

My verbal intelligence is certainly much higher than my non-verbal. However here in the UK NVLD is scarcely recognised . My pdoc had not heard of the acronym .

As for masking I'm not aware that I do. With me WYSIWYG. Although I have this strong feeling that I'm different I fluctuate between a strong belief it's because I'm on the spectrum and this intense nagging thought that I'm not.


I'Ve tried the AQ online and score 37 for the long version and 8 for the AQ 10. I got my sister to score me on the RAADS-R and she scored me 163.