Is Self-Diagnosis Valid?

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Every one of us is wrong at some time or another. Only a few have the courage to face the fact and to admit it when they are.

i do not understand well the concept of "courage", and i can not ascribe anything i said to courage.

i simply reanalyzed what i thought, and now i have a different opinion.
i can not talk about anything that is not in my opinion.

sorry if i am seemingly cold. that is a harder thing for me to understand.

There's nothing to apologise for. Many people would have stayed silent once they changed their opinion. Coming right out and saying "I was wrong" is a difficult thing for anyone to do. Doing so in spite of that difficulty is an act of courage.

b9, thanks for coming back to say this. I would have checked sooner, but I thought the exchange was pretty much over.

I think I was getting too caught up in trying to argue my point, too.

In some cases where you actually RESEARCH the criteria and do an unbiased evaluation of your symptoms against ICD-10/DSM you can pretty much be sure.

But the problem is that Asperger seems to be a "popular diagnosis" and people want to associate with it for weird reasons, i took the AQ test with my sister and she began to give off answers that were very generic and my memory of her sort of told another story. So i changed the questions around and she started rooting for the NT side. Some people are just trying to fit in too much... (But there are others in my family which seem to fit into the Aspie category very well).

Then we have psychologists. Some of them are good, some are complete quacks. I do not know how many times i have read on this forum about misdiagnosis by some of these so called "experts"... This is THE main reason why i think self diagnosis has any merit whatsoever.

Self-diagnosis is not an absolute truth, but it CAN be a good indicator, depending on the individual. Myself i just knew that i was an Aspie (every damn test i took pointed the same way), and this year i got confirmation of what i already had been suspecting for 2 years from the first moment i heard of Aspergers.

I agree that self-diagnosis is not an absolute truth. But, as you've essentially admitted in the first paragraph I quoted, neither is a professional diagnosis. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that a careful self-diagnosis would be more convincing to me than the opinion of a quack who happened to have the right degree up on the wall.

I totally agree, Wanderer. I had several "professionals" DX me with bi-polar disorder. One even accused me of being a compulsive gambler (interesting theory even though casinos have more than enough things going on which lead me to sensory overload within seconds of stepping foot into such an establishment). She had no proof to verify her accusations, & would not listen when I tried to explain how cigarette smoke combined with flashing lights, & lots of clanging type noises upset me to no end. While I have entered casinos with my parents, I would often seek out quiet places to read, if not inside then outside the building. Testing has since proven I do NOT have BP, nor do I get kicks by gambling.

My oppinion isn't valid. There. Are we done?

Yes, LornaDoone. I do feel that this helps explain how I fit into society - or, to be more accurate, why, in my own special way, I don't. I feel it would now be redundant for me to seek diagnosis for Asperger's because I have found my way into this world (or it found me) without one, and so whatever guidance I can glean from it is now available to me. A DX therefore would only be of 'use' if it turned out there is something other than AS going on - except in practical terms it wouldn't be useful at all at this juncture, because (a) I haven't got my head around other possibilities yet and I need to build up to new things before they happen, but I'm not in a hurry to do that because I think I'm where I need to be right now; and (b) a different DX would likely raise the spectre of drug therapy - again, in my case, a redundancy. I would not take up their rotten drug options, having learned (from observation of others' experience) way more than I wanted to about their abuse in warehousing and debilitating people that could otherwise live reasonably functional, albeit difficult, lives. I would rather live my difficult life authentically than substitute just another fake in a fugue state.


Don't worry, Sweetleaf. There is nothing of which you can accuse me that I haven't already suspected in myself. What if I am an impostor? What, indeed.

Having finally found a counsellor I could afford to see (a hospital-based mental health specialist), I said, 'I have recently self-recognised as having grown up with Asperger's Syndrome.' [I now see this was a stupid thing to say on several levels and it won't happen again.] Her responses can be summarised as 'Why?' Reasonable enough, you'd think - so why did I feel myself go on the defensive? She didn't believe me is why. In a vulnerable state, naturally I then started questioning my conviction, to the point where I got back to feeling really stupid and guilty again. 'Has anyone ever told you about this when you were growing up?' I floundered: 'Well, not in so many words; nobody had heard of it then. But many people pointed out strangenesses in other ways.'

To try and keep her on-topic I backpedalled fast and said, 'Leaving aside the question of whether I actually have Asperger's Syndrome, can we approach it this way: let's just say that I have grown up with a series of personal characteristics and lifelong problems that are indistinguishable from characteristics and difficulties of many people who are diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. I would like some help in reordering my life, which is a mess, in ways that might work better for someone with these characteristics, because I don't know where to start.' At least then she did offer to make an appointment to see whether she can help me unmess my life, although she thinks it is too late because (somehow my fault) it 'really should have been tackled earlier'. Well, yes. I wish.

The point is by the time I came back for my WP 'fix' this afternoon I was not in very good shape. The guilt and self-blame was back - the very same lifelong guilt and self-blame that had evaporated when I recognised my troubles had this Aspie pattern. Always suggestible - it has been one of my coping strategies to believe what I am told when someone is trying to give me social direction in the face of my own demonstrable failure - I found plenty on this string to encourage the fledgling suspicion I was exaggerating my experiences. Munchhausen's? Probably. Hypochondria? Almost certainly. Faked the answers on the Aspie test? You betcha. In life, I was supposed to do well; therefore, I AM doing well and my crime is that I don't seem to recognise or appreciate how well I'm doing, or express suitable gratitude for all my ADVANTAGES. I have wasted my opportunities. Blown 'so many chances' with partners.

Hey, world! Guess what? HighPlateau is not only NOT doing well; she never HAS. She has been worn out trying to live up to your impossible expectations of all that early PROMISE. She now has a secondary layer of chronic depression born of trying to do that and continuing to crash and burn, with a liberal in-sprinkling of mostly-dissipated but long-term damage caused by PTSD because her 'wilful' independence 'caused' her to be abducted, near-strangled and so completely convinced she was about to be imprisoned, raped, tortured and ultimately murdered she would have killed herself on the spot just to escape but managed instead to jump out of a moving vehicle to safety, relatively 'uninjured'. Another story ... but the point is I reckon I'd have fat chance of getting the right diagnosis anyway with all that going on, overlaid by the female-typical 'masking' of Aspieness. I can really fake NT by now, and have just about everybody convinced except me.


Yes, indeed. Something 'different' was there with me too.


Yes, oh yes. I have punished myself over many long years for the identical 'weakness' and 'lack of backbone', Verdandi. Good to know I am not alone.


Too bloody right. Well said, theWanderer.

The one time ever in my life I saw a shrink (for 'clinical' depression) I had to spend the whole precious first session explaining why I wished to try alternatives to chemical therapy. He agreed. I turned up for the second appointment and the very first thing he said was, 'I think we need to put you on [insert drug of choice].' I left and lost all faith in mental health professionals. I later worked out for myself that gym workouts are sufficient to control my chronic situational depression. Talk (and listen) therapy is good, too: knowing you are not alone is one of the sweetest gifts.

Thank you, WPers. You speak for me. Maybe I'll get the diagnosis; maybe not. Maybe it will be accurate; maybe not. Maybe it will resolve the guilt for breaking my 'promise' so many times; maybe not (I do rather fear a dx of something like 'borderline personality disorder' could reinforce that burden of responsibiility for not quite getting it right). Speaks like an Aspie, waddles like an Aspie, quacks like an Aspie ... hmm, could be ... It will do for now, anyway.

Sorry this is so long. A little brevity is a wondrous thing.

Last edited by HighPlateau on 02 Nov 2011, 10:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes, exactly. The other thing is that the purpose of diagnosing is to point towards a treatment of some kind. So the key question becomes "how much of a problem is it for you?" Some people (and therapists) feel my social interactions are quite impaired. I agree they are, for me, but I don't feel I need treatment for it.

I originally made my profile status "Not Sure..." but later changed it to "Have Aspergers - Undiagnosed."

Just the other day, I changed it back to "Not sure..." because I do NOT want to sound like I'm so sure just based on my own research.

I looked at such things as
-Negativistic Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder
-Social Anxiety Disorder
-Schizoid Personality Disorder
-Avoidant Personality Disorder
-Etc., etc., etc...

All of them list qualities I've got LOADS of...

So now I'm at the point of saying that there are too many possibilities that have wreaked MAJOR HAVOC in my life to pinpoint one particular disorder.

Some things that can be traced back to my childhood have no external factors to explain them. I was the way I was LONG before experiencing any bullying or rejection. I was 6 years old and living in a new neighborhood before that happened. But there were signs that something was amiss before even THAT point.

For instance:
-Not having a concept of going outside to play with the other kids in the neighborhood.
-Going to kindergarten and despite having classmates I got along with, being lost when it came to recess and the cafeteria - automatically retreating to be alone due to not understanding how to function in those situations.

Still, I am now reluctant to say that it MUST be AS/ASD/BAP. I do, however, think it is a distinct possibility.

My GP, who is still relatively new to me, is one person I mentioned the possibility of ASD to; he asked me a couple of questions and said that HE believes that I should follow-up on this hunch to the point of even instructing me on finding a specialist through my job's health plan. There can be consequences to having an ASD inquiry show up in your records at your job's HR office, you know

The other thing to remember here is that Asperger's often has co-morbids. There is this thread (and others) to address the issue:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt175221.html

A person who gets mis-diagnosed might be getting diagnosed for something that the practitioner understands better than Asperger's/ASDs. Of course, that "professional" COULD just be a QUACK as has already been stated and documented in other posts.

My own opinion is that these professionals work in an industry that is designed to help what THEY deem worst-case scenarios primarily through prescription medication and therapy - emphasis on the medication.

Because I have managed to find a job and hold on to it and I have some friends, I might not be deemed a WORST-CASE and not get a diagnosis (even a FAULTY one) - even though I have dealt with significant impairment in my life (whatEVER it may be) that others can notice.

A person I know pointed out that in had this condition. They went to college to do that but chose another career. I am diagnosed bipolar but since I was a small child everything had to have an order. My whole life has been extreme as an understatement. Relationship is close to impossible, at least to get close. Anyone who knows me and knows what asperger's is would tell you I am the poster child. I didn't know what it was so I was alone. My marriage of almost ten (complicated) years almost ended this week because I could no longer handle the disorder. When my wife was notified of my condition and looked it up, everything changed. She finally realized why I am the way I am. I am so excited to find out this condition and this web site. It is great to know someone somewhere understands. I do a podcast to help others because talking for real was too difficult. Rambling Chronic on iTunes. I would love to hear from some of you and get your opinions on what I am doing? Every detail on Wikipedia describes me to perfection. I can do almost impossible things but they have to make sense. Some call me genius and some call me crazy.

If you could provide enough evidence to take the initative then yes and enough to differentiate between comorbid factors.

I diagnosed myself with asperger syndrome , after reviewing my history - through different sets of media and information.

Then they clinically diagnosed me with it.

While doctors have more training, keep in mind that some of the books and professors that they learn from, while perhaps correct in some aspects, will someday become outdated in facts. Scientists are always studying the brain, looking for new/more answers and are always coming up with new discoveries that challenge what we currently believe as a set-in-stone fact. Psychology has changed a lot since the 1950's, and will continue to change throughout the years. This is why, in SOME cases, a self-diagnosis can be useful. And I am mostly talking about psychology, not necessarily physiological symptoms.

I almost never take a person's self-diagnosis seriously unless they've had it confirmed by a doctor. I've seen kids who diagnosed themselves with Asperger's just because they're socially awkward, MPD because they act differently around different people, ADHD because they daydream in boring classes, etc. You can identify them because they use their "illnesses" as an excuse for their behavior, while people who suffer from them don't use it as a crutch and actually make an effort to get better.

When I realized that my eating habits were terribly abnormal, I started doing copious amounts of research on eating disorders. I binge for a few weeks and then starve myself for up to two weeks (although, if the restricting is going for more than five days, I eat one meal a day). I came to the conclusion that it was most likely non-purging bulimia, which is a rare subtype affecting only 6% of bulimics. I went to the doctor and she confirmed it.

I did the same with UTIs, cystitis, and severe OCD. I made appointments with doctors and all were confirmed.

Unfortunately, patients have to be this way now. With the economy and how screwed up the US health care system is, many cannot afford to take numerous trips to the doctor and have a bunch of tests run. Not to mention that, a lot of the time, the doctor won't even know regardless because the tests won't show anything. So we have to resort to self-diagnosing.

As long as you're smart about it and don't jump to conclusions without doctors' confirmation, it's okay.