What is it like being assessed by a psychologist?

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Recently, my school counsellor referred me to the local mental health team for young people. A psychologist is coming to see me next month for our first assessment appointment. I was just wondering what kind of things they would ask me? I am really nervous about the appointment and I am worried that I will just clam up and not be able to be so honest with them (which I know would completely defeat the object of the meeting, so I definitely will be trying hard for that not to happen). I'm really not that great at communicating my feelings to people and I'm scared that they will either not take me seriously or...well, or the outcome of the diagnosis is not what I am expecting.

Basically, I have no idea what to expect and that is making me scared so if anybody should share their experiences with me (good or bad) I would really appreciate it.

For me with Asperger's being assessed the second time it was fine, the psychologist was very friendly - you expect them to be, they claim to understand human thinking. The only negative feeling I had was the thought of not having Asperger's and wondering what that would mean. They may phone your parents or give them a questionaire about your early development to establish a diagnosis.

Having a diagnosis can be helpful as makes you understand more about yourself and helps you to realise you need to put a bit of extra effort in to engage in social communications.

if you need any help with anything post on here, and ask the psychologist. Having the diagnosis is a positive thing but be honest because you'll benefit from knowing more about yourself.

They go through a series of questions and that can take a while but it is worthwhile, you could probably take some food in or have something to eat before.

Thank you for your response. I don't know if they will be looking for signs of Asperger's though...I'm not sure.

Basically, I see my school counsellor because of like, depression and anxiety problems (and I self-harm sometimes). This is primarily why she referred me to the mental health team. However, she was also trying to get me screened for Asperger's through our local educational psychologist. She contacted the ed psych to see if they would do that for me (she might not because I am over 16, although still in full-time education), but that was over a month ago and she still has had no reply. Because of that, she told me she would contact the mental health team again and enquire about the possibility of them organising a screening of Asperger's too (this was a couple of weeks ago, but I'm not sure if she actually has done so or not, I don't think I checked). So...I don't know what the psychologist is going to be checking...I think it's just like a 'general assessment' or something like that. I've never had a meeting with a psychologist before so I have no idea what it's going to be like.

Also, my parents don't know about any of this and it has to stay that way (unless they think I'm at risk of severely hurting myself or someone else, which I'm not). However, depending on how the screening for Asperger's goes, I understand I may need to involve them in that part of things (although even that would be problematic but at least not impossible).

How old were you when you got assessed and how long did it take? Just wondering. Thanks for the input; apart from the counsellor I have nobody else to talk to and I only see her once a week. I feel quite alienated from my peers a lot of the time because of all this stuff.

They generally tend to be OK enough. Very neutral, quiet and calm. Very used to people finding it hard to talk to them too, so that might be less of an issue than you think. Sometimes it's frustrating because you keep looking for the normal overt NT cues like tone of voice or facial expressions that you base responses on and not finding them. Which is kind of the point.

It feels a bit different because I was used to dealing with normal NTs, most of whom have zero patience to sit through my explanation of why or how I reached a certain answer. In retrospect there were a couple of questions where I out of habit resorted to a quick glib answer where I wish I had explained my reasoning. So if you're not sure you're getting across right, ask if you can take the time to explain. You'll be dealing with one of the few professions that will actually let you take the time to do that and not shut you down because they can't be bothered. Also if you're not sure what he's asking or getting at ask him if he could take the time to elaborate on the question to make sure you know what he's asking. It's hard to give an honest answer if you're not sure what the question is.

If you're worried you'll clam up you could try writing that down, as well as anything that you know you would like to to discuss or ask and if you find it too hard hand it off in a note. I know for me sometimes it's easier for me to write things than to say them to another person's face. Especially if they're very personal things and my psychologist is very respectful of that (and always hands me the note back, that way I can burn it and no one but him or me has a chance to see it). Certainly if you go that route and don't want your parents to know you want to make sure that note gets properly destroyed.

Thanks, I'll bear that all in mind.

What kind of questions will they even ask me though?

Also, if I had things that could be seen as symptoms of a mental illness when I was quite a lot younger (like, between the ages of 10 and 14 or something), but I don't have these any more, would it be relevant to talk about them at all?

Hm, well for the assessment for AS, it was a long time ago and they may have changed a lot, back they didn't know nearly what they do now. But what stood out in my memory were questions about how I saw the world, like did I have friends, how did I define friendship, a few morality questions, like why don't we do so and so. Questions about communication, whether I found it easy and when I didn't what did I find hard. Stuff like about eye contact, anxiety, sleep, sensitivity to sounds, touch, movement or lights. Also some past stuff, like did I do this or that when I was younger, was I interested in other kids back then, when if ever did I want to make friends with other kids and how did that go.

For the non AS stuff - y'know, the more general mental health stuff. Lots about how I was feeling, sleeping, eating, how interested in my hobbies I was, how I expressed stuff, how did I view the future and my place in it. One guy just had me fill out a question sheet. Y'know, one of those 'how applicable is this statement for you on a scale of 1-5' things on my first visit.

I'm not sure about that last part, I mean someone like my sister (who's SOO AS even if she denies it) who was also around 10-14 at the time, a psychologist back oh, 30 years ago told my parents that she was schizophrenic with severe learning disabilities and should be preferably be put in a home or children's psych ward. My parents disagreed. Few years later turns out she's in the 140ish IQ range, skipping grades and reading at a level way past her age and all that without his 'help'. Shows what that guy knew. You can bring it up, or the psychologist may outright ask you about how you acted and felt at that time. If you get a diagnosis that you strongly feel just doesn't fit you it's good to remember they're not gods, sometimes they get it wrong. It doesn't mean the diagnosis is set in stone. I think for a lot of us older Aspies our first diagnosis was flat out wrong.

Ok, thanks for the input.

I've just been doing a lot of thinking recently and I remembered certain 'symptoms' that I had when I was younger (I'm 17 now) that I don't have now but could have been causes for concern at the time if I had ever actually told anyone (but I never ever did). I'm just thinking that I wouldn't like a diagnosis to be based on those things if they are no longer applicable but at the same time maybe it would be useful for them to know about it...I don't know.

Anyways, my appointment isn't for over a month yet. The psychologist is coming into school to see me which is another thing that I am concerned about (although it may sound stupid); I'm going to have to leave my first lesson half way through and everybody is going to ask me where I went afterwards...and even if I just don't go to the lesson, they will still enquire later as to my whereabouts. I've only told one of my friends in my year group about this and I don't intend that to change. I cannot think of any plausible excuses yet though for not being in the lesson...but I guess I have ages of time to think of one.

Honestly, the last month has been a pretty bad one for me and March feels absolutely ages away. I ended up talking to a nurse on the phone who advised me to go and see my GP before then. I don't think that I will though; I don't see how that would really change anything.

Heh, I remember that uncertainty and stress before my diagnosis (and re-diagnosis to AS). You don't want to but your mind starts making scenarios.. what if they say I'm just crazy, what if they want to put me in a psych ward and pump me full of drugs, what if they say I'm too stupid or damaged to even be in school, what if they just don't care and accuse me of making it up for attention.. I psyched myself for war, then I showed up in my full worst-case-scenario mindset ready to once more do battle against the system... and instead of a cold hard battleground of blaming and anger found the equiv of being asked if I wanted to sit down for a cup of tea and tell them what was wrong.

The assessment itself was anti-climatic to say the least after all those what ifs. Due to the heavy workload I had to wait a full week to find out what came out of it, that was also stressful. I started going through the worst case scenarios again. With how hard my leg was shaking the hours before the appointment to find out I'm amazed I didn't leave an hole in the floor. I think those are pretty normal reactions to this. It is scary, especially since no one in the system tells you what to expect or even considers that it's incredibly intimidating. To us more so than NTs, I know I don't like not being able to have something to keep dark what ifs from making me more anxious.

Oh yeah, I forgot to answer one of your questions. I was 19 when I got my AS diagnosis. That was much easier for me, the earlier general learning disabilities diagnosis I'd gotten at 14 was much harder just because I had no idea what was coming and in those 5 years I did mature a lot.

Okies. Thanks so much for your replies, it has helped to calm me down a little, haha.

I wouldn't expect it to be much different from when you see the student counsellor, except they have more experience and are able to deal with more severe problems, and have other people, like psychiatrists that they can talk with and who could prescribe medications if needed. They will simply be talking to you and trying to help you, to see if there is a role for an extra professional on top of that of the student counsellor. There would be nothing wrong with asking for the student counsellor to be there if you would like them to be.

As for telling the other students, it is really about being creative. When do you see the student counsellor at present. Do you see her in class time, how do you explain that. You could always say you went to see her, not lying exactly, just not telling the full story. Do the student counsellors help with careers stuff as well. Sometimes they do and if they do then it is very easy to explain away an appointment with them. Saw the school nurse, anything really can be said. It is not as though the other kids can go and check and see what you were doing.

An assessment for aspergers will take time and is not likely to happen at a first appointment with a mental health team. They are there to see if you need any more supports than you currently have and to work with you to find ways to help you to cope better. An assessment for aspergers if anything would come later, and is very likely to involve more than one person doing the assessment.

The best person to talk to about all of this is the student counsellor who made the referral in the first place and it is also her role. I see a psychologist and whenever she is bringing someone else in to work with me, going to see someone else with me, etc, etc we always spend the session before preparing for it, her allowing me to ask all the questions that I need to, and also allowing me to debrief at the next session if not afterwards.

My assessment and diagnosis of HFA and Aspergers was in 2008. I was asked if there was anyone in my family who would be willing to answer a questionnaire about me as a child. I don't have anyone so I attempted to answer it myself. A large part of the assessment was comprised of filling out forms with check boxes, like do you have this Yes or No. And forms asking me to rate my response, high to low. Lot of tests on paper. The copyright on the tests was several years ago. I was concerned that part of my diagnosis was based on tests and questionnaires that were outdated. Math, spelling, composing a short essay, history, geography, etc. I have always had difficulties with tests and did poorly. I also answered questions verbally. I find it very difficult to respond to verbal questions so I answered a lot of the questions with "I don't know." Some of the time I thought I knew the answer but I wasn't going to take a risk of being wrong. Turns out that my responses were used for an IQ test so I got a very low score. There were some tests using cards. One test used cards with pictures and I was supposed to put the cards into a sequence. Another test involved the psychologist flipping cards in front of me and my ability to figure out the pattern and test whether I would get anxious or frustrated. I was asked a lot of questions about my life, my anxiety, depression and sensitivities. I was also asked to justify why I felt I was on the spectrum so I wrote a several page list of characteristics that I felt justified the diagnosis. I was later told that my list was what convinced the psychologist. I made the mistake of talking about incidents in my past that were not ASD related and got, imo, an incorrect secondary diagnosis.

If you're in the UK, someone will probably come to your house and then you can babble on about yourself while they ask you things like 'do you have friends?' etc. I typed up a LONG list of all my symptoms and that saved a lot of time. Then they send a letter to your school and give you questionnaires and things. That's the first stage.

Thank you all for your replies! Sorry that this post is so late.

Presently I see the school counsellor usually in my free periods or during the lunch hour. Occasionally I need to see her during a General Studies lesson (it's a 'subject' that is compulsory in my school but not really taken seriously), but I have these lessons with my form group and they all know that I see the counsellor anyway because I get my appointment slips for her given to me in form time. I don't really mind them knowing that I see the counsellor, but I wouldn't really want too many other people to know, and I would be missing part of a French lesson for my appointment with the mental health team. Having said that, it is a small class...I might see if I can get permission just not to go to the lesson at all because otherwise I'm going to have to leave half-way through which would be very awkward...and maybe I can just tell people I was getting help with coursework for another subject or something and because I was struggling I had permission to miss that French lesson...I guess people would believe that because what other explanation could there be? It's not like anybody would actually guess correctly, or anything like that.

I have my appointment in like 3 weeks time...I'm nervous but I do think I need it. The last few weeks have been pretty difficult for me...I haven't seen the counsellor for three weeks because of school trips and illness and the half-term holiday...I doubt I will see her this week either because of another stupid school trip so I will probably see her next week, when it will have been a month since I last saw her. One of my Politics teachers is keeping an eye on me at school and keeps asking me how I am and it's just really awkward...even though I know he's just trying to look after me (he knows about me seeing the counsellor and all that stuff; he's in charge of that sort of thing at school).

Good luck, Maddycakes, It's good that you have a teacher who cares enough to check in with you - to ask how you are doing - but if you are like me, by the time someone notices that I'm having trouble I have become overstimulated or anxious and it is very difficult for me to talk coherently and especially difficult to formulate the sentences to tell someone how I am doing. So much is happening internally. Let us know how your session goes (in 3 weeks).

I agree with what you said about no one guessing correctly, it is not something they are going to think of, and you can say anything, the teachers wont tell them, even if they did know, but I doubt they would know that much.