How should how well a person is doing be measured?

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Should how well a person is doing be measured,clinically speaking, by the degree of noticeable symptoms they're presenting with- or the level they're functioning at in comparison to demographically matched people from the general population?

There's a scale called Global Assessment of Functioning, or GAF.

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/gaf-scale-facts

Pretty sure I had about 40 last time since I can't work or function socially.

I can seem to be quite together during a short interaction where verbal ability dominates the interaction. Indeed verbally I’m quite a bit better than the average pdoc. From that it had been reckoned,till I moved here, that I should be capable of coping well in all situations. Failure to do so didn’t have anyone questioning the veracity of such thinking, but had me labelled as awkward and passive aggressive etc. Bottom line I never got the help I should’ve had.

Symptoms wise I’m doing well, but functioning wise I’m functioning at a level that’s low for a person of my intelligence. It’s less important to some extent now as I’ll soon be a pensioner. It stems very much from the ASD I have where for many, but not all,autistic people adaptive functioning < IQ level. The more intelligent you are the more pronounced it is.


GAF: Based on no friends, and never having had a job, it would be 50-41.

I agree. If an autistic person has a low IQ it's because they have a concurrent intellectual disability, not because of the autism itself. The key feature of autism is our functioning difficulty as it pertains to sensory and social.


I never got help either. It's very frustrating, isn't it?
Perhaps I idealise the extent to which I could have been salvaged.

Totally agree that it's frustrating. I'm not an ambitious and competitive person, but could have done better than I have done with appropriate help and support.

I only got help from the mental health system when I was mentally ill. As soon as I was stable, they exited me from their system. I still take a lot of head meds and I am loathe to change them in case I get mentally ill again. That scares me very much.

Because of my autism, I'm able to get assistance through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and so far I have accessed psychology sessions. Apparently, people with ADHD are trying to get NDIS access too.

I work, volunteer and drive but apart from that I like to stay home alone and do very little. I have no friends and rather like it that way. I don't know what this means regarding functioning but I'm sure a lot of extroverted people would find my way of living rather boring.