How Many Sessions Did You Attend Before Your Diagnosis?

Page 1 of 1 [ 13 posts ] 

Yumeji
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2011
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 36

22 Sep 2011, 3:55 am

Yesterday was my first session, and the psychologist said right on the spot, after 30 minutes, that I had it [Asperger's Syndrome]. I'm thinking of pursuing a diagnosis; however, the accumulated session expenses ($160/session) are not covered by insurance or MSP (in Canada) and I'm currently not earning any income. So, for other adult Aspies, I pose the following questions:

1. How many sessions did you attend before getting officially diagnosed?

2. What was the total cost in the end? (You can list a breakdown of the costs)

3. Do you still attend sessions? If so, how often?

Also, I was informed that going through formal testing is expensive (~$2,600 +) and may be redundant. However, he mentioned that I could take a personality test instead. Do psychologists form a diagnosis based on a personality test?



DoniiMann
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2010
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Posts: 584
Location: Tasmania

22 Sep 2011, 4:29 am

Didn't cost me anything. Was fully funded here in Australia as part of finding out what my issues were in relation to my employment history. AS wasn't on the radar. But after about four or five sessions the psychologist said he believed I was. He got my GP to agree and sign off on it, so I had an official AS diagnosis.

Can't imagine it would take too many sessions to get diagnosed if your psychologist picked up on it so quickly. Get him to do a cover letter justifying his diagnosis, then I'd expect it to go quickly.


_________________
assumption makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'mption'.


League_Girl
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 27,294
Location: Pacific Northwest

22 Sep 2011, 4:52 am

I am not sure. It was a lot of sessions and we went maybe every week. My mom and the psychiatrist would talk. I don't remember any of the tests they gave me. I just sat there in the office quiet and didn't say a word. I don't know how much it cost either. I was difficult to diagnose.



EllenAspie
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 20 Sep 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 5

22 Sep 2011, 6:38 am

I'm 13 and I was diagnosed just a couple of days ago. It started with me having a depression this winter. It was horrible so my mum made me go to a psychiatrist once a week. Then a started to well worse and for about 1-2 month it was 2 times a week. Then it ended with me having a breakdown and being send to the hospital and a couple hours later I was sent home with anti depression pills. Then a I changed school which helped my depression a lot and it almost went away, but I still went to talk to some psychiatrist once in a while. Then a month ago they wanted to test me (I think it was called WISC or something) to see if anything was wrong with me.
3 days ago my mum came home with the results. 130 IQ and Asperger's Syndrome. I'm properly going out there so they can explain it personally in a couple of weeks and then I'll return to seeing my old psychiatrist once a month. :)



MagicMeerkat
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Jun 2011
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,979
Location: Mel's Hole

22 Sep 2011, 2:51 pm

Lots! I was diagnosed with PDD at four and AS at seven but aparently I presented more like LFA before I learned to speak at four. Back in the early 90's, people weren't as obsessed with trying to robotozice kids who presented just a tensy trace of autism as they are today.


_________________
Spell meerkat with a C, and I will bite you.


Tuttle
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,088
Location: Massachusetts

22 Sep 2011, 2:54 pm

My diagnosis wasn't done in sessions like that. There was theory that I had Asperger's, this theory had existed for years, and I saw someone who specialized in specifically diagnosing ASDs, I met with him for a background session (1 hour of background from both me and my parents), an evaluation session (4.5 hours of testing), and was diagnosed.



Yumeji
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2011
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 36

22 Sep 2011, 4:22 pm

Tuttle wrote:
My diagnosis wasn't done in sessions like that. There was theory that I had Asperger's, this theory had existed for years, and I saw someone who specialized in specifically diagnosing ASDs, I met with him for a background session (1 hour of background from both me and my parents), an evaluation session (4.5 hours of testing), and was diagnosed.


Do you still continue having sessions?



Tuttle
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,088
Location: Massachusetts

22 Sep 2011, 4:39 pm

Yumeji wrote:
Tuttle wrote:
My diagnosis wasn't done in sessions like that. There was theory that I had Asperger's, this theory had existed for years, and I saw someone who specialized in specifically diagnosing ASDs, I met with him for a background session (1 hour of background from both me and my parents), an evaluation session (4.5 hours of testing), and was diagnosed.


Do you still continue having sessions?


I'm seeing a counselor/psychotherapist who was recommended by the person who diagnosed me, but I have not seen the person who diagnosed me again. I am seeing her weekly.

I forgot to answer the price question - my diagnosis cost $1600, but it was covered by my insurance in at least it went into our deductible so the rest of the things that would go into the deductible are being covered now. However, I've heard the pricing ends up being different in Canada than here (I'm in Massachusetts).



n3rdgir1
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 29 Jan 2011
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 74
Location: Chicago, IL, US

22 Sep 2011, 6:14 pm

2 sessions, $275 US total.

The doctor said after two sessions that if i went to ten aspergers specialists, all ten would diagnose me. She didn't see a point in continuing since I only wanted to know for personal reasons and didn't need to file paperwork to try to get any assistance.



animalcrackers
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,207
Location: Somewhere

22 Sep 2011, 6:42 pm

First, I had an hour long conversation with a knowledgeable psychologist (who I see for therapy now) about the things that made me wonder if I had autism/AS, and I was told it seemed very, very likely that I did. I don't actually remember what this session cost, but it was somewhere around $100.

My official assessment (with a different psychologist) involved two testing/evaluation sessions and a follow-up meeting.
The first session was an entire eight hour day (the first part of the day involved an interview, the rest involved taking tests) and the second was six or seven hours long (all testing). The follow-up was, I think, only an hour long.

The official assessment was paid for the by Income/Employment Support (government social services)....so I have no idea what it cost.



pensieve
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,204
Location: Sydney, Australia

22 Sep 2011, 6:53 pm

DoniiMann wrote:
Didn't cost me anything. Was fully funded here in Australia as part of finding out what my issues were in relation to my employment history. AS wasn't on the radar. But after about four or five sessions the psychologist said he believed I was. He got my GP to agree and sign off on it, so I had an official AS diagnosis.

Can't imagine it would take too many sessions to get diagnosed if your psychologist picked up on it so quickly. Get him to do a cover letter justifying his diagnosis, then I'd expect it to go quickly.

Mine was similar to this except that it wasn't official.
Each session was $100 but I eventually got it back. It confused me muchly.

So I had to go see a psychiatrist who diagnosed me in about 20 minutes of the first session and then recommend I go on disability.
T'was free. Had to wait about nine months to see him though.


_________________
My band photography blog - http://lostthroughthelens.wordpress.com/
My personal blog - http://helptheywantmetosocialise.wordpress.com/


kfisherx
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Nov 2010
Age: 61
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,192

22 Sep 2011, 10:05 pm

n3rdgir1 wrote:
2 sessions, $275 US total.

The doctor said after two sessions that if i went to ten aspergers specialists, all ten would diagnose me. She didn't see a point in continuing since I only wanted to know for personal reasons and didn't need to file paperwork to try to get any assistance.


Pretty much this except it was like 5 min into first session at 160 dollars per hour. LOL!



KathySilverstein
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Age: 41
Gender: Female
Posts: 171

23 Sep 2011, 12:08 am

I went to a local psychologist who was covered by insurance,so I only had to pay the copay. Which I believe my parents probably covered. I think it was maybe 5 or 6 sessions, but he said I was a "textbook case of Aspergers" in the first session. I still toy with the idea of going back to see him. I hated some aspects of his personality, like his over inflated opinion of himself, but he really knew what he was talking about, and seemed like he might be able to help me. I had to stop when I went back to college, though. As I now live about 3 miles from his office,maybe some day I will go back to see him. That would be weird, though. Who knows. Been like 7 yrs.


_________________
A friend's book http://aspergerssociety.org/
Asperger's Poem I like http://www.aspergerssociety.org/articles/18.htm
Have AS, hoping to find community