Has anybody ever been NOT 'diagnosed'?

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This forum has many people who are agonising over the pros and cons of going for a professional confirmation of their self-diagnosis of ASD.

There are lots of people who have had their self-diagnosis confirmed, and there are lots of people who have been unable to access any kind of assessment process.

But I have never heard of anybody being told that their self-diagnosis is incorrect, and that they are in fact neuro-typical.

There was a member who I believe was diagnosed with a more debilitating psychiatric issue when they eventually sought diagnosis. So yes they were diagnosed as NT with mental health issues.

My diagnosis in January 2014 found me having Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, not Asperger's Syndrome.

As I have described in another topic, my diagnostician was a clinician with a Master's degree who usually diagnosed AS children younger than 11 years of age. I believe that she diagnosed the GAD and OCD correctly (as they are frequently co-occurrent with AS), but missed the forest for the trees. I had brought copies of my University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre screening tests which had scores well beyond those of known Aspies, but she didn't even mention them in her written diagnostic review. I asked her about how she believed that my screening-tests results and written list of patient-history characteristics affected her diagnosis, and her answers made it clear to me that she hadn't done much more than glance at them.

I shouldn't have expected more from a childhood AS diagnostician and clinician. She was nice enough in my opinion, but failed to account specifically for adult AS characteristics and previous screening tests.

It's better to complain and blame psychiatry than being wrong.

...

You and CosmicRuss have to use "allistic" or "nonautistic" instead of "neurotypical".



Edited: missing verb

Last edited by neobluex on 02 Jul 2014, 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I may very likely end up not being diagnosed at my assessment on August 19th. I have most of the symptoms, and it would account for my entire childhood, but I worry I'll just be told I have social anxiety or avoidant personality disorder which are things I've already been diagnosed with and don't account for all my developmental delays.

AspieUtah - you appear to have rejected the opinion of the professional whose help you sought.

lyricalillusions - you appear to have already decided that if your diagnosis is not to your liking, then you will reject it.

Not exactly. I agree with her diagnoses of my AS factors (GAD and OCD). I expected her to conclude that an AS diagnosis was warranted based on: 1) the known AS co-occurence of the AS factors that she had just diagnosed, 2) my Cambridge screening-test results being well beyond control thresholds, and 3) my lifelong patient-history AS characteristics. She stated only that she found no evidence to support an AS diagnosis based on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) multiphasic test that I completed.

I expected that, if she disagreed with an AS diagnosis, she would have examined each of my three warranted bases in detail to refute them or to minimize the credibility she was willing to afford each. She did none of that. There was no mention of either basis. I learned later that the PAI test has never been approved (let alone assessed) for use in screening or diagnosing AS in adults or children. Her written diagnostic review stated that her opinions were based on my PAI results. Therefore, her conclusion to diagnose me as not having AS had no clinical foundation especially considering her apparent dismissal of my screening-test results and patient-history AS characteristics which left only my misapplied PAI-test results to inform her opinion. Furthermore, her usual practice in diagnosing childhood AS should probably have encouraged her professionally to decline a diagnosis altogether and refer me to a colleague or other diagnostician known to her.

So, yeah, I reject much of her opinion. I suspect also that the then relatively new DSM-5 diagnostic criteria might have disuaded her some.

its interesting, I have never heard of someone who were told they did not have it when they thought they did, If the person was already self diagnosed maybe they would prefer not to say that they had been proven wrong.

If it were me I would be upset, if you think you have found something that explains everything about the troubles you have and that you aren't alone it would be frustrating to be told that no you have not found an answer.

that's why I am concerned about being diagnosed, I don't trust that I am not deluding myself

Well, like I said, I believe that my diagnostician was in over her head professionally trying to do something (diagnose adult AS) in which she had relatively little experience and even less evidence which she accepted. I doubt her misunderstanding was intentional. Besides, she DID confirm two AS factors which I had suspected while completing the Cambridge screening tests.

All in all, I have more than enough evidence to convince myself and those who believe me that I have AS. As I have written elsewhere, I might seek an AS genetic test if and when one becomes available, but just for curiousity's sake.

I think its commendable that you are confident in yourself to know, I think unfortunately adult diagnosis needs to be improved quite a lot. Do you think genetic testing is going to be available in the near future? it would certainly make things easier.

The focus appears to me to be currently on boys under 11 years of age. The existence of girls and adults with AS seems to flummox the institutional knowledge base. Much more needs to be researched and improved.

I don't know when an AS genetic test will be ready for clinical use, but, with the rapidity in which genetic markers are being identified, I believe it might be years, not decades before we see one or more tests. Just my opinion.

This is what I'm afraid of.

yeah its a very difficult state to be in, I am in mixed minds, am I happier not knowing rather than being proved wrong, but would I want to miss the chance that I am right, its such a difficult situation I do know that it would really throw me if I were wrong

A little aggravating, sure, but nobody would be able to change my opinion without good evidence, and, even then, I would chalk it up as a difference of opinions. I don't need another person's opinion of me to validat what I believe already about myself. No one should.

Besides, there are several ways to conclude a diagnosis. I chose the Cambridge tests.

I'm very worried about this scenario too. I'm in the process of getting my assessment scheduled and I'm really worried that the person who does my assessment won't agree with me and my best friend. She's going to my assessment with me, and is probably more convinced than I am that I'm autistic.

that's true, no one should need that, I probably put to much faith in the psychological profession, I mean as of yet there is no sure fire way to know 100% anyway, I suppose I want back up confirmation so I can stop doubting, you know if someone else agrees I can't be delusional kind of thing.

I suppose you also have to question the point of labelling, if you are not going to benefit form extra help that Is. I have always loved having answers for everything though, it makes everything nice and in boxes