Autism Diagnosis

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What is really annoying is that everytime I try to see the family psychiatrist, because my so-called Asperger's traits are virtually non-exsistent because of the fact that I have multiple mental health professionals assist me in my lifetime. Even when I try to show him a sample of the Asperger's Quotient and my results, he dismisses it and says that I don't "look autistic." (there is this one quiz that is reviewed by a team of licensed psychologists in which people can see if they meet the initial criteria to qualify for an autism/AS diagnosis, so I think it is pretty legitimate.) What is irritating is that he thinks that the majority of people with Asperger's syndrome cannot improve their social skills substantially and eventually have some degree of normal interaction with people. He basically thinks that they are going to remain like this for the rest of their lives. This is irritating, because I know that this is definitely not the case. Should I consult a different doctor or something? The main problem is, my parents don't exactly have the money to pay for an entire assessment and they are somewhat hell-bent (according to them) on keeping this particular doctor for the future. Does anyone know what my next course of action should be?

I have been in much the same situation with my Father who is a social worker and is able to diagnose people. I told him I was pretty sure I was autistic, and he dismissed it and completely ignored it. I was later diagnosed after a life crises drove me to desire self harm and suicidal thoughts. I would ask you why you want to consult with this family Psychologist in the first place while you are getting help from other mental health professionals. I would worry about working on the symptoms and not the full illness. What I mean by this is while i was meeting with my therapist he did not focus on Aspergers/Autism as a whole, but rather the individual problems that I had such as anxiety, depression, obsessive thoughts, social awkwardness, and handling stress. Regardless of if he thinks you have Autism or not is irreverent in my mind. I mean this in the sense that if I was dealing with depression for example. The Therapist will help resolve the causes of the depression, be it from failure, from stress, or from serotonin deficiency. Now this may not be your most favorable choice, yet You know that you have autism, you know what that means for you. Your psychologist cannot take that from you it is who you are for better or worse. I would say that regardless if there are some people who disagree with you. You know that you have autism. I am diagnosed and people disagree on occasion disagree with me and tell me "if you do have it is is very light". This remark always upsets me. I hate it, yet I know that I have it regardless of what others say. I am who I am and no one but me can tell me who I am. Anyway I hope this helps, if not than I wish you luck. If it helped than I wish you luck and don't allow it to upset you. It took me a year to convince my social working mental health professional Father that I have Aspergers. Don't allow this to upset you, you are welcome here and are an aspie family member to me regardless of your diagnosis. When I was still undiagnosed I was talking to an Asperger friend who gave me the following advice. He said "I wear the mask, the mask does not wear me" this was a quote from the Man in the Iron Mask. He told me that he doesn't let his Aspergers control him, yet he controls it. I was struggling with trying to grapple down a diagnosis, because I thought there was power in a diagnosis. I was diagnosed and I am the same person I was before I was diagnosed. Again I hope this helps, and I wish you luck

Someone I saw a couple years ago passed himself off as qualified to diagnose autism, and it became obvious he was in no way qualified. Told me I couldn't be autistic because I could interact and had a sense of humor.

I told my doctor some stuff he'd said and done and the doctor said the guy had been extremely unprofessional. My therapist was more blunt and said the guy was nuts.

If you're going to be evaluated for autism, make sure the person who's doing it isn't a "generalist", but rather is someone who specializes in autism. That's the only type of person who should be turned to for a final diagnosis.

@Sethno, what's funny is that my AQ is 44-45 range and on the Aspie traits test I scored 181 (which is on a scale of 200), the doctors still don't believe me, even when I offer to show it to them. The reason I act so normal is because my parents coached me extensively, otherwise I would have been more of an outcast. The problem is, my doctors are never there when I have a meltdown or have an otherwise bad day (such as deviating from my routing by just a little bit, which then proceeds to ruin my entire day.)

It can take considerable effort, time and patience to penetrate the thick skull of a typical western medical doctor. You have to realize that they will ignore nearly 95% of everything you say to them. They have a legendary ability to ignore others, a skill they have likely spent their whole career honing and perfecting.

Be prepared to be locked into a long drawn out battle of attrition of the minds and patience with your doctor. Keep switching up your approach and attack strategies until you are able to indentify a weakness in your opponent and exploit it.

Sometimes I appeal to their logic. Sometimes I appeal to their sense of empathy (if they have any). Sometimes I appeal to their professional abilities and competence. Sometimes I use narratives with filled with descriptive adjectives. Sometimes I employ carefully crafted analogies, or life examples. Sometimes I write my thoughts on paper and hand it to them. Sometimes I will even make use of a third party to try and bypass my doctor's ignoring abilties.

Good luck with that.

Those are screening tests, not diagnostic. Well the AQ is, the aspie quiz is just a quiz people do for fun. But what I mean is they're not conclusive tests. Is there any reason you need to be assessed? Any impairments in functioning which a diagnosis could offer support for? I say that because they may be more likely to listen to someone who's having problems, rather than how they probably see it as someone who scored high on an internet quiz.

The problem is, I mentioned the issues that I am having, but the doctor's mentality towards my struggles are "Oh, everyone has that struggle to some degree or another." For example, I mention meltdowns or having a natural tendency to talk nonstop about my "special interests" (ie things that I am obsessed with), or even being unable to tell what people's intentions are. And then the doctor responds with "everyone has that issue." That's what I find irritating. I know that doctors are more symptom-oriented rather than identifying patients with a specific illness/disease/symptom. Also, for your information, although the AQ is taken for fun, there are some aspects of it that do line up with a DSM-IV criteria (albeit somewhat broadly), which is why the fact that I mentioned it is somewhat important for someone who is considering that they have AS. Of course, it should not be substituted for an actual diagnosis by a clinician.

Also known as the "No big deal" card that doctor's often play over and over again. It helps them dismiss whatever concern you are trying to raise with them, and helps them rationalize ignoring you.

I can't tell you all the stupid s**t that I've heard come out of doctor's mouths over the years. I remember telling a GI specialist when I was 25 that a half a glass of orange juice would send me into a sleep so deep that it felt like I was hit by an elephant tranquilizer. He told me, oh yeah that's normal for a 25 year old. They will be able to ignore anything you say even that which would be painfully obvious even to a random person off the street with no education at all.

Just realize your doctor is probably full of bs, and its not you that is crazy, and just keep plugging away. Stick at it and with any luck eventually you will get through to him, many appointments and many dollars later. Sad but that is the reality.

ASD is the only 'disorder," that I can think of, where some people go to the "experts" expecting to them to diagnose them with autism. And then are p'offed if they don't get the expected dx. Diagnosing ASD is an art form. Go to every psychiatrist and mental health professional in your town, and everyone of them will give you a different dx.

I'm not talking about the traits. I'm talking about issues in daily functioning. If you're able to live your life normally they won't be interested. The DSM 4 is outdated, they go by the DSM 5 now. I think this line is important:

"D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning."

(from the DSM 5)

In my experience of getting diagnosed they want to see that first before trying to see the other parts. They work upwards. So the traits are irrelevant until they can see you have impairments in functioning.

I wasn't given the AQ nor the aspie quiz at any point during my diagnosis.

I'll quote my doctor on my last visit: "I'm not buying the autism thing". I normally wouldn't care but I was trying to get him to prescribe me a benzo to help with sensory problems and anxiety. He chalked up everything I told him as anxiety but I didn't really care because he prescribed me what I needed anyway.

I think it's hard for a doctor to notice autism in a patient doctor scenario, and I don't think they realize how much more apparent it would be if you and your doctor went to a party together for example. Either way if you're not looking for a specific medication to help with some of your symptoms related to autism or looking to file for disability, a diagnosis is worthless anyway IMO.

Yep! Do your own thing! Don't worry. I went 40 years before I was first diagnosed and ~45 years before I actually believed I had AS (after my second inadvertent diagnosis).

I lived with it for that long not knowing what was right with me!

Just so you know, I took the RAADVO-80 or whatever its called, which is considered one of the most accurate tests (according to scientific literature)out there to diagnose AS and scored way above the threshold needed to even have AS. Plus, I do have clinically significant issues with social interaction, it just doesn't happen every day. Even if I mention a specific example, such as how not being able to read someone's social cues and realizing they were angry caused me to have a roommate that was vicious at me for the last three months, since I had no idea what she was angry about or what there was to be angry about, the doctor still says that "it happens to everyone."

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/05/ ... rum/20323/

Seems more relevant here than in the 'news' section, as it fits the context.

Sometimes I also wonder what percentage of doctors are on the spectrum...

That is a commonly held flawed belief, held by even many doctors themselves that a diagnosis's only value is how it relates to treatment, ie drugs.

A diagnosis serves more purpose than just treatment alone. It allows someone to understand what is going on with them to allow the individual some peace of mind, to not see whatever their diagnosis has prevented them from doing in life a personal failure on their part.

It allows access to resources in terms of seeking employment, accommodations at school, it allows access to financial as well as community support related to the condition.

It is particularly important when the person with the diagnosis is dependent on others because it allows those that the patient is dependent on to understand what is going on with them, to understand what limitations the condition inposes on the patient and allows them to adjust their expectations accordingly.

With a diagnosis you can even with work those who specialize in this field to develop strategies to overcome certain obstacles that the diagnosis causes in the persons life.

With regards to autism, the diagnosis is important for those of your healthcare team to be able to understand what it is that you are going through and with the diagnosis they can better understand other health issues secondary to autism such as the increased risk of depression, how it relates to sleeping difficulties and digestive issues as well as a whole host of issues that are relevant to a person with autism. Without an autism diagnosis it is going to be difficult for ANYONE to see the whole picture of what is going on.

I don't think I would take the opinion of a psychiatrist too seriously. They usually only see you for a 20 minute session--how can anybody diagnose anything in that amount of time??? The data is too sparse, and the setting is not likely to be stressful enough to bring out autistic traits (crowds, noise, heat, etc.). I've also found they tend to focus more on medication management and symptoms rather than diagnosing the root cause. So, here are some pills for your anxiety and depression, but let's not focus on specific ways to deal with it. They mostly just push the talking cure or cognitive therapy, no specific therapies for autism.

I saw two psychiatrists and told them about my suspicion that I was ASD. The first laughed in my face and then claimed that she hadn't. The second refused to believe it even after I had a non-verbal meltdown in her office. She said, "We don't do labels here," as though I were five.

I did manage to get psychiatrist #2 to refer me to a clinical psychologist for testing for ASD. That was several hours of testing: an IQ test to get my cognitive level, and the ADOS-IV for the ASD. I got a moderate score of ASD, 3 points above being severe. My psychiatrist was pretty surprised. See if you can get the tests from a clinical psychologist--that's their speciality.