How is armchair diagnosing not against the rules?

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Threads keep starting where the OP suspects they're autistic, and people are responding telling them they're probably autistic.

I didn't know saying you think its likely someone might have autism is the same thing as diagnosing. Its not like the person can print off the thread and use that as proof of 'diagnoses'. But yes a lot of people find out about their autism before they are able to go get a professional diagnoses.

Too be honest, I don't really read those threads because only a psychologist or a psychiatrist can diagnose them or give them their professional opinion if they are or not.

Exactly, but not once does anyone even mention going to get assessed, just they tell them they're probably autistic. I worry OPs get the answer they want and that's it for them.

And why is this such a problem?

Because OP may not even be autistic.

Nobody's saying "Yes, you're definitely autistic". And nobody's going to take away this information and use it in any way beyond perhaps helping themselves, either.

Personally, I don't see the point of such threads. The people who write them have obviously already read through lists of autistic traits, because they're reeling them off, so they don't need other forum users to confirm that those are, in fact, traits of autism. (Nobody says "Am I autistic? I absolutely love cookies". All of the listed traits are usually relevant ones). So, the threads don't seem necessary at all, but I don't imagine they're harming anyone. Usually, they're something close to a starting point, not the end of someone's journey of discovery.

I could be wrong, of course, but I would guess more people are saying "possibly" rather than "probably"...but either way, what would you do with those of us who were already adults prior to the 1990s? A diagnosis today would be virtually impossible for me and I do not self-diagnose, yet I do tell people I am on the autism spectrum -- a brilliant-minded social misfit stuck somewhere between Rainman and Spock (and definitely a good driver) -- with AS/HFA because others who have been diagnosed have at least agreed that is certainly a possibility. I surely mean no offense to anyone, but the presence of a professional diagnosis is *not* what makes anyone as an Aspie.

Nope, "probably". And plenty have been diagnosed older than you so it's not virtually impossible. If you tell people you are how is that not self-diagnosis? People with AS/HFA are not (necessarily) doctors.

I said virtually impossible for me, and I defy you to prove me wrong!


It is speculative, and I again defy you to prove me wrong!

What real difference does it make? Why should anyone care? If someone comes to the conclusion they're autistic because of an internet armchair diagnosis, and they don't start acting obnoxious about it, then what's the issue?

I don't understand what is so wrong with sharing information... It's only speculation, a loose discussion that could at best be likened to a screening, no one calls that a diagnosis.

Considering the financial cost it's best for people to make an informed decision before paying for screening and then perhaps a diagnosis ... asking people here for their opinions (especially those who understand the nuances of the screening questions) makes perfect sense to me.

I, like many people here, always advise people asking these questions to seek a professional diagnosis.

And I, like many people here, do consider the "symptoms," and offer speculations. But with a strong caveat.... namely, that in order to even have a decent uneducated notion pertaining to autism, that one must observe a person IN PERSON, in many different sorts of social/linguistic environments.

Agreed, and I am actually a bit surprised by how much easier it now seems to be for some people to get an adult diagnosis from a professional who cannot possibly do that and who likely has no more access to childhood history today than others who in the past have been unable to decidedly diagnose people have had. When I first asked in 2011, the psychiatrist I saw diagnosed mood disorder - nos, personality disorder - nos and generalized anxiety disorder without saying anything to even indicate how she had arrived at those conclusions. I have no complaint about that, but my mother is deceased, my father sometimes has difficulty even remembering which name belongs to which son and...well, you get the idea. So overall, the very best I could do was to spend a *lot* of time looking at as much as I possibly could while talking with some professionally-diagnosed Aspies willing to at least try to help me sort things out.

If poster suspects they are autistic, lists thier traits and another member thinks what is bieng described is probably autism should they say they I do not think that you are autistic, or I am not going to offer my opinion, get a real diagnosis in order to satisfy the proffessional diagnosis warriors? Maybe the solution should be that WP should set up a safe space for people triggered by amatuer opinions about other peoples neurology.

I will say this again although based on the past I doubt this will have any effect, but anybody like myself who has gotten proffesionally diagnosed should be greatful, and not assume others are just not trying hard enough.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 02 Jan 2017, 5:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

because it's not a diagnosis.

i know what you're referring to.

if people get triggered because the feedback they get goes against the suspicious they held, that's their own problem, and it's not something that the mods need to be bogged down with.