Is my psychologist correct?

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Hello, I'm a 16 year old boy who believes I have High functioning Autism. I've been to my psychologist 3 times and he said from what he's seen so far I don't have autism. He said I most likely have generalized anxiety disorder. He specializes in Autism so after talking to me 3 times do you think he can make a good judgement? He basically said I'm just an "anxious smart kid" and that there are many misconceptions about autism.
These are my symptoms.
I have a lack of emotion in facial expression and voice.
Hyposensitive to smells, can't smell most things.
Hypersensitive to touch, Haircut pain, don't like certain clothes, random pain, don't like lotion and sunscreen feeling etc. Don't like certain food textures. Enjoy pressure on my body. Sit so my legs have constant pressure. Hypersensitive to sound, sudden loud sound bother me, sounds are louder sometimes. Don't like certain sounds they make me cringe and get chills on my body. Vision goes blurry sometimes when a area is loud. Can't focus when there's constant sound. Sight - can only focus on one detail of something when I focus on it. Can't catch things well.
Anti-social, don't enjoy-understand conversations that don't have importance "small talk". Sometimes can't  catch sarcasm or when someone is joking. Hard time explaining myself. Don't enjoy large crowds and they make me anxious. Can't eat enough when I'm out because of my anxiety in these situations. Don't like to go out much or go to social gatherings.  Don't catch some social cues. Don't understand other people's humor and the way they act.
High anxiety and depression.

Bad short term memory.

OCD Tendencies. Repeat things in my head that I need to remember constantly and can't stop myself. Do the same thing repeatedly to make sure I did it but keep checking. Makes sure all my clothes have no hair-lint on them and get highly bothered if they do.

Hand fidgeting - and other types of stimming. Repetitive movements.

Certain interests that I know a lot about and focus-think on a lot.

Difficulties in certain schools assignments but make good grades.

Uncomfortable feeling when I make eye contact.

Love arguing.

Logical thinking.

Don't understand others perspectives.

Very indecisive

Lack of empathy

Fruit allergy, break out on skin, itchy, Apple's, pineapple, bananna, water melon, grapes, peaches, plum, grape fruit, avocado, other


Can't enjoy movies because I see all the flaws.

Feel like I was either born on the wrong planet or everyone is acting and I'm the only normal one.

Have are hard time switching topic in a conversation and understanding sudden change in my environment. In school when we would do a random group activity or something involving a activity that we don't do often I have hard time adapting to it.

Animals have always been drawn to me.

Prefer to have conversations with myself and sometimes catch my self subconsciously doing it.

Only have one really good friend.

Practice conversations subconsciously.

Had seasonal allergies but no longer do.

Hard time spelling but in a grade level ahead in English class. Very high reading ability.

Don't have to try to make good grades.

Hard time in math but still pass the classes.

Zone out when stressed or randomly.

Choke on food (a lot when I was young)

Hanged upside down a lot as a kid.

Like spinning in my socks. (Did it way more as a kid)

Hi Quickstain!

I am a sociologist who researches autism in adults. I have been on hiatus for the greater part of this year and just dropped into WP today to say hi to friends. I do have an interest in younger people on the spectrum, but as I refuse to go to the official autism "training" that would give me a certification, keep in mind that I am an academic professional, not able (or willing) to give therapeutic advice.

It's hard to tell how qualified any given psychologist is to diagnose autism, so it's hard to say how much their professional opinion means. Their experience seriously might have ended at a couple chapters in a book, or they may know a great deal about it. It's kind of random. My general rule of thumb is: Does what the medical professional say make sense to you? If it doesn't, maybe you should research on your own, which I believe you are doing right now. Don't ever let another person's opinion replace your own judgment. If after doing thorough research, you feel that autism is a fitting description for you, I would be comfortable saying you are correct.

Here are my favorite two online self-diagnostic tests: http://www.aspietests.org/raads/ and http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

If I were you, I would take both. Keep in mind that these are for adults. You are probably old enough for them to be accurate, but they may be a little less accurate than if you were, say, 23.

Another thing to consider is what is the purpose of knowing that you are a certain kind of person? Will you want to live openly or keep it to yourself? If your psychologist does not believe that you are autistic, you are probably able to "pass". That would mean that it would be stressful for your autistic issues to not be taken seriously, but it would give you more life flexibility. Just some stuff to think about.

It could be that you are on the spectrum but that you are so high functioning that a diagnosis would do more harm than good. There is often a stigma associated with going to special classes intended to help lower functioning autistics.

Some kids are pushed so hard to be "normal" that they get stressed out from all the "help."

Welcome to WP.
I don't think GAD explains everything in your list so there might be something else going on - as to what , sorry I can't help with that but as SocOfAutism has said do some research. Stick around here and ask lots of questions to satisfy your thirst for self knowledge.

If he specializes in autism, I would trust him with his opinion and explore other possibilities. Explore the reason behind your symptoms and continue talking about your symptoms. He could change his mind. But if he is all focused on anxiety and blames everything on anxiety without really listening to you, I would get a new therapist. You don't want a doctor that only focuses on labels.

No-one really knows the actual rate of missed and misdiagnosis applied to people who are on the spectrum though clinicians don't pick it up, but we do know (particularly from reports here) that there are clinicians who have an inadequate knowledge and understanding of the different presentations of ASD's, and some whose knowledge has apparently been acquired from casual, unreliable sources. Anxiety is one of the conditions that seems to particularly confuse and mislead clinicians, as it is a reasonably common "co-morbid" condition, here is an abstract from Pubmed:


2015 Apr;23(2):120-3. doi: 10.1177/1039856214568214. Epub 2015 Feb 4.
Misdiagnosis versus missed diagnosis: diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in adolescents.
Aggarwal S1, Angus B2.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is sometimes delayed until adolescence. This study tries to identify the symptoms in clients that initiated a referral to an autism team of an early intervention service providing psychiatric care for young people between the ages of 15 and 25 and who subsequently receive a new diagnosis of autism.

METHODS: Thirty-one ASD assessments were carried out during a period of 3 years in an early intervention service in Australia. An attempt to identify the common presenting symptoms and trends in the referrals for ASD assessment within the service was made.

RESULTS: Most common presentation of adolescents getting referred for ASD assessment was with depressive symptoms followed by mixed anxiety and depression. There was a significant gender difference, with a higher number of males getting referred for ASD assessment.

CONCLUSION: ASDs can go undetected during childhood and these clients can sometimes present during adolescence to mental health services for a psychiatric comorbidity. Regular training opportunities for clinicians dealing with them could improve the chances of ASDs being picked up during their episode of care at an early intervention service, thus optimizing their management.

...
You describe some classic AS features in your opening post. The process of self discovery can be a complicated journey, and one clinician's opinion is one clinician's opinion; in your case it may be very worthwhile to seek out a highly qualified (in ASD specifically) psychologist. I also think you might find the various videos on YouTube by Tony Attwood of interest at this stage.

SocofAutism: good to see you again, always a pleasure to read your posts.

Does he know about all the traits you wrote about here?

Was the assessment really based on just 3 conversations? Observation is part of an assessment but that is usually combined with tests, interviews with parents and school records.

Specializing in autism does not equate to being knowledgeable about it. Anybody can claim they are a specialist.

Sounds like he's decided you're not, on the basis of a quick informal screening. It seems the accepted way, to do a glib screening test that likely gives a lot of false negatives, and stop looking further at ASD if the result is negative. He might be right. If it were me, unless there were adjustments and benefits to be had from being labelled ASD, if the psych agreed with me about my individual traits, I'd probably be OK confining the sessions to discussing the traits, and not worry too much about what it was all called. If it was a psych meds issue (pressure to take them for anxiety that could have been resisted if it were agreed that it was ASD), I'd make my own mind up and might even say "I still think it could be ASD, and meds don't really help with that, and I don't trust them, so no thanks." But diagnosed ASDers are sometimes offered sedatives, and sometimes they want to try them. So not much of a need from that to have him remain open minded about the possibility.

I think he covered the meds issue by diagnosing GAD, so he can get them if he needs them.

What seems missing is what he hopes to get by getting an autism diagnosis. It sounds like he is doing well enough in school to hold down a job when the time comes for that.

I think we could all use someone to shadow us in social situations and tell us how we could have done better, but I doubt an autism diagnosis is going to help with that.

A second opinion may be worth exploring.

If you're psychologist is good, he will not object and offer to recommend someone. Or you can find someone else on your own

Do keep this in mind...
While an answer would be nice as it gives you some direction in finding some of the help that would be, uh, helpful, keep in mind that it will not change anything about you. You are still the same individual regardless of the diagnosis. How you deal with each of the aspects will be the same as if you have an official diagnosis.

*disclaimer* Depending on where you are, resources may be available to you dependent on diagnosis.

Don't let a diagnosis or lack thereof become a big issue. I've seen quite a few worry too much about it when it, for the most part, will not change anything.

Those are good points with which I agree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twice_exceptional

Perhaps you aren't being challenged enough in school? I did much better when I had an opportunity to compete with the best students.

https://psmag.com/education/betsy-devos ... ity-rights
If services disappear, don't be surprised. It is a goal of the current administration.

If you think he's wrong, you should tell him that. Ask for a follow-up with him to explain why he doesn't believe you have it. I'm sure he can be more specific than what you've described here. As for your symptoms, I should say that an important fact about autism traits (or any disorder) that most people don't think of, is that each trait has to affect your ability to function in a significant way in order to count as a symptom. To illustrate the difference, when my doctor started talking about an SPD diagnosis with me, I brought home a book for my mom to read about the disorder. My older sister picked up the book and started going on about how she had this symptom or that. "Oh, I don't like touching cotton." Comments like that. She started to think that she had it, and I had to remind her that she did touch cotton, very often, without a problem. It was a quirk, it could even be called a trait of SPD, but it was not a symptom of a disorder because it did not disorder her ability to function. Now, when I touch a texture I don't like, I feel like I'm dying, which is a vastly different thing from her small aversion. I'm not saying that your traits are insignificant - I certainly wouldn't know - but just keep in mind the distinction between a quirk and a symptom. I feel like many people pursue a diagnosis without meeting the full criteria for a disorder because they blow some of their traits out of proportion. It's easy to do.

Quick Stain,

You may consider Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NVLD) which often mirrors some characteristics of Autism. Not as a definite but generally Autism individuals do not struggle with short term memory or maths. NVLD individuals would have trouble with those items and do well in Reading comprehension.

Quick update for the individual's curious about my journey. I have done much research and I have found that many of the signs and symptoms I have that I considered Autistic are actually caused by my "Giftedness". I taught mysef how to read and write in preschool and I was in my schools gifted program and was also invited or recommended to be in the Artistic gifted classes as well but Art was just my hobby. I'm no longer in the gifted program in high school because the school I went to for my freshman year didn't provide it and I moved to a new State for my Sophomore year and I still in that school for this year (Junior year). I am in classes ahead of my grade level even though I don't necessarily try. I thought maybe me being gifted caused them problems but mine seemed too extreme and I thought it was egotistical to assume that the cause. But now I've reconsidered my options because I was verbally and physically abused for 5 years of my childhood and I found that's very detrimental to a gifted child's development and could be a main reason for my issues.

Thanks for the update.

Based on your list, I'd say there are certainly characteristics of autism up there. Doesn't mean you're autistic. I think a second opinion is still a good suggestion, even if you now feel that you are not autistic.