PSYCHOLOGIST MADE A FOOL OUT OF ME

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That makes sense. Some people get upset and think that because they went to school for it they are the ones who are in the know and you are just trying to take away their jawb!

How many assessments have you been to now?

To me reading all the posts you have made since I have been here it seems like a diagnosis of AS is the only one you are going to accept. When it was suggested possible mental health issues such as BPD you made some quite insulting comments towards people who have had mental heath problems.
Are you willing to accept that maybe the route of your problems is not Aspergers but something else because if you go to see doctors or psychologists or whoever and don't accept that it might be something else then you might just keep on having assessments.

You have to be open and willing to accept whatever comes. Not the first diagnosis by any means, just when you go, you have to be open to suggestions if that makes sense.

Same here. I was diagnosed at one time with borderline disorder after several suicide attempts in my late teens & early 20s. I was never a 'cutter' but my attempts to end myself were creative, to say the least. The reason I gave them for the suicide attempts comes right back to AS and they didn't see it at the time. [My reasons involved the fact that I'd always felt there was something fundamentally 'wrong' with me, people always thought I was weird and no matter how hard I tried, no one wanted anything to do with me. This brought on social anxiety and a profound, deep depression I couldn't shake). For one thing, AS was almost unheard-of back then and none of my doctors had ever dealt with it. I was in my mid thirties when AS finally came onto their radar screen. When I found out that AS might be my problem, my whole outlook on life changed. I wasn't 'crazy,' I was just 'different.' It answered a lot of questions for me and, in a sense, brought about a peace of mind.



At that point I would have got up and walked out of the office after telling him to go back to college and take a few more courses on patient relations. What a sh*tty way to treat a patient, AS or not! Part of this is the 'fad' going on right now with people thinking they might have some kind of ASD &/or Aspergers. When they hear a new patient bring up the subject and start quoting DSM-IV criteria, they think, "Here we go with another one..." I believe that my son was misdiagnosed when he was little - they insisted he had ADHD when even at the time I suspected he might have some form of autism. I didn't know much about it back then or I would have taken him to a different doctor - one willing to listen - and this might have prevented my son from being prescribed Ritalin and Dexedrine, medications that didn't help him and only made him thin and sick-looking. A good psychologist has an open mind and considers all options and they NEVER say something to a patient like what the one said to you, above. That is disgraceful and in my view its a violation of the hippocratic oath.

That's not true at all. Are there people who aren't autistic and think they are? Probably. But all "professional" really means is you get paid for what you do.

Well, they could AT LEAST give a person a little checklist and say "If you match the criteria HERE, THEN we can talk." The checklist could include things like:

BEFORE you were 8 and as early as you can remember, please give detail where you can....

1. Did you seem arrogant or rude, even though you simply said the truth?
2. Did you have trouble making friends, even though you thought you acted civily, etc...?
3. Did you play with other kids?
4. Did you always seem interested in things odd for your age?
5. Did you seem to understand things others didn't, and vice/versa?
6. Did you always seem more or less sensitive to Light, Cold, Touch, Sound than other kids?
7. Was your early vocabulary advanced, compared to others your age?
8. Did you seem to lack emotion to others, or inable to detect others emotion?
9. Did you have strong interests you were basically OBSESSED with?
10. Did your parents notice significantly advanced or delayed development before you were 3?

A LOT of people would probably stop within the first few items.

My answers, not boring you with detail, would be YES,YES,Not generally,YES,YES,YES,YES,Sometimes,YES,YES.

Granted not everyone that has an ASD will answer these the same way, even in general, and there are other questions one might ask. I thought 10 questions is simple. I picked 8 because it is about when things REALLY change, and it is a span of life anyone should remember. Some texts say some AS problems don't become obvious until about 6 or 7. That probably IS the time when they first generally have a chance at becoming obvious.

BTW I was laughed at by a doctor when I merely ASKED for tests like "lyme disease". I had symptoms that COULD have been lyme disease, I was in areas where they HAVE had lyme disease, and any symptoms I was "missing" were not consistent. I would have INSISTED on the test except the doctor told me it cost a LOT! Hard to believe, for a blood test.

Rather than making fun of me, they should have suggested a BETTER option. 75% of the problems I have had I had to figure out MYSELF!

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Last edited by Sorenna on 31 May 2008, 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have a long reportoire with psychologists in practically every corner of my state.

They treat you with condescension and with arrogance and I felt my condition EXACERBATE rather then improve.

In hindsight, I learned not to trust "professionals" because they regurgitate college textbooks and instruction.

Of course society is unbelievable so remember psychologists think in NT terms and it's like speaking Quechua to them, well at least for me.

I learned (i am forced) to evalute myself once in while, because the awful truth is nobody else can in this NT world.

the sad 'fact' is that if the psychiatrist says you're not AS, so does the Insurance company. And if you live in the US...the alternative's pretty spendy...

Whatever it is I have, I'd want to at least have someone to help me deal with it, whether it's called AS or George...

As many people have said already, the psychologist could be wrong. Here is the deal with the DSM-IV ----> it's the professionals perception of what they are seeing before them. So this psychologist doesn't perceive you have aspergers...but then the next 2 psychologists do....then the next 4 or 5 don't....etc. You can have a ROOM full of professionals and get a different diagnosis from every single one of them. Try not to take it personally. Just try to find a professional who you feel is a good match for you, let them get to know you, and see what they have to say. I think it would take more than just a few appointments to get an accurate diagnosis.
Dawn

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Last edited by Zwerfbeertje on 31 May 2008, 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

I will answer it best as I can, from memory.

1. Did you seem arrogant or rude, even though you simply said the truth? Yes, or misunderstood.
2. Did you have trouble making friends, even though you thought you acted civily, etc...? Yes, extremely difficult.
3. Did you play with other kids? Sometimes, though I was as likely to be reading, or staring at the trees, or looking for iron pyrite.
4. Did you always seem interested in things odd for your age? Yes.
5. Did you seem to understand things others didn't, and vice/versa? Yes.
6. Did you always seem more or less sensitive to Light, Cold, Touch, Sound than other kids? Yes.
7. Was your early vocabulary advanced, compared to others your age? Yes, advanced w/ speech impediments.
8. Did you seem to lack emotion to others, or inable to detect others emotion? I felt detached and didn't know how to respond.
9. Did you have strong interests you were basically OBSESSED with? Yes, yes, yes.
10. Did your parents notice significantly advanced or delayed development before you were 3? Somewhat, yes.


M.

They called me a knowitall, rude, etc... And accused me of interrupting all the time(EVEN when I was merely finishing what I started)! So "expect an 8yo to recognize it?" Maybe NOT! It is actually MORE meaningful if s/he finds out from OTHERS!

BTW about the knowitall comment? I ALWAYS said I didn't know everything! MANY TODAY have said I seem to. I get paid for telling people things I could probably have told them when I was 5. My parents call me for advice/info on LOTS of things. I never knew EVERYTHING, but I knew a lot.

When others eyes glaze over or they say "YOU CAN'T KNOW THAT" or they believe you don't know about something, or all the books you see on the subject are for ADULTS, I would say that is a clear indication the interest is unusual for your age.

When you are constantly queried on how you feel, or accused of not feeling a way when you do, or not feeling dispair when everyone else seems to, though you cared a LOT for the person, that gives a good idea of the disparity in emotion.

If my list were perfect, there would be no reason to go to a psychiatrist. I never said it was perfect. In fact, I said it wasn't!

Still, it is FAR better than you seem to believe.

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Last edited by Sorenna on 31 May 2008, 10:07 am, edited 2 times in total.

an example of when a psychiatrist was wrong is when one tried to manage my AS by giving meds to make me more social. The bigest reprocution was violent outbursts.