Are many people misdiagnosed with Asperger's?

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league girl:

I say I have AS because that's my diagnosis and because if I ever tell anyone outside family, I think they won't believe me if I say autism. But in reality, I think I have autism, not AS or HFA or LFA. I have autism, with certain specific traits that I can't distinguish from my personality and because of that I can't define myself any more narrowly than that. To be honest I also think those definitions are rather arbitrary.

If I had to choose a term though, I'd prefer HFA. I don't think calling the better adapted individuals on the spectrum by a completely different name, such as Asperger's, does anyone any good, it makes it sound like it's a completely unrelated condition. It makes AS-problems smaller than they are and makes it more difficult for NT's to realize that autistic people are not some exotic species or a particular brand of hopeless people, but rather fellow men and women who are on a sliding scale of varying degrees of impairments in three key areas.

Sorry, rant alert again.

I think more people with AS are diagnosed with stuff they don't have. I can't back that view up with research or anything, that's just my opinion. Before being diagnosed as AS, psychologists/doctors played around with diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder, depression, OCD, PTSD, stuff like that. I just recently got an AS diagnoses. I dated a guy who I'm fairly certain is AS, but he was diagnosed with BPD. I feel that he was misdiagnosed as well.

I read something just yesterday (unfortunately, I don't have a link) that said that the DSM is designed for researchers, not for those treat people. So, the categories and diagnostic criteria are designed for helping to study these disorders, not for helping people deal with and/or overcome these disorders. It also says the upcoming one will be more friendly to those in the treatment business. (I think it used the word clinicians, as contrasted with researchers.)

I'm going to say something controversial and say that I think MOST Asperger's diagnoses are misdiagnosed.

My diagnosis is Asperger's. It was technically a misdiagnosis because I had problems with adaptive skills and conversational speech; but because I was diagnosed only after I had caught up on the ones NTs learn by the age of twelve, this was missed.

The correct diagnosis should've been PDD-NOS. In childhood, it would have been Autistic Disorder; but by the time I was ten, the language issues had sorted themselves out and I had learned to use language flexibly and in a conversation. So, by the time I was diagnosed, at 20, Autistic Disorder should have turned to PDD-NOS (unless you use the strictest interpretation, in which case it is still Autistic Disorder because I still lack "social reciprocity"--i.e., I have never had a friendship that the other person did not maintain almost single-handedly.)

This doesn't particularly bother me any more than the general messiness of autism diagnosis does, because I've been able to get the help I need with the Asperger's label, and because while I may not technically be Asperger's, it seems to me that most people who are labeled Asperger's aren't technically Asperger's any more than I am. Odd or even delayed speech, adaptive skills delays, and various other factors knock them out of the AS category.

So... Most AS cases are misdiagnosed--not because the person is not on the Spectrum, but because, the way the criteria are written, he is a non-Asperger's autistic. AS is really more of a stereotype than a legitimate diagnostic category.

My diagnoses should have been PDD-NOS but my diagnoses is AS.

I am a wonderful cook and an excellent driver. My AS is most detectable when dealing with people and in social situations, in all other situations I am actually quite talented, except when it comes to doing arithmatic in my head. On the phone, I am an excellent communicator. In person, I am lousy at it.
I am also obsessive and find switching gears on a mental level difficult.
As a child, I had no cognitive delays whatsoever.

I've sometimes wondered if my AS is actually just really mild autism or something. Because I DID have speech delays, I DID have self help delays and things like that. I also don't fit the "spocky" left brained stereotype of AS, I'm more the right brained HFA type if anything.

I have recently re-reviewed my results of my Aspergers Diagnoses and I cant help but wonder about my diagnoses. I was tested back in 2008 and I am 23 years old now. It is a bit late for me to get into details now but lets just say I debate the psychiatrist/doctor I went to. My sister is High Functioning Autism and I know she is. Me on the other hand.. I feel like some days yes and some days no.. I don't know. I am gonna look into it. It's especially weird sometimes cause people tell me that they don't really see anything wrong with me. (Until I start talking to myself then it gets a lil weird (I don't hear voices, I actually some times have scenarios in my head that I have to play out or sometimes i have to hear what I am thinking other wise I feel I am not thinking sometimes.)) I don't know maybe I am just weird.

Children who exhibit autistic features, or who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, are not necessarily autistic.
Some of these misdiagnosed children employ autistic defenses to protect themselves against abuse or neglect, keeping outsiders,
even those close to them, at a safe distance.

A conservative estimate is that around 30% of people on the spectrum may have co-morbid conditions. Those with untreated bipolar run a 15-20% risk of committing suicide. A range of personality disorders can also occur in people with autism, especially Avoidant, Schizoid, Schizotypal and Dependent personality disorders and more recently a number of books have addressed Narcissistic personality disorder in children to distinguish it from Asperger's without co-occurring NPD. There are also dissociative disorders such as depersonalisation, derealisation, dissociation which those with autism experience more commonly than the general population and which may predispose them to things like Exposure Anxiety, and, under circumstances like chronic bullying, PTSD.

Children are rarely diagnosed with a personality disorder.

Gut brain connection and aspergers.

You CAN rewire your brain! It is a fact! Not a dispute, or an argument!

(It is superimportant to know, and understand you, and your surroundings.) I'm out!

I had a language delay when younger and was diagnosed recently with autism spectrum disorder and for some reason, patially having traits of aspergers. I'm not sure how it works that I'm diagnosed as being on the spectrum but not aspergers.

I definitely agree that you can adapt and improve with practice, especially social skills. If you don't practice you cannot get better. It's the same with anything though because the more you do something the easier it becomes