Hello everyone. I'm Nicole, you can call me Niko. I was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - level 1 in April 2016. At this time, I was also said to have a learning disability. I would have never looked into getting an autism diagnosis if my psychiatrist didn't point it out to me that I have several symptoms of autism. With my psychiatrist, I was diagnosed with generalized and social anxiety for sure, and unsure if I have OCD and/or panic disorder or not, because I tried talking to my psych about it. The last person I saw made me quite upset and didn't take my own opinions of myself, saying everyone gets panic attacks once a month lasting for hours. People usually only get one panic attack in their life, not several.
Anyways, partial rant there. I mainly came here to find people like me. I have an intense interest in mental illness, and can tell you basically anything you need to know about anxiety disorders, OCD, autism; mainly things I've been diagnosed with. I know the basic criteria for depressive disorders and some stress disorders. I know most of the OCD and related conditions. I find I relate more to non-living things more than people, but still would like someone I can talk to and socialize with, to have some "normal" relationship. I have 4 friends, but am only close with 1. I know basically everything about my mental state from a psychoeducational assessment that diagnosed my LD and ASD, which I'm willing to share how I function to people on here.
I also wish to improve myself from my conditions. I struggle with basically everything in life.
Anyways, I'm really tired, sorry. Night. How to be on here soon.
-Nicole