Am I wrong to suspect my psychiatrist is not qualified?

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Hi, I am new here.

Fairly certain I am HFA or have Aspergers for too many reasons to list in this thread. Suffice to say I have identified through careful self observation, remembering things from childhood and observations by loved over 50 different traits.

I am having difficulty finding a psychiatrist who has experience diagnosing adults with autism.

The issue is further complicated by abuses I suffered as a child, my IQ (high) and location (Philippines where my wife is from).

My current pychiatrist I am convinced is unqualified because:

1) I came to her about the autism, only mentioning the abuse as a factor feeding into my anxiety. She got stuck on the abuse issue. So stuck that she labeled my hyper sensitivity (which is across all 5 senses) as hyper vigilance and my insominia (which pre dates the abuse) as a symptom of the abuse

2) She decided, without diagnostic tests I wasn't autistic after our first hour together

3) Her reasons were "your just very smart", "you don't act autistic" (not accounting for masking) etc..

As the title suggests, I would like to know if I am wrong to question if she might be unqualified or lacks experience in this area?

Also, how important is it to deal with someone experienced in autism, and specifically experienced in diagnosing adults?

Another challenge, in the Philippines many (but not all) doctors can get very upset if you question their knowledge/qualifications or challenge their diagnosis.

The good news I have found a doctor in Thailand (3 hour flight) who claims to be an expert in autism in adults. But before I make the arrangements to visit him I wanted to get a reality check.

Some wise man once said, "When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
You are right that she is not competent in your case. Whether she is technically "qualified" doesn't really matter.
She doesn't know and doesn't want to know anything that would be helpful to you.
Good luck in finding someone who is competent at all, let alone within a realistic budget. I self-diagnosed at age 50 and gave up looking long ago.
On the child abuse thing, I know that story, too. They get stuck on it and it's all they can see, even though I moved on decades ago. It's their obsession, not mine, and it's not helpful.

Never assume that because someone has been checked off by the hierarchy (has a degree), that they're actually competent at what they do.

The Autism Society Philippines (ASP) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to the well-being of persons with autism spectrum disorder. The ASP has been in the forefront of providing services and training to families living with autism.
Contact | +632-410-4416 | +632-413-1942 | [email protected]
Also, see the section "Get Social" at the above website for forum and various other locations.
From what I've been able to determine in my brief examination of the website, their focus is on children, yet perhaps you can get assistance from them to locate someone who meets your needs. May you succeed.

I would say if she is diagnosing you based on 1 hour you have very good reason to be suspicoius.

It is of the utmost importance to find a clinicion qualified not only in assessing autism but autism in adults.

You might have PTSD which is a common co morbid of autism. A qualified cliniction would take that into account.


Welcome to Wrong Planet

Clearly she doesn't know anything about autism if she said that.

I would find someone else.

yep don't trust her at all myself from the sounds of it, she is stereotyping, i have an IQ of 132 so clearly am reasonably smart. well at least for my age, im 19, wow just realised i ironically just stereotyped people my age haha.


i got this with my history teacher in high school, i found her lack of knowledge disturbing (darth vader haha), whenever i asked a question (im a bit of a history nut) she didn't know the answer, i even asked questions i already knew the answer to just to test her, she was very incompetent. so one day i just flat out asked her "so...do you have a gcse or something in history?" and she said she didn't, not even a gcse, or even an A-level, she was barely qualified to be a teacher (was completing the degree at the time).


wow, school, give people a more knowledgable teacher next time.


so yeah, i guess its possible that your psychiatrist is not qualified, very much so, im not sure they cover autism anyway

Thanks guys, its good to be able to make sure I am not just being paranoid.

Thoughtbeast: thanks for the feedback. But as you noted its for children and here in the Philippines a pediatrician won't consider even speaking to an adult for a cold, let alone autism.

New development: a couple of days ago I made a last ditch effort to break through her myopia and wrote a very long and direct email going over the many traits I show in more detail, making my case for a closer look at an autism diagnosis.

After I posted here she replied to my email to thank me for giving her such a detailed view of my experience and now she says believes its very likely I am on the spectrum. My plan is to let her move forward with a diagnosis simply because she is the best I am likely to find here, but to seek out a 2nd opinion from the doctor in Thailand.

It depends on what you need. Do you need the diagnosis to be eligible for some service or other practical benefit?
Or just for your own comfort? Either way, I would think that piece of paper from the local doc is good enough,
and cheaper. What can the guy in Thailand do for you beyond that?

Seems to me you're on the right track. I think a lot of health professionals make this mistake of declaring clients not to be autistic without having looked carefully enough to be able to logically justify ruling it out. She doesn't know whether you have it or not, and it would be honest of her to admit that.

No, no financial benefits like disabilty.

I have been fooled before with a diagnosis for a physical malady which turned out to be a totally different physical malady, actually 2 unrelated ones. So would like some certainty. That said I am comfortable enough with my own assessement to start thinking of myself as HFA or Aspie. So really it is about independent verification and to make sure I am not falling prey to my own confirmation bias. So with that in mind, I have to be able to trust the person providing the verification or it is worthless.

Go with an expert who specifically claims to be an expert in diagnosing adults with autism, don't just rely on your ordinary Jo blow ignorant doctor or psychiatrist. Don't be intimidated by their arrogance or any attitude they give you if you question their god like credientials or competence.

Mental health professionals in general aren't qualified to diagnose, because the autism spectrum isn't something psychological. Neurologists who are specialized in cognition are qualified and use a large variety of tests.

Thank you. I will look for a qualified neurologist (or neuropsychistrist if I cannot find a qualified neurologist) for the source of the 2nd opinion.

The neurologist I went to in 2008 called it a "garbage pail diagnosis."
And later that year, the supposed "expert" psychiatrist in autism spectrum (probably mostly for children) didn't want to talk at all. Just gave me a bunch of tests that made no sense. Like a facial recognition test designed for a toddler, which I passed with flying colors. Like I haven't learned a few tricks by the age of 50? No discussion.

I think that a person's understanding of their own condition can make the professionals feel threatened.
I am self diagnosed and my life and personality have started to make sense because of it. If I were to take that to a professional I would have to be very careful with what I said to them.

The mind sciences aren't what people think they are there is no unifying theory of mind (like biologists have evolutionary biology) that all professionals conform to. Mental health professionals make their decisions in a very arbitrary fashion based on their prejudices and life experience. One of the strong traits of neurotypicals is social game playing, they don't call it a game they call it being themselves. I also try to play social games but I'm so bad at it that I have given up.

Any way I suppose what I'm saying is that be very aware of mental health professionals always exercise your own proper judgment in dealing with such people. Try to be as aware of yourself as possible.