Is self-diagnosis okay/valid/a good thing?

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http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/hans-asperger-592.php

http://kolahun.typepad.com/kolahun/2012/02/has-asperger-md-1906-1980.html

http://www.claytonbehavioral.com/did-hans-asperger-have-asperger%C2%B4s-syndrome/

And his obsessive interest was poetry.

A lot of people carrying the AS diagnosis probably just have bipolar disorder or some form of schizotypy or PTSD. This works both ways.

I take a diagnosis with a grain of salt unless it's done by a high-polish clinic equipped with the kinds of high-precision empirical tests that are suitable for making a solid diagnosis. I highly recommend that people with access to such services take advantage of them, but the concept that any teenager in Middle America can just walk into the office of a dime-a-dozen "let's talk about your feelings" quack and get reasonable care is kind of dim.

Last edited by Persimmonpudding on 08 Dec 2014, 3:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There are no high-precision empirical tests commonly in use for making autism diagnosis.

All three links are speculative.

Never mind. I probably shouldn't have even asked. You'll believe whatever you want to believe; after all, some autism activists have co-opted Newton and Einstein onto their side - why not Hans Asperger as well? There's nothing after all this time to prove or disprove the speculations.

Can you name these tests, what they measure and how this is used in making the diagnosis?

All the diagnosticians I have talked to directly have said that most of their diagnoses are made primarily on the basis of their direct observation of the person being assessed.

I am very interested in empirical tests.

Last edited by Adamantium on 08 Dec 2014, 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Problems with professional diagnosis and diagnostic procedures currently in use don't legitimize self-diagnosis.

Oh well, I think I'll go and have a nice cup of tea.

I said that he had ASD-related behaviors, which I substantiated.

I don't really see how one could fake autism to get any benefits, unless they actually forge a diagnoses document and other medical evidence and somehow slip it by but doesn't really seem worth the risk as there are heavy penalties for being caught doing that sort of thing. But for instance you won't get disability unless you have actual documentation of diagnoses that render you disabled.

I think 90% of the NTs I know have autistic traits.

No. There isn't a logical connection there.

If a professional diagnosis is for some reason (e.g., economics, geographic or other logistical factors) not obtainable, and someone has come to believe that they are quite likely autistic on the basis of seeing a match between their own characteristics and autistic traits, then it would make sense for that person to try to find a way of living with those characteristics that might be improved by what they learn about autism.

But it doesn't make sense to take that tentative conclusion as having the same weight as a professional diagnosis, anymore than it makes sense to assume that a professional diagnosis is infallible.

People can recognize that they have autistic traits and adjust their ways of living accordingly, but I think that they should not say that they have autism without official diagnosis.

I think the ignorant people that would actually think that individual represents the majority on the spectrum...are doing a good job contributing to giving people with AS a negative rep, lots of people are causing that issue by being ignorant.

Also though I was not aware they where for sure 'self diagnosed' as having autism, thought it was simply speculated that they might have had aspergers.

And how many times have you said this exact same thing now? I think everyone here by now gets the picture that you don't think people should not say they have autism unless they have an official diagnoses repeating it isn't going to make more people agree with you.

I wish I could have let myself be less officially diagnosed, but when my counselor suggested ASD I immediately went to a psych... who gave me pretty much the same tests I had taken online, went over the same family history questions, and was generally clueless about a lot of things important to my life. I didn't know about the cost, or the discrimination associated with being professionally diagnosed.

It didn't occur to me that if I ever, for some reason, want children, I'll likely not be allowed to adopt due to this diagnosis on my record. There's a lot of severe health conditions in my family; will the doctors still provide the best possible care?
How will I pay off this $900 bill that is now in collections?

I wasn't someone who thought "I have a lot of trouble with my life, and through research I've found that this is probably the issue". I was having trouble, went to a professional, after many months she suggested that I'm probably autistic, I got defensive, and then I started doing some research. I had effectively self-diagnosed before seeing the psychologist... and in hindsight, I sometimes wish I had left it at that.

I think that you have also said many of the same things that you have said before, and I don't see what is the problem with me saying what I did.

My point is that recognizing autistic traits and adjusting ways of living does not require saying that one has autism when one is not diagnosed.

Last edited by btbnnyr on 08 Dec 2014, 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.