If you can get a free diagnosis why aren't you going for it?

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A lot of what they treat can be treated using natural methods instead.

They are useful in an emergency and that is about it...sometimes.

This. I was privately diagnosed but without a thorough assessment. None the less I have letters from three specialists declaring me to be on the spectrum, yet my GP hasn't even taken them seriously enough to put them on my file, never mind refer me to someone whose assessment he WOULD take seriously enough to believe the diagnosis. I've long given up trying.

But there's hardly anywhere to diagnose adults. I live in Plymouth and the closest place that would take me is Southampton. And that's if the doctors agree that I need a diagnosis.

I never said that it was easy. Just that, if you do manage to get a diagnosis on the NHS, it's free.

You are legally entitled to an out of area assessment if there is no clinic in your area.

I'm sad at how many are giving up and allowing themselves to be fobbed off.

Start fighting for your rights! He who shouts loudest gets heard. You are doing your fellow Aspies a disservice and ensuring this NHS attitude proliferates by giving up.

I was worried about getting an assessment, and whether or not the NHS psychologists would confirm my self-diagnosis ..... it turned out to be fine, and now I have a report (useful), I can share my diagnosis with other health professionals that I have to see, and it is helping me have better communication with my GP and others.

I appreciate that you and your family have had really bad experiences ( my family also, and I've had more than my fair share) but for me, getting a diagnosis of AS is an emergency type situation, having it unrecognised and unassessed caused me so many issues and so many problems to date that I feel it merited going through the wait and making the effort to engage with it.

So many people struggle with life and getting diagnosed with aspergers or being confirmed that other people believe they are on the spectrum is a relief - so many people talk about the burden of having to conform and the expectations that they were hurting themselves with drop away. I have found a lot of peace and self-confidence since self-diagnosing and then getting it confirmed.

I wish that the NHS had thought of sending me for a diagnosis before, when I was younger and struggled more obviously, but noone had the bright idea and that is a shame.

I'd rather have my free diagnosis of AS that go through life wiht mis-diagnoses, or be treated for things I don't have. There are so many examples on WP of people self-administering medications, getting multiple diagnoses and it has made me wonder whether just getting the right kind of support and advice ( ie from local asperger specialists) and having it recognised wouldn't be more advantageous than battling things alone . . .

EXACTLY ! !! !

what if the therapist had aspergers? Would you trust them to know what they were doing and what they said about the subject?

do you think that would that make it easier/a difference ?

Anyone facing trouble getting their GP to listen, contact your local councillor here:

http://www.writetothem.com/

If you do not get sufficient help from them, go to your MP here:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

There is also the Lords but they have no duty to reply to members of the public:

http://www.writetothem.com/lords

If you need to complain to the NHS about their failures, here:

http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rights ... aints.aspx

Information from the NAS about getting an assessment/diagnosis:

http://www.autism.org.uk/about-autism/a ... nosis.aspx

Don't give up - I had to try a few times to get my GP to react and do something, and I got sent to the wrong place at first , but persistence worked out in the end, and I got my free diagnosis, even though it took months for the funding to come through and the appointment as well.

But I have been telling drs and psychiatrists and therapists since I was 13 that I cannot mix with people. I have repeatedly told them that I am having social difficulties. They just put everything down to depression or social anxiety and insist that if my mood improves and I relax socialising will come naturally to me.

They won't even consider anything else and keep trying to ram medications down my throat that I do not want.

Their attitude upsets me and I end up feeling depressed as a result.

Even my every day quirks are made out to be some mental illness. Ie I like to wear my comfy pyjamas in the house as I have sensitive skin and the materials do not irritate me (they are softer than some of my day wear clothing). I also do not like to wear make-up and prefer to keep my hair tied back when I am trying to concentrate on something so it is not flapping around in my face when I am trying to do things. This is put down to my being depressed when it is actually a preference as I prefer to be practical and comfortable most of the time.

I keep my curtains drawn in the summer due to having light sensitive eyes (particularly to bright sunlight) and this is put down to depression as well.

I want to stay home on my own doing my hobbies and this is also ticked off as being a depression thing when actually I just want to stay home alone with my hobbies and am quite contented and happy there and so on.

Seeing the drs actually makes me feel depressed. I generally feel better when I can work through things independently as I understand my quirks in a way that other people do not!

I am not always all that depressed when I am tootling around independently in my own little world with my own little oddities...in fact I can feel very contented at those times. The only time I start getting depressed is when the world keeps trying to change me, when the drs won't listen to me (and nor will anyone else they just keep insisting what I outlined above and misreading every quirk I have as being depression related when they are not) or when I feel a little lonely for the company of a life companion (I do so like intimacy etc). Otherwise I am perfectly contented.

A part of me would rather just accept the above difficulties as being there and just get on with being in my own world where I can be me without having to be 'normal' in the way the world expects me to be so that I can finally be happy.

Living in the outside world and trying to get people to understand me is making me miserable. I am tired of being in fight mode all the time. Having to fight the drs every step of the way is causing me huge amounts of stress and anxiety...huge. I am exhausted from arguing with them and I do not have a support system to help me. No family left to back me up or help out, support workers go the depression and anxiety route just like drs do most of the time, therapists the same.....

I am just one person...trying my best to get on with my life alone.

Please I am really tired of fighting them and their system...I just want a quiet life with my hobbies.

The ones who won't go for an assessment are either hypochondriacs or fakers. They have no business being on WP!

Just kidding

Try the psychology department at your local university. Mine will do the test for $500.

Also try to get a hold of your school records. The ones that have your growth and development notations made by teachers, nurses, counselors, pediatricians etc. I did that to prove to my GP I had severe ADHD to get excused from jury duty, because I wouldn't want someone like me in the jury box if I were on trial. He was fascinated with them and immediately wanted to refer me to a psychologist.
But that's the only time I've ever had to play that card.

Good idea!

I pretty much say it all in one of my blog posts: http://aspieedge.blogspot.com/2012/04/t ... gnose.html

I may eventually do it just to stand up and be counted, but I see no real value to me even if it was free here --the traits I may need help with (insomnia, anxiety, etc) can be handled individually with less fuss