Frustrated with Diagnosis Process

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Yeah, I mean how would this doctor/would-be doctor explain how all the adults that never got DXd as children are now coming out of the woodwork? Surely if they were noticeable autistic and teachers etc. were aware of what was "normal" behaviour they would all have been picked up as children too!

There is a test called the ADOS (Autism Diagnositc Observation Schedule) that has a version for use with adults. If you could find a psychologist who has been trained to administer it, at least you could be sure you were getting someone with appropriate training and a reasonable amount of experience.

All she did was interview me for about an hour and read the list of symptoms I gave her.

As I think about it (more and more), this community should be a bit disturbed about the lack of standards with the diagnosis process.

My testing included:

- Cognition/Information Processing
--- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
- Attention/Executive Functions
--- Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA+Plus)
--- Brown ADD Scales
--- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST-R)
--- Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRiEF-A)
- Memory
--- Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-IV)
- Adaptive Behavior
--- Vineland-II Adaptive Behavior Scales
--- Advanced Clinical Solutions (ACS)
--- Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA)
--- Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2)
- Social/Emotional
--- Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III)
--- Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ)
--- Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)
--- Rorschach Psychodiagnostic Test
- Interview
--- Discussion mostly focused around an intake questionnaire I completed which documented my history
--- Note: I also provided the Psychologist with a 30+ page document outlining all of my symptoms

Note: My diagnosis included additional tests (not typically used for an Asperger-only diagnosis), because I asked to be assessed for other stuff (including Social Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety, Avoidant Personality, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, Schizoid, etc.).

As I think about it, I suppose that I am not at all surprised about the lack of standards. These people have a hard enough time just putting out updates to the DSM. And when they do, it’s wrong. It’s a broken system. Thank goodness for the Internet (as this allows the formation of communities, like WP, for us to come together).

In my grumpy opinion, 90% of psychiatry is just a huge money making operation. It has been going on since the dawn of time. It's not any different than "medicine men," astrologers, homeopaths, or healers of many faiths. It is an appeal to authority. We go to a doctor, and we believe they have gone to school, they have trained, they have the respect of the community, they have the right papers, they saw or helped a friend or family member. When we go we trust them... we believe this doctor can help us. We answer their questions, we spill our guts, and we believe the diagnosis they give. We take their pills they prescribe, or drink their powerful potions.

tall-p - I suppose this is the point you were making in your prior posts. And, you could be correct (about the 90% figure).

But...isn't this simply the world we live in (aka How is this different than anything else)? It's all about money (and, winning and power and sex and lying and manipulation and...). Which is probably a topic for another forum – LOL.

Yes...you are right. It is a rant I go off on often here at WP. So many threads here are about "getting diagnosed" ... it makes smoke come out of my ears. If you try and find information about autism before the 20th century, you are in for a struggle. Where were they all? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_D._Devlin

http://www.amazon.com/Stubborn-Child-Ma ... born+child

Where were they? They were either cared for by the community, physically forced to fit into society, in prison, committed or dead.