Self knowledge vs official diagnosis

Post Reply New Topic

This does suggest I'm not intelligent enough to notice things about myself and to research from the things I've noticed . It basically paints lay people as dumb f*cks and psychologists as hyper intelligent beings. The reality is some of us are just as intelligent or more than psychologists.
As it is I feel like I'm being rubbished and I take the comments about being self delusional and Munchausen's to heart. It all smacks of people pushing a "You don't really belong here unless you've been diagnosed" line.

I certainly feel less welcome here and more invalidated than I did.

I don't see a diagnosis being necessary to post here.

Really with my having been diagnosed at 3 and then having numerous follow up diagnosis, I could set a bar that few here could reach.

There are plenty here like yourself that at the very least qualify as an honorary autistic to me. I find your contributions valuable.

I do get the point that with the system as it is you technically need an official diagnosis for a chance of accommodations and support . My beef is with the inflammatory suggestion that those doing their own research are self delusional etc.

I guess I have quite a dependent/insecure streak about me. I'd be more confident about pressing for an assessment if any family members and especially the mental health professional I interacted with ,and mentioned things to, had said yes it would be a good idea.
Some support for being in the ballpark even if I don't hit a diagnostic home run would be reassuring.

Then there is the issue that although I see myself as having some autistic traits I'm doubtful I would meet the threshold for a full diagnosis. I think I meet the criteria for NVLD more.

I've inquired with the local assessment centre and they don't cover NVLD but just autism. My very real fear is that a negative assessment for autism would mean other possibilities would not be entertained . That it would further entrench the erroneous view that everything relates to my mental illness.


As some background long before autism or NVLD became more widely known, or even seen as existing in the case of NVLD, my first school suggested I had problems. I was tested for cerebral palsy,as it is now known, in 1962 or 1963.
The result was negative. Other possibilities were not considered.

Fast forward 7-8 years and correspondence between my prep school headmaster and my public school headmaster described me as poorly coordinated and bad at drawing and writing. Reports at public school described me as disorganised,messy and untidy.

Running parallel to all that was an inability to make friends. I did have one boy I saw as a friend but on hindsight was just someone I got on better with than the others. I say this because years later I posted to him on twitter and he blocked me.

Indeed I have chronic social interaction problems. I can count the number of friends on one hand with fingers to spare over 61 years. My social skills have been described as very poor.

At prep school I was teased and once called the missing link . At public school I was bullied. The most humiliating experience was having monkey chants directed at me by a classroom of other boys.

All in all there were signs but no one capable or willing at the time to join the dots together. I do feel that if I had been born 35-50 years later it would have been far more likely that the dots would have been joined together .

This is an Internet forum. You shouldn't expect to find validation here.

Perhaps you should seek professional help with your issues.

As far as I'm concerned a place like this is just as much for those with NVLD.

There's a profile selection here that says 'don't know if I have it or not'. I don't see anything delusional about that. Even a staff member has that one selected.

I think though those who say they absolutely positively have whatever because they diagnosed themselves, are being at least a bit unrealistic.

You don't fall into that category. So "delusional" certainly doesn't apply to you.

But as BTDT pointed out it looks like you're seeking validation and I agree that you're not going to get that here.

But I would gladly offer you acceptance.

Firemonkey and the other self diagnosed folk, I get it and I was very much in your situation.

You do not need to explain your reasoning for being here to anyone on WP and I would advise against it in these diagnosis threads; you are welcome here and among people that can relate to you.

A diagnosis doesn't change much, its a piece of paper that you can use to access the non existent support services for adults.

It’s all partially nature, and partially nurture.

I don't know what most members diagnosis is and I don't care. Often it's them who makes an issue of it one way or another.

If you are wealthy in Connecticut there isn't any need for an official diagnosis. There are excellent therapists who will help you out who work outside the red tape of the insurance industry.

There's a similar "self-diagnosis" thread active at present. I asked a question on that one that hasn't been answered which leads me to believe that either simply no one has an answer to give or no one wants to answer me specifically. I'll assume it's the former rather than the latter, but I'll ask the same question here to cast a broader net:

For longtime members, does anyone recall a situation, or does it happen with some sort of frequency where a self-diagnosed member has reported to the forum that they were tested and they did NOT have ASD?

"Well, I finally went through the tests with a licensed practitioner specializing in ASD and I'm surprised to find out I do not have an ASD and I'm NT through and through."

Has that happened? If you recall that happening, do you recall the person finding out that they had some other psychological issue entirely unrelated to ASD?

Any help you can provide would be appreciated. Thanks.

Also it's worth remembering that a person can have more than one condition/co-morbid diagnosis.
This is particularly relevant for folk who are older adults, as conforming to an unnatural way of being for years takes its toll on your physical and mental health.