Undiagnosed aspies- how did you come to the conclusion?

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Well the thing is, MLH2B, self-diagnosis is a reflection of an even bigger phenomenon, cyberchondria. Seriously, it's on the net, it's EVERYWHERE! People who think they're psycopaths, narcissists, personality disorders, terminal illnesses etc etc etc. I think a lot of the population would at least fit a few of the traits of aspergers syndrome to some degree, but that doesn't mean everyone who struggles in social situations has it. Basically, I'm opposed to self-diagnosis because 1. it's usually wrong, and 2. it's unhealthy. But if people wanna mislead themselves that way that's fine, I wont stand in anyone's way. The check list for diagnosing aspie patients is made from a psychologists POV, not the patients so the whole self-diagnosis thing is unreliable anyway, because they're not made for self-diagnosis.

And I would say I might be aspergers because I fit some of the traits of a typical aspegers sufferer i.e., above average intelligence, lack of empathy, poor eye contact, messy handwriting, sensitivity to light, clumsy, lack of social communication, often indifferent to sarcasm etc. I think I have reasonable social skills, but I don't always know how to use them correctly, but that don't make me an aspie.

As a personal opinion regarding diagnosing yourself thats fine ADZ - however implying that people here are deluding themselves with self-diagnosis is not, and may be considered insulting.

While I can understand strong disagreement on this issue, please refrain from flaming and making accusations, folks....

Dunc

ADZ,

Do you think I am qualified to diagnose pregnancy in myself?

I don't think you realize how fully you've bought into the technocratic model. You are ignoring people who have been diagnosed pointing out that they had a strong opinion that they were aspie, and sure enough, they were right. There are too many stories like that to ignore.

The fact is that if you are reasonable, and logical, you CAN make decisions for yourself in these matters. The medical establishment would prefer that you defer to them for an opinion at all times, because you supposedly might be wrong. But they can be just as wrong, just as sloppy. They are people who want a paycheck who have a few books and a degree, and yes a little experience as well. Nothing more.

Information closes the gap between us and doctors, and those who are pro-establishment sometimes feel uncomfortable with this.

I am enjoying the information age, however, and I am almost done curing my toenail fungus. I think I know what I am doing just fine, thank you.

Unfortunately, you seem to be making the assumption that psychology is an exact science. Even medical doctors tend to take a haphazard approach to making diagnoses. Medical professionals don't have enough time to diligently study their patients, speak with them at length, conduct all pertinent tests, and research the most appropriate diagnosis.

Rather, standard procedure is to make a ridiculously brief scan of the patient's most prominent symptoms, possibly conduct a basic test or two, and diagnose the most common condition consistent with the most prominent symptoms. There is no time for meaningful, in-depth analysis of the patient's condition.

Furthermore, typical medical practitioners do not have an exhaustive knowledge of all possible conditions that the patient might have. The bias is to diagnose a condition that the practitioner is familiar with and throw a few pills at the patient in hopes that it will work. Since the most common conditions are the most likely to be the ones affecting patients, this works a reasonable amount of the time.

In addition, many patients become distraught after dealing with the poor diagnostic system and simply avoid returning to their doctor after being issued one or more ineffective treatments. If a patient does not return to the doctor after being treated, the doctor might assume that the patient has successfully overcome his condition. This further contributes to the inaccurate belief that the haphazard diagnostic system is largely successful. A patient would have to be brutally persistent to obtain an accurate diagnosis of an uncommon illness.

This problem is compounded further in the field of psychology, because diagnostic criteria for psychological conditions are often vague, subjective, or ill-defined. Asperger's Syndrome is not a very common psychiatric condition. Most psychiatrists will not consider it a possibility when attempting to diagnose a patient. This is doubly true for adult patients, as the diagnostic criteria are geared toward diagnosing the condition in childhood.

Few psychiatric professionals have a great deal of knowledge of Asperger's Syndrome, mainly due to the fact that it is not a common condition. If you have conducted a full week's research on Asperger's Syndrome, you probably have a better idea of what the condition entails than the typical mental health professional will. Furthermore, you know far more about your own behavior than a psychiatric professional will be able to glean from a paltry hour or two of study.

As a result, self-diagnosis is often more accurate than traditional diagnosis. This is doubly true for self-diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. This is because the person conducting a self-analysis must be intelligent, objective, and self-aware. Since superior logical ability and a tendency to avoid making emotional judgments are charactersitic of Asperger's Syndrome, people who have the condition are more likely to be capable of accurate self-diagnosis than the general population.

And self-diagnosis followed by confirmation through consultation with a psychologist specialising in ASDs is even more reliable . As well as the second opinion, talking with -or being psychologically interrogated by - someone who deals with autistic spectrum people every day is a valuable experience in itself. It unearths lots of things that, when considered, help in understanding ones self.

Last edited by ascan on 12 Mar 2005, 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My son was diagnosed with Autism before I came to my self-diagnosis and that was started before I even knew about the online tests, etc. I had always been looking for answers and all. Actually my self-diagnosis keeps being confirmed by several of the professionals that work with my son, now is that a sign of cyberchondria? It's even been accepted by one of the leading autism experts/researchers in the country I live, now is she wrong? Self-diagnosis isn't usually wrong in many cases, secondly, it's not unhealthy either, I suffered from depression for over 10 years till I started looking back at my childhood with my parents and others and found out that we have several autistics on my side of the family.

But apparently, insulting those with self-diagnosis is your perogative then I suggest you best hurry and get yourself an official diagnosis or you're no better than those you insult. There is no need to insult others with self-diagnosis.

VERY well said. My mother calls these guys "horse doctors", meaning that they might make good veterinarians but shouldn't be playing with human lives.

You have to be careful here, as it could also be said that non-Aspies are less logical and more emotional, and therefore more likely to make an inaccurate self-diagnosis. The net result is that both Aspies and non-Aspies make the same diagnosis and you're no further ahead.

You are correct. However, I wasn't arguing that self-diagnosis is foolproof. I was simply arguing that it can be more accurate than traditional diagnosis for a certain subset of the population. This subset will include many of the people who genuinely have Asperger's Syndrome. I could never successfully argue that every person who self-diagnoses himself as having Asperger's Syndrome is correct.

Here's another twist: Asperger's Syndrome wasn't even a medically-acknowledged condition when some of us were diagnosed. I was diagnosed with autism in the late '70s (showed most of the symptoms and blahblahblah). AS wasn't recognized until 1994. So it's quite possible that after all these years of living as a high-functioning autistic I actually have Asperger's. After hearing about AS on a radio show, and later doing some internet research, I came to my conclusion. Now, it's not at all scientific, but I stand reasonably convinced of my place on the spectrum. And until I'm professionally diagnosed otherwise, I remain an Aspie.

PS: You don't have to be NT to be cool.

I can find links to the Empathy Quotient and Systemizing Quotient tests at the Guardian Unlimited site.

My score:

EQ = 11 (even lower than the average Aspie)
SQ = 32 (about average)

I don't represent myself as an undiagnosed asperger, but I'm 90% sure that I have aspergers, even though I am very intuitive. But that does not mean I am capable of expressing myself in a good way.Well I mean I don't communicate well with most people about evryday things. I have taken all the online versions of the tests mentioned here, and gone through them several times. I score typiacall aspie, on all tests, exept for the eyes thest, where I do quite well. But I think the most important thing is my childhood memories, the lack of imaginary play with other children, although not completely missing, there is a lot of signs. My obsessive periods, "little proffessor" like tendencies and the need to be alone. Also hypersensitive to a lot of things, picky eater, taking things literally etc. I have read psychology since I was 14-15, and I wondered if I had shizophrenia then, but it was not like me, but the most similar thing to some of my thoughts that I could find. Also often felt better around people with ADHD, but I have a lot of other things to deal with that people with ADHD doesn't.

AQ-36
EQ-20
SQ-50
Aspie Quiz-158 Now, same Earlier
GAIA-32

Here are the links to the SQ and EQ tests:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,12983,937443,00.html

Some of you can get as stroppy, clever and self-sanctimonious about self-diagnosis as you want - that doesn't change the fact that, although not officially diagnosed, I will still consider myself a nailed-on case of (admittedly high-functioning) AS (but AS nevertheless). I don't have a few random traits of the condition that I've picked out of a recipe book - I have a whole swathe of them that match most of the classical definitions of aspiedom (although miny are relatively mild), and the condition as a whole fits me like a, errr...., well-fitting thing (damn analogies malfunctioning on me again ).

As far as I am concerned, that is enough for me to self-diagnose. I don't need some white-coated herbert charging me 200 quid an hour to give me a piece of paper to tell me "officially" what I already know.

Here endeth the lesson.

Transcripts of this rant are available for £5 including shipping and handling.

How much is that in Australian dollars? I'd like to order one for each memeber of the population please. Do you have translated versions?

ElfMan

Certainly:

G'day mates! S'trewth!! ! I don't give two hoots of a koala's chuff for what you whinging poms think, but I'm an aspie, and I'll chuck any of you that says otherwise on my Barbie, OK? I might even put you on my barbecue too, cobber.... Now, where the XXXX is my didgeridoo and wobble board? "Thunder rise.... in the morning.... spreading all the love all around.... Neeee-yawwww-wa-wa-wa-yawwww-wa-wa-wa....." Can you guess what it is yet?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ! !! !! !!

CRACKING UP TOO MUCH TO TYPE!

ElfMan