Initial Adult Diagnoses by College Counselor

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An opportunity came up with a college I was enrolled in that offered counseling services with well qualified people. I started a post about this before, but the counseling session was delayed for stupid paperwork reasons. This is one of those situations where I think as an adult, I've managed to make progress through trial and error, so at first the counselor didn't think it was likely. After several tests however, he did agree with me, mostly because of a very poor score on socializing. When I requested some kind of documentation of diagnosis though, he seemed reluctant to give it to me and instead suggested I could bring my parents with me to my office if I wanted this explained to them.

That's where I'm at with this so far. The main point of this thread is I have a chance to meet other counselors at a clinic in about a month and it sounds like a more thorough evaluation that could take up to 5 hours. I guess I'm thinking of what to expect and getting in the mindset that I'll be talking to professionals so I can open up and be honest about things I wouldn't tell anyone else.

I'm also wondering if I could have some auditory processing disorder related to this. An audiologist said I have hearing loss in the right ear and gave me hearing aids, but I don't think their very helpful.

Are you here stateside?

For me my first step was talking to university counselors, while they are PhD's and trained to spot and identify things, they can't give you a DX, only someone working in a clinical setting can do that.

As for the evaluation, the one I had in 1990 when I was ten years old was a full work up and took roughly 8 hours to do. 15 years later I went back to see the same guy and that involved another three hours of interviews with my parents and myself along with filling out the MCMI-III before I had my offical DX. They are gonna dig deep into your psyche to try and get a picture of how your brain works, but don't feel too uncomfortable, the people doing the eval will have seen worse.

I'm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and was going to a Wisconsin college near the border. Mental Health resources are limited here, but the next appointment I have should be a more thorough evaluation than what I got from my counselor.

My appointment is tomorrow and I think some parental weirdness / denial is settling in before I even do this. My mom comments that I'm worrying about myself or over-analyzing myself to much; that maybe I'm to 'self-centered'. I don't know what the hell that means. She also says.... well.... my Dad is an anti-social loner to, so what's the big deal. Nevermind that extended family has always given me s**t for be to quiet.

Anyway, I don't know if I think I have Aspergers or maybe something else. I just relate a lot to the symptoms.

Some general things I'm wondering about:

Possible borderline Auditory Processing Disorder. I'm diagnosed currently as basically Hard of Hearing with my right ear worse than my left. The Audiologist was puzzled that I have uneven hearing loss and almost scheduled an MRI. I was given hearing aids, but I think they mostly make things worse.

Sexuality and Fetishes: 40 year old virgin and never had a steady girlfriend. I don't think the Fetishes are bad, but weird and maybe silly. This is the topic I'm wondering if I'll have to approach and if so, how.

I don't feel like I overtly Stim except some foot tapping, especially when doing homework. I do have some weird habits like sort of peeling off the ends of my fingernails and toenails which is weirdly satisfying. This isn't that bad except when I was younger I caused ingrown toenails doing this.

Also, I got my mom to note down that I was diagnosed Mild Cerebral Palsy and eventually 'mainstreamed' into the regular classroom thinking it would help me being around regular kids. Whatever I had, I wonder if I really just grew out of it. Strangely, I'm told the biggest thing that grabbed my attention and seemed to help me with dexterity was the Atari.