formal and informal
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Joined: 29 May 2007
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Location: Spokane, Washington
05 Jul 2009, 7:11 pm
I'd like to know this too.. I very clearly meet the diagnostic criteria, but don't really know what to do about diagnosis... There's really no such thing as a professional with expertise in recognizing Asperger's in an adult female.
I don't honestly know what my official disability diagnosis is, though. I haven't had much of a steady psychiatrist or therapist, so it was a social security person that evaluated me. For all I know, they did diagnose me with AS and never tell me. My description of getting like a "deer in the headlights" when overwhelmed and being bad at dealing with people certainly would have indicated it. Seems more likely that they diagnosed me as agoraphobic, though. But I don't really know.
I've gotten lots of BS diagnoses in the past.. none of them ever really made any sense or explained much of anything at all. I don't know how official any of that is. A laundry list of diagnoses just can't be a solid thing... it indicates that something is going unrecognized. Sure, I guess I fit the criteria for those other things.. although most of them specify that those symptoms aren't being caused by something else, so a diagnosis of AS would nullify most of those.
05 Jul 2009, 7:50 pm
I think it isk, take it from me who has had many diagnoses lol
informal is when it is theorising a root to a problem for example like going to a counscillor before asperger diagnosis
Formal is when doctors mark it off and then state it on your medical record, I know the formal one is right and I am quite sure what the informal was as a kid I was constantly in eye hospitals figuring out my visual impairment so there have been a few
poopylungstuffing
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05 Jul 2009, 8:39 pm
I am informally diagnosed. It means that I was assessed by an AS specialist who told me she was quite certain that I was an aspie...But I didn't have to take any tests..it was just an interview..and not a very long interview. She told me I could treat it as a diagnosis and said that if she had any doubts, she would reccomend that I take the tests.
It is nerve-wracking...at first I was happy with it..but It leaves a shadow of a doubt that constantly nags at me. I just don't have the money for a thorough diagnosis...that costs about 2 grand...or something...at LEAST...
My ADD diagnosis was also somewhat informal..simply based on the opinions of 2 general practitioners...That was enough to get me a script, and having been given the script counts as my diagnosis. I know I am combined-type ADD because of thorough online testing. When I went to the ADD clinic to try to get a formal diagnosis, it was a nightmare...I had to fill out a battery of questions..and the doctor was mean and frosty and suspicious and used tricky wordplay and made me mis-speak something unintentionally, but I was unable to go back and fix it...and he wanted 100's of dollars for testing...
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Joined: 29 May 2007
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Location: Spokane, Washington
06 Jul 2009, 9:47 am
I don't honestly know what my official disability diagnosis is, though. I haven't had much of a steady psychiatrist or therapist, so it was a social security person that evaluated me. For all I know, they did diagnose me with AS and never tell me. My description of getting like a "deer in the headlights" when overwhelmed and being bad at dealing with people certainly would have indicated it. Seems more likely that they diagnosed me as agoraphobic, though. But I don't really know.
I've gotten lots of BS diagnoses in the past.. none of them ever really made any sense or explained much of anything at all. I don't know how official any of that is. A laundry list of diagnoses just can't be a solid thing... it indicates that something is going unrecognized. Sure, I guess I fit the criteria for those other things.. although most of them specify that those symptoms aren't being caused by something else, so a diagnosis of AS would nullify most of those.
If you think you have AS, and you think the diagnoses would be beneficial, you could go to a pyschiatrist and tell them you think you have it. If you don't mention it, most people will miss it considering you are an adult female and not a 4 year old boy.
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theamazingjunkie.flavors.me
06 Jul 2009, 10:24 am
I don't honestly know what my official disability diagnosis is, though. I haven't had much of a steady psychiatrist or therapist, so it was a social security person that evaluated me. For all I know, they did diagnose me with AS and never tell me. My description of getting like a "deer in the headlights" when overwhelmed and being bad at dealing with people certainly would have indicated it. Seems more likely that they diagnosed me as agoraphobic, though. But I don't really know.
I've gotten lots of BS diagnoses in the past.. none of them ever really made any sense or explained much of anything at all. I don't know how official any of that is. A laundry list of diagnoses just can't be a solid thing... it indicates that something is going unrecognized. Sure, I guess I fit the criteria for those other things.. although most of them specify that those symptoms aren't being caused by something else, so a diagnosis of AS would nullify most of those.
If you think you have AS, and you think the diagnoses would be beneficial, you could go to a pyschiatrist and tell them you think you have it. If you don't mention it, most people will miss it considering you are an adult female and not a 4 year old boy.
But just demonstrating to my psychiatrist that I meet the diagnostic criteria isn't the same as a formal diagnosis. It's quite obvious that I meet the criteria, but there can be other reasons, like personality disorders. I'm quite sure that's not the case, but then I'd have to go for all kinds of psychological testing, which I really don't trust.. have had bad experiences with very unprofessional testing.
