My Shrink Never Heard of AS

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I was at the skrink for meds refills today (BP) and I asked him if it's possible that I might have AS. He said he's only heard about it in children, not in adults, there has been no research on adult AS, it's not in DSM4, and even if I did nothing could be done about it, it's not treatable. He had never heard of AS being diagnosed in adults before, and didn't know who could do it. I mentioned the Redpath Centre in Toronto, of which he was unaware. We agreed I knew more about it than he did and left it at that.

So I'm thinking maybe time to find a new doc who's more in tune with the times. But I imagine his attitude/lack of awareness is probably more the rule than exception for GP psychiatrists in parts of Canada.

Any thoughts?

I carefully picked my psychologist before seeing them. I wanted someone that worked with people with AS. I would go see someone else. First person I saw wanted to focus on my OCD tendencies and nothing else.

I know some may call that shopping around but I don't. Reason being, if you have kidney problems you see a Nephropathologist and not a Dermatologist.

My mother did an online search for autism organizations/psychologists. got me to one on the first try, then referred to another more local. its worked out fine so far.

I had to move 200 miles to find a psychologist that had even heard of free range autistic adults that hadn't been institutionalized or living in group houses or with their parents, let alone be some new fangled brand of autism that allows children to escape detection.

I found a forensic psychologist that worked at the State Prison that diagnosed me. He had only heard about it as the "Geek Disease" from Wired Magazine but at least he read stuff.

It sounds like he's either a liar or a fraud. Either way I couldn't trust someone who made such flippant comments.

Ah - the "Geek Syndrome" article. I've read that - quite a good read, actually.

Link here, for anyone who hasn't and is curious:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12 ... rs_pr.html

I live in Toronto and my family doctor has made a referral to CAMH for me. I will be seeing a specialist there in a week if I'm lucky. So yeah... try CAMH. However, it was probably easier for me because it was my school psychologist who got the family doctor to make a referral. Without the psychologist, it would have been more difficult.
It's funny, my psychiatrist and doctor are also, like, "Asperger's is not treatable" (implying that this means that since there are no drugs to cure it, there's no point in getting a diagnosis, I suppose). When I told my doctor that I have concentration issues, she tried prescribing me Concerta right away. All that these doctors want to do is to stuff people with drugs.

Yes....this guy doesn't deserve an AA degree in psychology if he doesn't know AS is in the DSM-IV, etc.... He is incompetent and it's frightening to think that a crackpot like this is prescribing meds. You don't need to think you should find a new doc who is more in tune with times......you just need to find one. This man is a joke....he might as well still believe in phrenology.

Hey - what happened to the whole "autistic pride" thing, eh? Who says it needs to be cured or treated? The only reason I wanted to find out was to kind of understand myself - not to get put on drugs or anything and "cured"!

'Course, I ended up on a load of drugs anyway, ironically, for depression and anxiety...

But I'm still an Aspie! Just not a miserable, stressed one!

what rock has your current Psychiatrist been hiding under? Of course adults have Aspergers. Jusst becasue there wasn't a name for it wehn we were kids, doesn't mean it doesnt exhist. What is still difficult is to get people to realize that adult women also can have Aspergers too.

Thanks everyone for your comments. To be fair, he's actually an OK doctor (for my requirements) perhaps because he doesn't get too involved, asks the same old questions and writes the scrips. A 5 minute visit once every 3 months, suits me fine. His bread and butter are the mentally ill, so something like AS or autism would be out of his league, I guess. Life in a small town.

However, I do feel my health needs are changing as I'm on top of the BP now so have some space to see what else there is, good and bad.

So his implication was that children simply "grow out of it"?

What a quack.

Well, technically it is supposed to be a "developmental" thing... not convinced, personally...not really... If you ask me, it just changes as you get older, along with the rest of you. If you get told by these medical professionals that you don't have it any more, I'd say it's a personal choice. If you still feel like you have it, then you do. They don't know what's going on in your head!

Anyhoos, the DNA's still there...

According to wikipedia, only 20 percent of adults no longer meet the AS criteria. Does that mean they have no symptoms of it or they still do but they are just not impaired by them anymore? Or do they no longer meet enough in the criteria but still on the spectrum?

Their problem isn't that it's "not treatable" it's that then they won't have justification for bogus treatments. If they think you have one of a zillion other things, they can bully you into going to useless therapy or taking awful drugs. If they know you have something for which drugs and therapy haven't been prove to work, they can't tell you you're bad for not taking drugs or paying hundreds of dollars to sit there and be uncomfortable with some therapist.

You may want to show him John Elder Robison's blog as well as his book. If your shrink has no real knowlege about it, then you should ask him to find out who does, and ask for a referral. More specifically ask him if he knows anybody who specialises in neuropsychiatry and ask for a referral, as the ability to spot neurological differances, rather than behavioral issues and chemical imbalances would be their forte.