UK diagnostic test what happens? how honest to be????

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hi- i'm new here, though ive been a lurker for a while. i am a 32 year old girl and i have my asessment upcoming in a couple of months. please could someone give me some advice on what they actually do in the test in england, and how honest i should be?

i'd be really interested to hear from people in the uk about how they were tested, with specific examples of what happened and questions and so on.

i have had really bad experiances in the mental health system so far, so i don't trust them too much. so i'm guessing that 'tell the truth' doesnt apply here. like ha ha- admitting how much i want to kill people who make noise or brush my arms as they walk past might show them how bugged i get by those things, but would also go down on my notes as 'potentially violent', which i'm not. though i do think of hitting people a lot because i'm so frustrated always, i've never yet hit anyone,
but i don't trust them to differentiate; but then i might look like i can cope with stuff i actually can't.

thanks!! !!

If you think about and do not act on it I would say that shows good self-control.

ha ha yes, or just really exagerated AS traits of procrastination and planning....

Firstly, have you been referred to a specialist? The NHS mental health service are about as good at diagnosing autism/AS as a plank of rotting wood. Not good at all. If the answer is yes, then definately say as much as you can. Points of interest for a specialist would be your development, try and gather as much information about that as possible, as this can be useful because otherwise they might say you have a personality disorder instead (they did that to me until my mum finally got enough of her memory back...) and trust me, they will not help you if you get that diagnosis. Other important things are your childhood, how did you relate to people? Did you have friends? Did other people, peers and teachers, see you as an 'odd child'?

Obviously the most important part afterwards is describing your life now. How do you think your possible AS affects your day to day life? Also study the triad of impairments and work out if you have any of the listed symptoms (but be careful not to add stuff that isn't really you!). If you can prove you have the triad, that's the important step. Other things, agression, anxiety and obsessions etc. Talk about these afterwards so they can focus on the possible AS.

Good luck.

hi- thank you JB (i have an online friend called jb, but abroad). btw, there is a dr who cd story in the telegraph today, i saw.

oh, i am totally 'you're HOW old and noone picked up on this before??' history- just- everything. meltdowns, hearing tests, refusing to eat so almost died, dyslexia, obsessions, OCD, synesthesia. all either on GP record or told to psychologists.

and yes, i have a personality disorder diagnosis, too, despite saying to her stuff like- i cant make eye contatc cos it hurts, i can't follow conversations, its like a foreign language.

so i have been referred to a specialist place- though i have been really f***ed about over my referral. in fact, i was on a waiting list last spring, then moved to a new waiting list for a new autism service, as my pct were opening a new autism center. so- for the past year, ive been on the waiting list for a place which didnt even exist. i should get some kind of prize for this. anyway, im now on a waiting list for this new place.
but this is also a problem, as - you know like buying first gen phones etc- you just dont, (unless you're obsessed). so im really reluctant to go to it because i reckon they will be all SUPER by the book and newbie- rather than like at an established place, where they are more intuative.

i still am really reluctant to admit i think baout killing people evryday- i hate noise that much, especially at a new place, as they could just go- well, personality disorder, violent tendancies, section her!!


please could you also tell me what they ask you and do in the test- noone ever outlines this...

I went to the Maudsley hospital in London. They did IQ testing on me, basically focussing on memory, visual stuff and social cartoons which you have to put in the right order. Other than that, a lot of it was the doctors spoke to my mum and step-dad as I was 19 at the time so I wasn't able to self-refer. I was taken into a room with the professor, now unfortunately retired, who just asked me lots of questions about what I liked etc. I can't really tell you what to expect though because it was a children's clinic I went to.

thank you- that's interesting, i had no idea they looked at IQ. i'm dyslexic and numerically dyslexic, so i've never found a reliable score... wonder how they would test me.

the other problem i have is that i don't speak to my parents, and there is no way i would drag them into this. but most places insist on parential contribution, so that's another hurdle. even though not having relationships is oft part of aspergers, they mostly seem to be pretty inflexible about that. which doesn't help people whose parents are dead, or estranged. refusing treatment due to part of the condition is ironic.

i found a place i could be tested at outside my PCT area, without parents, which is nhs, and my pct should pay for since ive been messed about in the system for so long, but im so useless at doing this kind of stuff and i have noone to help me.. i don't think i will ever get diagnosed.

my GP has never even heard of aspergers, and referred me to a place for mentally handicapped adults at one point. no joke.

A human being, potentially violent? Surely not.

thanks. well, less potentially violent, more- planning to kill off 90% of mankind in a gory blood fest.
seriosuly people- chewing with your mouth open? dropping litter? there are so many reasons to kill.

I think you felt your way through and anticipated the social aspects of this one pretty good. And I think you also have an excellent read on the fact that a new clinic is likely to be just super by the book. (yeah, we Aspies can indeed sometimes perceive things very well, thank you very much! just might need a little lead time)

So, use measured disclosure, for example . . . 'sometimes I feel like smacking someone good. yes, the noise bothers me that much,' perhaps something like that

Now---and this is where I sometimes go astray---even if the person seems thoroughly reasonable and a good person, still use measured disclosure, take it very much in medium steps. (Maybe the one extra thing. For example, I might plan to, if the person seems super good, to tell them this one extra thing. But I wouldn't advise making the plan any more complicated than that, and even with the one extra thing, I might still use measured disclosure.)


I live in the states. Have seen three different mental health persons, not all that impressed.

So, most of all, trust yourself. And welcome to our group!

All these goddamn nonserious people! Yeah, it drives me crazy, too.

(Actually, you seem pretty sane and well-connected to me. Just sensory issues.)

My experience was that the more inhibited I was, the more I held back, the less likely doctors were to help me.

if you are suffering mentally let it all out and make sure they know exactly how tough it is for you. If they then refuse to help (like they did initially for me) then you keep going back to them until they treat you properly.