Should I trust my DX?

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Hello, everyone!

I'm still a bit of a nOOb to this Asperger's thing, so I wonder if I might ask you fine folks for a question I have that was inspired by several recent topics......

I was diagnosed by a military psychologist after I had been having serious occupational issues; it took him about three 3-hour sessions and a family history. He said the biggest factor in my diagnosis was my rather extreme stimming. I stim pretty much constantly when I'm alone. I did it in public when I was a kid, but brought it into my room when I got older. Combine that with my social problems, "shut-down" episodes, zoning out, and sensory issues, the verdict was AS. He claims he has worked with Asperger's children, and while I don't look like the little boys he's seen, I definately present as AS. I should also note that, as a military shrink, he doesn't get paid by the hour, so he has little motivation to keep me coming back simply for profit's sake.

However, I see a lot of people on Wrong Planet who seem to pooh-pooh psychologists and the notion that you can draw any conclusions from merely observing human behavior and analyzing self-reported information. Instead, there appears to be a bias towards "neuro-testing" that's meant to assess brain functionality. That's fine, and I'm a natural skeptic, but I tend to be just as skeptical about "neuro-functioning" tests, as, in the end, doctors will take the results of these "tests" and guess, speculate, and draw conclusions about what the results are supposed to indicate. I don't really see how they're any more "objective" than a "talking doctor" with sufficient clinical experience.

For example, if I can read both the big letters and the small letters on a test that is designed to measure if you see in "parts" or "wholes," what exactly does that indicate? The rationale behind aforesaid test is that Aspies only focus on one part of the face, which is why they can't "read" facial expressions; however, is that the "only" way a person can be "socially impaired?" Is it a highly significant feature of social impairment, or just a moderate one? Personally, a large chunk of my social impairment comes from auditory issues, not visual ones. Also, if some doctor decides AS is caused by being "extremely left-brained," what if I have similiar impairments as an "extremely left-brained person," but mine arise from being "extremely balance-brained," which is what I suspect. Will my symptoms be disregarded because a magic brain scan doesn't show "extreme left-brained-ness?" It's all interpretation.

My question is this: do you feel psychologists in general are trustworthy? Should I trust my own DX?

Thanks for reading!!

--XFG



BTW, if I accidentally offend someone, let me know. I'm trying really hard not to because I like this place.

I'm like that too. I took that "big and small letters test" (or some version of it) online and could see both. I have some issues with understanding speech in noisy environments. I've considered the possibility of CAPD, but since I never had this problem (noticeably) until college, I'm not sure if getting tested would be worth it at this point (it's usually diagnosed in children and teens).



You answered your own question--yes, it is all interpretation.

To be as absolutely "certain" as possible, you'd need multiple opinions from different doctors that all drew the same conclusion ("test-retest reliability"). That's usually not practical.

I myself am self-diagnosed, and there are some people who think that's not "trustworthy" either. All psychological tests are subjective, and we're a long way off from being able to DEFINITIVELY "prove" the presence or absence of an ASD with a brain scan.

So, to answer your question: if AS makes sense to you in terms of your experiences throughout life, then yes, trust the diagnosis. If not, get another opinion.

You haven't offended me, btw.

You should get a second and maybe a third opinion, just so that you know, for sure.

Heh. I think I'm fixated on "exactness." I'd need a fourth, and a fifth, and so-on.

Maybe I'm just skittish because I was diagnosed rather easily, while some people here have had such an awful time of it. Thanks for your answer!




For the record, I have absolutely no problem with "self-diagnosis" if it works for you. There are too many factors that could make an "official" diagnosis a pain that I see no shame in it.



Phew! That's good. It can be so hard to tell sometimes. And thanks for your answer!


--XFG

You're welcome.

I agree with this 100%.
I was diagnosed by a psychologist, and just with an interview and family history and it was a rather easy process. I also did a lot of research and a lot of examining my childhood and things like that - and I find the more I understand AS, the less doubt I have but it's taken me a while and there was a lot of doubt and a lot of contemplation along the way.. and still is.

There are some who seem to think that AS is some kind of exclusive club that everyone's dying to join and faking their way in, instead of it just being a neurological condition.. I don't really understand it.

I would recommend trusting yourself. Hold yourself up to a comparison of others' experiences and commentary by experts. I did this, became 100% certain of my aspie-ness, and received an agreeing clinical opinion when I eventually made it in for evaluation. once you've met one person with asperger's syndrome, you've met one person with asperger's syndrome. you can't exactly put it all on trust of a single opinion, you've got to become familiar with the talents and other impacts that are known for aspies and engage the process of self-observation. Dr. Tony Attwood states the best treatment (And by this I interpret it as meaning the "only good" treatment) is self-understanding and self-acceptance.

I have witnessed that often on various websites relating to AS and it bamboozles me too. I wonder what percentage of these Aspie Guardians were diagnosed at a younger age. I do not like to generalise, but perhaps the reason for this reaction is that by denying someone else the right to be in the club it somehow makes them more special?

I may be too late with this, but I would like to coin the phrase 'casting aspie-ersions' to describe this behaviour.



Sound advice for any member of the human race.

I think I'd trust the psychologist. He seems to know what he's talking about, and spent a total of nine hours on the evaluations, and all the things he's talking about are autistic traits. Another benefit is that he's worked with autistic people before, so he's gotten a chance to get the "big picture" that NTs are so handy at interpreting and using. If he sees in you a variation on that same picture, and he's done a careful evaluation, I think I'd probably trust him when he said you had AS. Autism, despite all the tendencies autistic people show on neuropsych tests, is still a diagnosis made by history and behavior, not by specific neurological tests.

I agree with Callista, I would trust the psychologist. I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist with a specialty in diagnosing ASDs and I am very happy with his diagnosis. If you are truly unsure, see a psychiatrist, it takes 3 times longer to become a psychiatrist and by that time the psychiatrist will obviously have some experience regarding ASDs. Also, you can get a second or third opinion. So far I have not gotten the sense that a lot of people are 'pooh poohing' psychologists, but I haven't read all the posts. So I would trust the psychologist.

As for diagnosing an ASD, there isn't many physical tests that can be performed for a diagnosis. A psychiatrist may order a blood test to measure TSH levels in your blood, just to rule out hypo/hyperthyroidism as a cause of your differences, although that is most prevalent with depression. I would trust the cognitive/behavioral tests 100%.