So much for a diagnosis...

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I show up to a psych evaluation, and an hour goes by without a single question that would tell me if I'm on the spectrum. I finally speak up, and say I was under the impression I was here to see if I had aspergers. First she makes this face and says "I see 30 people a day. I didn't know what you were here for."

Okay....

then she goes "and from what I've seen, you don't seem like you have it, or any type of autism. Your facial expressions and mannerisms bla bla bla bla..."

For once, I'm alarmed to hear that I don't have what I was being tested for. Then what the hell do I have? She prints out this criteria and wants me to fill it out and bring it in next time. If the system is this inept, I'll fill out the stupid thing the way I want and get my DX. If I'm wrong I can always get reDXd. They can't execute me.

Ouch.

I never would have waited that long to speak up. Since I pay the bill, they are effectively under contract to me. I approach a first session almost as a job interview.(me interviewing THEM). If they don't like that then they don't have the temperament of mind to act as a partner is solving my concerns.

There should be a strict standard people who diagnose should have to fill so they truly understand how wide and varied

the spectrum is and how it can manifest differently in adults, particularly adult females. People's welfare can depend on

a correct diagnosis and there are too many sloppy ill informed people out there doing it.

She sounds like she's just going to work to cash her paycheck and not actually help the people who come to see her. Can you see someone different?

I got an "almost diagnosis" from a therapist who said all kinds of screwed up things about me and implied I was making things up, like the phrase "special interest". She wasn't a specialist and seemed to take everything I said as though I were lying.

I should have gone to a specialist, but the problem was money. I was able to get a special rate there - $300 all total for about 5 visits and the tests. It's way more expensive to see a specialist through my crappy insurance. Well, now I wish I'd not wasted my money on her and saved it toward the specialist. It really damaged any sort of confidence I had in the field of psychology.

I feel for you. Get away from her if you can. She sounds like she cares less than mine did.

Let's see now.

Most therapists take sessions for about eight hours a day. Thirty patients in eight hours leaves 16 minutes for each appointment. Every therapist I've ever seen dismisses me after fifty minutes of an hour long appointment, leaving themselves ten minutes to jot notes before their next appointment. Take ten minutes away for notes, and she's seeing each patient for six minutes.

And she's making diagnoses?!

Alright look. I realize she must have been exaggerating. Exaggeration to that extent, from a therapist, and worded that way tells me she's not dedicated enough to be dealing with anyone with a condition as complex as any ASD.

I would be dumping her like a sack of hot potatoes and looking for someone who thinks you are worth their time.

The doctor who DX'd me only saw me once, but she spent over two hours with me. Go find someone with a higher level of respect for you and their profession.

The neuropsychologist who diagnosed me said he knew I had Aspergers just from talking to me and my weak eye contact with him. My test took 7 hours and I took it on a Friday and got the results back on the following Monday. Perhaps you made to much eye contact with her. Ask your local autistic services group to give you a list of good psychologists that have experience with autistic people. See if you can get her on some kind of black list. The neuropsychologist I am seeing has Aspergers so I hope his special intrest is psychology of the autistic mind.

I can't lie to you guys, I have no problem with eye contact whatsoever. I have a problem with staring too intimately, but I naturally lock eyes with people. There are other reasons I think I may be an aspie, or at least on the spectrum somewhere. She said the same thing- my eye contact gives me away. I don't have to fake it- it's natural.

I do the following:

I stim sometimes
I talk to myself
I have social problems
I am sensitive
I have problems articulating
I can have a deep, serious conversation, but I have to work hard at being appropriately shallow
I miss social cues
I'm off in my own world a lot

and lastly, I have way too much in common with people here to be a coincidence. Something's going on.

It's situations like this that make me glad I decided to self-diagnose and be done with it.

Seriously, you need to find someone who behaves like a serious professional.

The fact that you can make eye contact "gave you away"?!? Apparently, she doesn't realize that not all Aspies are created alike. Why is she still permitted to practice?

I hope you find someone who knows what they're doing. Good luck with that.