Am still trying to figure this AS stuff out.. Need some help

Post Reply New Topic

Are these aspects crucial to having AS?

- a big collection of objects, for example horses, frogs, dolls, etc, or say 1000 books?

- a repeated movement over and over that someone would notice within every hour of your day (face grimacing for example)?

- strange bodily movements that your parents will have noticed you had since you were little?

- not having any friends your entire Life?

- not being able to engage in a two-way conversation with turn-taking, eye contact, etc as observed by an external person?

- not noticing that your own reaction to a social rule not being followed was probably a bit over the top?

Thanks. I saw a psychologist today, and she said I didnt have AS because I didn't have these things. And sure, I am open to the fact that I don't have it, but I had also brought in an 11-page essay on why I felt I DID have it. She went with the DSM-IV criteria and although she said I DID have the sensory issues, she thought everything else was attributed to just anxiety and being a sensitive person. Well, we only spoke for one hour and I still had hours worth of stuff left to talk about that she never even heard. Still, maybe she is right, I just find this all confusing. I relate to you guys on here SO well, and all the books I have read, I feel like I am reading about myself. She said that because I held the conversation properly with her (people with AS are almost impossible to have a conversation with, she said), and that I had a best friend for 19 years (she is just the same as me, that's why we click), and that I didn't have a stange collection of frogs or something, and that because I didn't have a weird repeated bodily movement, etc that I definitely did not have AS. What do you think, do you guys agree with this?
edit: She also said I didn't have it because I was "nice" to look at.... Does that mean all people with AS are NOT nice to look at?? Odd.
edit2: I had previously spoken with a known female counsellor who HAS AS and she said she thought I most certainly do have AS. She is only a counsellor though, hence can't diagnose.

You need a new psychologist - one who actually knows what they're talking about.

Everybody who posts a message like yours has a different set of criteria that they fail to meet. I wish that the psychologist and psychiatrists would all get together and decide on what AS is. There is the DSM-IV definition, but everyone seems to interpret it differently. The requirements that you stated are not necessary for a diagnosis. They would support a diagnosis of AS, but they are not necessary; you could still meet the DSM-IV criteria without them.

I have no idea if you really have AS or not. I'm certainly not qualified to say. But more and more, I'm getting the feeling that the only thing that everybody agrees on are the extreme cases. There seems to be a lot of disagreement about the milder cases.

AS is a spectrum disorder and you could have a milder form of it. The DSM has its limitations in diagnosing the milder forms. I have AS and has been diagnosed since I was 8 years old and I am not hard to talk to, although I am shy with strangers and the aspies are ugly thing is just a stereotype. Stimming (repeative useless movements) is very common but not all aspies stim. Collecting things??? That is not in the DSM...although intese special interests are. I never known an NT to have sensory issues...so if I were a psychologist, I would diagnose you with with PDD-NOS which is Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. Which is on the autism spectrum but indicates that some of the criteria does not apply to you.

Also you need to find anouther psychologist...ask your AS counsilor who she recomends.

Agree but, ah, the plot thickens. (and by the way, psychologists tend to do better writing good humanistic books than they tend to do having a real, back-and-forth, genuinely respectful conversation)

Yes, it would seem like an answer would be for psychologists, psychiatrists, etc to have more training,

but almost an equal problem is that mental health 'professionals' are like the new version of the old-line authoritarian doctors. Once the 'professional' has spoken, there is nothing you can do to change their mind. I mean, there is no conversation after this point. And that's a shame. What is lost is any kind of ping-ponging back and forth of real communication.

Everyone should come to Oregon and see my guy. He hands out the dx without even prompting.

i agree with this.

I meet every criteria of the DSM but I don't really meet the symptoms you've described exactly as you've described them. I express most but in less specific ways. Except that I don't collect things and I don't have odd body movements that others could observe. It's all fingers and toes these days and it's not obvious.

According to the DSM-IV criteria, as well as other criteria, having collections is not a trait of AS. Having a "special interest" is a trait of AS. It does not always translate into a collection. However, pending other criteria, one may have AS and not have a special interest.



Most repetitive movements would be spinning, hand flapping, rocking or leg shaking, however pending other criteria, a person with AS may not exhibit this.


See above.



Contrary to what someone's clinician recently thought, you do not have to have a life devoid of friends to have AS. You have to have a clinically significant impairment in social interactions relative to age level, which severely impacts some aspect of your life, such as social relationships or one's ability to work. Many people with AS manage a few friends here and there on occasion.


See above. A person with AS may have difficulty with conversations at various levels or under certain circumstances, however many people with AS may develop some conversational skills by the time they reach adulthood.



Difficulty making and/or maintaining eye contact is a trait of AS, however a person with AS may or may not have this trait and still have AS pending other criteria.



Some people with AS are very self aware, some aren't. I think when a person with AS responds inappropriately in a situation it's simply because they couldn't pick up on the non-verbal cues which communicate the appropriate way they should have responded.
A person with AS may also have a different emotional response than most people to certain situations.



The DSM-IV criteria was written primarily with respect to children, and on many occasions, I've seen clinicians not understand how to apply it. For example, interpreting the criteria for an impairment in social interaction to mean never having had any friends, or not realizing that it is not all traits or nothing, but "at least two" from some categories and
"at least one" from others.

There are adult diagnostic assessments now which take into account the fact that those with AS have often learned social coping mechanisms by the time they reach adulthood.

Most clinicians are not familiar with adults, or women with AS and so it's important you find one who is for a proper diagnosis.

Believe me, I'm tempted.

This is my experience with getting diagnosed with AS. The first psychologist I went to said I was "just shy". I realized he was totally unfamiliar with AS so he just made a diagnosis in an area he was comfortable. Needless to say, I did not go back. I then read a post about how it was best to go to a local university (Most universities have trained psychologists on staff who have "cutting edge" knowledge. I personally saw a psychologist who had specialized in AS for 15-20 years. It took awhile to get an appointment but it was well worth the wait. I had always known I was different from most people but I did not know why. Seeing a specialist only confirmed my suspicions. From my understanding of AS, there is no "checklist" that applies to all people that have AS. We all come from different backgrounds and had different experiences that made each one of us unique. Criteria applicable to me might not necessarily be applicable to you. I personally feel it is very beneficial to get a diagnosis. For me, it was refreshing to find out why I was different from most people and I was OK. I didn't need to hide who I really was. The only bad side effect I had from the knowledge of having AS was I wanted to get back at all of the A..H...s who had belittled me my whole life for being diffferent and inflict on them the same emotional hurt they had inflicted on me.. This is an area I am still currently working on.

I've developed so many coping and defense mechanisms that I feel like I can write a handbook on "Faking It". Most of them are bizarre and horrible. Therapists' brains may explode when they read that "Nice to meet you" means "If we were trapped on a spaceship together, the first thing I'd do is push you out the airlock so I can be blissfully alone".

Since it's in the DSM, Asperger's must be diagnosed by a psychiatrist. However, since the info for Dx is made by observation, a psychologist (PhD) does that part. Psychologists are not qualified to diagnose, just observe and present their notes to a psychiatrist.

It took me 2 years but I finally got my Dx in writing on hospital letterhead, signed by a psychiatrist. I did that because of stories like yours, where all kinds of people get into it and think they can diagnose. So I got my family doctor to refer me to the autism dept. of a mental hospital. (A children's hospital might consent to diagnose, too.)

You're an adult - have you learned to "pretend to be normal"? My mom trained all those symptoms out of me; they were shameful. She taught me to walk and talk "normal." So of course people didn't think I had AS, not that it had been recognized by medicine back then anyway. I felt very un-authenitic but didn't know why. And I was angry - well no wonder, I had erased me. Once I had the Dx, I began slowly to allow stimming (in my case, rocking), as well as a fascination with Henry II of England, and so on. I feel much better now. After a lifetime of being bullied, I do need a pill or two - that should come from the psychiatrist too.

btw, I hate psychiatrists. lol. But that's the way things are. If you seek a diagnosis, I would leave that psychologist out of the loop - it's tantamount to asking him to admit he's wrong, which they don't do. A referral from family doc to psychiatrist could start things rolling. I don't see the psychiatrist regularly - it's my family doc who "consults" with the psychiatrist, and that's only for my meds.

I never say "nice to meet you." I usually ask how the person is, and I mean it when I ask it.

I was actually a bit jarred to learn that most people don't mean it when they ask...

I was jarred when my therapist meant it when she asked, and it derailed me from telling her something that would have answered her question if I wasn't distracted trying to figure out what she did mean.

There's probably a lesson in that.