Autism doc says im just depressed

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went to an autism doc, made me do stupid puzzles talk a bit ask som questions, what the hell?

sent a paper saying im just depressed not really autistic, so....

i dont know what to do, who to beleive.........

I say get a second opinion. when I was first tested over 10 years ago, doctor's thought I just had ADD or ADHD until I got the proper diagnosis years later.

I don't mean to be rude, but some people are not autistic. If a doctor specialising in the area says you are not, the chances are that you are not. But that's really a good thing. Who wants some stupid social-disability anyway?

And about the puzzles and stuff, what did you want him to do? Just say "so you think you've got autism? OK, you've got autism!" Again, apologies if I sound like I'm being nasty, it's just that...well, I've said already pretty much.

Panic, in your profile you put under diagnosis "other autism spectrum disorder"

And some doctors are incompetent. I've been in the position of having to argue a cardiologist into doing his job correctly, because he couldn't think logically enough to do it on his own.

There is not enough information to judge whether the OP's professional is competent, nor whether he or she conducted a proper and correct assessment. Your assumption that the assessment was proper, in an absence of stated facts, is illogical.

It has nothing to do with logic. The thing is that even if we don't trust our doctors, we should trust our doctors above ourselves on such matters. What bothered me the most was that OP said something about "...made me do stupid puzzles and asked some questions" or something. How else does he or she expect to get a diagnosis?

It is true that some doctors are incompetent, however it seems fair to assume that a specialist probably knows about his own field.


I have seen people try to self diagnose as on the spectrum when they have a combination of depression and social anxiety, and that's all. Because they would rather have been on the spectrum.

The thing is, when they're not, it hurts them to think that they are - they don't get the help that they need.

Panic, what you do is ask why they say you're not on the spectrum, and see if they come back with actual data. And if they do, then you believe them, and work on your depression. It is at the very least masking what else is going on.
And if they come back with no data, you can decide whether you want to see someone else to get a second opinion.

Not everyone is autistic. Not everyone who wants to be can claim that label. And its better for everyone if the labels are accurate rather than what you want. That's what the doctors try to do is label you correctly.

Whether you have autism, I can't tell.

But I do know one thing: It's very difficult to diagnose a long-standing thing like autism when there's a more acute problem present. Depression can overshadow autism to the point that the doctor just can't tell whether you're autistic, or whether your symptoms all come from depression.

If this were a physical illness, it would be like trying to figure out whether somebody had problems with balance and coordination while they had a broken leg. You'd have to treat the broken leg first before you could figure out whether they could properly balance on it.

So, here's my suggestion: Work on the depression. It doesn't really matter that much whether you have autistic traits (i.e., you may for example be sensitive to the world around you, introverted, have lower social skills than average, need time alone to relax). Something led you to consider autism; it may just be that you are in the large group of people who have what we call "sub-clinical" traits--things that, on their own, don't cause disability, but are still autistic-like enough that you would have some things in common with autistic people. (Autism is a continuum which fades into the typical pretty smoothly. So, on the typical side of the spectrum, there are a lot of NTs with autistic traits.)

Whether you have autism or not, your depression would cause a great deal of dysfunction, and whether you had autism or not, dealing with the depression should really be your first priority. If you're depressed, you can't get hold of all your mental resources. You need to be on the ball if you want to learn things that'll help with autistic traits; until you get the depression into remission, chances are you wouldn't be able to do much learning anyhow.

Find a sensible therapist who will treat you as an equal and teach you how to deal with depression. There are a lot of mental tricks you can learn that help you change what you automatically think and cut off the negative thought/negative feeling cycle, and to analyze things realistically instead of in an unrealistically negative way. Medication can be useful; it gives you a bit of an edge, if you find the right kind, so if you're going to take meds, get a psychiatrist who's willing to try different ones until you get one that's beneficial without unacceptable side effects. Don't expect miracles--there never are miracles. What you'll get is survival, and things gradually getting better until you find you are able to enjoy life again.

Last edited by Callista on 01 Aug 2011, 6:35 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Tuttle has put across my thoughts much more eloquently. Listen to her.

I had a doctor question my daughters ADHD dx because she gets good grades in school. Didn't you know - all kids with ADD get bad grades, it's required for the dx...

When she asked who dx'd her, I told her all about the major children's hospital and the doctor participating in some of their cutting edge research into ASD and ADHD. She kind of shut up after that and changed the subject.

All doctors are NOT created equal.

heh, yeah... it doesn't matter if you're performing at average level when by rights you ought to be a couple grades ahead... you can't possibly have ADHD.

And what makes you think most people are too incompetent to look at the diagnostic criteria and have a pretty good idea of whether they have a disorder or not? Also not everyone can afford to go get an offical in depth diagnoses and kind of just have to work with what they can find out........also when I applied for SSI the psychiatrist they had talk to me claimed he did not even know what AS was and probably just claimed I was just mildly depressed an anxious because he was incompetent.

Sorry as a self diagnosed, confirmed by a therapist aspie I have to say my side of this issue.

Don't you know you also can't have an ASD if you're female, this is true, and spoke at the standard age of beginning to speak

I'm just the opposite. I have on paper a diagnosis of aspergers and I'm beginning to wonder if I really am at all.

I think therapy would do you a world of good, when you find the right person It's helped me.

As others have pointed out, it's not an either/or thing. To be honest, you do sound pretty depressed to me, as most of your posts are really negative (and I don't mean that as a criticism). Whether you're autistic or not, you should at least get your depression treated first.