Was I misdiagnosed with Aspergers?

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When I was 18 I was diagnosed with having Aspergers, but even back then me and my family questioned whether this label truly fit me. I had the social anxiety component for sure but I never had problems understanding emotions or facial expressions or any of the theory of mind symptoms.

During my late teens, I went through a bout of really severe suicidal depression and anxiety due to traumatic things that had happened in my life to the point where I rarely left the house and rarely socialized. This lead to my family pursuing an autism diagnosis for me, which eventually resulted in me getting a diagnosis of Aspergers.

Fast forward to me now, I am in my mid-twenties and have changed significantly to what I was like back then. I have a good group of friends, I am in a relationship and feel I have no trouble making and maintaining friendships/relationships etc..., and don't have any of the theory of mind problems or sensory problems. I still have problems with anxiety and depression now and again but it is greatly reduced and manageable.

I just really don't see how I can possibly have Aspergers Syndrome, I have always thought that I have an anxiety disorder or possibly bipolar disorder instead.

First, a reminder that the diagnosis doesn't require an "x" in every box. In fact, very few people display every characteristic.

That said, are there any Aspergers traits that apply to you now or when you were younger? Anxiety & depression are common co-morbids with people on the spectrum, but not AS itself.

You can take the Aspie Quiz to see if it might describe you (not a replacement for diagnosis).
http://rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

Aspergers has been notoriously harder to detect in females than males and misdiagnosis is always a possibility. If the associated symptoms don't fit the current you or the younger you, then that could be the case.

The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria states that "Symptoms...may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life". So it is possible that you have simply learned to cope with it.

I'm curious to know what would happen if you found yourself dealing with significant stress - whether you would revert to the state that you were in at age 18.

There's a test here on face and voice expression. Based on this test, people with ASD are, in fact, just about as good at reading facial expressions as NTs.

I think the theory of mind thing, while a common issue among those with ASD, is often difficult to figure out what it means among adults. I certainly pass the Sally Anne test pretty easily. Among adults, I think how it manifests varies a lot from person to person.

My diagnosis talks about rigid thinking, so I'm thinking that it's suggesting that, for me, one way that Theory of Mind issues manifest is that I hate arguing but find myself doing it an awful lot.

Questioning one's own diagnosis is extremely common among those with ASD. I don't think psychologists give a diagnosis simply based on current circumstances - I think they've got to be pretty sure that this is the way your brain works.

Misdiagnosis does happen, but I think it's way more common for people to "mis-self-undiagnose" than it is for a psychologist to get the initial diagnosis wrong.