How to bring up AS with my psychiatrist.

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Okay, so Monday is my big day. My psychiatrist is finally back after almost one year. I plan to bring up the whole AS diagnosis thing with her this time. I already have my reasons to why I want to be diagnosed.

How do I bring it up without seeming like I just want to be diagnosed just for the heck of it? I mean, this has been on my mind for ages now. Should I write a list of my symptoms and let her read them or should I read them myself? Should I give her a reason why I want to be diagnosed? I guess I just don't know how to bring up the topic properly. I bet anything she'll hardly know anything about AS. My last psychiatrist didn't and he told me it was just a label anyway but to bring in my school records. I got transferred over to a different psychiatrist and didn't have the courage or chance to bring it up again until now.

Maybe bring up the traits that are causing you problems? That will logically follow to you wondering whether AS might explain things and might be helpful to you to look at in more detail with your psychiatrist?

Yes, good idea. I'll just concentrate on the most problematic symptoms.

Remember, doctors don't "treat" Asperger's, just the symptoms. If you're depressed, they'll prescribe an anti-depressant. If you're anxious, they'll prescribe an anti-anxiety. Same thing if you're manic or delusional or exhibiting schizotypal behavior. Good luck.

I don't know what its like up in Canada, but here in the US, its possible to get help getting an evaluation through vocational rehab (if they think it'd make it easier for you to get a job then they might pay for an evaluation with the person they use for that). Its worth looking to see if there is an equivalent there.

I agree with DirtDigger about the psych docs. Most know little if anything about spectrum disorders, and many scoff at it. First go into the General Autism forum here. There is at least one post article with links to online tests. Take the tests, and if it indicates that you may be on the spectrum, then save the results, and print out two copies--one for your records and one to take to a psych doc. Don't go to just any psych doc, go to one that has experience treating people in your age group (minor or adult?). If you can't afford one go to the gov welfare office to apply for Medicaid. They will give you a one-time use voucher to get you started. You take the voucher to the doc of your choice to get a diagnosis. Check with the gov mental health care office for referrals to psych docs with experience treating people on the spectrum. When you see the doc, show him/her your online test results, along with any notes you made about yourself. That should help get the ball rolling. Once you have a diagnosis, you should be able to get on Medicaid.

If you are not in the USA, you should be able to do the same by going through the gov offices of whatever country you are in.

Hope that helps.

You live in Canada, ask her if she would be willing to do the assessment with you, of course she will ask you why you would like to do the assessment, just answer her questions. If she can't (conflict of interest with someone else in her office, etc) or isn't comfortable doing it ask to have a referral to someone that can.

She will most likely do it just for the billable hours.

I would probably write out a list of the traits you think you have to bring with you. As for how to broach the situation, just tell her that you have been trying to figure yourself out and the most logical reason you can find for your various issues leads to Aspergers or HFA. If she is any good then she will ask you how you came to that conclusion and lead the conversation from there.

I would definitely start with the problems. If you don't have 'problems' no one will pay attention to you becaue they don't do diagnoses for the heck of it.

For me I did it gradually and got an ADHD diagnosis first, then went to a psychologist (who has an interest in female AS) and requested an assessment to "rule out other things that may be going on, like AS". This was the most comfortable way for me to bring it up and she was really positive about that. I also brought along a typed A4 page detailing what I mostly had issues with and why I really needed to figure myself out. I gave it to her and she read it before our next appointment and apparently had found it really helpful.

But if your psychiatrist doesn't have any experience with female AS, you may have another hurdle to tackle.

Anyway, good luck with it all!

So I wrote a list of my most problematic symptoms and read them off to her. She concluded that it was possible that I probably have mild AS as well as OCD. She said she didn't know too much about Asperger's Syndrome. I didn't think I was OCD but sure. She said there's really nothing that you can do about it and there are no groups or anything in the area that I live in. She said my biggest problem was my anxiety and the other two you can't fix and they're just labels. She said if I work on my anxiety then most of my problems will go away anyway. I don't really see this as possible since a lot of my anxiety stems from not knowing what to do or act in certain social situations.

So, I know I wont get anywhere with my psychiatrist on the whole AS. It's repetitive with my psychiatrist, it's the same thing every time, all she does is write things down and renews my prescriptions. I don't know what to do now, she said I might have additional OCD and mild AS but there's nothing that I can do about it. Should I just suck it up or should I consider trying to go to Toronto and finding a place there?

That sounds a lot like the experience I have had with my "professionals." I mention that I have gone on line and found that I can relate to 90% of what people say here, and I am just told that I am depressed or have a low self esteem or I have Social Anxiety Disorder or whatever. Interestingly enough, all of those things have many of the symptoms "unique" to AS, so I guess I'll never truly know what I am. Other than peculiar, I've pretty much determined that.