Not getting parents involved in a diagnosis.

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Is it possible? I'm 19, and right now one of the biggest things I'm worried about in getting a diagnosis is having to get my parents involved. I don't want them to know or find out about it, but will an assessment still be possible if the doctor can't get information about my development when I was younger?

Any input from anyone who's gone through the diagnostic process will be much appreciated

A lot of times it is possible, but then it is good when you have some other valid information about your childhood who shows your behaviour then. Maybe some paper where your behaviour is written down at that time or something like this would help you to get a diagnosis without your parents involved and of course you have to talk to the doctor too if he/she agrees.

I've been trying to find out similar. Most people have said to try to involve them, but that it's not absolutely necessary.
My support worker who knows a lot about diagnosis has said I don't need them either.

If your parents had died, they wouldn't refuse to diagnose you. It's just a bit trickier for them.

Okay, that's great. Thanks I'm going to make on appointment with the clinic on friday and I'll ask them. If they say I can't get a diagnosis without my parents involved then I'll just do without a formal diagnosis.

Sometimes it is also possible to involve other people who know you since you are little, IF this would be an option.

And also some clinics and psychiatrists refuse a diagnosis without the parents involved others don't.
So you can allways ask in another clinic...!

I got diagnosed from 4 different clinics/experts for autism now, because every single one of them wanted to check me again, because I don't look so typical at first sight (but they all agreed in the end, because especcially my childhood was very typical) and I moved a lot and stuff.

- Two wanted to talk to my mother (my father passed away) and diagnosed me.
- One didn't wanted that and diagnosed me anyway.
- The third would have wanted that, but my mom didn't wanted anymore, so the psychiatrist wrote "propably autistic" in it, because the interview with a familymember is missing.

Last edited by Raziel on 17 Sep 2012, 3:13 am, edited 3 times in total.

That's why I like living alone. Everybody becomes my judge in the end.

I was diagnosed with ADD when I was 9 in a private clinic and at another hospital. Do you know if different clinics can pull your records from other clinics? If they can I could just ask them to do that.

However, one of the clinics I went to gave me a diagnosis of bipolar last year which I am very certain is wrong, because after I recovered from that one depressive episode, I never displayed any symptoms of depression or bipolar again. Don't know if that will affect the diagnosis.



Not sure how it works where you're from, but here you can only get a government healthcare subsidy in the clinic that your gp referred you to. Can't afford to go to a different clinic or see the gp for a referral to a different clinic.

Do you have any diagnostic reports of those to diagnses?
If not, ask them if they can give you one, otherwise you have to ask the clinic you get diagnosed if the reports can get transvered.
I guess that this is possible, but I have really no exact idea.

Bipolar is still possible, because you can even be symptomfree over years, but if you had just one episode, than it's propably wrong.



Well in my country it is possible most of the time.
But not only clinics can diagnose you, also normal psychiatrists (who are specialist in or have at least some experience).

I got dx'ed age 20 without my parents involvement. However I had a conversation with my parents about what I was like when I was young (though didn't mention AS). I wrote down what they said afterwards and gave it to the person who Dx'ed me.

I got diagnosed twice
once when I was...a while ago
and then again when i was 39, I think?
Both of the specialists I went to didn't take into consideration my parents consideration of my history,
they listened to me
so I was diagnosed twice by independent authorities!
Lucky me!

Jeanna,don't believe anything they tell you!
All your fears are just all your fears
I hope that if you are courageous enough to tell your parents you think you have Aspergers Syndrome
they will cry in relief
that something more fearful that preyed on their minds did not come to pass

That's what I did, though I don't think the conversation with my parents made much of a difference. And I doubt an interview with them would have been very useful, neither of them has a good sense of what typical child development looks like, my mother has social difficulties too and always assumed I was normal because I'm "just like her" (told that to teachers who were worried about me when I was younger) and my dad didn't have much involvement in my upbringing because he's old-fashioned and considers child-rearing a woman's job. I explained that to the clinicians and the fact that my parents didn't believe in psychological diagnoses for people capable of living outside of an institutional setting and they seemed to get it. If the clinic you're planning on using requires a parent interview I would just look elsewhere because it can definitely be done without one.

While I do think that my parents know quite a bit about my development, they don't really believe in psychological diagnoses either. They've always just believed that I was smarter than most kids and much quieter, but otherwise fine. I remember when my preschool teachers told my parents it was odd that I didn't look people in the eye, they just said I was shy. Besides, psychological diagnoses to them are a bit of a taboo.

The doctor I saw the last time started to get pretty angry when I told her I couldn't bring my parents in, but this time I'll explain in detail why and hopefully that will change her mind. If that doesn't work, I'll request a new doctor. I would try somewhere else, but I can only get a government subsidy in this clinic because it was the one I was referred to. If I want to try another clinic, I'll have to pay a gp for a referral to a different place and right now I can't afford that.

Thank you for the encouragement It would be great if my doctor turns out to be that way too.
I don't think I'll tell my parents now because I'm not ready to let them know, but in future if I do, I hope they will be supportive.

It is possible but will be difficult.

Your doctor needs information from your childhood about childhood habits and stuff. Some of this stuff you may find it hard to remember. They may also want to talk to a friend who knows your for a long time. They can make a diagnosis usually off the field and your own recollection of childhood, but the parents can help.

Plus, if you use insurance, an statement of benefits will be sent you the policy holder. If your still under your parents.

I don't think my parents would actually even want to help They refused to help when I had clinical depression, I had to beg them to let me get help and then I had to go to see the doctor myself because they didn't "believe" in psychological disorders.

I don't know if it works the same way here, but I don't have health insurance. I just pay in cash at the clinic and if I have a referral letter from a gp at a polyclinic, they give me a government subsidy of about 60%. Still really expensive though. I'll have to ask, and if they will end up informing my parents I'll just do without a diagnosis till I graduate from university and move out in about a year.

I don't want my mom to find out (dad is deceased). Of course I love her but I don't really have a good relationship with her. I think it depends on how good of a relationship you have with your parents or one of them. If you have one you trust then by all means include them in it. Otherwise finding another route will have to be your answer.