If you can get a free diagnosis why aren't you going for it?

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Reading threads on WP over the past few months, I am struck by the number of people who can access specialist assessments for free, but are choosing not to take this step, because they don't want another diagnosis, label, or for other personal reasons.

Some people have been extremely critical of mental health services, however, they have only recently been assessed as being AS, or have avoided assessment, so my (rhetorical ) question about that is, how can therapists help if they don't know what you have been diagnosed with ? ( therapists and counsellors don't diagnose routinely )

What do you think avoiding diagnosis can achieve ?

If you have avoided a free assessment , do you feel more independent as a consequence, or more free in some way ?

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diagnosed 2013 - can't change on profile for some reason... :0(

No use being stereotyped instead of regarded as an individual.

I've never avoided an assessment, in fact I've been looking for one ever since it came out that I am on the spectrum. Doctors haven't been able to understand me and my traits before but this explains a lot and helps with treatments, mental assessments, counseling, etc
Basically with me my condition was known by my mother but she was in denial about it and she made compensations for me and managed to divert a lot of notice from my traits. For years after her death my traits became noticed but grief was blamed.
It was only when new members of the family who weren't used to me picked up on it that I became fully aware of it.

The way I've found it, anyone worth knowing see me as an individual regardless of AS or not, and knowing about AS makes some people dismiss me straight away, but also makes some people more tolerant of my quirks and less likely to take unnecessary offense so they have more chance of getting to know me.

It seems that knowledge of the condition quickly makes it apparent who is worth my time and who is not, they end up doing the job of avoiding me if they are not so I have less of a social minefield to work with.

Don't trust the NHS to get it right, they make too many errors.

I can't convince them to try.

I agree with the op, anyone offered a free assessment should definitely get one. At the least it'll rule out ASD, at the most you'd get a diagnosis and can work or move on from there.

Do people avoid getting a diagnosis out of fear that they won't land on the spectrum since the TR-5 is being revised and Aspergers removed?

Do they fear being in the social communication disorder category?

I would think getting a diagnosis would help someone by identifying the problem (issues). Once identified, one can work with it from there.
With free access and still avoiding its seems odd one would not go get a diagnosis.
If they are on this site posting, they seem comfortable enough so with the idea of Aspergers, so maybe it's more of a fear of not getting diagnosed with their matching self diagnosis?

How do you get a free assessment? I've been quoted anywhere between $350 and $1,500.

In the UK a diagnosis is free on the NHS, unless you go private.

Ah, in the US it seems to be more difficult.

Yes but the NHS is falling apart and misdiagnosis is rife in all areas. They can't even tell the difference between a chronic severe sinus infection and a tension headache for gods sake...and I know this from personal experience after being put on antidepressants for a sinus infection that required surgery and which I was left with for over 2 years (in agony with the headaches) whilst they bounced me from shrinks to psychologists to therapists. NONE of them caught onto the real problem...not one. They ALL insisted it was anxiety and if I reacted with distress due to the excruciating headaches I was getting they put it down to my mental health.

They are god damned incompetent ass holes.

In the end I pushed and pushed for an ENT referral and they found the infection on further examination with a CT scan etc.

My GPs did the same thing with chronic stomach pain (not ache) that I was getting along side diarrhoea, loss of bowel control etc that I suffered from for years. They put it down to mental health when it turned out to be dietary in the end (no formal diagnosis but it is funny that when I do not eat gluten or dairy I do not get any digestive issues at all...none!).

Not to mention they keep diagnosing my migraine headaches (left sided, thumping stabbing, with visual issues and nausea etc..ie quite clearly migraine if you look at the diagnostic criteria) as tension headaches because the blood tests came back normal.

Ummm would someone like to tell the drs involved that you can't diagnose a migraine with a blood test and that blood tests can and will indeed be normal in people who suffer from migraines.....

I also went to them about my circadian rhythm issues (I cannot sleep at night as I seem to be nocturnal and my circadian rhythm is stubborn and won't reset) and they just keep putting it down to anxiety. It is not anxiety, I am not awake all night because I am worried, it is because I get my peak energy at that time of night and tend to be up and about doing things. During the day I am groggy like I should be sleeping instead. Giving me sleeping pills won't work as they either fail to reset it for any significant period of time and really just induced an artifical sleep without resetting the other aspects controlled by my body clock in the process (ie my peak energy time will still be over night during which time I think more clearly, am at my most creative and have more physical energy).

I asked them for a referral to a sleep specialist and was told they would not give me one, all the would give me was antidepressants and that was it. So I accepted the prescription from them but brought it home and binned it.

There is a lot more you can do for someone with sleep problems other than trying to push them onto psychiatric drugs.

And yes I changed drs often but they were just as incompetent as the last. They have caused me much unnecessary pain, distress and anxiety. They are imbeciles.

I only ever go to the NHS if it is an emergency and I don't have any other choice these days.



It is dominated by idiots.

Has to be better than nothing, which is what I've got. Even when i had insurance I couldn't afford the co-pays.

IN other matters about the NHS

The dr was called out to see an elderly lady with diabetes and who was disabled due to having part of her lung removed due to a bought of TB in her youth. She was getting chest symptoms and he diagnosed a 'bit of a chest infection' and gave her some antibiotics. Later that night she died. He would not issue the death certificate as he said 'he did not know why she had died' so a postmortem was carried out.

The 'little bit of a chest infection' turned out to be full blown pneumonia and really the 73 year old should have been hospitalised not just given an antibiotic to clear it.

That 73 year old lady was my mother.....

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Another middle aged lady reported a large lump in her abdomen. They diagnosed a hernia and put her on a massive waiting list. Some time later she was finally called in to have surgery but died a within a few hours after the operation. That so called hernia turned out to be pancreatic cancer instead.

The middle aged lady was my mother in law at the time and was a very lovely lady to know.

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Go to the NHS? People must be joking right?

Nope, if you want any quality of life, I'd suggest you would be better off staying as far away from the NHS as possible.

Before I let them treat me for my so called anxiety and depression, even despite my quirks, I was excelling academically (straight A student) and was able to hold down a job even if I did not always get along well with the other employees. Management liked me even if I was strange due to my 'high quality' of work and I was never fired or complained at because I could not do my job.

Now...after years of treatment from the NHS I can't even work at all. Their pills made me horribly sick and I am still trying to reverse the damage they did!

They RUIN people and DESTROY lives.

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Please excuse my anger but I really do dislike them.

Hell would have to freeze over before I would go to the NHS for an assessment.

I doubt they are worse than nothing. You may have had a bad experience, but I hear very positive things from others. Doctors can be awful, NHS or not.

For me there are two reasons. The first is that I doubt very much if I could convince my doctor to refer me. As far as he is concerned if you don't show obvious physical symptoms there is nothing wrong with you. The second reason is that there isn't much point in getting one. I don't need extra support and there is very little available for adults even if I did.

- No cure so I'd be stuck with a diagnosis for life.

- Don't trust therapists.