Getting diagnosed

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About being diagnosed with autism, who diagnosed you? Psychologist or psychiatrist?

I was diagnosed by a psychology doctoral student and her advisor, who was himself a doctor of psychology.

I was diagnosed by a psychologist with 30 years specializing in Autism Spectrum disorders

I was diagnosed by a psychiatrist, an expert in PDDs (Asperger's, PDD-NOS and Autism, for example) in children, when I was 13.

My current counselor is a clinical psychologist and she has confirmed that I still meet the criteria for ASD in the new DSM. She thinks my symptoms are more severe than the first doctor thought, she thinks my social communication problems would be level 2 (and the RRBs would be level 1).

I have been diagnosed twice in my lifetime by two totally separate, independent psychiatrists. Both times it was picked up accidentally. Both times, I was seeing the psych for depression and they picked it up in me. First time, I was angry and didn't believe it although I didn't even know what it was apart from a form of autism. Second time, it became a bit hard to deny.

Now I know what Asperger's is, there's absolutely no denying it. It explains so much about me, my life, why I am the way I am ... everything!

I was also diagnosed by a clinical psychologist with 30 years of experience with the autism spectrum.
Before that a psychologist and a psychiatrist (for depressions) had mentioned, that I have autistic traits and problems with communication + eye contact.

Any suggestions as to how to go about finding someone who deals with adults? I'm bad enough at initiating contact with people and the couple of times I've managed it I've ended up talking to people who deal with kids.

Some of those might also be good.

Where are you? I am lucky that I live in Massachusetts and that there are tons of people that work with the whole community here. I contacted the Asperger's Association of New England (AANE) and they gave me a list of several of people to contact. Maybe you could try contacting them and see if they can link you to an organization in your local area. they might even have some contacts themselves. I'm in the process of getting referrals taken care of to see a neuropsych for assessment.

Good luck.

I was diagnosed by a psychologist who specializes in AS. I had been thinking I had AS for the past year, but wanted to get a formal DX.. so I could be sure that I was not just overexaggerating things like my social awkwardness, lack of eye contact, lack of understanding social expectations etc. I looked up adult diagnoses in Indiana and a list of places that DX adults came up. I called/ emailed many of them until I found one that I felt right about, that had experience diagnosing adults and that was pretty near to my home. I would wholeheartedly suggest emailing the potential doctors/ doctor offices to ask what to expect etc... and if they do not diagnose adults, then who would they recommend. I'm sure they will be glad to help.

Let us know how everything goes.