Horrible Psychiatric Evaluation

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Hey guys,

I just got back from my psychiatric evaluation and I feel terrible. It was just a horrible experience. I was referred to this psychiatrist by my doctor specifically for the purpose of an autism diagnosis.

The psychiatrist saw me for literally 13 minutes. As soon as I got there, he told me that he hates labelling people, especially with autism unless it is the severe non verbal type. He said that it was silly of me to want a diagnosis because nothing could be done for it anyway. I told him that a diagnosis is important for my peace of mind. I tried to explain my troubles with work, school, failed social relationships, etc. but he would hear none of it.

He read the Diagnostic criteria to me and said that I certainly sound like I have many of the qualities of autism but that he wasn't going to diagnose me further than that. I briefly mentioned that I have a terrible working memory and that I need to write lists a lot. That got him all excited and said, "you have ADD! I can help with that." I was a bit shocked about his quick jump to diagnose me with ADD after only about 7 minutes talking to me. Especially after he said that he hates to label people. He didnt ask me anything about my childhood or any sort of history at all.

I told him that I know that aspergers and ADD can occur together and asked him if he thought that might be the case. He said maybe but "just because I have all the characteristics of Aspergers doesn't mean that you have it." Ugh. I was so frustrated at this point but I asked him to elaborate and he said to me, "well people with aspergers are completely cold and robotic but you seem quite warm." I found him incredibly insensitive.

So now here I am, no closer to a diagnosis, and feeling even more lost than I did before. I found a couple of psychologists in my area who deal specifically with autism so I will probably call them instead.

Aside from your diagnostician being more "insensitive" than mine, I felt deja vu reading your comment.

Diagnosticians like ours give a bad name to the "profession." Have you completed the University of Cambridge screening tests? They are free, downloadable, printable and easy to score. The AQ is even online and scores itself (http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html). Also, is there a legal or medical reason for you to be officially diagnosed? If not, you might want seriously to consider one or more screening tests. Just a suggestion.

Anyway, I am sorry to hear about your bad experience with trying to receive a diagnosis.

He's a moron. A big moron, not a little moron. He is a complete and total moron. There is a bus especially for thoughtless, brainless, heartless, uneducated, ill-informed jackasses, and he is definitely MORE ON than most people.

Just because there isn't a pill that can be prescribed that will "magically fix all your issues" does not mean that there's nothing that can be done. For the record, ADHD meds don't magically fix all those issues, either. They help with focus and the need to keep moving, and may help some with the ability to learn impulse control (because the prefrontal cortex needs dopamine to work right), but there are all kinds of other issues that they don't fix.

He's an idiot. Review him badly at an online service and hope it saves someone else the trouble.

It could have been worse, though.

Hi there and thanks for your reply.

I have actually done all the tests. I don't remember all my scores, but on the long Aspie Quiz that I see many people on here have taken, I scored 176/200. My aspergers scores are always very high.

I do have a specific reasoning for wanting a diagnosis as well. You see, I am planning on attempting post secondary school for the 3rd time, and with a diagnosis I can request special accommodations. Despite being quite smart, I dropped out of college twice before. I got straight A's until I started feeling overwhelmed and began skipping class to sit in the library by myself. I've also lost so many friends and family members due to my social blunders and have carried around a lot of guilt because of it. It is my hope that with a diagnosis, I can begin to forgive myself and learn some new strategies to move forward with.

You have valid reasons and deserve a deliberate diagnosis. Good luck finding a better diagnostician.

This sounds very typical to me. I also think he was a quack just looking for pay dirt.

He's nothing but a pill pusher and a hypocrite. I'd drop him like a bad habit and find a better person for your diagnosis.

I'm very sorry you had this experience. He was an f.......g jerk. Unfortunately, that profession seems to be full of them, and they have no respect for any opinions but their own, a hallmark of the narcissism with which this profession is riddled, it is very attractive to them for the power over people they can exert. Write to him and say (briefly) that he was totally unhelpful, and it was a waste of your time and money.

if at all possible try and get an assessment with a pyschologist not a pyschiatrist.
many pyschiatrists are only interested in what they can view with the medical model of disability.
of course he only sees those of us with severe autism as truly autistic because most of us are on varying levels of potent & multiple challenging behavior medications.

not all pyschiatrists are like that,mine is a intelectual disability specialist and she will do everything in her power to avoid medicating and knows more about autism and ID than everyone have ever known in mainstream pyschology put together.

Thanks for all the responses.

I went with a psychiatrist initially because it was covered by the government but I am currently looking for a psychologist instead or maybe even assessments through the local university.

Do review him on healthgrades, or wherever. And definitely find a better-qualified psychologist.

I would not write this clown psychologist a letter. It's just not a good expenditure of your time.

I would consider writing your main doctor who made the referral a letter. It might help him or her to know. Include the details, that this clown refused to even consider a diagnosis regardless of the facts. Maybe put it in diplomatic fashion and slightly understate, something like that.

Yes, I am definitely going to tell my doctor about how horrible that psychiatrist was. I'm sure he wouldn't have referred me there had he known that idiots view on autism. My doctor agreed with me about wanting a diagnosis. He said he would definitely want to know whether or not he had it.

I've looked into getting an in-depth assessment at the university. It is very intensive and detailed and checks for everything under the sun. The problem is the price; it's about $1400.00. I may be able to get a bit if it covered by my healthcare plan but certainly not all of it. I guess I need it though.

The stupid doctor said that it should be enough for me to know that I have "Asperger tendencies". Well guess what? I'm terribly obsessive so that is not nearly enough for me. I've been researching different diagnostic paths for about 6 hours now. Lol