Opinions/advice needed

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Not posted on here much but could really do with people opinions and/or advice.

I am currently waiting on assesment for ASD. I have suspected it for quite a few years but not done anything about it until recently.

I have a diagnosis on ADHD (2011) and more recently possible Social Anxiety (Dec 2016).
I made an appointment with psychiatrist regarding going back on ADHD meds as I am struggling at work mainly with executive functioning and some social problems (summer 2016) and was offered CBT as well as meds. When I finally got a place for CBT after initial assesment (Dec 2016) all of the CBT is around Social Anxiety but think the therapist seen some ASD traits so had mentioned about getting assesed (Jan 2017) I agreed this would be useful and would help to either confirm my suspicions of ASD or deny them. Fast forward and the therapist had me fill out a questionnaire about sensory issues I have and then must have spoken to my ADHD psychiatrist and passed on sensory issues questionnaires . Then literally last week (beginning of Feb 2017) I was given 3 questionnaires (AQ,EQ and CHAT) and an appointment with the psychiatrist for an ASD assesment at the beginning of march!

Now is it just me or was that unusually quick? Like not even 1 month. Not complaining as I am aware other people have waited months or even years so I do realise how lucky I am but it's kind of too quick that it's making me a bit anxious.

Has anyone else had it this quick?

Also the appointment letter is generic doesn't give any instructions (e.g bring a relative or school reports) other than date/time/place and appointment will last 30mins-1hr.

Everything I have researched about assesment/diagnosis talks about multi disciplinary and like 3 appointments lasting up to 2hrs...

I consider myself to be able to hide a lot of my difficulties very well in general ( never been unemployed, live independently, been in a realationship for 7 years and have a few close freinds) on the outside I didn't think you could really tell but I'm also wondering now is it totally obvious? And has the psychiatrist just been waiting for me to ask to get assessed????

Excuse my spelling - insomnia and apple autocorrect don't mix well!

I don't really know about getting an official diagnosis, as I didn't see much point at having it on my permanent record so late in my life. However, I went through ADHD and social anxiety but never felt like they explained my situation very well. I think a lot of people with ASD probably have gotten counseling for those things, and benefitted somewhat from it.

As soon as someone suggested Aspergers, and I saw a psychologist with lots of experience with ASD, everything fell into place very quickly. He told me later that he was fairly sure just by meeting me, and by the way I asked him for help in "figuring out this 'social thing.'" He felt pretty sure that only someone with ASD would have asked in that way.

Of course, all the work I had done on digging down into the real issues that caused me to feel depressed had revealed that poor communication with people caused me more sadness than my brain chemistry. Initially, I sought counseling because I felt depressed, not because I could see what I was blind to. It's natural that they looked at some form depression as a initial diagnosis.

Also, depression was the trendy mental health issue at the time, and now it's autism. It's worth considering, but the evidence of the progress I've made points to autism being the better diagnosis for me. Try it on and see if it fits?

Nothing wrong with your spelling.

Maybe when you're tired, you paradoxically become aware of things such as spelling...

As for the assessment, I find it rather generic, too. Do they already have some of your records?

It doesn't seek like they're doing a very thorough assessment---still. Especially if this is your first evaluation for autism/Asperger's. An assessment usually takes a few hours, and consists of around 10-15 separate tests.

I don't recall you mentioning whether you have a past autism diagnosis. If you have one, there's your answer. At this point, there has to be a preponderance of the evidence for you to LOSE the diagnosis if you have a past autism diagnosis.

I guess that's possible.

But, from what he said, it seems like you would get a full-throttle assessment on March 3rd. Maybe you ought to ask your therapist for clarification.

Especially if you have a good relationship with this therapist, you could ask him if it lasts a few hours, and if they have the 10-15 tests and the questionnaire that you and your parents (or perhaps your friend if you are older) have to fill out.

Usually, an IQ test is given. And academic achievement tests. And some subjective autism tests. And tests for ADHD, too.