Which has helped you, hurt you?

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This is for people who have been to a healthcare professional for their autistic traits or comorbids. I see a trend among those who have gone to psychiatrists, clinics or general doctors. I want to see how it polls out.

Can you also tell me if you were misdiagnosed and by whom? or if you are happy or unhappy with your "treatment"?

Miss diagnosed by 2 psycologists, and 1 psychiatrist.
Diagnosed AS by different psychiatrist. Had a little success at a specialized AS "social skills" class in my teens until it went belly up from not having any funding. No treatment since. Everytime I would ask my parents about this I would always be told that there isn't anything out there for me. I still don't know whether or not this is true. Either way none of the medication I have ever been prescribed for anxiety or depression has realy worked for me and if that is all that "treatment" is then I am not interested.

You left out social workers! I got diagnosed by a social worker who works as a counselor.

In the past, I've been misdiagnosed (or not diagnosed) by...
-10 psychiatrists
-2 social workers
-2 psychologists
-1 neuropsychiatrist

I visited a psychiatrist several years ago who diagnosed me as bipolar. Everyone who knows me agrees that it was clearly a misdiagnosis.

I ordered some anti-botics off ebay for an infection that in theory kills 30% of the people who get treatment so why would I goto a doctor for AS?

My first year chemistry professor told us medicine is more an art than science. I rather use my hack science and my own artistic touch over some over paid quack's.

I never sought out anyone for DX of AS, and had never heard of it. The psychologist I’m currently seeing introduced me to it with their diagnosis. The treatment so far has just consisted of me being informed, which I’m very happy about and thankful for. Hopefully I'll get some proactive ideas for treatment of it.

I’v been misdiagnosed (or not diagnosed) by:
Four psychiatrists.
Countless psychologists.

I’m 36yo. Many of those psychologists were ones I had only seen long ago, so I don’t think I would blame them for not diagnosing me. I DO BLAME all of the psychiatrists for taking away my freedom and essentially ruining a few years of my life with their ridiculous, self-serving misdiagnosi.

I have seen numerous professionals, none of whom caught on to my (maybe) AS traits. Was once misdiagnosed with a d/o which is commonly cited on these forums, but which I clearly do not have. Wasted months of my life thinking I was a nutcase.

I have respect for medical/psychiatric professionals, but I've found they're frequently mistaken.

Out of curiosity, what did they misdiagnose you with? I think I was misdiagnosed with something growing up, but my mom wouldn't even tell me what as she though it was so ridiculous.

I was mis-diagnosed or at least under-diagnosed with social anxiety by a psychologist.

Me? Well, I was hesitant to post it on a public forum, but I've changed my mind. It was bipolar disorder. In all fairness, the misdiagnosis was my own fault. I sensed a pattern to my ups and downs (which actually ended up simply being the natural limit to how much time I can spend exhausted and sleep-deprived) and focused solely on this when speaking to the doctor. He merely did what I told him to. And when I realized I had made a mistake, he was entirely supportive as well. Good man.

I know a girl who I suspect has AS, who was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia as a small child. It was a nightmare for the entire family, not to mention the poor girl, who was medicated into a state of apathy.

If your question was directed to me, I will mention it. One psychiatrist gave me an official diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, simply because I refused to name some people that were stalking me (being taken to jail and then to a psych facility, for no other reason than having refused to speak with a govt social worker about my personal problems, was a very traumatic experience for me, and I thought that, as a citizen, I had rights against undue seizure). I had no idea that psychiatrists possessed such legal power over the general population. Another refused to give me a second opinion on that diagnosis (probably to protect his coleague’s reputation). Two others which I saw after leaving the facility, gave that diagnosis precidence over anything that I said, or even over my obviously NON-schizophenic rationale. I told the final one that I had stopped taking the psychotropic drugs because I felt that nobody’s judgement of someone else’s mental state should be given extra importance, and that nobody had any business trying to control the brains of others. He tried to convince me that what I was saying was propaganda from scientologists - even though I was not familiar with that society’s agenda. I never took psychotropics again, never visited a psychiatrist again, was not overly encouraged by anyone to do these things, and was eventually accepted as a non-dangerous excentric person (after a psychologist varified that I was not schizophrenic).

As far as I know, psychiatrists are not required to have any psychology skills at all. All they are required to do is make personal decisions about which people should be (or can be) doped up (for either control or for more pharmaceutical company profit).

Misdiagnosed (or not diagnosed at all) by school psychologists. I am self-diagnosed with AS.

I was originally misdiagnosed with Tourette's when I was 8 or 9, but to be fair, that was in the early 1990s. When I started middle school, the school wanted the proper documentation or something like that (I had been diagnosed by a psychologist, who apparently isn't qualified to diagnose that), so my mom brought me to some neurologists, who then diagnosed me with autism, then specifically AS.

As for treatment... I did see psychologists for a long time (I remember not liking the first one I saw at all, but then I had some I liked) but I can't do that anymore without a job or insurance. Between that, decent schools, and a supportive family, I think I've at least learned to put up with the real world.

Diagnosed by a psychologist.
Treated by WP.

A psychic...and I am happy with him:

provides prescription for funky sedatives when anxiety is too great
killed a co-morbid disorder (OCD) as good as anyone can
same CBT that killed the OCD is helping me with interacting with people (very minutely compared to the OCD above though)

I’ve seen professionals in the past and they diagnosed me with OCD and other anxiety disorders; which I have, but when they were successfully treated the autism decloaked under the fog of my mental illness.

One would think. Psychiatrists scare me to death, though I'm sure there are good ones out there.
Sounds like a really scary experience.