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I have posted various bits and bobs recently. But I feel that I need to explain why I don't feel as if I might be autistic, even though I've been diagnosed.

1. I had very few special interests during my childhood; the ones I had were bears, Princess Diana, (I bought some books on her and when I was in my adulthood, I collected information about her, Prince Charles, etc). My collection was then dumped, by my previous landlord, when I left it at the house I was moving from. I like watches, but I don;t collect them, as I don't have any money, (I like high-end watches). When I bought my RW watch, I did go on watch forums. But no more. I got into watching golf and had to learn all the terms, etc. But no more.
At university, I got into health policy and got a 2.1 in that particular subject, without revision. I collected Health Service Journals, but my Mam dumped them. I'm now collecting articles about the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. But I don't have any all consuming special interests. I become interested in something and then at some point move on.

2. I've never stimmed. However, I do pick scabs and at my psoriasis too.

3. I don't have any special talents. Let's just say, if someone offered me some toffee, in return for a drawing, I'd politely decline the offer, as I can't draw for toffee...I'm terrible at maths. I can't play a musical instrument, but I can easily come up with songs - lyrics and tunes. But because I can't write music they stay in my head.

3. I can recognise expressions and I nailed the Mind's Eye Test. I'm a poor systemiser. I don't write lists, or plan, unless I have to - I keep things in my head.

4. I scored around 35 on the AQ Test. around 160 on the RITVO Test, but on the Aspie Quiz I was shown to have NT and ND traits - so I changed my answers, so I was more ND. I scored low on the SQ and EQ Tests

5. I can become obsessed with people, (women. When I was a girl, I would obsess over other girls).

6. In my assessment, I told the psychologist that I frequently find myself saying things that cause offence. However, I don't really. I might have done when I was younger. I am uber polite.

7. Friendships are difficult for me and I fall out with friends quite easily; not that I have any friends.

8. I have issues with taste and textures of certain foods, such as peas, baked beans, etc, but I don't have meltdowns if I eat these foods - not that I do. I don't like the smell of oranges, or air fresheners. But I love the smell of coal tar.

9. As for 'copying' behaviours/learning how to be 'normal', I can say that I never did. I was just me.

10. I have poor executive function and my parents thought I'm very tunnelled visioned.

Apologies for the length of post. But based on me and what I've read, re: stimming, systemising, etc and that all aspies should possess those quirks, as well as not being able to read emotions, I honestly wonder if I'm on the spectrum.

Thanks for taking time to read my ramble.

Oh, another doubter!

While we can't say for sure whether you have an ASD without meeting you in person, I feel pretty confident your initial diagnosis was probably pretty accurate, no matter what you said. I went through the same fears you are going through right now, and I literally analyzed every symptom to see if I had it. Whenever I found something that was inconsistent, I would obsess over why I didn't exhibit that symptom. You just have to trust the professional that diagnosed you, and be content with who you are. Not everyone with ASD is a stereotype lol.

Hope this helps

Thankyou Stampy. I was seen by two psychologists, (one did a follow up interview). I obsess too, about my Asperger's and whether, or not, I'm a true Aspie. i can't think of any other condition that would make me the way I am. I can socialise, and when at college, (aged 16-18), I usd to socialise with a few friends, go to pubs, clubs, etc. But now, I prefer to stay in my home.
Socialising didn't tire me out. But the reason I don't socialise now, is that I have little money and no friends.

No problem. There are quite a few people going through the same doubts on this site. Do you want to socialize more?

Not really. I like being on my own. I also irk people. I used to fall out with my friends all the time.

The psychologist, who saw me for a follow up, said that I had difficulties with abstract thinking and central coherence. Yet part of me thinks I might not be an aspie, purely on the basis, my quirks aren't all that well-pronounced. I also wonder, if I might have over exaggerated, when being assessed. I don't pass comments that come across as rude, but in the assessment I said I did.

Given that over exaggeration, I'm concerned that I might not be on the spectrum at all.

I don't think you over exaggerated, even if you did say you had a trait you "don't really have." If you don't want to socialize more, than I wouldn't push yourself too hard. You are most likely autistic. You don't need every single trait, and if you said something that maybe wasn't correct, so what? The psychologist didn't diagnose you based on the one trait. I think you should stop worrying and try to get "out of your thoughts" more often. These kinds of doubts can arise from over-analyzing your situation. I know you don't care for socializing; is there anything else you enjoy doing? When I went through this "doubting stage" I found that distractions worked well for getting rid of doubts, at least for a while. Good luck !

The human mind is an extremely complex thing. Psychology attempts to define 'abnormalities' in behaviour within certain 'conditions', however, these 'conditions' are just rough clusters of symptoms and signs. I'm not saying that there is no value in psychology (I do believe that there is), but psychology just doesn't have an appropriate diagnosis for each individual's mixture of challenges, abilities, and behaviours. I am not trained in psychology, but I suspect that your traits, or at least how you were perceived in your assessment, was seen to be a 'close enough' approximation of ASD. As always, nobody here can know whether or not you have ASD.

Why don't you take a couple of tests? Here are the two that I think are the most accurate:
http://www.aspietests.org/raads/
http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

I would take both, if I were you.

I had a couple of thoughts reading your post.

For one, the skin-picking sounds like "self-harm" to me. Like banging your head against something. Is it something you find yourself having to do more when you're stressed out? Maybe something that helps you focus when you're distressed?

My other thought was that your post in general sounded autistic. A neurotypical person trying to find out something about themselves generally includes a lot of emotion, what people have done to them and their responses. This kind of thing doesn't occur as much to autistic people. They tend instead to write something that looks like it came out of a technical journal [This is a compliment as well as an observation, I used to be a technical writer].

Just some thoughts I've had reading your post, based on the astronomical amount of research I have been doing myself the last several months. I am in no way an expert, and I am currently waiting for referral for a diagnosis.

In relation to your 3rd point - Aspie girls can exhibit different symptoms to boys, or naturally be able to cope better with things such as social interaction so you might not fit into the 'boxes' that a lot of things you have read tell you are Aspie traits. Also, every Aspie is different and you won't find two the same.

Point 6 - I often find myself second guessing things I have thought about or told people. For example I wouldn't say people find me rude these days, but that could be because I've learned over the years to filter my thoughts better. As a child I used to annoy or offend people unknowingly, usually resulting in bullying, so I could say that maybe I've 'grown out' of some of my social awkwardness - but I could also argue that unless I know someone well I don't allow myself to talk freely for fear of offending someone.

If you have been diagnosed then I doubt a few possible exaggerations would alter the outcome too much.
On various forums I have seen people's test scores who have been diagnosed, that are way lower than the scores I've got from the same tests.

I found this paper very useful
http://www.michaelsamsel.com/Content/As ... proach.pdf
Reading it felt like someone had written a Haynes manual on how my mind works!

Sorry if this is useless information but thought I'd offer my thoughts.

Good luck!

@SocofAutism: my picking scabs was because I was bored/soothing, etc. I wasn't self-harming. I enjoy picking scabs and squeezing spots - I'm a popaholic.