How important do you consider diagnosis?

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It seems that we have diagnosed aspies and undiagnosed aspies, some of the latter by choice and others by circumstance. What I was wondering...

- Do you consider an ASD diagnosis important or a luxury? (or even a negative thing?)
- Do you believe the importance of a diagnosis changes as a person ages?
- How much do you believe self-diagnosis can replace a third party diagnosis?
- If you believe it's important, why do you believe so? If you believe it's not that important, why not?
- Do you believe that multiple diagnoses are important if the first diagnosis took place at an early age?


For myself...I was diagnosed when I was 14 and then again when I was 22, but the first time, "asperger's" was just a word to me. I didn't believe there was anything wrong with me. (at least not something I wouldn't be able to change with a bit of effort) I've only been consciously involved with it for the last 1.5 years. Lately, I've been slowly working at discovering my own identity and the role ASD plays in it.

At first, I disliked the diagnosis...I felt I was being labelled and branded a disabled person. I was probably in denial for quite some time too. (I wasn't weird...the rest of the world was. ) However, as I slowly started accepting myself more like I was, I started feeling my diagnosis as a blessing.

Having had my fair share of failings as far as socializing was concerned, I developed a rather insecure self-esteem and I often had the habit of doubting myself. I don't think a self-diagnosis would have worked very well for me, since there are times when I feel autistic and there are times when I feel normal...hence, during those normal times, I'd automatically question my self-diagnosis. For myself, I feel in order to accept ASD as part of who you are, as part of your identity, it's best if it's a constant factor that sticks around irrelevant of your current mood. I'd consider a diagnosis a good thing, even for older people, just to cause things to make more sense and to achieve a greater peace of mind.

I do support second diagnoses if the initial diagnosis was made at a fairly young age when development is still in progress. (especially if the diagnosis is PDD-NOS)

I'm curious about other people's ideas on this though.

Self-diagnosed with autistic disorder first; diagnosed by psychiatrist second.

The main point I only care for for diagnosis is the ability to recognize that something is "wrong" with you (me), you can then focus on what you have rather than what you lack (the criteria that you meet for the diagnosis tells you your weaknesses); there's no point smacking into a locked and unbreakable door time and time again till you die.

Diagnosis is the "key".

I don't need a diagnosis to know that I am not an NT! I have always been "different" but never known why. Some of the incredible stuff I have read on here & elsewhere about how NT's think only confirms to me that there is no way I could be one.

The problem is finding out exactly which NDD (or combination of NDDs) I have.

There are pro's & cons to getting a diagnosis, & I am still weighing these up.

Pro's:
I can stop wondering and be certain
I can give people an excuse for my bad or weird behaviour
I can volunteer for research (I would be really interested to see an actual scan of how my brain works differently to other people's!)
I can access help for my areas of difficulty

Con's:
Once I have a label there is the dilemma of "to disclose or not to disclose" at work or in job applications
If ever the Nazis take over & decide to eliminate or "treat" all aspies, I would be right there in the firing line
Other people might react more negatively to me

At least here in Sweden, a professional diagnosis is mandatory to be entitled to any form of aid and/or support. Thus, I consider it important in the respect.

Ahoy, I'm new here and I'm gonna make this my first post because this subject is important to me.
I diagnosed myself because, well it was just really obvious. I didnt find out about AS until about 2 years ago when my parents brought it up to somebody else, apparently they knew there was something wrong with me when I was a kid and they never did anything about it. Therefore, my whole life, I never got any special treatment whatsoever from anybody.
So I researched a bit and I was simply amazed at how much I fit the criteria, I even found out a lot of things about myself that I had always thought were normal with everyone else. I discovered why I could never do good in school, why I had a hard time communicating and understanding, why I couldn't make eye contact, why I was such a social outcast, why I could never pay attention to things if they weren't aligned with my narrow interests, why I was so afraid of changes, and even why I never got cold, and so on and so on.
I even talked to a few people who were diagnosed with AS, the only thing I didnt seem to have in common with them was the problems I had that I thought were AS related that they didnt have. I took an online aspergers test with 150 questions, and I got someone I knew who was diagnosed with it to take the same test. I got a aspie score of 176 out of 200 and a normal score of 23 out of 200, which points strongly to Aspergers. His score was something like 105 and 93, which suggests he doesn't have it. But his doctor diagnosed him, and mine didn't? Just last year, and only about 10 years too late, my parents finally arranged for me to see a psychiatrist (or is it a psychologist?) to diagnose me. She made me take all kinds of strange test, which concluded that I am smarter than most adults, but she didn't talk to me much or really test my social skills like I would think you should do for a diagnosis of that sort.
After all that, we had a meeting with her and my mom and the principal and vice principal and like 3 other people, the conclusion was that I didn't have AS, I just happen to have almost all of the symptoms to it. If I remember correctly, they said I didn't have focused enough interests and I somehow knew what other people were thinking and some other stuff, I wasn't really paying attention. They were completely wrong though, she took some things that I had said way out of context and I guess all I could say is that there was a major communication issue, I wanted to speak up and tell them that they were making stuff up about me, but there was like 6 people there, and my mom was the only one that I really knew, and as if thats not enough to make me extremely uncomfortable, I was the center of their attention at the moment, so I was just too uncomfortable to even raise my head and say anything or look at any of them the whole time.
So the whole thing had been a waste of time, even my mom thought so, she was almost as pissed as I was disappointed, and pissed.
So in conclusion, I dont think a professional diagnosis is so important for knowing if you have it or not, because doctors are not always right, and for a disorder like this, with seemingly endless possible symptoms, its too much of a coincidence to fit every one and not have it. But if I was diagnosed, and early of coarse, my childhood could have been a bit less miserable.

I only found out about AS a few months ago now and have decided while it is very obvious to me I do have it- I only have it mildly and at this stage in my life am almost ok with getting by. It isn't just a few traits its pretty much every one of them that will appear on a list, just the social ones are not so strongly that I'm crippled in this world by it and need assistance. (though speech therapy is on my list of must-do's once I graduate university and get some income)

That being said I want to explain to others that I'm different, I want the people I know to get what's going on in my head and so I can stop coming off as just wierd. That's why a diagnosis would help, but it's just a vanity and would cost me money, and I'm not sure I'd even be diagnosed with it on the basis the scale exists to only diagnose the people who really need assistance becaues of it.

Perfectly put! I'm going for a diagnosis next month. I actually have the appointment set up and everything. Really scared though because I'll probably make a fool of myself.

This is a really interesting thread for me as a recently self-diagnosed adult. I am trying to decide whether a diagnosis will be worth the hassle or not, and am leaning towards Yog-Sothoth's conculsion.

I think maybe I only have mild AS (in the same online test I scored 139/200 Aspie and 66/200 NT) and, as I have managed so far, I'm not sure how a diagnosis will help in the future. I'll still be me whatever the doctors say.

am think an ASD diagnosis is important for those that need it,with support/accomodations etc being the main reasons.
it can make life so much easier,because the help that is needed can be applied for.

with self diagnosis,it can be a bit dodgy,but one thing common with autie and aspie self diagnosers is their dedication and hyperfocus on finding out about ASD and how it fits and doesnt fit them.
am actually think it would be good if people-such as the knowledgeable and unbiased users from wp were employed to help with diagnosing others on the spectrum,people on here really do know a lot more about ASD than many pyschs and specialists,and something like that should be put to good use,especially as there is a big lack of people with this knowledge in some places.

am was never self diagnosed as such,as didn't have any autism knowledge back then,and didn't even know was different to others,but because of history,and sisters increasing knowledge in autism from her pyschology study and working in the mental health industry [had some autie clients with mental health problems and had autism training],she knew it was autism,would have been diagnosed with it as a toddler,had parents not accepted the 'extremely disturbed,uncooperative,disruptive badly behaved child' rubbish off the specialists and doctor.

Macallan,
one way to look at it-do need any support,any accomodations at work? college? uni? have extremely misunderstanding family etc?
if the benefit of diagnosis is more than the risk of diagnosis [discrimination of having the label,threat of children being put into care etc],then it is definitely worth it.
self diagnosed does not mean less worthy,self diagnosed people are always welcome in the autistic community.

i am self-dx... but working in neuro labs... i have gotten some sinsights from my coworkers about my behavior... i actually found out about AS by reading some literature we had at the lab's reading lounge. i talked about some stuff with a local specialist for a while, but don't really have the finances to do much about it...

but i think at this point, i've learned how to roll with my own punches pretty well for the most part... i just now know the things i do struggle with are because of me and not some unlikely combination of coincidences that keeps happening whenever things go wrong with other people... (still just as frustrating, but less stressful in the long run, basically)

i mean, my reactions to things feel so natural... it's hard to keep an open mind that there is some other way of interpretting things... but i am trying to do this more... and that's all a dx will do for you anyway... make you aware of how you are different and to work with it...

i dont think a dx will help to get me a job or friends, so i don't really see a point to it... for me.

i think i have AS or NLVD (or both)... and it's enough to know about those perspectives to keep my own open or flexible enough to realize there are foundations to my irrationalities...

sanity is only gossamar anyway

Thanks

I'm very fortunate in that I live alone and work for myself. And if I did get a diagnosis I doubt I'd tell my family as we're not particularly close and don't discuss deep and meaningful stuff.


That's roughly where I am, too.

I've suspected I'm a Aspie for about a year now. At first I thought I should get an official d/x but then I thought what's the point? I'm 29 and although there were times when I didn't understand what was going on with me, I found ways to cope, ways to make me feel better when times were difficult.

Coming here just made me realise that my 'strange little ways' are actually perfectly normal, at least for an Aspie.

I can understand why someone much younger would maybe want an official d/x as at least then they could get any assistance they may require instead of going through life and learning things the hard way.

I have been professionally diagnosed twice now. I sought a second opinion because I wanted to be sure (the second opinion only confirmed the first diagnosis) so obviously it was important enough to me to go through the diagnostic process a second time. I think self-diagnosis is a dangerous tool, you can never really be sure unless a professional makes a verdict. I mean, no aspies fulfills every single criteria or shows every single symptom, and people always see themselves differently as other people see you. So I think self-diagnosis is risky and does not give you real conclusion, you cannot really draw a line and say "OK this is me and AS is part of it". I wanted to be really sure, hence why I went to a specialist again. Since she confirmed the first diagnosis I feel a lot better I must say, because it put an end to uncertainty.

I have mixed feelings about the necessarity of having the Aspergers label. But for myself personally, I find it a good thing to know that I definitely have it. First of all because knowing exactly what type of "disorder" I have allows me to seek professional and specialised help no matter where I live. I travel around a lot so I sometimes am forced to seek new psychologists ; if I would not have known exactly what type of "disorder" I had then it would have been much more difficult to end up with a psychologist who is trained in dealing with people with my issues. For social contacts it is also handy ; since my diagnosis has been confirmed by a special specialist, I took the step to affiliate with an AS social group, without diagnosis I would have never done that. Third and maybe most important point: a diagnosis answers a lot of questions about how different we really are and why we sometimes feel or behave in a specific way. Like it was posted before, a professional diagnosis also opens the door to government aid in some countries. And last but not least, when you feel you're different, I can imagine a proper diagnosis is essential in the process of accepting the person you really are. It has been for me anyways.

So I would say: to each his own, but for me personally a diagnosis is important and I would not personally want to rely upon self-diagnosis. My professional diagnosis has helped me in several ways so I personally would recommend diagnosis to everyone who feels he may be in the spectrum.

^^^

so how does a DX help you respond to ABCDE......XYZ that go wrong day to day?

i'm jsut glad to know what NEIGHVORHOOD my brain resides in... so i can try different ways to solve problems.

delf DXs can be bad when all you do with it is have a pity party for yourself.... and you don't get anything out of life looking at it that way...

but you can do the same with an official DX... or become dependant on THAT person to tell you how to think/respond...

I'm sure there's a balance... but i agree... it can be pretty hard to be completely analytical with yourself.

Im not saying i wont ever get a DX... it might even be helpful that i try to doso... cause if i do have a breakdown or something in teh future... i could immediately get help, w/o having to try and go through some serious hoops BEFORE addressing my immediate problem... and it would have to be pretty serious for me to go in by that point... so there is some merit in just getting it out of the way maybe... the future is unpredictable.

Diagnosis is important in my book because it's too easy for people to slap the label on themselves just to be 'different' or to excuse bad behavior.

Don't **ALL** people with AS have NVLD? I mean the lack of social understanding, relationships, and many actions are a symptom of both.