PSYCHOLOGIST MADE A FOOL OUT OF ME

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I TOLD HIM I THOUGHT I COULD HAVE ASPERGER'S AND HE ASKED ME WHY. I STARTED LISTING SYMPTOMS AND HE REBUFFED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. ACCORDING TO HIM, NONE OF MY SYMPTOMS MEANT I HAVE ASPERGER'S, EVEN THOUGH SAID SYMPTOMS WERE TAKEN DIRECTLY OUT OF THE DSM CRITERIA. I TOLD HIM TO LOOK AT THE ENTIRE PICTURE BUT HE KEPT SHAKING HIS HEAD. I FELT LIKE AN IDIOT. I HATE PSYCHOLOGISTS. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM AND I'D RATHER DIE BEFORE RECEIVING THEIR SO CALLED HELP.

I had the same exact thing happen to me this week. I ranted about it here: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp1450965.html#1450965

If a psychologist says you don't have it, you don't have it. They're the professional, not you.

I hate it when people throw themselves at professionals and try to get a diagnosis for something they don't have.

Many, many, many psychologists are wrong. They make mistakes.

Some even put people on meds and don't realize they were wrong until the meds backfire. Sometimes backfiring badly.

Psycologists and doctors are wrong all the time. I have seen cases where I know for sure I have known more than my doctor or psycologist.

Agreed - I've had nine or ten different diagnoses depending on the doctor I've seen. MW99, make an appointment with a different doctor and when you go in this next time, don't even MENTION Asperger Syndrome or any kind of ASD. Simply list your symptoms in as much detail as you can. leave the DSM-IV stuff out as well. For one thing, psychologists will immediately write you off as a hypochondriac if you start quoting the DSM-IV at them. Just tell them what's going on with you and keep an open mind, as there IS the possibility you may not have AS but some other disorder. You don't want them to prescribe you meds for a problem you may not have. I was prescribed meds for borderline disorder that messed me up so badly that I was put in a hospital, where I was under observation 24/7 for a week and they then told me that I did not have borderline disorder.

I'm not saying you don't have AS, but getting diagnosed with AS won't happen as soon as you walk into a doctor's office, either. It took me several years of seeing different doctors and an endless array of tests (and meds) for various things before it was finally narrowed down. Plus, a lot of doctors think AS is the latest 'fad' illness that parents think their kid might have (it used to be ADD & ADHD, but apparently ASDs are now the focus of wary parents). The doctor is right that the symptoms you have might appear to be AS but they are also symptoms of other personality disorders as well. You have to be under observation and tested for a while before they'll make that kind of determination.

I'd trust them to hit the ground if somebody threw them off the roof.

I'd respect their judgment if they walked in soaking wet and said that it was raining.

I'm supposed to pretend I didn't notice that the only one defending them so far isn't a heterosexual male.

Such an incredibly simplistic/naive answer I have to question whether this was meant as sarcasm.

What symptoms did you list, and what were his refutations?

Also, what was his view of Asperger's?

I have to question it too.

Especially since I know a lot of people who are diagnosed as autistic, but this gets contradicted by crappy psychologists who don't even know that autistic people can communicate.

A psychologist once said of my father:

"I don't like anyone I met who had Asperger's. And I like your father. So he doesn't have Asperger's."

Even though my dad had delayed/unusual speech acquisition (and his first words were a whole sentence "see the moon"), had a lifelong special interest that began with taking electronics apart in the attic of the farm he grew up on (not a standard interest by any means where he grew up), hid when company was coming, was always known as shy and socially awkward or inappropriate, rocked, repeated other people's words, and so on. (Okay he'd probably technically qualify as autistic or PDD-NOS by most standards, but still, the point stands.)

Mw99, you've been to a few psychologists by this point, right? And they've told you you don't have AS? Why not try to find a specialist in AS? That way, no matter what the final result is, you at least can trust that they probably know what they are talking about. It seems like the continuing quest for diagnosis has been frustrating for you, so if you can, I would focus on finding an expert, rather than seeing multiple non-experts.

I do wonder though- has there been consistency in the diagnoses the different doctors have given you? If they are all giving you the same diagnosis (without consulting with one another), then maybe it's accurate.

AS specialists don't just grow on trees, at least not here. I don't know why... but whatever. I know I've had a hell of a time finding anyone who specialises in 'high functioning' autism. Most seem to expect rainman, I swear.

HOW do YOU know they are a "professional"!?!?!? I used to believe professional meant:

SKILLED
KNOWLEDGABLE
REASONABLE

Do you know what many TODAY think it is?

TITLE
GETTING MONEY!! !! !!



MY definition is 3,8,9,12,13! ALL the rest are the other! MOST doctors DON'T fall into 9,12,13. As for the rest? Have you seen "catch me if you can"? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464/

It is a TRUE movie! In fact, the REAL Frank Abagnale Jr. does a cameo!



Let's see... By the widest and listed as most correct position, he fits 1,2,4,7,10! So I guess you could call him a professional pilot, surgeon, etc... EVEN though he wasn't.

Of course, this just illustrates how absurd it HAS been and could be. There ARE shades of absurdity.

I almost always do. I'm not more qualified than they are, but the simple fact that I'm perseverating on autism itself makes me more of an autism expert than the average psychologist, even though he knows much more about every other part of psychology than I do. This is not uncommon. When a child has an illness, the mother will often become a medical expert on that particular illness, and know more than the doctors. Some moms have saved childrens' lives that way. People with chronic illnesses, especially obscure ones, can learn enough to know more than their doctors. Think about it this way--You know about one diagnosis. Your psychologist has to know about hundreds. You do the same amount of studying he does--maybe more, if you're sufficiently obsessed, curious, or desperate to better yourself. Who's going to know more about autism in the end? Yep--the person who specialized.

Oh, BTW, the psychologists have been wrong about me, too. I do some self-injury, and the first time I was in the mental ward and immediately afterwards in the counseling center, they diagnosed me with borderline personality disorder. Every psychologist after that has literally laughed at the diagnosis, because I'm the very self-contained, self-aware, independent... practically the opposite of borderline, much more schizoid really, if you want to label me with a personality disorder. Lately I had another obvious misdiagnosis--generalized anxiety disorder, from a psychologist who saw me at the end of a long stressful day of forced socializing. Why do I know it's wrong? Same day, I took the MMPI, and the scales dealing with anxiety were normal. And when I later asked my counselor about it, she actually told me that with a previous diagnosis of PTSD, I couldn't be diagnosed with GAD on top of that because they're both anxiety disorders and I didn't have anxiety that wasn't related to outside stressors, which is what GAD is--a constant worrying about the little things, to the point that it interferes with your life...

Oh, and I had one psychologist ask me whether my Asperger's symptoms were "AS or BS" (that is, feigned)... Several people since then have confirmed the diagnosis, though, including the government!

Continue in your quest, and find someone willing to listen. At the same time, be prepared that even after finding a competent and patient-focused psychiatrist with knowledge and experience with adults with ASDs, you may be told that it is not your diagnosis. I understand the frustration... my own doctor was all too willing to accept my pre-assessment that the most likely candidate (based on the information I had at the time) was bi-polar disorder II - yet is unwilling to even explore and conduct what diagnostic assessments exist for ASD/PDD conditions, despite knowing my son has been diagnosed. It baffles the wits and boggles me to no end.

While I can understand the source of that statement, the manner in which you responded was perhaps uncalled for? We live in a society pervaded with hypochondriacs and abusers. Yet frequently, conditions are misdiagnosed or corrected over a span of time - especially when the conditions are newly identified, poorly defined, diagnosed within a new demographic and/or otherwise unfamiliar. As I said above, I am not diagnosed. I'm in the process of seeking an informed individual to explore the possibility, in the hopes of either finding a diagnosis -OR- excluding the possibility so that I may continue to seek better answers to my questions, better solutions to my problems. Based on what limited information was provided in the original post, there was no diagnostic taken; instead, the doctor parried against self-diagnosis - which is understandable - but avoided actually examining the possibility with an open mind. Something to consider.


M.

How to Help

I don't think it's possible to say whether mw99's psychologist was right or wrong, or whether mw99 has AS or not. We've never met these people. We don't really even know anything about them. We can read a person's posts on a forum, but we don't know how honest that person is or how in touch with reality that person is. This statement applies to Internet forums in general; I don't mean to single out mw99.

I sympathize with him - it sounds like he's dealing with a lot of stress. I don't think that trying to guess who's right and who's wrong will help him.

What can help is to provide information.

Psychologists in particular (as opposed to psychiatrists) are extremely varied in their methodology, ideology, educational background, training, level of experience, ethics, and attitudes towards patients. It can be hard to find one who is a good fit, so it pays to do what it takes to find the right psychologist for you.

Referrals and Recommendations

If possible, ask one or more people to recommend a good psychologist. Recommendations can come from general practice doctors (if you have one you really like), friends who you trust, relatives, psychiatrists, or even websites or people you meet online. When a doctor recommends another doctor, it's technically called a referral.

I found my favorite psychologist through a recommendation. A friend of mine had talked about how he was seeing a psychologist to help him get through depression resulting from his divorce. He said he really liked this psychologist, so I asked for his name and number. He turned out to be really nice and easy to talk to. I saw him for a couple of years, and he was the first to suggest I might have AS.

When I needed to see a psychiatrist, I asked this nice psychologist for a recommendation. He taught at the local medical school, so he knew a lot of psychiatrists. The one he recommended was the best psychiatrist I've ever seen. She was the one who diagnosed me with AS.

When I needed to see a general practice doctor, I asked my psychiatrist for a recommendation. She recommended a friend of hers from med school who turned out to be really, really nice! In fact, I found every doctor I saw routinely in San Antonio through a recommendation from a friend or another doctor.

Assessing a Psychologist's Credentials

As stated earlier, people with different types of credentials and methodologies can call themselves "psychologists". A psychologist's degree can be any of the following:

Masters (M.A. or M.S.) in Psychology - 2 or 3 years of graduate school work in psychology

Masters (M.A. or M.S.) in Counseling - 2 or 3 years of graduate school, focuses more on the practice of counseling but includes psychology courses

PhD in Psychology - about 5 years of grad school + a dissertation, often followed by a practicum or long-term internship

PsyD - almost the same as the PhD in Psychology

M.S.W. (Master of Social Work) - 2 or 3 years of training in social work, a psychologist with an MSW will have taken psychology/therapy courses as part of their social work training

(These are rough descriptions of the differences between these degrees - please research for more detailed and accurate information.)

The specifics of these degrees vary between schools. There are accrediting agencies that make sure the degree program follows certain guidelines. *Some graduate programs are not accredited* and therefore may not meet educational standards recommended by experienced professionals in the field.

Secondly, psychologists have to be licensed in order to practice, but *some may practice without a license* and try not to get caught.

In addition to all of this, there are many different schools of thought in psychology. Psychologists are supposed to reveal their ideological background (ex: psychoanalysis, cognitive-behavioral, mixed, etc.) before you even make an appointment with them. It is helpful to research these schools of thought in psychology and decide which ones you like best before you choose a psychologist.

Psychologists vs. Psychiatrists

The above information is about psychologists, not psychiatrists. Psychiatrists are doctors (M.D.) who specialized in neurology/psychiatry in medical school. Psychiatrists can prescribe drugs, but psychologists cannot. All psychiatrists have similar training (compared to psychologists) and they take a medical approach to diagnosis. Not all psychologists even make diagnoses. When a psychologist does diagnose, their decision may be influenced by ideas unrelated to the DSM criteria, such as psychoanalytical concepts which are more philosophical than scientific in nature.

Ending Note

MW99, it sounds like you might benefit from finding a practitioner with whom you are more compatible.