Is self-diagnosing accurate?

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I know that most the people on this forum are diagnosed by a professional, and a few are self-diagnosed. I was wondering who thought self-diagnosing is good enough, or if one should be evaluated by a professional.

I myself, am self-diagnosed (even though I'm still not entirely sure if I have it or not). The reason why my ideas may not be accurate is becuase I've never met another aspie to compare myself with. For all I know, I could be the most NT person in the world. I fit a lot of the criteria for Asperger's, but I tend to exaggerate and things.

How many people here think that you should be diagnosed by a shrink, and who here thinks it's really just a judgement call?

If you have doubts and want to know for sure, see a doctor. You need your history from early childhood for an accurate diagnosis. If you have been financially dependent on someone for your entire life (say for 36 years) and have never been able to get, or hold a job, see a doctor, you may need financial assistance and you can't get it with only a self-diagnosis.

I'm self-dx'd, but at 42 and not in the public workforce anyway, I don't see a need to go for an official dx.

I think if you are not completely sure with your own self-diagnosis, then confirmation from an experienced professional is good.

But if you are content with your own diagnosis and all you want from it is to have that knowledge about yourself, then I'd say you don't need a professional.

I was self-diagnosed and now sort-of diagnosed. Self-diagnosis can be accurate. It can also be inaccurate. I wanted to be sure and so I went to experienced professionals who gave me an unofficial diagnosis (meaning, not on the books). Self-diagnosis for me was only a first step and I wanted to be sure. For others, self-diagnosis is all they feel they need.

It just depends on what you want.

In a way it boils down to whether, or not you NEED an official DX. No doctor I have seen has had any doubt about my DX, they just seem to like adding new things to it from time to time and I have no choice about seeing doctors for my autism. Also, therapy can have it's benefits. For me it isn't a matter of me being fixed, or anything, but it is primarily to help family members be able to be around me.

I'm probably not going to be anywhere close to certain about my self-diagnosis (PDD-NOS and Avoidant Personality Disorder) until I'm independent and able to go to a shrink. My parents are the kind of people who equate ASDs with stupidity and helplessness, and it would only make things worse to attempt to get an official diagnosis. Diagnoses are only labels, though, and it's my behavior and thinking patterns that matter. And those I know better than any list of symptoms I should be having written up by any herbert with a Ph.D.

I think self diagnosis can be very accurate, but it also can be very inaccurate. I am oficcially diagnosed, but I was self diagnosed (albeit for a very short time) before that.

I think I may have AS/ASD, but I will not self-diagnose, because I am all too aware of the pitfalls such a diagnosis offers.

I am now 40 and it is likely that most of the records pertaining to my development have been quietly dropped or destroyed., which makes an official diagnosis next to impossible.

There are so many things that point to my being AS/ASD from my own point of view, but I cannot settle for that on its own, because I am aware that I could be deluding myself. What the motives for such self-delusion could be are amply provided for by the 'talking cure' community-centric 'psychodynamic psychotherapy' that was inculcated into me between the ages of 15 and 19.

I have to be sceptical about 'self-diagnosis', because I have been trained or conditioned into thinking along these lines and although I know on the basis of gut instinct, that so much fits, I am also aware of the distinct lack of some symptoms often associated with AS. I also realise that I exhibited AS-type symptoms far more prominently in my pre and immediately post-teen years, ie from as far back as I can remember, up until around the age of 25 or so.

To my mind it fits very strongly, but that is not enough for me to claim 'self-diagnosis'. My conditioning in the 'thereapeutic' community (crucible of operant conditioned self-loathing), demands that I either a). re-rake for the zillionth time over a desperately unhappy childhood (that was not so different from my own brother's ones), or that I concede defeat and accept being a borderline dysfunctional personality of some sort. I am also by inclination, a natural sceptic when it comes to 'self-diagnosis', since there is no external reference point for objectivity. I find that repulsive, because I have known one or two hypochondriacs who, after consuming their 4-times a week visit to the GP on the basis of an Icon being in the wrong place on their desktop, plus the 3-times a week counselling sessions and medication, still thinks she has a right to impose her readily soluble and entirely dismissable 'problems' onto me, as though I needed to waste mental energy 'counselling' her, when I am trying to work on Perl code and HTML. (Gah - how did I get into that one?).

One thing that wrenches my gut and induces projectile vomiting is when a scientifically unqualified 'therapist' spouts the usual verbal gunk about 'Why can't you just accept yourself for you'; or "Why do you want to affix a label to yourself?". Well, the second one is that the label of 'generically "emotionally disturbed" doesn't explain anything worthwhile, and the obvious rejoinder being that I could do so, were it not for the fact of wilful and deliberate obfuscation on the part of those 'professionals' who still cite Bruno Bettleheim in their literature in relation to psychodynamic, community-oriented counselling.

If Britain's health service system were equipped to spend (perhaps unjustifiably), the money necessary for a considered and thoughtful diagnosis, it would a). be a useful gesture of retraction after the time wasted in my earlier years and b). enable me to devise a plan for coping with life based upon the truth, rather than a hippy-dippy fluffy-wuffy 'talking cure' strategy that goes pointlessly round and round, with no tangible benefit or verifiable result set.

So to answer the question from my own perspective; No, self-diagnosis is a premature settlement of the problem. The only answer I will truly be satisified with is an objective appraisal, based upon the recognition that people's outward behaviour gets normalised through social pressure (and bullying), so that by the time they reach adulthood, although they are a seething mass of stress and unresolved fury and the 'behaviours' they were bullied for as chldren and teenagers are to varying degrees absent, there is still a case for taking their appraisal of the situation (after considerable research), quite seriously, even if it cuts against the grain of fluffy-wuffy talking 'cure' psychobabble waffle.

One arch proponent of 'talking cure' therapy 'diagnosed' my psychological problems as being the result of my mother being beaten up later in her carrying me to term. How this Grandmasterclas Clairvoyant amateur therapist was able to deduce this, while conspicuously failing to pick out next Saturday's lottery numbers remains an eternal mystery. To her credit though, she did suggest that I had certain autistic traits (this was back in 1989), before such things as AS ever were heard of.

So to (finally) answer the question and sorry for the waffle, my answer is 'no, self-diagnosis in and of itself is not enough for me, which is why I have not self-diagnosed, even though I think I more than likely am AS/ASD'.

I have self diagnosed. I have agreement from 3 friends (2 of whom have ASD/AS relatives), while my mum seems to be less than confident. I saw a professional in 2006, who hinted at AS, which was the first I heard of the condition.

Recently, I chased diagnosis and was told I am NT, a conclusion I have very little confidence in. I shall very shortly be looking for a second opinion. I reach such a decision by noting that I seem to now know more about AS than the psychologists I saw recently.

I would prefer to return to the one who first alerted my suspicions. Her 30+ years experience would be much more accurate. However, I am unsure if she is NHS or private.

Self-diagnosis can be inaccurate, if you decide on the first disorder you see without looking at alternatives.

But real diagnosis can also be inaccurate. Some psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists don't know anything about ASDs. Most psychiatrists would rather give you a mental illness dx and give you pills than admit that an ASD is a possibility. Mainly because they are expecting Rainman, and if you don't give them Rainman, you don't have any kind of autism.

I wouldn't go for an official diagnosis unless you appear very obvious. Because most professionals will have made up their minds within 15-30 minutes, even less. You just have to consider, would you rather be doctor-shopping for months on end, or would you rather be doing something productive?

I have heard of dangers about self diagnosing because so many symptoms overlap with other conditions. Some people have thought they had AS or thought someone else had it but it turns out they have something else because they went to a doctor for a diagnoses.

I'm not against the self diagnoses but that doesn't mean they actually have it. Sometimes it's obvious that they do because they have said enough things about themselves.

I don't know anymore. I selfdiagnosed and after more than three years of researching deeper and deeper i know for sure that my selfdiagnosis was accurate.

When a real aspie reads a list of symptoms he will instantly recognize himself in the list.

The problem is that when an NT reads a list of symptoms he is likely to recognize himself too.

The list says "Obsessions" and the NT says "yeah i'm obsessed with football"
The list says "monotone voice" and the NT says "yeah my voice sounds kind of boring sometimes"
The list says "motor clumsiness" and the NT says "yeah i sometimes fail basketball shots at three feet away"
The list says "lack of theory of mind" and the NT says "yeah i sometimes don't know what my girlfriend is talking about"
The list says "problems with social relationships" and the NT says "yeah i wish i had more friends"
The list says "constant daydreaming" and the NT says "yeah i have too many fantasies"

then it gets worse if the list contains sypmtoms that NTs really do have, like "lack of empathy", all the people who enjoy Happy Tree Friends have a lack of empathy, without being aspies. "Allergies" too are common in NTs.

I think it depends on how crazy you are.

I'm self diagnosed as well. I'm smart enough to know if there's something wrong with me. I've studied and researched aspergers repeatably and read about every aspect of it. I have 90% of the symptoms; my life is much like others with the disorder and there had to be a reason why my social skills were so poor. I put two and two together and figured out I had aspergers syndrome. So in the end, if you have enough knowledge about aspergers, you can diagnose yourself with it if your honest with yourself.

I don't think self diagnosing is as accurate enough as professional. If you are really sure so see a professional if you are not sure and just have a few ideas/suspicions don't rush to label yourself because you could get it wrong and make a fool of youself if you did get it wrong

How many cormorbid conditions did you research as well as you did with asperger's?