questions about the criteria

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Hi again, here I am once again with my self-centred confusion.

I want to get diagnosed, but it'll take some time, and possibly money, so meanwhile I was wondering if you could clear a few things up.

I've realized that the bulk of my symptoms consist of stimming, all kinds of it, and I've done that as far back as I can remember. The stereotyped behaviour is definitely there, and I have also been diagnosed with OCD.

Today I doubt if anyone would consider me socially inept, although I usually come across as slightly odd. But since I'm relatively good-looking I'm usually perceived as "cute and quirky" as long as I smile a lot and make cleve remarks.

As a child I was socially very awkward. I never understood why the other girls were upset with me, but I later learned it was because I sometimes ignored them, that I always told the truth and could never keep secrets, that I talked about untinteresting things and that I always expressed strong morals about things they did ("that's wrong" I would tell them a lot, about facts as well as behaviour). I never knew what was "cool" and I always believed everything anyone told me (still do) I'd rather sit in a tree or try and find a cat to pet than giggle with peers.

Things that are still true today include: I sometimes don't hear other people talking to me, I feel awkward making eye-contact, I hate small talk, I do monologues, I jump at any sudden noise, I have very obsessive interests, I never fit in in groups, I love my routines, unpredictable social situations make me very anxious, I can never tell if someone likes me or finds me annoying so I need a lot of verbal re-assurance, I can't tell when people lie or cheat and I stim a lot.

My speech development was on time, but I always spoke like an adult, from four years old, and I made up my own words and often misused advanced words (I read a lot of books, the source of many special interests)

I could go on but I think I've gone on for too long. Do you think that my mild social impairment and inability to read people qualifies me for Asperger's? And what about all the stimming, that's not really as common in Asperger's is it? For a while (before I read about autism) I thought maybe I had Tourette's, but it never quite fit, because I could control it when I had to. I was often made fun of for it though, because until I was about eleven or twelve and the bullying had hit home, I didn't realize it was peculiar to stim in the classroom.

As long as you see a specialist, you should get diagnosed. Don't go to just any professsional, of course. You describe more than enough behaviors to meet the criteria.

I guess I'm just confused because I've dropped the thought on a couple of friends and they thought I was so "normal", although one of them remarked that she always noticed something different about me. And at the same time I know that this life-long feeling of just not getting it is real. I guess a diagnosis would put me outt of my misery. But I either have to go to a general psychologist and get referred our pay a heep of money out of my own pocket

I'm with Whitetiger on this one. If you're going for a diagnosis it's much better to go to a specialist. In the first place, Pervasive Developmental Disorders are just that: developmental.There's been a lot more research done with kids than with adults--And as a result there are a lot fewer people who can recognize spectrum disorders in adults.

In the second place--well maybe the makers of the ICD are more enlightened than the makers of the DSM are here in the US--But the fact remains that a general practitioner simply isn't trained to recognize behaviors with a neurological, biological base. (As opposed to those with conscious intent.) Not even close.

I definitely want to see a specialist, but there are two ways to go about it, either you get referred by a GP or you pay for it out of your own pocket. I'm Swedish you see, so if I go through the official channels I don't have to pay a dime, but Ii might have to wait a year instead....