Why not get diagnosis of AS confirmed?

Post Reply New Topic

I don't think I was ever diagnosed by any of the doctors I used to see, and now my parents are too busy and strapped for cash to get me diagnosed because of their fledgling business.

What are the advantages to having a diagnosis?

Does a diagnosis involve anything more than an experienced therapist following the criteria from DSM IV?

There are some good reasons for having a diagnosis and there could (potentially) be bad reasons for doing so:

A formal confirmatory diagnosis legitimates a person's perception that they have AS/ASD. I cannot speak on the behalf of others but from my point of view, I have not assigned myself a 'self-diagnosis' because I realise that I could be guilty of 'confirmatory bias', which in this particular case means only remembering those things in my life that could be indicative of having AS/ASD.

For older people, a confirmatory diagnosis could help 'explain' certain elements of their lives up to the current day. For younger people, it might mean the difference between receiving appropriate support and services to help them continue their education, or underachieving at school and having drastically reduced life opportunities as a result of doing so.

Potential pitfalls are many, and include potential ostracism and vicitimisation if the person with the diagnosis is not selective about who they choose to trust with the information. This could be class mates at school/college/university, or it could be friends in a social setting, or potential employers (some of whom may discriminate on the basis of a diagnosis, if they think they can get away with it).

There might be an expectation in some quarters for people with a diagnosis to 'live up to' preconceived (and usually wildly inaccurate) expectations of what it means to have AS/ASD.

None of those negative points are by any means inevitable and probably do not arise for many people who have the diagnosis.

Finally, a formal diagnosis by a skilled and capable professional could be enough to persuade someone who thinks they may have AS/ASD but in actuality do not have it, that their problems lay elsewhere. This means that formerly self-diagnosed people can then look for other, more relevant ways of addressing their problems.

I think the positive aspects of having a diagnosis outweigh potentially negative drawbacks.

I considered this but came to a different conclusion. I felt that whether my diagnosis matches or not that enough symptoms do. There is no cure or medication for AS. There are only responses such as, "How can I work with this? Knowing this about myself, how can I work around these traits or use them to my advantage." If there were a more standardized biological test for AS available, I don't think testing negative would impact my needs to deal with the symptoms. If I am to deal with these symptoms the same way then knowing the specifics of the underlying condition isn't required.

If there were competing possible underlying conditions that do have other solutions available then it would matter more to explore them. For me, I have enough confidence that I don't have those conditions.

So either I am AS or I am not AS but have enough in common with people who are AS that I benefit from the same things they do.