Is it worth getting a diagnosis as an adult?

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To me, I'm trying to get a formal diagnosis, but it really does not matter that much to me. The main reason that I want a diagnosis is so that I can discuss it with people outside of WP.

I don't need any special support. I get all of the psych care that I need because I have numerous formal diagnoses. Getting an additional diagnosis is not that big deal to me, either way. My feeling is that if I don't have AS, I'm close enough that it does not matter. It is not like they have a cure or any AS-specific treatment. They really do not even know what exactly Autism is. it's just a collection of related symptoms.

So, for now, I will continue to work on my psychiatrist to get something a little more definite. He does say that some people naturally have a higher social IQ than other people, and we agree that is an area that I am very weak at. At this time, a formal diagnosis of AS really does not do much more.

I am not officially diagnosed, but for me, there really is no better answer. I fit the diagnosis to a tee. It truly explains a lot of my past issues and things I did and happened in my childhood. I don't think that my mother would ever tell me about many of my issues in childhood, but I recall them. I remember her trying to get me into a special school, but I was rejected for being too normal (aka I played with toys too well). And yet I panicked if I saw very close friends at say...the grocery store...if I didn't expect them

I will not be diagnosed now at 33. There is really no reason to bother. I know who I am and I know why I am the way I am. That is enough for me. I cannot see any benefit to being officially diagnosed.

I have always known I experience life far differently than everyone else I knew of or read of, but high functioning autism was not recognized in the U.S.A. when I was a child in the 1960s. It wasn't until the late 1990s that a counselor suggested I might have Aspergers. I self-diagnosed immediately upon reading the list of symptoms and have been professionally diagnosed at least twice the past ten years since then. Having an official diagnosis helps me understand my life better, and also helps me explain my situation to others. A diagnosis may be useful in order to be referred to community resources that can aid you, or as someone else said for college or workplaces to adjust your environment somewhat to compensate. In the past year I was finally set up with the Developmental Disability group of the local health department which is where I should have gone decades ago if I had only known.

When I was first asking a doctor to be referred for testing for Aspergers, he asked me why bother since there is no cure. I told him I have had extreme sensory and social issues all my life and if there ever is any treatment for those symptoms I want to be on a list to try them so I want the diagnosis in my medical records for that purpose. I won't say I want a "cure" because there are some advantages to my neurology: an above average memory, above average vocabulary, encyclopedic knowledge of my special interests, etc. I could sure use some relief from the sensory issues though. Those bother me more than the social issues do. I still suck socially, even though I thought I was getting better in recent years. I found out with a shock last November that I am still completely clueless when it comes to normal face to face human interactions even though I've had decades of experience. That was discouraging, but then I started hanging out on WrongPlanet afterward so some good came from that.