Terrified That I'm Schizotypal

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Within the last week or so, I decided that I probably don't have Asperger's because I don't have enough of the traits at a cliinically significant level and can't remember enough of my childhood, and what I do have seems like it could be accounted for by Sensory Processing Disorder.

I went to my last day of neuropsychological testing yesterday, and the questions the examiner asked about thinking people were trying to harm me made me think of schizotypal pd, so I looked it up, and it seems like it would be very easy for someone to view me this way and diagnose me with this, with which I'd be very uncomfortable.

The traits that definitely fit are:
behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar
lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives

I'm thinking that what I considered to be sensory sensitivities and possible auditory processing disorder will be interpreted as:

How could someone distinguish between those?

I don't have magical thinking or ideas of reference, and I'm not superstitious. However, I have heard one or two things that could be auditory hallucinations; it really bothers me that I have no one to ask "did you hear that too?" I hear something like creaking sounds in the walls, usually at night while I'm waiting to fall asleep, but I just assumed that it was typical architectural settling sounds; on the other hand, my apartment isn't terribly old so why would the walls be creaking? The building doesn't seem terribly new, though, either. But then, the sounds sometimes wake me up when I'm half asleep; could my brain manufacture a hallucination while I'm half-unconscious?

I'm very distressed that I could be hallucinating and not even know it. I was ok with possibly having AS, I'm ok with possibly having auditory processing disorder or sensory processing disorder, but half the symptoms of StPD basically just constitute going crazy, and it's horrifying.

I'm also worried that my traits are going to be misconstrued by the people who assessed me and I'll get an StPD diagnosis that I don't merit, but that it's too late and couldn't be prevented because they didn't ask me enough questions. I'm usually somewhat zombiesh by the time I arrive at the assessment center because of the sensory overload of being on public transportation for two hours or more, and that can easily be construed as
inappropriate or constricted affect.

Basically, I'm freaking out.

I don't think you're schizotypal . The signs of that disorder are closer to schizophrenia; they'd be much more extreme. Anxiety can make you think you are seeing and hearing things sometimes also and make you over think things.

I wouldn't worry about hearing creaking in the night. I live in a new build property and always hear all kinds of noises. You sound really anxious above anything else and that's probably making you overthink things like starfox said.

I wouldn't apply the verbal statements in the diagnostic definitions to yourself.
The statements are summaries of consistent patterns of behaviors and outwards presentations that an eggsperienced clinician would recognize as matching the person or not, but it is hard and often inaccurate for the person to match themselves from the inside.
Hearing things in walls or building noises is common and normal, not auditory hallucinations in general.
Buildings make all kinds of real noises.

I have heard/experienced weirder things than seemingly out of place wall creaking, and I don't have schizotypal PD, as far as I know.

Schizotypal is nothing to be 'afraid' of. On the spectrum of Schizo disorders, it can be fairly mild...certainly not as recognizable as Asperger's. Most Schizo disorders appear in late teen early 20s. For me, I was rather 'normal' in my early years and as a teen. It was only after going to university that I experienced my first Schizo 'break'.

If you experienced a markedly different personality change between early teen and early 20s, then you perhaps could have some form of Schizo PD.

You can take a few tests online to get an idea. Look on youtube for the Charlie Chaplin optical illusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbKw0_v2clo . Those with severe Schizophrenia almost never fall for the illusion. A second test you can try is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. If you fair poorly on the test, you could have an issue..still not definitive, but a bit more info to go on.

Why not? Several of the symptoms involve a mental break with reality. That seems scary to me.

It seems to me that the root of your anxiety stems from fear of them pegging you with a serious schizophrenia spectrum disorder and then you being expected to take on and own that label when it really doesn't fit and be strongly encouraged to take medications you probably want nothing to do with. I have this fear myself. Professionals have all kinds of reasons on the side to diagnose you with one thing over another and many people think an autism diagnosis is some heavily-weighted, serious, dreadful thing so they avoid it. Perhaps something to remember is that no matter how much experience they have, no matter how much information you gave them, no matter how much they see in you or don't see or think they are seeing, that whatever they end up deciding on is at best an informed opinion. Their diagnosis is their opinion and you still have the right to reject that diagnosis. And at this point there is no way they can force any particular treatment on you as you are not violent or a threat to yourself or anyone else.