Should I bother getting diagnosed?

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I'm 26 years old now, and have been stumbling through life's little social issues. I've always been awkward and quirky, but nobody every really thought of it as anything more than that: quiet, sometimes intelligent, always my own best friend. I've done ok with relationships, though certainly not a bigtime ladies man.

My girlfriend knew a guy that was a psychiatrist, and one evening they happened to be discussing some of the quirks. He became interested, asked her a few questions about me and my habits, and said I sounded like an Aspie. Neither of us had ever heard of this before, so we googled up some information on it. Sure enough, I seem to have most of the symptoms listed, and have suffered all of them at one point or another.

I mentioned it to my few friends to see what they thought of the matter, but after a little while I put it out of my head. The 'treatments' I had read up on all either involved medication, which I have something of an aversion to, or counseling that seemed to be specific to the much younger crowd. So, why bother?

Recent events have brought it all to mind again, and I'm wondering if there really is a point, and if so, how to go about getting a professional diagnosis and whatnot. Does it really matter at this point in my life?

If it is important to you, then yes it does matter. If you think your life is hindered by it (eg personal relationships, career, job, academic life etc), then it would be worth finding out more about it.

How you would go about doing that depends on whereabouts you are in the world. If you are in the UK you might have considerable difficulty being taken seriously by the mainstream health industry (eg the NHS), though if you can afford to go for assessment privately, you may be treated with some measure of respect.

If you are UK-based, you could go to http://www.nas.org.uk and search their PARIS Database to find potential clinicians near you.

yes , you should get diagnosed. it will help clear things up that you have been wondering about.

Some benefits to getting an official diagnosis:

1) If you need any accommodations or benefits, you may need to have it on the record. You sound like you're managing well already, so this may not be the case.

2) As a means for finding out definitively whether you have it.

Downsides:

1) There is no medication or treatment that will make you stop being autistic. If anxiety or depression are causing serious problems there are medications for that, but they don't treat the autism itself.

2) There are no definitive biological tests for Asperger's and the psychiatric community seems poorly equipped to diagnose it in adults. The "tests" are highly subjective and many rely on your memories of childhood. The psychiatrist you know seems to have decided already so he would probably give you a positive diagnosis, another psych may give you a negative. In the end it will come down to you doing your own research and soul searching anyway.

Personally, I've heard of too many examples of conflicting diagnosis in adults to have much faith in them. Unless you need governmental or workplace support I consider it to be a personal choice. If it will give you focus, peace of mind, or access to resources, go for it. Otherwise start reading and decide if the information applies to your life.

I think u should

It's often difficult to get a diagnosis as an adult because it's not seen as good "value for money" in terms of funding available for healthcare, and you may have to pay for it yourself. There is a limit to what 'treatment' can achieve once you're an adult. If you need support due to emotional difficulties, this would be available through the mental health services without a diagnosis.

But a diagnosis could make it easier for you to get the specific type of support that you need. It could make it easier should you need to claim benefits. And it could make you feel better in yourself, knowing why you have certain difficulties.

It's a personal decision, and what is right for one person is not necessarily right for another. Personally, I would like a diagnosis, but I am not able to get one without paying more money than I have, so it is not a possibility at the moment.

Iridium, I have been pondering the diagnosis question for some time myself. I’m thirty-seven and still have many social difficulties, among other problems, but I know a diagnosis won’t do anything to change me. The only reason I have come up with in favor of obtaining a diagnosis is that having one will make it much easier for me to tell my family about my condition. My family does know something is different about me, but they have no understanding of why I am like I am. I could just attempt to explain Aspergers to them outright and hope they listen and understand, but most likely they will be highly skeptical. They are not introspective people and are unlikely to believe that anyone can make a diagnosis of such a complicated condition on their own.

If I had the money to spare, I would probably seek a diagnosis just so I can help the people close to me understand me better. If I didn’t care about that, I wouldn’t even be thinking about getting diagnosed.

Ah, you almost exactly mirror my thinking. I have no need of any special support and am surviving quite well on my own. I've already discussed it with my family to get their perspective on it, and I'm lucky to have the supportive family I've got. As time goes on and I get used to... this, whatever it is, it becomes less and less of an issue. I do still have some communication/understanding issues, and I do prefer to spend a lot of time alone as opposed to with the few friends I have. But in general, it's all getting a little less awkward.

And so comes my indecision. A diagnosis solves nothing, and assists in nothing. I know from reading the posts around here that the adult diagnosis is an uncertain thing at best. So the choices go from 'get diagnosed or not' to 'get diagnosed and constantly second guess the doctor because it's such an iffy thing, or not get diagnosed and just keep on keeping on.'

I think I'll wait on it, not get diagnosed until it becomes a serious problem again, if at all. And if I need advice or encouragement otherwise, well hey, I found all of you, and who the hell would better understand?