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Taking possession of the label(s) or not ?

Deleted user
over 5 years ago

A question I would ask is do you take possession of the label or labels for yourself or should it just be down to a professional's opinion as to whether the label(s) fit(s) ? If the latter it very much depends on whether you are lucky enough to come under the radar re fitting criteria or not. The truth is many people's symptoms go undiagnosed for years due to incompetencies and shortcomings within the system. It is not that these people are free from difficulties/problems rather than their problems have been missed/overlooked.

Parents
  • over 5 years ago

    My diagnostic letter gives both DSM-5 and ICD-10 classifications. The letter also points out that the ICD-10 coding of Asperger syndrome is a better description of my strengths and difficulties, rather than DSM-5 which simply refers to the whole spectrum.

    I would much rather have the more specific ICD-10 label than something as broad as DSM-5 which seems pretty pointless ("you may have very severe difficulties, or none at all, in a whole range of different areas of your life..."). Honestly, I know they mean well, but that's as much use as a chocolate teapot(!).

    Asperger syndrome it is, then. The history airbrush artists can go whistle.

Reply
  • over 5 years ago

    My diagnostic letter gives both DSM-5 and ICD-10 classifications. The letter also points out that the ICD-10 coding of Asperger syndrome is a better description of my strengths and difficulties, rather than DSM-5 which simply refers to the whole spectrum.

    I would much rather have the more specific ICD-10 label than something as broad as DSM-5 which seems pretty pointless ("you may have very severe difficulties, or none at all, in a whole range of different areas of your life..."). Honestly, I know they mean well, but that's as much use as a chocolate teapot(!).

    Asperger syndrome it is, then. The history airbrush artists can go whistle.

Children
  • over 5 years ago in reply to DongFeng5
    I think I would have more time for the "You can't have x or y unless it's been officially diagnosed" line of argument if like countless others I hadn't had symptoms that had gone under the radar for decades due to the incompetency of so called 'experts' . It does seem that a lot of people of my generation(born 1957) were overlooked because although a few pieces of a puzzle were found there was no one at the time capable of joining the pieces together. Hence as a child I was tested for cerebral palsy(I'm using modern terminology) . The result was negative with no alternatives considered. As a child I was described as badly coordinated,bad at drawing( especially geometrical figures) and writing, disorganised and messy.I also was bad at sports and struggled when it came to peer group relationships .

    Pieces of a puzzle but no one to delve further to find the other pieces and join them together. It doesn't help of course that as a result of the social problems and peer group rejection I developed psychiatric problems. Cue a history of psychiatric diagnoses with everything being related back to those diagnoses even though it makes no earthly sense to do so. Add to that your pdocs see you as highly/very intelligent which further muddies the waters. The old "You're too intelligent to possibly have learning difficulties" (UK terminology) line of argument.I guess I would have more faith in the experts as the arbiters of such things if they were more inclined to do their jobs properly instead of leaving people like me high and dry for decades.

    I did try about a decade ago to initiate a dialogue about it all . My then care co-ordinator listened enough to book an extra appointment with the pdoc for me to discuss things. She'd told him that she'd told me it was not easy to diagnose dyspraxia(symptoms that are seen as NVLD symptoms in the USA seem to be regarded as being to do with dyspraxia in the UK). Unfortunately the appointment with the pdoc was a disaster. He had a negative mindset from the outset,asking a few irrelevant questions before curtly dismissing the issue. Due to a track record of being seen as awkward,demanding and troublesome for seeking more help and support I was too scared of further abusive criticism to press things further. I therefore let things slide.
    In the last few years I've periodically dropped the A,D and N words into conversation but the response has been like trying to converse with a brick wall. The nearest I got to much of a response was being told by my then nurse practitioner that schizotypal might explain things. That was promptly followed by being given a printout to a local Aspergers charity. There was no follow up on that talk though.