Advice for woman wanting to talk to a professional about diagnosis?

Hi, I'm new here. 

I would just like to ask if anyone has advice on where I could find someone professional to talk to about the likelihood of an autism diagnosis. I have been driving myself crazy for the last 6 months researching about autism and whether I am or am not autistic, and I just keep going round in circles.

I'm worried that I might just be making this all up in my head, so instead of going for a very expensive autism diagnosis straight off I wondered if anyone could recommend someone I could just explore the idea with first.  I live in Scotland, but would be willing to travel or maybe even do an online session if anyone can recommend anyone good.  I'm looking for someone who has good experience of women with autism, as I work very hard to act "normal", and have been quite successful at this.  I think a lot of people would just dismiss me because I can make eye contact (mostly) and conversation.

I just had a very disappointing appointment with a psychiatrist today and I think I really need to talk to someone who knows what they're talking about (when I mentioned autism she said that the thought had crossed her mind while talking to me, but that it wasn't her area of expertise, and that she didn't think that being autistic would explain my recurrent periods of severe depression or my "emotional disregulation" (meltdowns?)  when I think it is a very plausible explanation for both!)

Sorry for rambling but when I started to feel like she wasn't listening to me and just wanted to put me on more drugs I had a mini "emotional disregulation" in her office and ended up crying hysterically for an hour, and now my brain is like jelly so I might not be making sense here.

Many thanks for any advice you can offer!

GuineaPig

Parents
  • I wouldn’t go near one of those things again. They’ll have you looked up and restrained and sedated before you know it. 

    Those things - NHS psychiatrists are peddlers for drugs. They basically work for the drug company and sell thier SSRIs. 

    There was a story on the radio yesterday about children basically being abused by so called authority after being sectioned for being autistic! 

    I know one of them - he was once a customer of mine. Then he admitted ‘selling anti depressants’ for drug company’s. 

    He also Invalidated me with three words. 

    He’s Very experienced as a drug seller for these company’s. Actually he’s clueless regarding autism. He’s a loose cannon - they all are. 

  • I'm so sorry to hear you have had a bad experience but I feel it is important to say that not all psychiatrists are like that.

    People may be scared away from getting help when actually there are some very good psychiatrists out there.

    I'm very lucky to have met one of them. My psychiatrist had actually noted that I should not be medicated and has never tried to give me a prescription.

    To be clear, I'm not trying to invalidate your experience. It doesn't sound good but I felt it was important to reach out so others know that seeing a psychiatrist can be hugely helpful.

    Through my psychiatrist I have received my ASD diagnosis when no one else has been willing or knowledgeable enough to get me an assessment. My psychiatrist has supported me with difficulties that have come up during the assessment process and is continuing to see me until psychology are able to offer me sessions.

    I have not been restrained.

    I have not been sedated.

    I have been treated very well. My psychiatrist has been reliable and consistent.

    My psychiatrist has made sure I get all the physical health monitoring my other conditions require.

    There are good psychiatrists out. Good psychiatrists who will help people get the diagnosis and treatment they need.

Reply
  • I'm so sorry to hear you have had a bad experience but I feel it is important to say that not all psychiatrists are like that.

    People may be scared away from getting help when actually there are some very good psychiatrists out there.

    I'm very lucky to have met one of them. My psychiatrist had actually noted that I should not be medicated and has never tried to give me a prescription.

    To be clear, I'm not trying to invalidate your experience. It doesn't sound good but I felt it was important to reach out so others know that seeing a psychiatrist can be hugely helpful.

    Through my psychiatrist I have received my ASD diagnosis when no one else has been willing or knowledgeable enough to get me an assessment. My psychiatrist has supported me with difficulties that have come up during the assessment process and is continuing to see me until psychology are able to offer me sessions.

    I have not been restrained.

    I have not been sedated.

    I have been treated very well. My psychiatrist has been reliable and consistent.

    My psychiatrist has made sure I get all the physical health monitoring my other conditions require.

    There are good psychiatrists out. Good psychiatrists who will help people get the diagnosis and treatment they need.

Children
  • I'm not here to argue with anyone but my experience is that there are good mental health professionals out there including psychiatrists and I feel it's wrong to scare people off from receiving help from them.

    I am well educated, intelligent and well aware of issues of abuse within some services but this is not the norm.

    The fact that it happens is wrong and needs to be addressed but it's important that people aren't scared of all professionals and all services.

    It is important that people aren't scared away from getting help. Mental health professionals can be hugely helpful.

    I have met many, absolutely none have been abusive towards me and none of them were idiots. If it weren't for my current psychiatrist I wouldn't be doing so well, I wouldn't have access to the support I need, etc.

    This is not a one thing or another situation.  People vary, no two people are the same. There are wonderful mental health professionals and terrible mental health professionals and many in between the two "extremes".

    Certain services, support, benefits, etc. can only be accessed with a referring/supporting mental health professional. It would be sad to see people scared away from accessing such things because there are some bad people out there... bad people that most of us will never have the misfortune of meeting.

  • Take a deeper look into things and you’ll see. I want to scare people off from these idiots. If they’re not wise to modern diagnoses of high functioning masked autism then they will do harm. 

    Have you seen the stuff coming out lately? Sooooooooooooooooo many story’s of people being abused by these so called experts.