Private assessment

Well I'm sort of halfway?? I saw my GP then supplied him with a dossier of my experiences day-to-day and my life history. He couldn't get anywhere with the NHS so I said I pay.

I got referred to a private Psychiatrist who saw me for about 1hr45 (he read all my notes). At the end he diagnosed with Aspergers general anxiety and episodal depression (the last two based on questionnaires I filled out in advance) - cost me £300. He said it would be beneficial to get a confirmation of his diagnosis (I have a few problems at work). But he is having problems finding a suitable Psychologist.. 6 weeks on and counting :( in the mean time he has written a letter to my GP stating I have Aspergers. I'm getting quite anxious to get a date and location for my second (&final) assessment. I think this will be a morning and cost maybe £600???

Yes, I paid for a private assessment after being on the NHS waiting list for a year with nothing happening. An NHS appointment did eventually come through, about a year and a half after I was referred, but by then I had my diagnosis so told them politely to shove it. It seems that there's a huge postcode lottery in terms of how long it takes you get an NHS appointment - depending on where you live you might be lucky and get one much quicker than I did.

It went fine. I was a bit worried when going private about how to tell somewhere was reputable, but the clinic I went to also does the local NHS assessments through outsourcing, so I figured it wasn't much different. I had an initial hour's pre-assessment consultation, then a longer assessment lasting about 2.5 hours, plus filled out a bunch of questionnaires.

I'd rather not have had to pay, but I was also desperate to know the answer and wasn't being given any clear indication of when I'd be seen on the NHS. The communications I did get from the NHS clinic also suggested to me that they were geared around assessing young people, whereas the clinic I went to specializes in diagnosing adults.

One good thing about a diagnosis is being able to analyse yourself and understand your weaknesses and limitations and adjust your life to your own advantage.   Find places where you fit better in a social setting.    Understand why you get stressed in certain circumstances and find ways to make a better life.

Lucky you. I wouldn't trust my employer an inch with this. Maybe your qualities are Very valued in your field so they are keen to find out.

I’ll definitely go for it.  Just was curious to hear people’s experiences of a private assessment.  A diagnosis would help me most in work situations.  I wouldn’t tell my friends or anyone else I don’t think.  Looking back there’s been times I’ve got into a fair bit of trouble and not understood why, or I’ve met new people at social events and been called a weirdo and a freak.  I guess it would be helpful to know there’s an actual reason for things, and I being able to turn round and say actually I have autism.  

Then t's worth going for a diagnosis.

How would you feel if you came back as autistic?  

How would a diagnosis help you?

How do you think your friends & family would take the news?

My employer is doing everything.  I’m going to see who they chose and then look them up and see if they’re registered and ask my gp for his opinion. 

My gp said he thought I was, and that it would be a good idea to go and get a diagnosis.  I’ve done some of the online assessments and scored really high, a lot higher than the average score for people diagnosed with asd.  

I started getting private assessment before my nhs appointment came up. I just googled local services and emailed their enquiries for timescales and price. You can check online if somebody is actually a registered psychologist or not. Hey presto 

Before pressing the button with your insurers, I would suggest you look at all the online tests and read some of the common threads on here and you'll get a feel of what others are going through to see if you feel any alignment.

There's common themes and problems we all seem to come up against.

What prompted you to think you might be on the spectrum?

I’m the same in that I don’t have much in common with other girls.  And have always just kind of done my own thing.  Bit not cod I’m trying to be different or quirky or anything like that, i just never seemed to quite fit in anywhere or with anyone.  

I work in complaints investigation at the moment.  It’s more a back office research kind of role, to see what the complaint is and whether it was investigation properly. I was never good at science or maths etc, and I’m not practical at all.  Although sometimes I wonder if I would actually enjoy maths a bit if someone actually taught it to me.  School was a bit of a disaster and I spent a lot of time not allowed in lessons, suspended, or in bottom sets due to disruptive and difficult behaviour.  We didn’t even have a maths teacher for most of year 10 and half of year 11. 

Mine was 10 years ago - the guy just asked a whole load of questions about my life and my opinion about things and what I do and how I do it - and i guess he was not only looking at what I said but the way I said it too.   

I've no idea if the system has changed but I suspect the professionals have seen so many they can spot us a mile away.

Now I'm aware of my 'traits', i can see them clearly in others - sort of Aspie-dar - and realistically, all of my close friends are undiagnosed Aspies too.    I have nothing in common with 'typical' blokes - I don't drink, don't do football (or any other 'manly' sports), I'm a techy nerd who seems to know everything about everything.

What job do you do?   Are you in the typical engineering/science type careers?

Just an hour?  What sort of questions do they ask? 

My nhs one is likely to be another 8 months or so away, and I got told it would be a few hours.

My assessment was covered under my company health insurance.   Spoke to them, got the green light, googled for the top person in the area, got GP to write the referral letter to that person, booked the appointment and all done & dusted - from becoming aware of a problem to it being suggested that I might be Asperger's to full diagnosis in a couple of weeks.

The assessment took the form of me chatting to the specialist for an hour or so where I suspect he was doing all the written testing verbally with me.   The report a week or so later contained the phrase "clearly has Asperger's" many times.

BTW - I'm a super-nerd engineer with a background Savant presentation - think Sheldon Cooper or Mr Data - so it's pretty darned obvious to those in the know..