So today I did my third and final assessment to establish whether or not I have ASD. This was at South London and Maudsley by the way, and I was originally told to get an autism assessment by two different psychologists who had treated me for mental health issues. I am 29 years old.
At the end of the assessment, the doctor started talking to me as if I didn't have autism. She told me that there wasn't enough information from my childhood from my informant (my mum)/that the info she gave didn't meet the threshold, but that my behavioural assessment did exceed the overall threshold, however much more in some bits than others etc.
She said that she thinks my problems are probably more related to ADHD, and is going to get me referred for another assessment for that (another year to wait!). She also said she was surprised that other healthcare professionals had thought my issues were ASD rather than ADHD. I mean, I told her that my previous psychologist had said she'd be shocked if it turned out that I wasn't autistic, and the doctor said "oh dear...". All of the signs that this doctor was making was pointing towards there being no autism diagnosis. So I was thinking, okay, fair enough- I'm not autistic. But then she said was making a diagnosis (and she specifically said "I am making a diagnosis") of 'Pervasive Development Disorder'. I looked this up and it seems to just be a generic umbrella term for autism categories, so I assume she meant 'Pervasive Development Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified'. But then I looked that up and it seems that the category doesn't even exist anymore, and now just comes under 'ASD'!
So I'm obviously very confused, because she talked like I didn't have ASD, told me I needed to be assessed for ADHD, but then made a diagnosis of a no longer existing ASD category!! This semi-diagnosis is incredibly confusing and anxiety inducing and it's so annoying that I now have to wait three weeks for my report to come through.
Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else? Can anyone read between the lines and tell me what this doctor actually means?!