Published on 12, July, 2020
just wondering if anyone has self referred privately and after the initial face to face chat the psychologist says you make eye contact, you understand love and anger, you have friends and you completed school so it’s just anxiety and I wouldn’t recommend paying for the full assessment (in brief thats what I understood she meant!)
i get that autism and anxiety are closely linked but this just explained so much and now I feel totally lost again. We didn’t discuss any of my current struggles, she just asked questions on childhood through to teens and I had no answers for developmental stages as I didn't know.
i know the online aq tests are just a guide but is it possible just to have anxiety snd still score highly on these?
any help appreciated! Feeling lost.
I completed school, had friends at school and have a few select friends now, got married. got two kids and a full time job and I am on the spectrum. To the average person I appear normal and lead a normalish life but as plastic has mentioned all this normality takes its toll and in my case has lead in later like to complete burnout. From your reasons above it looks to me as if you are very much similar to me. If I were you I would seeek a second opinion. Good luck
Especially when we can't judge other people's motives - another obvious symptom?
Getting help shouldnt be this stressful!
And that's where we lose - we're really bad at arguing our position - another obvious symptom? Conflict is very stressful!!
Thanks. I was a good girl at school too! I feel embarrassed I’ve spent this money. Worst fear was being told I’d got the wrong idea and it was met
I feel frustrated on your behalf. My school days were also very skewed. I behaved like an angel, because my parents were teachers at the school. What's important is the massive debilitating anxiety caused by conforming.
Ok thanks, I’m not good with words but I’ll see what I can do
I would write a strongly-worded letter/e-mail saying how strongly you feel that you've not been properly assessed and have just been dismissed without proper due diligence and demand it is done properly again at no cost to you - the person has not taken you seriously from the moment you walked into the room and appeared to have pre-diagnosed/dismissed you.
I really recommend collecting your own notes, particularly when your anxiety is high and you are feeling the heat of the moment. Sounds like your assessor has not grasped that this is serious and debilitating for you.
I can go against her advice and request the full assessment but I feel she’s already made her mind up and nothing she sees will change that as I dont tick the box for the childhood element in her mind even though I couldn’t give her much info, it was enough that I go through school and had a couple of friends
Well I thought so then at the end I was allowed to freestyle so I came with my excel sheet... and got the diagnosis anyway
Thanks, did you see my reply to your other comment as to why i was seeking an assessment? Do you think it would be worth pursuing any further? Don’t know what to do!
That’s interesting, I didn’t get any type of questionnaire at this stage. It was literally a chat and not a useful one because I didnt even tell her what I struggle with anxiety wise
Sounds like they've taken your cash and wasted your time.
i remember being a bit irritated by the questionnaire - it had clearly been drawn up not only for children but targeted at boys and they have not balanced it for girls.
Q "did you play with cars and trains"
me : "not particularly"
Q..next question...
me "hang on, was that it? what about when i was given a doll and mutilated it?"
Q "did you do that ?"
me: "yes"
Q: "what did you like playing with as a child?"
me: "lego, lego and more lego. Mastermind game. Puzzle books. And Spirograph. "
Q: "that's useful"
Alwaysconfused said:Basically felt like because i function adequately I cant be autistic
I'm married with a child and a chartered engineer - I could function / faked things very well until it all got too much and I totally burned out at 47.
Thanks for your reply. Yes I feel I was able to greet her as expected of me (which she pointed out at the end I was able to do) and I could feel myself getting face ache from the faces I was pulling. Surely as a trained professional she should understand women and masking? It was a 1.5hr conversation about life I cant remember because i have a terrible memory!
I wrote my copious notes in excel, I think that increased my aspie score :-D
Only teasing. I did do it in excel and I wrote down additional notes during the assessment. I had a long conversation with her shoes and got familiar with the woodgrain in the parquet flooring tiles. But there are other traits I don't particularly have, e.g i was an early talker and had good language development.
I went through a similar process as @JohnS and @plastic (Hey mods, the @ thing is timing out today!!) except i started with an assessment for PDA, which was quickly upgraded it to a diagnosis of Aspergers which i really didn't expect. Afterwards I've discovered all the issues about females with Autism and high levels of masking and it clicked into place. If i had just had the one session I probably would have masked all the way through it . As it was the second session with the same assessor, my guard dropped, my masking dropped and she saw a lot more of the real me. @Alwaysconfused do you think you masked a lot during the assessment?
Thanks John, i paid £330 and it was with a clinical psychologist to assess whether a full assessment would be necessary. I took 4 pages of A4 notes with me and didnt even give them to her or refer to them as she focused on my family, childhood. Basically felt like because i function adequately I cant be autistic