Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi. I joined this forum last year and was invigorated by discussing what I thought was my high functioning autism / Asperger's. After contacting my GP and going on to my local list for an assessment, I waited impatiently for them to get in touch.
After a long few months of obsessive research, posts on this forum and chats with somebody I know who is autistic, I decided to take the matter into my own hands and contacted a local clinical psychologist who was qualified to make an assessment privately. After some form filling, a few chats and a couple of interviews with family, last week I had my final outcome discussion.
Turns out it isn't likely I have autism because of how I present myself, and that due in particular to childhood trauma and other significant markers it's very likely I have Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. I am expecting my notes and an official diagnosis in a few weeks.
Of course the first thing I did was Google the hell out of OCPD and it's so accurate it's untrue. Whereas I felt I had 60-70% of the obvious symptoms of high functioning autism, with OCPD I felt I had about 90%+ of them.
OCPD should not be confused with OCD. Here's a basic overview lifted from msdmanuals.com: "In patients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, preoccupation with order, perfectionism, and control of themselves and situations interferes with flexibility, effectiveness, and openness. Rigid and stubborn in their activities, these patients insist that everything be done in specific ways."
I also did some digging and it turns out that high markers for OCPD can cross over with high markers for HFA / Asperger's - and speaking to another family member whose stepson has recently been diagnosed with autism, OCPD was considered during the diagnostic process. Issues such as the need for order, rigidity, struggles with emotion, etc. are obvious shared traits.
I share this because for those of you who have yet to be diagnosed or are thinking about starting the process, have also scored highly on the AQ test and see some of the symptoms, you may want to look into OCPD - especially if you present yourself relatively normally.
I hope you don't mind me posting this. Let me know if you have any questions before I leave this forum for those who really need it. Thanks for reading.
I think this might have been what my friend who was trained in the US was talking about when she suggested too many people were diagnosed with ASD here when it's "probably something else". I think OCPD was what she was referring to. (Before I did some reading I thought OCPD were the company who owned the police in Robocop! But from reading, I can see how it's different from what I have).
Gosh, this is interesting! Apparently the most common form of Personality Disorder in the US. Loads of overlap with ASD. This might explain why I keep thinking there are loads more aspies than the stats suggest, cos many will prob be this. I can see how hard diagnosing someone might be, I stated to doubt my own, but can see i don't have some key OCPD traits, and have ASD ones that don't come under it.
Here's what wikipedia said on tne overlap
There are considerable similarities and overlap between Asperger's syndrome and OCPD,[8] such as list-making, inflexible adherence to rules, and obsessive aspects of Asperger's syndrome, although the latter may be distinguished from OCPD especially regarding affective behaviors, worse social skills, difficulties with Theory of Mind and intense intellectual interests, e.g. an ability to recall every aspect of a hobby.[23] A 2009 study involving adult autistic people found that 40% of those diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome met the diagnostic requirements for a comorbid OCPD diagnosis.[9]
And the overlap with SPD which I think now falls under ASD
Schizoid personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder may both display restricted affectivity and coldness; however, in OCPD, this is usually due to a controlling attitude, whereas in SPD, it occurs due to a lack of ability to experience emotion and display affection.
Yes, let us know what you find out, good books, resources, causes, ways around it. Could well be that alot of self diagnosed ASs could be this. It's odd howmany traits are the same. Course it could turn out to be a subset of autism. My guess is it's a multidimensional space this autism, add, adhd, emotion quotient, systematising, that intersects with eg IQ and other nature/nurture things and so manifests differently.
Well, this post is an example of why I encourage people to ask their GP to help them understand the challenges they're facing, irrespective how which things are tested and diagnosed as a result.
Whether you're on the autism spectrum or suffering else, it'll be good to get some clarity and certainty, and that will help you with improving your situation. An autism assessment may be the thing your GP suggests anyway :)
amazing ! I have been reading up on ADHD because again its very close to autism.
Sure - let me know if you have any questions. Conceptually it's new to me too but I of course have lived it for all my adult life!
yes, thanks for this, we do need to be aware of OCPD which I have never heard of !
Can you please still stick around this forum as you will have more knowledge than most on this subject.
I am on the cusp of asking to be referred for an autism assesment. I will look into this. Thank you.