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Requesting a diagnosis when AQ-10 is negative

WeaverBird

Hi there,

I've wondered about whether I might be autistic for a while but got put off by a child psychologist (who does ASD assessments!) who told me that I can't possibly be because previous psychotherapy had helped. Now someone I'm working with has suggested it to me again. It does feel like it fits, but when I do the standard AQ-10 screening tool I only get 5 (although I come out with at least 35 on the full AQ test). I can self-refer to my local NHS assessment service but I'm worried that if my AQ-10 is negative they won't give me a second glance. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks,

Liz

Parents

  • The way I see it (but I’m happy to be corrected if wrong) the AQ-10 is likely a time saving exercise so the GPs don’t have to score the whole thing. So someone has chosen what they think are the most relevant questions in different areas but probably using a very typical male presentation as the basis. If you have scored over 35 on the full test I think it’s still worth filling out the self referral and mentioning that score as well they’ll be more likely to accept you. But as Dawn said as well what are you wanting from the outcome? Do you need support? Are you desperate for an explanation about yourself so you can move forward or are you just curious but will carry on regardless?as for the comment from the psychologist about therapy helping I think that may be reference to autistic women in particular being diagnosed with other conditions instead but treatment not helping because they’re actually autistic. Although I’m sure it is possible to be autistic and also have another condition in some cases

Reply

  • The way I see it (but I’m happy to be corrected if wrong) the AQ-10 is likely a time saving exercise so the GPs don’t have to score the whole thing. So someone has chosen what they think are the most relevant questions in different areas but probably using a very typical male presentation as the basis. If you have scored over 35 on the full test I think it’s still worth filling out the self referral and mentioning that score as well they’ll be more likely to accept you. But as Dawn said as well what are you wanting from the outcome? Do you need support? Are you desperate for an explanation about yourself so you can move forward or are you just curious but will carry on regardless?as for the comment from the psychologist about therapy helping I think that may be reference to autistic women in particular being diagnosed with other conditions instead but treatment not helping because they’re actually autistic. Although I’m sure it is possible to be autistic and also have another condition in some cases

Children
  • in reply to GuybrushThreepwood

    This is a helpful question - I think I’m looking for validation, that maybe not all of my mental health issues exist because of childhood attachment problems but that maybe some of them are because of the ongoing trauma of trying to fit myself into a society which isn’t built for me to navigate. The other aspect is that it might open up other ways of coping/functioning better, either through better understanding of myself and my traits (in which case maybe going through the diagnosis process is useful even if I don’t get the “label” but do get insight), but if I do get a diagnosis there potentially other support I can access at work to help me.

     Your observation about AQ10 being chosen with a typical male presentation in mind rings true for me. I looked up the paper it’s based on and while they do have equal numbers of men and women these were obviously women diagnosed prior to 2012 (potentially even much earlier if they just reused their original data) and it came from Baron-Cohen (him of the “extreme male brain” hypothesis). But I should probably not try too hard to discredit his stuff to the diagnosticians, however much I might want to pick holes.