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Adult experience of getting an autism assessment

NAS73915

Hi 

This is my first post on here.  I am 46 and female and am considering the possibility that I may be mildly on the autism spectrum.  I am unsure about trying to get a professional opinion as have heard of some negative experiences of the process and just wondered if others could share how they went about getting diagnosed and what the process was like?

I have done four different online tests which indicate if you may be on the spectrum and they all said I may be mildly.

Thank you very much.

Parents

  • Hi, 73915, welcome to the forum.

    My experience with the NHS was very poor so I went private, as have many here, but I think you should try NHS first.

    To start the ball rolling, see your GP,  taking with you a short  list of your difficulties, ASD traits etc. and have a chat about it, request a referral to a psychologist.  It seems, reading other posts on here, that in most areas there is a waiting list of about  three years, but that  does vary.

    My private assessment followed a lifetime of anxiety, leading to addiction to prescribed meds, with no-one ever quite understanding me.  I chose who I wanted to see and waited just two or three weeks.  I went through the assessment process and was fairly quickly diagnosed. It was painless.

    Oh, how I wish I'd done that years ago, it was expensive but worth every penny. There is no real treatment and no cure, but being recognised as ASD by a proffesional clinician was such a relief, being understood and taken seriously. I now feel so much better about myself and am making sense of my past, and still learning. There is always more.

    Whatever you do, I wish you well.

    Ben

Reply

  • Hi, 73915, welcome to the forum.

    My experience with the NHS was very poor so I went private, as have many here, but I think you should try NHS first.

    To start the ball rolling, see your GP,  taking with you a short  list of your difficulties, ASD traits etc. and have a chat about it, request a referral to a psychologist.  It seems, reading other posts on here, that in most areas there is a waiting list of about  three years, but that  does vary.

    My private assessment followed a lifetime of anxiety, leading to addiction to prescribed meds, with no-one ever quite understanding me.  I chose who I wanted to see and waited just two or three weeks.  I went through the assessment process and was fairly quickly diagnosed. It was painless.

    Oh, how I wish I'd done that years ago, it was expensive but worth every penny. There is no real treatment and no cure, but being recognised as ASD by a proffesional clinician was such a relief, being understood and taken seriously. I now feel so much better about myself and am making sense of my past, and still learning. There is always more.

    Whatever you do, I wish you well.

    Ben

Children