How to go about requesting a referral from my GP?

Apologies if this isn’t the right place to ask for advice, but I hope I can get help one way or another.

I’m a 23 year old female and suffered from mental health issues (depression/low mood and anxiety) for over a decade. For a while, I’ve just wanted an answer, as in a proper diagnosis because the most I’ve received is therapy (currently on waiting list for a second time) and anti depressants. 

After some research, I believe that I may have autism. I’ve taken multiple tests where the results have shown I’m “likely” or “extremely likely” to have it. Without going into too much detail, in one of the tests I received a score of 40 out of 50, which seemed quite alarming to me.

I’d like to contact my GP and see if they think I need a referral, but just the thought of a self diagnosis makes me feel incredibly guilty. It sounds silly, but I have all these fears of wasting my GP’s time if they reject my request.

It all starts from calling the doctors where I’m required to state the reason for visiting my GP, but how do I go about the whole process? It’s difficult for me to phrase things, so any advice would be appreciated.

Parents
  • I'm in my late 40s. After finally realising that I may have been autistic (having had depression/anxiety since forever) I did some online tests, screenshot the results, plus a detailed explanation of how I felt I fit the autistic diagnosis, and sent it all in a letter to my GP.

    I was then sent the NHS tests, did those and returned them, which 'qualified' me for diagnosis referral.

    Fortunately, after a couple of months on the waiting list, I was referred to a private service via the NHS and got my diagnosis quite quickly, after a zoom call first with a psychologist for an initial assessment, then another zoom call with a psychiatrist for a follow up diagnosis consultation.

    Hope that helps.

Reply
  • I'm in my late 40s. After finally realising that I may have been autistic (having had depression/anxiety since forever) I did some online tests, screenshot the results, plus a detailed explanation of how I felt I fit the autistic diagnosis, and sent it all in a letter to my GP.

    I was then sent the NHS tests, did those and returned them, which 'qualified' me for diagnosis referral.

    Fortunately, after a couple of months on the waiting list, I was referred to a private service via the NHS and got my diagnosis quite quickly, after a zoom call first with a psychologist for an initial assessment, then another zoom call with a psychiatrist for a follow up diagnosis consultation.

    Hope that helps.

Children
No Data