Hello all,
I got my diagnosis last year, late on in life.
In the first session, which was with a psychologist, she referred to me as being very able in masking my condition through learned responses over the decades and that, as I have a pretty decent level of intelligence, a degree and post-grad, am able to analyse and respond appropriately much of the time, although it has never been or felt natural.
I can hold conversations, but I do sometimes have to get people to repeat themselves multiple times for information to sink in. I find the process of figuring out when I should be talking / responding tricky at times and often make abortive attempts to say things. This seems to have become worse over time.
In the second session, and in the report, the psychiatrist said I am not able to follow conversations / cannot sustain conversations. This is sort of true with people I do not know, but I can keep a conversation going with people I know. He is correct that I use very formal language much of the time. I have to be VERY familiar with someone to relax into speaking less formally, or have to put huge energies into masking. I think the psychiatrist overstated this somewhat, although I did not think to challenge it at the time, being relieved to finally have a diagnosis.
I am able to sustain short conversations with strangers, but often only with great effort, or if it is something I know about. I am not a fan of small talk.
I used to have a job as a teacher, which involved interaction and conversation, but this almost exclusively based on knowledge / discussion of my subject specialism.
I am going to be seeing Occupational Health in the near future, and worry that if I mask too effectively it will seem to contradict the diagnosis.
Any advice?
Thanks.
