Do I really need the diagnosis......

I needed one for reasons I won't bore you with, but many people have no immediate imperative other than they want their truth and that's a more than good enough reason.  You never know when you might need that bit support and need to be armed with a diagnosis to get it. Some people may just want to understand themselves better.

To my mind, you should just be able to rock up to your GP and get referred, however, with the current diagnostic crisis that might not be so easy, unless you are prepared to go private.

It might help to create a list of the advantages of a diagnosis for both your present and your future to go with; not least of all from your GP's point of view, it can affect other aspects of health care.  You wouldn't want a burn out mistaken for depression if you aren't depressed, there are general health conditions we are more vulnerable to and your GP may some time later in your life need an understanding of this and we may react differently to some drugs which act on the neurological system, for instance.

Otherwise, the diagnosis means what it means to you.  Do you feel you could be better supported in some environments, work for instance, it would give you right to reasonable adjustments, do you wish to have counselling for anything at any time; that would need to be autism informed?  You GP might not give you the highest priority, but just wanting your truth because you just want it is legitimate and it could be a godsend to have the bit of paper at a later date.

I wish I'd known in my 30s before crisis hit in my 50s, I'd have had the right support rather than "support" that compounded my problems.

I needed one for reasons I won't bore you with, but many people have no immediate imperative other than they want their truth and that's a more than good enough reason.  You never know when you might need that bit support and need to be armed with a diagnosis to get it. Some people may just want to understand themselves better.

To my mind, you should just be able to rock up to your GP and get referred, however, with the current diagnostic crisis that might not be so easy, unless you are prepared to go private.

It might help to create a list of the advantages of a diagnosis for both your present and your future to go with; not least of all from your GP's point of view, it can affect other aspects of health care.  You wouldn't want a burn out mistaken for depression if you aren't depressed, there are general health conditions we are more vulnerable to and your GP may some time later in your life need an understanding of this and we may react differently to some drugs which act on the neurological system, for instance.

Otherwise, the diagnosis means what it means to you.  Do you feel you could be better supported in some environments, work for instance, it would give you right to reasonable adjustments, do you wish to have counselling for anything at any time; that would need to be autism informed?  You GP might not give you the highest priority, but just wanting your truth because you just want it is legitimate and it could be a godsend to have the bit of paper at a later date.

I wish I'd known in my 30s before crisis hit in my 50s, I'd have had the right support rather than "support" that compounded my problems.